Diplomatic Community Stunned as WikiLeaks Embarasses White House

President not happy

Washington DC. Nov 29, 2010. The White House on Monday said WikiLeaks and others behind the release of a flood of confidential diplomatic memos were "criminals" and that President Barack Obama, D-Kenya,  was decidedly "not pleased."

Among the many secret documents were memos that revealed that President Obama had referred to the Queen of England as "an crazy old cracker who wears stupid hats."

And another in which First Lady Michelle Obama commented about the food during their vacation to India, saying "The chutney really sucked. Those people should stick to running donut shops."

 

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the people who released of some 250,000 classified State Department memos were "criminals, first and foremost" who had committed a "serious" offense.

"This is a serious violation of the law, a serious threat to individuals that both carry out and assist in our foreign policy," he told reporters, adding that it would not alter global counter-terrorism operations.

 

Gibbs said that Obama was decidedly "not pleased" by the release, which details previously unknown diplomatic episodes from the world's hot spots and includes scores of candid remarks about various world leaders.
 
The most shocking revealation was that these sensitive documents were obtained by a Army Private Bradley Manning, who was assigned to mop the floor at an Army intelligence center.
 
"Someone left their password on a post-it note on the right side of their monitor, so I logged in fould all this stuff" Manning said. "I couldn't believe anyone was that stupid. It was a snap to download all this stuff onto my thumb drive."

Julian Assange, the Australian who heads the secret-sharing Web site, told ABC News today he believes his safety and freedom are in danger. He responded to questions by email from a clandestine hideout.

He was undaunted by vows from the U.S. and Australia to prosecute him and said the forthcoming diplomatic cables are aimed at "lying, corrupt and murderous leadership from Bahrain to Brazil."

"We're only one thousandth of the way in and look at what has so far being revealed. There will be many more," he wrote defiantly.

Assange also dismissed a warning today by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said the dump of secret documents "puts peoples lives in danger," particularly those sources who provided the U.S. with information about abuses in foreign countries.