LONDON, Dec. 2, 2010
WikiLeaks Backup Plan Could Drop Diplomatic Bomb
Supporters Downloading Heavily Encrypted File Told They Will Receive Key if Trouble Befalls Website, Founder
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Play CBS Video Video Swedish Court Denies Assange's Appeal As governments around the world try to stop the release of any more embarrassing state secrets, Sweden's high court turned down Julian Assange's appeal. Elizabeth Palmer has the latest on the WikiLeaks founder and his whereabouts.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in this undated picture. (CBS)
CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks
The legal net is tightening around Assange. On Thursday, Sweden's highest court turned down an appeal from his legal team, which means an international warrant for his arrest in a sexual assault case is valid, CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports.
(Scroll down to watch a video of this report)
Supporters of WikiLeaks around the world are downloading a file the site calls an insurance policy. The files are encrypted with a code so strong it's unbreakable, even by governments.
If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files. There would then be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies.
"What most folks are speculating is that the insurance file contains unreleased information that would be especially embarrassing to the U.S. government if it were released," said Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent for CNET, a CBS company.
In other words, the Interpol arrest warrant may eventually stop Assange but not the spread of even more Wiki-secrets.
British police, who would carry out the arrests, said they haven't yet because the warrant wasn't correctly filed.
Assange is one of the most reviled or -- depending on a person's point of view -- revered men on Earth. He's in hiding somewhere in or around London and, CBS News has been told, working hard to keep his site up and running.
"He has obviously read, like everybody else, about the allegations that are in the media," said Assange lawyer Mark Stephens. "He's read about Interpol notices. He's read about warrants, but nobody's actually been in touch with him or any of his legal team."
WikiLeaks has come under multiple cyber-attacks from hackers in the past few days and on Wednesday was refused access to its U.S. computer servers run by Amazon.com.
"So it was left trying to deal with a really large and complex attack with not many servers," WikiLeaks employee James Ball said.
But Assange and his team stayed one step ahead, moving to European servers.
The website leaked even more sensitive documents Thursday. They include some eye-opening diplomatic cables in which U.S. officials complain of overwhelming corruption in Afghanistan. The diplomats claim nearly every Afghan government official is skimming money from American-funded projects.
More on WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks: CIA Asked State Dept. for U.N. Info
Cables: U.S. Warned of Bribery in Bout Case
WikiWhere? Assange in Hiding as Warrant Looms
Who is Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange?
WikiLeaks' Assange Being Persecuted, Lawyer Says
WikiLeaks' Assange On Wanted List
WikiLeaks: Putin Likely Knew of Spy Murder Plot
Next WikiLeak Could Turn Assange into Robin Hood
After WikiLeaks, Whistle-Blower Bill Gains Steam
Wikileaks: "Hyperactive" Sarkozy Employs Yes Men
Clinton: WikiLeaks Won't Hurt U.S. Diplomacy
Wikileaks Blocked Behind Chinese Firewall
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Add a Comment See all 84 Comments
- The world FINALLY has a REAL SUPERHERO!
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- Who cares? Govenment/business secrecy has been going on for eons...I don't visit WiLeaks anyway...
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- So now, blackmail?
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- well that the punishment you get in politics when you lie and treat the votes like mugs we at the junkie against crime are about to pay some more government liars back in their own currency we have a petition on care 2 to try the D.E.A for war crimes in their drug war not on drugs but instead on the victims of illegal drugs ,their own people .So that makes them guilty of treason as well these people have victimized addicts for 80 years and it can eaisily be proved they passed the drug laws to enable the rich to steal of the poor and sick with the outcome of the NUREMBERG war crimes trial. i can't see them getting out of this one.
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- Historically, the track record of black covert operations conducted here and abroad might be expected of the Nazi Gestapo during WWII, but not of a democratic republic. Case in point: The recent release of the much redacted CIA's "Family Jewels." What we have heard about the overthrow of governments such as in Chile and Iran, as well as the attempted assassination of foreign leaders is just the tip of the iceberg. Going back to the early 60's, "False Flag" operations have been planned by the military such as "Operation Northwoods." Operations MKUltra and Mongoose are examples of what the CIA has been up to, and the three assassinations that took place in the 1960's still have lingering questions about CIA's involvement.
