२९ नोव्हेंबर, २०१०

"All right. I've read the entire Wikileaks dump. And there's nothing in it."

Overheard at Meadhouse.

६१ टिप्पण्या:

Clyde म्हणाले...

The key to any consequential dump is fiber. Lots of fiber.

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

I haven't read that much about this but I understand some PFC in Intel was the one responsible for this leak. Couple of questions:

Is it customary for a PFC in Intel to have this kind of access to classified material? If he didn't did he hack into the computer system to get it?

Fred4Pres म्हणाले...

Clyde, I wish I had that fiber the day after Thanksgiving.

BTW--congratulations on winning the thread out of the box.

Fred4Pres म्हणाले...

Hoosier--all I know is it has to be George W. Bush's fault.

TWM म्हणाले...

"Is it customary for a PFC in Intel to have this kind of access to classified material? If he didn't did he hack into the computer system to get it? "

Diplomatic material? No way. Not unless he was assigned to an embassy or consulate as a comm guy.

As someone commented on another post . . . this kind of stuff could only have come from someone at State or even in the WH.

Opus One Media म्हणाले...

Some of you remember the Pentagon Papers in real time. It was wrong on a lot of levels and there is no "right to know" that I am aware of. Curious yes. "Right" as in bill of rights - no.

I wouldn't dignify whoever leaked this to Wiki-leaks with the honor of being a whistleblower. This is just wrong and thoughtless.

.....Let's play I've got a secret.......

अनामित म्हणाले...

I thought this bit was revealing:

When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in a group of detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe.”


Can you imagine how hard the folks in Belgium were laughing at these clowns?

The sound of the toilet flushing is Hillary Clinton's legacy...

AllenS म्हणाले...

Hoosier, I posted this earlier this morning.

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

As someone commented on another post . . . this kind of stuff could only have come from someone at State or even in the WH.

Well it certainly begs the question because if some PFC in the Army either has access or is able to hack into that access, this kind of information, we have some very serious problems.

The Drill SGT म्हणाले...

HDHouse said...
I wouldn't dignify whoever leaked this to Wiki-leaks with the honor of being a whistleblower. This is just wrong and thoughtless.


I just want to say that every once in a while, HD, you make sense.

This is one of those times :)

To the rest of you, none of that snark about stopped clocks, etc.

Fen म्हणाले...

Many more cables name diplomats’ confidential sources, from foreign legislators and military officers to human rights activists and journalists, often with a warning to Washington: “Please protect” or “Strictly protect.”

Shoot. Assuage. Now.

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

AllenS, this stood out from that article.

He said that he "had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months".

That is pretty incredible.

Fen म्हणाले...

Do his entire family. We need an object lesson.

Fen म्हणाले...

Manning too. Convict then execute.

JAL म्हणाले...

@ Hoosier -- my first question was how?

These couldn't have come from that punk kid who had people killed in Afghanistan because of his infantile arrogance (may he live long enough to repent). Seems he thinks the world is his game.

But Drudge has a link to The Guardian and there it is, plain as day. He downloaded stuff on a RW CD he brought in and pretended to be playing while he worked. And no one noticed.

And the system did not pick it up? Well, the system must tracked it because they found him pretty easily.

So there you have it. Some kid thinks he's so cool while he's playing world of WOW Diplomacy in real time.

Why a low level enlisted man had access to it is another question.

Fen म्हणाले...

"That is pretty incredible."

During all of this, Manning also wrote to Lamo of feeling socially isolated and at times, getting in trouble with his supervisors as he questioned the course of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Supervisors?

TWM म्हणाले...

"Well it certainly begs the question because if some PFC in the Army either has access or is able to hack into that access, this kind of information, we have some very serious problems."

Agreed. And if he did have access that easily then things certainly have changed since I was in the service. I had a TS(SCI) clearance and worked at HQ EUCOM and never saw diplomatic stuff. It required more than just a TS, but a "need to know" involving WINTEL and who knows how many other acronyms . . .

Fen म्हणाले...

He was arrested in May. Is it possible he had higher rank and was busted down?

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

If the news reports are true, the PFC takes the fall. I hope that other people in his chain of command are on the (figurative) chopping block as well.

Information should be free. It belongs in the public domain.

