List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked

I haven't posted in any WL discussion yet,
but with this release I have to say, imo this info is endangering the public.
There are 4 companies listed in my country alone, Belgium.... 4 critical companies in one of the smallest countries of the world (one being just behind my corner.) Good going WL, show the nutcases of the world where to hit hard and paralize an entire country!

I'm serously doubting the intentions of WL, more, I wonder who is behind it, besides Asangne...
Who is dealing the cards here and who's agenda does it fit best? think, think.... propaganda, brainwashing the public.... WL is more known then Wikipedia at this point...
Soon people wil be screaming for someones head on a stick which will fit a certain agenda very well...

Not that I am surprised, but I know a few sites that should be on the list and yet are not!

*scratches head*

Although I try to keep an open mind, the only assumption I keep coming up with is that we are seeing another agenda being played out here..

I do question why he is in the UK if the UK is Americas bestest pal in the world, especially as we have an extradition process that favours America.

reply to post by Yetichi



The point is that this cable gives specific confirmation that these locations are valuable. Maybe they knew about them, maybe they didn't. The problem is that we don't know how many of those locations have or have not already been considered. If even just a few of these locations are news to groups that legitimately want to harm the US, then it just gives them more options.

National security doesn't work if you just assume that enemies know about your vulnerabilities anyway. If there's even a slight chance that a leak could do real harm, it shouldn't be leaked.

Here's another analogy:

Would you take a pill knowing that it won't benefit you in any way, but does have a slight chance of giving you cholera?

The answer should be obvious. If taking a certain action yields no intrinsic benefits and carries the possibility of negative consequences, the smart choice is not to take that action. If WikiLeaks is what is claims to be (an organization dedicated to getting "truth" out), then there's really no benefit to the public (whom WikiLeaks is trying to reach) regarding the release of this cable . On the other hand, there is a chance that it has given terrorists and rogue countries some new ideas. It's an action with no benefit to the target audience and yet it puts the target audience at risk (however small the chance may be). Sure sounds risky to me.

On the other hand, it could be argued that there is a benefit to this release, but that benefit only applies to WikiLeaks or Assange. As I mentioned previously, this leak seems a bit too timely. It could be an attempt to blackmail interest parties into dropping the pursuit of Assange and the attacks on WikiLeaks. It could also just be a cheap shot at the US - an act of petty revenge for all of the perceived and/or persecution directed at the site and Assange himself. Assange has stated before that he is acting (at least in part) out of revenge.

It's just an unnecessary risk that comes off looking like a cheap shot at the US.

More like vital to the u.s spreading murder, instability and chaos around the world.. Nothing good ever comes of u.s presence in other countries..

That's a list the average ATSer could put together for ourselves ...

- if we wanted to distract attention from the genuinely important sites.

Perhaps that is what is being done here.

from an article in The Australian

But WikiLeaks said that the document, approved by Hillary Clinton, provided further evidence that the US Administration was hoarding sensitive information on countries without their knowledge.
The Secretary of State faced embarrassment after earlier cables revealed that US diplomats were asked to collect information on high-ranking UN diplomats and other individuals.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, a spokesman for the website, said: "This further undermines claims made by the US Government that its embassy officials do not play an intelligence-gathering role. "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."

I am not understanding the vital importance of a anti-venom facility in Australia. How could that possibly be vital to US interests?

So now you people want to pick and choose what information becomes public? Isn't that how we got in this mess in the first place?

I just had a look at the cable release, what interests me is a separate cable located at the very bottom of the page.

Seems to be an amendment or a request for additional information on two subjects, one of which raised my eyebrows.

