From The Local.De
Wikileaks reveals potential terrorist targets
Published: 6 Dec 10 12:33 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20101206-31623.html
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Wikileaks released another sensitive US diplomatic cable over the weekend, this time detailing overseas sites Washington considers vital to global security and threatened by terrorism – among them several German assets.
The controversial whistleblower site published the cable late on Sunday, listing potential targets that experts told British daily The Times were a “gift for terrorist organisations.”
The list of “critical infrastructure and key resources located abroad” detailed hundreds of pipelines, important data cables, and businesses belonging to international industrial and pharmaceutical giants. If destroyed, these sites could damage US interests, the diplomatic communique said.
In Germany such sites included the BASF headquarters in Ludwigshafen, which was described as the “world’s largest integrated chemical complex,” and Hamburg’s port.
Other crucial sites include the northwestern coastal city of Norden and the North Sea island of Sylt, where two important underwater data and communication cables connecting North America and Europe reach land.
The list was the result of a February 2009 order from Washington for officials to compile a list of international assets critical for the United States.
The plants of industrial giant Siemens were also listed for “essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals” and the production of hydroelectric dam turbines and generators.
Other companies included Dräger Safety in the northern German city of Lübeck, “critical to gas detection capability,” and Junghans Fienwerktechnik in the southern city of Schramberg, “critical to the production of mortars.”
A number of German pharmaceutical companies that produce critical vaccines, medications and medical tests, including insulin and a small pox vaccine, were also included on the list.
Britain and the US condemned Wikileaks’ decision to publish the list among a bundle of some 250,000 secret diplomatic documents obtained by the site.
“There are strong and valid reasons information is classified, including critical infrastructure and key resources that are vital to the national and economic security of any country,” US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told The Times.
“Julian Assange may be directing his efforts at the United States but he is placing the interests of many countries and regions at risk. This is irresponsible.”
But Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told daily The Financial Times that the release proves the US government uses embassy officials for intelligence gathering, despite claims to the contrary.
“In terms of security issues, while this cable details the strategic importance of assets across the world, it does not give any information as to their exact locations, security measures, vulnerabilities or any similar factors, though it does reveal the US asked its diplomats to report back on these matters,” she told the paper.
I’m kind of confused here. Terrorist organizations were already targeting these sites, so exactly what was the danger of releasing the info? IMO now citizens can be more aware of their surroundings in those areas and may actually prevent an attack… Just a thought.
Most of the stuff WIKILEAKS released is stuff we already knew. We just had no actual proof…. Now we got proof and the anti-Israel pro-islam crowd is not happy.
I don’t think any of that info is going to make or break our foreign policy and if there are any people to be targeted its the LEAKERS not the LEAKEES.
Robert you are saying the terrorists were already targeting those sites, how do you know? Granted they are prime targets but now the terrorists know that the US governments thinks the sites are necessary for the US. There is a whole lot of difference in a prime target and a vital source of supply, the first is to be guarded, the second is to be taken out by any means.
Don’t believe everything you read! There may be people who try to tell you things that are not true. Maybe the American government tries to get things done by giving people some information they want to believe, because it is not coming from the US Government. Look at how China looks at North Korea nowadays, a new war could end it all for North Korea, look at how Saudi Arabia looks at Iraq, never thought of this could happen.
The WikiLeaks information is to big to get out of some official computer, there must have been some help to spread strategic information, mark my words. It will be out in the open someday, maybe not tomorrow, next year or the year after. I’t to much fun for the US Government to see alliances fall apart in dark area’s in the world.
vanhetgoor you are semi-right, it was too much for one PFC to have gotten from one computer, but not too much for a high ranking person to have gotten. But you are putting patriotic motives on the leaks, nothing the Obama administration has done (and the leaker has to be a high ranking member of Obama’s team) has shown the slightest patriotism to the US. The cables are very damaging to the US and our intelligence gathering capabilities, as well as getting allies to trust us. Any damage to our allies is secondary to the leaker, the main target was and is the US, that is why the leaks are so bad. Wikileaks is run by a man who is determined to destroy the US, and he has allies in the White House. There is an old saying actions speak louder then words, the Obama teams actions have damaged the US and now you want us to think this was done to help us? That statement would be funny if it wasn’t so naive.
Wikileaks was originally intended to help combat corruption, but is now used to undermine the war against Islam and the drug trade.
Time to shut it down for good.
Too many lives are at stake when this sort of shit gets revealed. It gives the terrorists the advantage of being forewarned. All they then need to do is to change their targets.
As I said: shut it down and arrest those responsible for leaking the intelligence to them.
I will agree with you on that, shut it down, arrest the leakers and then put them and the wikileaks people in the pen for a long, long time. I would say execute them but the Europeans won’t extradite them to us if we don’t promise to execute them. Of course a retired police friend says that we should play tit for tat and refuse to extradite murders to Europe until the promise to execute them.