Perhaps all known information about this PFC should be released, then.

JAL म्हणाले...

My other thought was no big whoop content wise, really. (Except the idea that it's all out there... like hanging around in other bathrooms and bedrooms ... ewww. "Junk" we don't want or need to see or touch.)

Everyone KNOWS that the diplomats, functionaries and others are wheeling and dealing and dissing everyone all over the world... And what do they find? Really America doesn't come across as evil as much as dorkey as far as I can see.

Assange is a wimp. A real jerk. Like people who are afraid to say anything remotely critical of Islam lest they get their heads cut off.

Now *I* want him to do a spill of Iran's, and Saudi Arabia's, and "Palestine's" and North Korea's stuff. Hey -- I'll even settle for stuff from Pahkistan as a starter.

C'mon Julian. Use your magic boy! Go for the Big Game.

(Although some of the info that's there, that we already knew in our gut, about Iran and Saudi Arabia and NK ... For all you those who think those guys are not so bad after all, it's all a misunderstanding of culture ... Think again.)

James म्हणाले...

What are the odds on the repeal of DADT after what Pfc. Manning did?

SteveR म्हणाले...

The fact that this one low ranking person had access to this information and was able to remove it in the way he did, and that any one system would have that much on it, appears inexplicable.

But if you have any first hand experience with these type of networks and how they are managed, and by whom, it makes perfect sense.

Fen म्हणाले...

Information should be free. It belongs in the public domain.

Then lets start with the Soros security detail.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

What are the odds on the repeal of DADT after what Pfc. Manning did?

That's not the kind of telling DADT concerns.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

House, are you feeling alright? Seriously, did you eat something over the weekend that disagreed with you? Are you getting the flu or suffering from some old age disease?

For once you wrote something I could agree with you on. I better go take my temperature just in case.

jayne_cobb म्हणाले...

People often forget that Watergate was the result of Nixon's attempt to plug leaks after the release of the Pentagon Papers; he didn't order that particular bugging but it was still an action taken by his team.

While the papers had nothing to do with Nixon, they did make other nations far less likely to negotiate with us for fear of a leak (think China and the USSR). Frankly this is the most likely danger from the whole Wikileaks thing.

I figure that Althouse's "Obama is like Nixon" tag is going to get some major use if these humiliating releases continue.

James म्हणाले...

@MadisonMan

Of course not, but I was referring to this titbit:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7918632/Bradley-Manning-suspected-source-of-Wikileaks-documents-raged-on-his-Facebook-page.html

"Mr Manning, who is openly homosexual, began his gloomy postings on January 12, saying: "Bradley Manning didn't want this fight. Too much to lose, too fast."

ndspinelli म्हणाले...

Diplomats are spies...alert all media..diplomats are spies. Could there be a bigger non-story??

I have a friend that worked Soviet counterintelligence for the FBI. Most of his subjects were diplomats...doesn't everyone know this?

Michael म्हणाले...

Well, this Wikileaks guy asked for it. The State Dept. has sent him a letter telling him in very strong language to stop.

You can only push Obama so far.

Luke Lea म्हणाले...

Among their revelations, to be detailed in The [NY]Times in coming days:

¶ "A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device."

Makes you wonder if Pakistan has nuclear weapons after all? Israel doesn't seem worried. Could it be those five they set off (all on one day!) back in the 1990's were a hoax?

In which case it would be one less reason we should stay involved in that corner of the world.

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

I think Israel is probably not concerned as much since should Pakistan go, chances are, those nukes would probably be set off in Dehli before Tel Aviv. I don’t think there is a huge Death to Israel movement in Pakistan. That being said, I like to believe that maybe between the US, India, Russia and even China, that there is some secret cooperative task force that is ready at a moment’s notice to move in and secure those nukes should Pakistan fall apart but maybe I’ve read too many Clancy novels

William म्हणाले...

Maybe we have more to fear from Little Brother than Big Brother. The fulcrum of technology has shifted and given a PFC more power than a CIA director.....I would feel more sanguine about this phenomenon if China, Russia, Iran, etc were troubled by doc dumps by disgruntled file clerks.

अनामित म्हणाले...

The White House fired off a nasty letter:

President Obama supports responsible, accountable, and open government at home and around the world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter to that goal. By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals. We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.


