wikileaks website

wikileaks website

WikiLeaks claims its website being hacked

LONDON: Hours ahead of an expected leak of millions of classified US documents, WikiLeaks today claimed it was under a cyber attack but said the documents would be made public through several leading newspapers.

In a Twitter message, the whistleblower website said: "We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack."

It added that even if its website goes down a number of newspapers will go ahead and publish the documents released to them.

Ahead of the release of the potentially embarrassing documents, which the US fears could harm its relations with several countries, the American administration asked the website to refrain from making the classified documents public.

It has asked it to return the "illegally obtained" papers, insisting that their leak would "endanger the lives of countless individuals."

The Twitter message from the website said El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian and New York Times newspapers will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down.

The website has already released thousands of documents on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In October WikiLeaks released four lakh secret US files on Iraq war detailing abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody, rights violations and civilian deaths.

Earlier in July, the website had published tens of thousands of secret documents on the war in Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today said the soon-to-be released classified US documents will cover "every major issue" in the world.

Assange put the number of documents to be released at more than a quarter of a million.

Late yesterday Washington rejected talks with WikiLeaks, saying the website was holding the cables in violation of US law.

Assange has however rejected the claim that the release would put to harm many lives

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US steps up pressure on WikiLeaks, warns against leak

US steps up pressure on WikiLeaks, warns against leak

The United States has rejected talks with WikiLeaks over its planned release of confidential US documents, saying the whistle-blower website was holding them in violation of US law. The US State Department late Saturday set out its position in a letter to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his attorney that was released to the media.

"We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained US government classified materials," State Department legal adviser Harold Koh wrote.

"As you know, if any of the materials you intend to publish were provided by any government officials, or any intermediary without proper authorization, they were provided in violation of US law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action," Koh continued.

"As long as WikiLeaks holds such material, the violation of the law is ongoing."

WikiLeaks was reportedly hours away from releasing millions of confidential US diplomatic cables on Sunday as governments braced for the potential fallout. /P>

Top US officials have raced to contain the damage in recent days by warning foreign ministries in more than a dozen countries, including key allies Australia, Britain, Canada, Israel and Turkey.

An independent French website reported that the leaks would be published simultaneously at 2130 GMT Sunday by several Western newspapers.

Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme

Embassy cables reveal the US, Israel and Arab states suspect Iran is close to acquiring nuclear weapons despite Tehran's insistence that its programme is designed to supply energy. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables that describe how other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.

The revelations, in secret memos from US embassies across the Middle East, expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons. Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities has hitherto been viewed as a desperate last resort that could ignite a far wider war.

The Saudi king was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme", one cable stated. "He told you [Americans] to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with the US general David Petraeus in April 2008.

The cables also highlight Israel's anxiety to preserve its regional nuclear monopoly, its readiness to go it alone against Iran – and its unstinting attempts to influence American policy. The defence minister, Ehud Barak, estimated in June 2009 that there was a window of "between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable". After that, Barak said, "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage."

The leaked US cables also reveal that:

• Officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran's nuclear programme to be stopped by any means, including military.

• Leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran as "evil", an "existential threat" and a power that "is going to take us to war".

• Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, warned in February that if diplomatic efforts failed, "we risk nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, war prompted by an Israeli strike, or both".

• Major General Amos Yadlin, Israeli's military intelligence chief, warned last year: "Israel is not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on 11 September 2001."

Asked for a response to the statements, state department spokesman PJ Crowley said today it was US policy not to comment on materials, including classified documents, which may have been leaked.

Iran maintains that its atomic programme is designed to supply power stations, not nuclear warheads. After more than a year of deadlock and stalling, a fresh round of talks with the five permanent members of the UN security council plus Germany is due to begin on 5 December.