Daniel Ellsberg Endorses the WikiLeaks Publication of Iraq War Log

 There appears to be a direct correlation between Daniel Ellsberg, once called 'The most dangerous man in America' and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. According to the article below, Ellsberg famously leaked 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents much as Assange is now leaking Pentagon Documents.
   . . . June

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The 'most dangerous man in America':
gulfnews

Daniel Ellsberg, former US military analyst, speaks during a press conference in London to endorse the WikiLeaks publication of almost 400,000 Iraq war logs last week

The 'most dangerous man in America' is how former US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger once described the man. But in person Daniel Ellsberg is anything but. Down to earth, friendly and a bit jetlagged is how I find the 79-year-old former military analyst when we meet in London — where he had journeyed to attend the largest intelligence leak in US history by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Nearly 40 years ago, long before Julian Assange became a household name, Ellsberg famously leaked 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents which are said to have helped bring to an end the Vietnam War.

There are, of course, key differences between the ways the two leaks were conducted. For one, in Ellsberg's case, back in 1969, the internet wasn't an option when it came to spreading the word. He had to copy the Pentagon Papers on a slow Xerox machine in the small advertising agency of a friend while his 10-year-old daughter cut the words "Top Secret" off the top and bottom of the pages. His son helped too.

It wasn't a decision he had taken lightly. Ellsberg risked life in prison for carrying through with the task he had set himself. Yet he wanted his children to know their father wasn't a traitor, that he felt what he was doing was right for the country. A top Pentagon official at the time, working for the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg spent months smuggling out the papers in his briefcase after becoming deeply unhappy with the long war in Vietnam which was ongoing under President Nixon at the time. The documents exposed the lies and cover-ups the American people had been fed about the war.

He initially tried releasing the documents through politicians, but when that didn't work out, Ellsberg got the New York Times and Washington Post involved. With some difficulty, the information was finally released in 1971. Ellsberg went on the run but was eventually arrested and charged under the Espionage Act. He was acquitted in 1973 after gross government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering were revealed.

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Julian Assange, WIKILEAKS Founder Hits Out At Wired Magazine

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder has attacked Wired magazine, claiming it is deliberately spreading misinformation. According to the following article, Assange said that speculation on one of the US tech magazine's blogs led to more than 700 articles being published all over the world this week about WikiLeak's SUPPOSED upcoming release of confidential Iraq war documents.Maybe they need to confirm their sources.
    . . . .June

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WikiLeaks founder takes aim at credibility of Wired magazine
The Daily Telegraph:

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has attacked Wired magazine, claiming it is deliberately spreading misinformation.

The criticism comes amid ongoing speculation this week about the release of confidential Iraq war documents.

In a post on Twitter yesterday, Assange, 39, accused one of the US tech magazine's blogs of being a 'known opponent' of WikiLeaks and a 'spreader of all sorts of misinformation' about the whistle-blowing website.

Assange wrote that speculation on the blog led to more than 700 articles being published all over the world this week about WikiLeak's supposed upcoming release of confidential Iraq war documents.

He wrote that the only source of claims that WikiLeaks would release nearly 400,000 documents on Iraq was Wired blog.

Assange wrote that the magazine had "ramped up" its attacks on WikiLeaks since the whistle-blowing organization called for an investigation into what role Wired magazine played in the arrest of US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning.


Manning was arrested by US authorities on suspicion of leaking video footage of a US air strike in Baghdad. The footage was published by WikiLeaks in April 2010.

Assange also accused two Wired blogs - Threat Level and Danger Room - of "ship[ping] puff pieces" and publishing "a tremendous amount of other completely false information [about] WikiLeaks."

Wired senior editor Kevin Poulsen hit back at Assange's attack, saying the magazine and its blogs had "diligently charted WikiLeaks' successes, and its setbacks" in more than 70 stories over the years.

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WIKILEAKS FUNDING Blocked After Government Blacklisting?

 According to the article below, the whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government. Moneybookers emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist. This came a few days after the Pentagon publicly expressed its anger at WikiLeaks and its founder for obtaining thousands of classified military documents. Retaliation?
     . . . June

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WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting
Media | The Guardian:

The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.

Moneybookers, a British-registered internet payment company that collects WikiLeaks donations, emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist.

The apparent blacklisting came a few days after the Pentagon publicly expressed its anger at WikiLeaks and its founder, Australian citizen Julian Assange, for obtaining thousands of classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan, in one of the US army's biggest leaks of information. The documents caused a sensation when they were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel, revealing hitherto unreported civilian casualties.

WikiLeaks defied Pentagon calls to return the war logs and destroy all copies. Instead, it has been reported that it intends to release an even larger cache of military documents, disclosing other abuses in Iraq.

Moneybookers moved against WikiLeaks on 13 August, according to the correspondence, less than a week after the Pentagon made public threats of reprisals against the organisation. Moneybookers wrote to Assange: "Following an audit of your account by our security department, we must advise that your account has been closed … to comply with money laundering or other investigations conducted by government authorities."

When Assange emailed to ask what the problem was, he says he was told in response by Daniel Stromberg, the Moneybookers e-commerce manager for the Nordic region: "When I did my regular overview of my customers, I noticed that something was wrong with your account and I emailed our risk and legal department to solve this issue.

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