How much longer until we see Obama in front of the fireplace in a cardigan?

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

Mr Manning, who is openly homosexual

He's also the child of a marriage that ended in a messy divorce. (Crack, where are you?)

I advise caution in painting with a broad brush.

ricpic म्हणाले...

What about Gaddafi's voluptuous Ukranian nurse?!

AllenS म्हणाले...

MadMan,

I read earlier, that what set off Mr Manning was his breakup with his boyfriend.

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

"All right. I've read the entire Wikileaks dump. And there's nothing in it."

Wrong - the "news" is our leaders are crazy.

It'll be news to somebody, anyway.

AllenS म्हणाले...

Here's something that I got from The Telegraph:

After arriving in Iraq the young soldier, who is gay, complained of feeling socially "isolated" in the military.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

Fen said...
Manning too. Convict then execute


That's a little harsh. I mean I know Eli threw a few interceptions but he played pretty good Sunday.

Tough crowd.

chickelit म्हणाले...

This wikileaks thing is starting to remind me of the oil leak off Louisiana.

"Did you plug the hole yet Daddy?"

Phil 314 म्हणाले...

Is Mr. Assuage an enemy combatant? Is he the example for which foreign abduction and rendition was invented?

Why does his last name seem so inappropriate?

Meade म्हणाले...

Remember when Dubya used the term "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of Union address? Iraq, Iran, North Korea -- rogue states determined to share with each other the means to destroy and defeat the U.S. and her allies. Well, here's another shocker from the recent Wikileak dump.

3. North Korea supplied Iran with long-range missiles.

Both Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities and the range of its missiles remain in dispute -- and that dispute proved particularly problematic in 2008 and 2009, when the U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe had a deleterious impact on the U.S.-Russian diplomatic relationship. The cables released yesterdayreveal that, in fact, the State Department was in possession of intelligence that North Korea had provided Iran with missiles based on a Russian design that could carry nuclear warheads to Berlin -- or Moscow.

Though the New York Times noted that there was publicly available information that North Korea had sold Iran components for such a weapon, the U.S. government believes that North Korea in fact sold the full missiles to Iran and that the missiles could easily allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) capable of striking not just Israel, Germany or Russia... but of striking at Western Europe or even the United States.


Gee, what a cowboy warmonger neocon Bushitler was, huh?

Meade म्हणाले...

LINK

jr565 म्हणाले...

Hoosier Daddy wrote:
Is it customary for a PFC in Intel to have this kind of access to classified material? If he didn't did he hack into the computer system to get it?


Apparently, based on his own admission to his handler he was able to bring a rewriteable CD of say Lady Gaga, which he erased then filled with all of these files,while pretending ot hum Lady Gaga songs. And he had unrestricted access for months.

jr565 म्हणाले...

Though he is in fact an american citizen can we waterboard this twerp? We can call it training. He was supposed to go through SERE training but never did, so we're just helping him pass his training (Referring to the gay soldier and not To Wikileaks albino).
And afterwards he should be put into stress positions, forced to undergo sleep deprivation, and then finally solitary confinement. Then he should be flogged like that kid who went to Japan and graffitied up the place, then he should be stoned like female adulterers in Iran.
Then he should be drawn and quarted with his limbs sent to the four corners of the US and his head put on a spike on top of the flagpole hanging the American flag at the White House.

Ralph L म्हणाले...

He's also the child of a marriage that ended in a messy divorce
John Walker Lindh's father left his mother for a MAN. That fact was buried by the MSM, but it might explain (but not excuse) his treason.

WV - syloppee - yeah, water sports can be

KCFleming म्हणाले...

No worries about your health records though, under Obamacare.

That will have much better security than the CIA and NSA.

Opus One Media म्हणाले...

Meade said...
"Gee, what a cowboy warmonger neocon Bushitler was, huh?"

You could have just stopped at moron. This is the crack North Korean missles that can hardly hit the air without blowing up...and by golly they must have been the cat's meow years back.

Just keep reaching for the sky there Meade...just keep reaching.

What is that sign over your home office door? "Abandon all reason those who search for facts in here"?

Meade म्हणाले...

Health records, TSA scans, our southern border... we're the Obama Democrats. Trust us - we have no idea what we're doing.

