WikiLeaks: Cable disclosure process seems extremely illogical and very suspect

According to WikiLeaks, they have a total of 251,287 political cables in their possession. As of today (3 Dec, 2010), they have released a paltry sum of 667 cables. And whilst these released cables do occasionally contain tidbits of interesting info, by and large there has been nothing earth-shaking or revelationary within them.

Obviously I don't know Julian Assange's release timetable or even what sort of criteria he's using to select particular cables for public disclosure but irrespective of that, he sure seems to be going about this in a totally illogical way.
One would have assumed right from the start that Assange would have realized that releasing ANY of these cables would have immediately painted a huge bullseye on his back and made him a walking target to varied "interested and affected" organizations. And the longer he delays in releasing cables with "significant info", the greater the chance of being shutdown and/or arrested by these organizations.

So, would it have not made sense to begin releasing THE most critical and sensitive documents 1st and thereby ensuring that the public gets the best chance to examine them. Then if worse comes to worse and Assange/Wikileaks does get shutdown, at least the most important of these documents get to see the light of day and present themselves for global public scrutiny.

On the topic of Assanges's cable release criteria, so far he's released cables starting at 1966 ... then he skips 6 years and jumps to 1972 ... then jumps to 1975 ... then continues jumping (apparently at random) between other years. Looking at the individual documents for these years, there seems to be no specific and easily recognizable pattern to account for a jump directly from 1966 to 1972 to 1975 to 1979, etc, etc - so why do it this way ?

Also, what stands out like a sore thumb is the fact that there is not a single document released for Desert Storm in 1991 or for the 911 period in 2001 or for the period immediately leading up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. And where are the documents detailing the subsequent search for Bin Laden ?

One would tend to think that cables relating to the above would have been given PRIORITY over anything else and yet all we're being shown are cables with hardly any substance to them.

Well, perhaps it's just me but in my opinion it looks like Assange/Wikileaks seem to have dropped the ball on this golden opportunity to make public a wealth of critical info and instead have settled on doling out dribs and drabs of mediocre cables.

I'll make a prediction here if I may .... Assange and Wikileaks will be shutdown PERMANENTLY long before any cable containing significant data of global import is ever released.


Edit:
In fact, WHY aren't the cables being released in the following order ....

SECRET//NOFORN
SECRET
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
CONFIDENTIAL
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UNCLASSIFIED

instead of the apparently haphazard and random order currently being released ?

The longer this man is allowed to continue the more suspicious it becomes. The gubberment could take him down if they wanted to. Why haven't they?

reply to post by Screwed


My thinking exactly !

If I was in Assange's position and sitting on a goldmine of incriminating documents, then I would be busting my ass to get THE most sensitive and revealing documents out infront of the world ASAP ... based on the assumption that I would have no idea at all how long I would be able to remain in a position to do so.
Just look at the attacks already occurring against the Wikileaks servers and how Assange is struggling to keep access to them available to the world.

Total balls up if you ask me ... in the final analysis we'll get to see NOTHING of significance before he's totally shutdown !

Like I said in a previous thread...


How do we know what's said in 250K cables? You would never ever have time to read them ALL.


So, you will have to take someones word for it.


His time table is irrational, unless he is letting external sources review them before they are published, which at this rate, like I said in a previous thread will take 2-4 years. Don't know how long they can keep dodging DrDos attacks and getting new hosts and proxys....

reply to post by v1rtu0s0

Assange's/Wikileaks window of opportunity for releasing THE most important of the cables was always very small and rapidly shrinking as each day passes. If he's still up and running in 2 weeks time I'll be most surprised. And at the rate they're releasing cables, we'll have only seen the bare minimum percentage of the total before the hammer falls on him for the final time.

Just done a quick calculation:
In the week (almost) since the release started, Wikileaks has released a paltry 0.26 % of the total cables "allegedly" in their possession. We'll be lucky to have seen even 1% before Wikileaks gets shutdown permanently

Assange ... get your act together and release EVERY one of the most important cables NOW ... not tomorrow ... not next week ... but NOW !

reply to post by tauristercus


Maybe the insurance file holds all the juicy stuff..
You'd think the password would be released when Wiki is shut down and the people see how the Government treats people who try to show the truth..

Maybe then the people will believe the Government is hidding the truth and be waiting for what's in those insurance files..

reply to post by backinblack


There would be no need for a so-called "insurance file" if Assange began the disclosure by releasing THE most sensitive and revealing of the cables.

In fact, one could almost believe that the reason for the slow and so far, largely unimportant cable releases, is reminiscent of a "delaying or stalling" tactic.
But what would be the point of doing such if the overwhelming reason for disclosure in the 1st place was to make public the hidden and surreptitious activities employed by the world's governments ?

Surely Assange's/Wikileaks motto should be ...

Hit them hard and hit them fast !

Maybe thats the reason some of us feel like we are being played? And why some of us keep thinking out loud that Julian Assange and Wikileaks is nothing but a government controlled program to rile up the masses. Like this is all a game to someone. But according to all the Soros media matters fill in the blank groupies who conveniently pop up out of the woodwork in the past few weeks and joined ATS will be quick to jump on these comments and insult my intelligence and lack of critical thinking. Oh well what ever makes them happy as I myself am firm in my thinking for myself like a big boy.

Here's my thoughts on this,

The Governments of the world can't stop the leak, but there are people from each of
those Governments that want the truth to be told, and some of them are just as powerful
as the ones that don't want the leaks, they are fighting amongst themselves.

So they are striking a deal to release certain documents at certain times so they can do
damage control.