DE RUEHSM #0194 0791327
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 201327Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4231

S E C R E T STOCKHOLM 000194

SIPDIS S/CT SHARRI R. CLARK

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2019 TAG PTER, PGOV, ASEC, EFIN, ENRG, KCIP, SW

SUBJECT: SWEDEN: CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT

REF: SECSTATE 15113

Classified By: CDA Robert Silverman for reasons: 1/4 (B), (D), (E), and (G)

¶1. (S) In response to reftel, post would like to add Sweden's communications infrastructure to the CI/KR list. Although Sweden does not posses a direct undersea cable from the U.S., Sweden is a central European communications hub. For example, Swedish company TeliaSonera is an international carrier that owns and manages 43,000 km of fiber optic cable linking Russia and the Baltics to the rest of Europe and the U.S. If these lines of communications were to be destroyed, disrupted, or exploited, it may compromise global communications.

¶2. (S) Post recommends keeping Swedish pharmaceutical manufacturing company Recip AB on the CI/KR list for its production of ThyroSafe (potassium iodide). This resource provides protection in the aftermath of a nuclear emergency. ThyroSafe is the only FDA approved 65 mg potassium iodide tablet used to protect the thyroid gland against radioactive iodine released during a nuclear emergency.

SILVERMAN

-plex

Wikileaks has not, despite all the bluster and media hysteria, really released much that hasn't been in the blogosphere, or at least hinted at / speculated, for a long time.
So, with that in mind, it begs the question, why all the sudden corporate media and governmental interest?

The simple answer is perhaps that this is, as I suspect, a well planned (in the eyes of the planners) intel / psy-ops game. Leak a load of meaningless stuff that people have already suspected / discussed, but add in a load more stuff to push a bunch of agendas. Get the corporate media and politicians all whipped up to condemn the releases and it adds to the perceived image of a damaging act on the part of Wikileaks. When so much of what Wikileaks is putting out has been about for so long, yet completely ignored by the MSM, why are they all of a sudden devoting so much time to it?

Now we have this latest "leak" of vital installations. Does anyone think for a moment that other foreign powers don't already know what and where to hit to hurt US interests? I mean, get real people!
With ever more calls from sociopathic politicians to curb what we can and cannot access on the internet, this one act alone hands them ample ammunition to begin censoring the internet, using National Security as the basis. Wikileaks would therefore be fulfilling it's purpose.

Originally posted by Tsuki-no-Hikari

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
reply to post by Guilp

 

Why is it "just dumb"?

Honestly, what is your reasoning for it being dumb...

I will say it sounds suicidal... though I bet the list will be rather self evident.... I question if this is highly classified data or not.

I consider it dumb because it doesn't reveal anything that the government is doing wrong, which is supposedly the point of releasing the cables. The only new information that can be learned from it are previously unknown targets for attack.

The US Govt claiming a bunch of ridiculous places in other nations as "vital" to national security is dumb.

..so, if some Cobalt plant in the Congo gets taken over.. US "national security" suffers a "vital" blow?.. lol.. suuure.. the list looks more like corporate / CIA ill gotten goods, or flat out thefts, the elite want to milk / protect with a blackwater platoon.

I say good for WL.. for exposing how absurd US 'national security' concerns have become..

Just because the govt thinks it's "vital", doesn't mean it is.. these are the same clown who "thought" Saddams WMDs were a "vital" threat.. lol.. the DC mafia are lying greedy evil pukes who would claim your gold fillings were vital to security if they were worth enough $$.

Watching establishment fools wet themselves over the OMG horrible damage done in this latest attack against the Galaxy.. will be entertainment gold.

Yeah.. I get it that the man can & probably will feign shock & horror and leverage this towards the goal of locking down the internet.. oh well, the man is gonna do what he's gonna do and where I plan on going the govt doesn't have those designs.

This is a HUGE thumbs down from me to Assange.

Releasing this information only puts every single US citizens life in danger. And there is no denying it this time. NOW wikileaks has crossed the f* line. I assumed wikileaks was after the government, attempting to expose their evil side, but this leak was a clear shot at anyone living in America.