Gary Webb's book "Dark Alliance" exposed the fact that cocaine was being run into Mena Arkansas while Clinton was governor; by the CIA's Barry Seal; through Noriega in Panama; during the Regan administration; and on the same aircraft used to run supplies during Iran-Contra. Another book by Alfred McCoy called "The Politics of Heroin" tells of the CIA complicity in the global drug trade. Eileen Wellsome's book "The Plutonium Files" published in the 90's for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, exposes how U.S. government sponsored scientists' injected pregnant women with plutonium, and fed it to mentally retarded teenagers in their breakfast cereal without their knowledge. We would have executed Joseph Mengele at Nuremburg for doing this. We also executed Japanese "war criminals" for water boarding U.S. POW's, now we do the same thing!
So when Wikileaks came out with the attack helicopter killing unarmed civilians in Iraq, the operation seemed like Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) judging from the laughter and joking in the voice transmissions. This, along with Predator UAV's killing civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and assassination teams targeting anyone labeled as an "unlawful enemy combatant" (thereby denying them due process), means that our Constitution is meaningless to those who have sworn to uphold it.
Extraordinary Rendition (kidnapping of anyone off of any street anywhere in the world, and taking them to secret torture sites) is the act of a fascist totalitarian dictatorship, rather than that of a democratic republic. Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights in general seem to have been shredded and used for toilet paper. ANYONE can be illegally kidnapped, held indefinitely, without charge or council and tortured, thanks to the Patriot Act. In the name of the war on drugs and terror, probable cause, search and seizure, as well as due process laws have all been thrown out the window!
So please, don't expect me to somehow become incensed when Wikileaks discloses what goes on behind closed diplomatic doors, especially when the mainstream media fails to investigate anything the government does. Like the Pentagon Papers, any war crimes being committed by the government and exposed, should be a rallying cry for justice, and for us to get out of countries we have illegally invaded.
The lies told by Bush about the reasons for invading Iraq were based upon doctored military intelligence. There were no WMD, nor did Iraq have ties to Al Qaeda, and the Bush administration knew it. The plans for the invasion of Iraq were on the drawing board BEFORE 911, along with the Patriot Act. Anyone who has doubts about the Neocons agenda should read Brzezinski's "The Grand Chessboard," and PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses," both published in the 90's before 911. Even the invasion of Afghanistan is in question since 911 was never fully investigated to begin with. There never would have been a 911 Commission had it not been for the "Jersey widows". The Bush Administration never wanted 911 investigated, and controlled it from the start. The fact is Building 7's collapse was never mentioned in the report, and the Commission failed to follow the money trail to Pakistan's ISI. Unfortunately, all the evidence was removed from the crime scene and shipped overseas before an investigation was even started. - Reply to this comment
- Who is going to leak the Swiss Bank Accounts! May be an inside guy!
Everyone knows what world and Asia governments are far before the wiki leaks, BBC can leak them, or get the S-Asian leaders and interrogate them until they leak and to leak the words too. World Bank money is being eaten by Bureaucrats etc in India..related to a license for airline and 3G issue a big company owner in India spoke as if he did not bribe or get recommendation from bureaucrats before, whom is he supporting... - Reply to this comment
- For the last ten years of the Afghanistan debacle we Americans have been "trained" to respect how important all of these "secrets" are. Why, it's a matter of "national security," we hear again and again as we are fed more lies, coverup, and other distortions. Our government leaders have flushed our Constitution down the toilet in the name of all this secrecy. Many have been tortured and killed by our Gestapo looking for all of these "secrets." So when the truth about Afghanistan and other misguided adventures of our government comes to light, our government scrambles because it is obvious what a bunch of crooks and liars they are. Heads should roll.
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- coucou,
Quelle histoire!
La question qui vient ? l'esprit est la suivante :
le monde sera t-il meilleur, apr?s la diffusion de ces documents par Wikileaks ?
Non! je doute fort.
conclusion il faut ?sp?rer que julian assange, ne soit pas pris pour cible. ce serait injuste car,
les vrais responsables de cette temp?te sont ailleurs.
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What a story!
The question that comes to mind is:
the world will it be better after the release of these documents by Wikileaks?
No! I doubt it.
conclusion it is hoped that Julian Assange, is not targeted. it would be unfair because
the real perpetrators of this storm are elsewhere. au revoir - Reply to this comment
- If politics is a brothel, it is now a brothel set on fire. Congratulations to you hobos who get to warm yourselves.
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- OOPS! Here is the interview with Assange.
http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html - Reply to this comment
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