Just imagine the implications of ET disclosure alone, How do you tell a nation that every
US President and the Government as a whole has lied to them for more than sixty years,
Heck, thats more than some people's lifetime.

It's all about control, wether it's Damage Control or Conrtolling us, it's all a game!

Well I am wonderin' how some Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld haven't got their naughty butts whooped yet. And that's just one of my questions. I feel your pain.

Hmmm, and that makes me wonder if Wikileaks does happen to be on the up & up--let's pretend they haven't been compromised here--maybe the insurance file is what's keeping grand-spy master Daddy Bush from having Julian iced.

reply to post by FutureThinker


That right there is also a very good possibility as well.

reply to post by tauristercus


This just hit the news about 1/2 hour ago.

WikiLeaks founder 'sends out 100,000 copies of secret files as insurance'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has revealed that he has sent out 100,000 encrypted versions of secret files in case anything happens to him.

Assange acknowledged there had been death threats against him and his colleagues because of the damaging leaks. He told for the first time of the insurance policy he had put in place to ensure that his whistleblowing website will not be silenced, whatever drastic steps may be taken by his enemies.

sify.com...

So, Assange and Co can act fast if they wish. Question is, does he slowly drip out these selected Cables, as you have outlined very well in your OP? Yes, he does. So...then why does he operate this way?

Very good questions, and they deserve an answer. IMO, its done on purpose.
Same thing with announcing ahead of time.

You know, think about it. Assange has had so many MSM interviews in the last several weeks.
He has personally been so very busy with the Lamestream Media.
Forbes....
Time Magazine...
Etc.

Maybe he has lost sight of his original intent?
Or was his original intent to get where he is at the moment, by implementing this strategy of show and tell?

For details, see the red in my signature...

The fact is we don't know how, why and what they're having to deal with behind the scenes. Therefore drawing conclusions as to how it should be done or why it's done the way it is, or what it even is, would be an irresponsible thing to do... as it's all just speculation.

Considering the potential for great things to come as a result of these leaks, and considering the lack of credible evidence available to doubt the validity of the source of these leaks -- in my opinion -- we should give them the benefit of the doubt.

Just my opinion.

reply to post by jaynkeel


I have to admit that I'm starting to think along very similar lines.

At the beginning I was all hyped up with the imminent disclosure of all manner of nefarious governmental activities and looking forward to FULL disclosure ... however, what did we end up with instead ? Continued hype about "we've got the goods on the government and we're going to release all" but in reality I tend to think that we, the general populace, are being led by the proverbial "carrot on the end of a stick".

I have to ask again ... just WHEN are we going to see delivery of the "promised goods" that have been dangled before us these last few weeks ?
My best guess ... never.

reply to post by tauristercus


Maybe Wikileak wants to measure the reactions ? n.b Several major newspapers have all 250.000+ cables already. I think it's a process of peer review among journalists who then decides what to publish and in what order, its not just up to Wikileaks to decide. For the example, the blocked out names with XXXXXX is decision made by many people involved in the release process. Obviously not all cables are interesting.

I don't understand why they don't activate "Reston 5." Last time things got hectic, they activated it, and were able to recover.

I still think it's too early to jump on the "Wikileaks is CIA/Soros" band wagon.

Now that I think of it, aren't Soros and the CIA diametrically opposed?

Originally posted by tauristercus
reply to post by jaynkeel

 

I have to admit that I'm starting to think along very similar lines.

At the beginning I was all hyped up with the imminent disclosure of all manner of nefarious governmental activities and looking forward to FULL disclosure ... however, what did we end up with instead ? Continued hype about "we've got the goods on the government and we're going to release all" but in reality I tend to think that we, the general populace, are being led by the proverbial "carrot on the end of a stick".

I have to ask again ... just WHEN are we going to see delivery of the "promised goods" that have been dangled before us these last few weeks ?
My best guess ... never.

edit on 4/12/10 by tauristercus because: (no reason given)

They probably came to him as a big dump of computer files. The file names themselves probably do not have all the information needed to classify them.

Wikileaks IS trying to protect people at risk with redactions. They probably released them to the newspapers and as the newspapers get them ready they go out to the people, b/c the media is helping to redact them.

I don't know how many 'readers' wikileaks has?

I've been reading the cables online and I can't keep up with the release.
Some company that was doing the search for the cables has said that Wikileaks can no longer use their product.
You probably have a team of folks trying to deal with that.

My guess is that wikileaks is stretched really thinly. Trying to stay on the up and up legally has to be trying but vitally needed as people already want to kill them for what they are doing that IS NOT illegal.

reply to post by tauristercus


Exactly, over the summer when all the stuff started leaking out about the war logs and such that was my feeling. I was like hey look someone is doing something to help humanity out and I was stoked. But the further I looked into everything and the manner in which everything has been done leaves me with a serious case of ....huh?
Perhaps it's like one of those moments in your life when all of a sudden something just clicks and you take a step back and say to yourself somethings not right here.

reply to post by tauristercus

In fact, one could almost believe that the reason for the slow and so far, largely unimportant cable releases, is reminiscent of a "delaying or stalling" tactic.

OR..Most on ATS are here because we know things are not how they seem and are, in general, more awake than those who'd rather watch American Idol..

Maybe releasing a few to start would draw attention from TPTB and the MSM so more of the sheeple will take notice when the good stuff is revealed..

I'd guess millions more peo9ple are aware of Wikileaks existance today than were a few weeks ago..

I'd say it's a great plan, if that's what it is..