I was a supporter of wikileaks, but now an adversary. Shame on you Julian.

reply to post by Tsuki-no-Hikari



Dude any adversary with half a brain could work out where and what are the top, give any number, sites vital to the USA, to think otherwise is not thinking at all.

Originally posted by BiGGz
This is a HUGE thumbs down from me to Assange.

Releasing this information only puts every single US citizens life in danger. And there is no denying it this time. NOW wikileaks has crossed the f* line. I assumed wikileaks was after the government, attempting to expose their evil side, but this leak was a clear shot at anyone living in America.

I was a supporter of wikileaks, but now an adversary. Shame on you Julian.

edit on 6-12-2010 by BiGGz because: (no reason given)

Can you please explain how this "puts every single US citizens life in danger"?

I am sorry, I fail to see how any of these leaks are in any way putting anyones lives in danger.

Originally posted by Britguy

Can you please explain how this "puts every single US citizens life in danger"?

I am sorry, I fail to see how any of these leaks are in any way putting anyones lives in danger.

America is HIGHLY dependent on imports. We live off imports. Without which, we'd need to mine our own resources. And that means oil, metals, agriculture ect. Do you think America is filled with oil reservoirs? Do you think that our entire country is one big farmland producing crops and animals? I will say it again, we RELY on foreign imports day by day. That being said, losing just one of the listed infrastructures, would mean that many less resources the American people have. And without the needed resources, lives can be easily at risk.

I am not understanding the vital importance of a anti-venom facility in Australia. How could that possibly be vital to US interests?

Exactly. A lot of this sounds like an attempt at making Wikileak look like the bad guys and it seems they're over reaching by a lot. Key points are already known, obviously, and if terrorists wanted to really launch an attack on the US, there's not much the US could do to prevent it. Do you know how easy it would be to poison your food and water supplies, release deadly viruses and # like that?

Terrorists don't follow any rules of engagement and they do # like run planes in buildings to intimidate other countries. If nothing's happened so far it's either because they don't care, they are carefully waiting and planning for something huge, like a collaboration with some other countries with nukes or they know that such an attack would only fuel western anger and give them an excuse to launch an all out attack against them with a more than fair amount of civilian casualties.

This, in my opinion, is not anything of real value.

Also, I didn't know Wikileaks were some kind of superhero organization that served a specific group of people? I thought they were the real media offering honest and brutal truth.

Why would WL do a thing like this?

I think it is fairly easy for any citizen to make bombs, nucleair devices, poison the water supply etc.
However, posting information that makes this even more easy, without a specific reason.
It is almost as if they want us to blow up things.

reply to post by whatevername


Cobalt mine in Congo
Anti-snake venom factory in Australia
Insulin plant in Denmark

This hardly qualifies as targets and what is the cable about exactly does anyone REALLY know? It's pretty sketchy if you ask me, there are no real details, only what the 'media' is feeding us. There has to be more to it than this.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by Guilp
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

i am surely not convinced!
and if something like that is present, than it could have waited a few months more!

in my opinion, yeah? get that?,
i was holding back, its plain retarded at this time.

A few months more? For what reason?

Why is a few months out better than tomorrow? or whenever this leak is planned for?

Yes. a few more months...just like the banking cables. Surely the banking cables are of interest to more people than a list of potential targets. If WL is truly interested in rooting out corruption, they would release the most damning evidence first or at least a good deal of it.

reply to post by BiGGz


The list is a hilarious combination of random locations, with no coherent pattern or common associations. It would be utterly stupid, if not dangerously paranoid, to assume some of the sites are vulnerable to terrorism.

And to even suggest that yourself and the entire American population are now at "risk", goes to show the concept of liberty is not valued highly (in your opinion) and you'll happily get rubbed down by the TSA *rolls eyes*

reply to post by Tsuki-no-Hikari


This also makes me believe wikileaks is a psy op.

Usa goes all over the world trying to get peopel to do something to it, so they can justify there crimes.