WikiLeaks to release more US diplomatic records
UK: Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks was on Monday to publish
more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the
1970s, founder Julian Assange revealed.
The website has collated a variety of records including cables,
intelligence reports and congressional correspondence and is releasing
them in a searchable form.
Assange has carried out much of the work from his refuge in Ecuador’s
embassy in London and told the domestic Press Association that the
records highlighted the “vast range and scope” of US influence around
the world.
Assange has been holed up in the tiny diplomatic mission for nine
months as he seeks to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of
rape and sexual assault, which he denies. WikiLeaks sent shockwaves
around the diplomatic world in 2010 when it released a set of more than
250,000 leaked US cables.
The new records, dating from the beginning of 1973 to the end of
1976, have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national
archives. They include many communications which were sent by or to then
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Many of the documents, which
WikiLeaks has called the Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD), are
marked NODIS (no distribution) or Eyes Only, while others were
originally marked as secret.
Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in June after losing his
battle in the British courts against extradition to Sweden.
Ecuador granted him asylum in August but Britain has refused to allow
him safe passage out of the country, sparking a diplomatic stalemate.
AFP |