Michael म्हणाले...

HD: So you're cool with N. Korea based on your opinion of their competency?

Automatic_Wing म्हणाले...

HD has a chest full of Soviet medals, he's cool with N. Korea regardless of their competency.

अनामित म्हणाले...

@Fen-

Shoot. Assuage. Now.

Do his entire family. We need an object lesson.


You are evil, Fen... pure fucking evil. I would ask how you sleep at night but I know you sleep well, content in the self-satisfaction of having worshiped at the altar of authority. Why do you hate the free press and free speech, and transparency and honesty in government? Anti-freedom authoritarian people like you are the biggest threat to our country, worse than Al-Qaeda. Folks like you want to turn our country into something like China where no one can speak out against the government without risking their lives.

What if someone were to say that your family should be rounded up and shot? Oh, forget it... you have no empathy or values... you are soulless and empty. Death is nothing but casual to you.

I hope you die, Fen. I'd say that I hope your family dies too-- as an "object lesson"-- but I won't do that because I am not a death-lover like you are.

Meade म्हणाले...

@HDH

But how is Julian Assange not a modern day whistleblower just like Daniel Ellsberg was in 1971?

The Pentagon Papers, which exposed the immoral imperialistic war America was prosecuting, led directly, through Watergate, to Nixon's resignation.

Like candidate Nixon, candidate Obama promised to end our immoral imperialistic war. You should want Obama to green light a secret operation to break into Julian Assange's psychiatrist's office. When that criminal act leads back to Obama, he'll have to resign in shame. Congress will then defund the illegal War on Terror that Lyndon W.Bush Johnson started and the voters will elect the next Jimmy Carter.

Only the next Jimmy Carter we hope will be wise enough not to splash at scared terrorized bunny rabbits swimming their little hearts out trying to get away from the hunting dogs, hoping New Jimmy Carter will offer them the love, safety and sanctuary that that old bastard First Jimmy Carter couldn't.

Hey! Then maybe we can have Next Ronald Reagan!

Bushman of the Kohlrabi म्हणाले...

Great. America suffers its biggest intelligence debacle in decades under Obama. In addition, we have a woman serving as SOS whose only qualification is being a political threat to the head moron.

We are so fucked.

Unknown म्हणाले...

Wait a minute - you mean Kersh wasn't saved by The Force?

Unknown म्हणाले...

http://www.abc.es/20101129/internacional/wikileaks-kirchner-201011291626.html

David म्हणाले...

Wiki Revelation: The Saudis, the Egyptians and other Middle East Arab countries would like the USA and Israel to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE.

What a surprise!

Overall, the leaks confirm what relatively well informed and half sane people already know.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Another gem:

Under this theory King Abdullah expected to talk about militarily confronting Iran, and he couldn’t believe it when Obama kept reciting bromides about the earth-shattering importance of the Israeli/Arab conflict and his enthusiasm for solving it. That was a regular public topic between the two – Obama’s first talk with Abdullah focused on Gaza and the President later emphasized his abiding support for Saudi Arabia’s “Israel Has To Commit Suicide” plan – but the King kind of thought he was dealing with a serious person who could separate spectacle from policy. Instead he got the equivalent of an International Relations graduate student enamored with pseudo-sophisticated “insights” he’d gleaned from Arab media outlets

But Obama is like, so smart.

अनामित म्हणाले...

This is the crack North Korean missles that can hardly hit the air without blowing up...and by golly they must have been the cat's meow years back.

Um, so nothing you've said addresses the fact that President Bush was right, and idiots like you were wrong.

Yet again.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Why do you hate the free press and free speech, and transparency and honesty in government?

I think you should continue to conflate the issues.

Really. I do.

jr565 म्हणाले...

Meade wrote:
The Pentagon Papers, which exposed the immoral imperialistic war America was prosecuting, led directly, through Watergate, to Nixon's resignation.

The ironic thing about the Pentago papers is that Ellsberg stole documents that didn't actually impicatie Nixon in anything really bad. It wa his predecessors (Like Kennedy for example) which the Papers put a critical light on. So he didn't go through with Watergate to protect his own malfeasance, but to get dirt on Ellsberg for revealing data about the presidency in general and for revlealing state secrets which were classified.