9.02pm GMT: The website Salon has a good round-up of the Top 10 most important WikiLeaks revelations – and it has another good piece about the Bush administration pressuring Germany not to prosecute CIA officials involved with torture and extraordinary rendition.
8.48pm GMT: The Guardian's Ewen MacAskill was at Hillary Clinton's press briefing this afternoon and has filed his piece, including this fascinating glimpse:
Although she started the press conference with a smile and even managed a joke during it – saying one of her foreign colleagues said she should see what they say privately about her – she looked tired after days talking to counterparts around the world, warning them of what might be coming and trying to soothe hurt feelings.
8.28pm GMT: Hold the front page, Sarah Palin has written a Facebook post about the WikiLeaks affair. Basically, it's all the Obama administration's fault:
First and foremost, what steps were taken to stop Wikileaks director Julian Assange from distributing this highly sensitive classified material especially after he had already published material not once but twice in the previous months? Assange is not a 'journalist,' any more than the 'editor' of al Qaeda's new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist.' He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?Palin does raise a good point:
Most importantly, serious questions must also be asked of the US intelligence system. How was it possible that a 22-year-old Private First Class [Bradley Manning] could get unrestricted access to so much highly sensitive information? And how was it possible that he could copy and distribute these files without anyone noticing that security was compromised?
8.04pm GMT: Fox News's website asks its readers: "Do You Think WikiLeaks Is a Terrorist Organization?" And it seems that 68% of them do. "This is not a scientific poll," the site warns.
8pm GMT: The Wall Street Journal reveals that it was offered a look at the US embassy cables by WikiLeaks but says it turned it down:
In a strategy aimed at raising its profile, WikiLeaks has been teaming up with news organizations on its leaks. Last week it offered The Wall Street Journal access to a portion of the documents it possesses if the Journal signed a confidentiality agreement. The Journal declined.
"We didn't want to agree to a set of pre-conditions related to the disclosure of the Wikileaks documents without even being given a broad understanding of what these documents contained," a spokeswoman for the paper said.
7.36pm GMT: Sarah Palin isn't the only person who can use Twitter to make a point about WikiLeaks. Here's a round-up of some of the more recent Twitterific responses.
Susan Rice, the US's ambassador to the UN, tweets:
Our diplomats are just that, diplomats. I applaud their great skill and integrity. #cablegate
The Observer's Paul Harris:
Hillary Clinton says #wikileaks undermines US diplomacy. No, what undermines it is trying to steal Ban Ki Moon's frequent flyer number
Republican strategist and former Bush White House speechwriter Joshua Treviño:
I'm not saying Julian Assange should be tormented by the world's bounty hunters until he meets death or justice. But I'm not not saying it.
Christine O'Donnell – remember her? – is still tweeting away:
Some may cringe when I say this but Hillary - You Go Girl! She's no Reagan yet her verbal lashing against wikileak is tough- watch out Obama!
7.26pm GMT: Here's some video of Hillary Clinton statement on the WikiLeaks embassy documents earlier this afternoon.
7.15pm GMT: The WikiLeaks cables have been studied intently in Israel, and so far it appears to be one country where the nation's diplomats haven't been dismayed or embarrassed by the leaks.
Aluf Benn, one of Israel's leading columnists, writes in Ha'aretz that the country's diplomats and leaders appear to have been saying in private the same things they have been saying in public:
The secret documents sent by the US Embassy in Tel Aviv show that the heads of the Israeli intelligence apparatus and the defense establishment refer to the same talking points when briefing American bureaucrats and congressional delegations as they do when speaking to journalists and Knesset members.... Thus Israel has no reason to be embarrassed by the leak, because there are no large gaps between what it said domestically and what it said for public consumption.
6.54pm GMT: Now the New York York Times editor Bill Kellher is answering questions online – and his batch of answers includes this nugget:
The London newspaper, The Guardian, gave us a copy of the archive, because they considered it a continuation of our collaboration on earlier WikiLeaks disclosures. (The Guardian initially asked us not to reveal that they were our source, but the paper's editor said on Sunday night that he was no longer concerned about anonymity.)
6.46pm GMT: And now we go over to the White House briefing room, where Robert Gibbs is telling journalists how terrible these WikiLeaks cable disclosures are. "The stealing of classified information and its dissemination is a crime," says Gibbs, having noted that President Obama "was, as an understatement, not pleased with this information becoming public".
And being the White House press corps, the next question is some Washington inside baseball about a meeting between Obama and Republican leaders tomorrow.6.30pm GMT: Despite saying that she wouldn't discuss individual issues raised by the "alleged stolen cables", Secretary Clinton can't resist taking the bait when asked about Iran and using the cables to make a point:
"Anyone reading these alleged cables will see that Iran does pose a threat and that their neighbours are concerned about it."That's it, Clinton wraps it up, and we'll have the thoughts of the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill – who was at the briefing – to follow shortly.
6.26pm GMT: Clinton is still pushing back against the fact of the leaks, and says she won't address individual topics raised by the "stolen cables" which she says were released "without regard for the consequences" for the entire international community.
Rather than a whistleblowing act, says Clinton, "In contrast, what is being put on display in this cache of documents, is American diplomats doing the work that we expect them to do ... It should make everyone of us proud."Disclosures such as this "tear at the fabric of responsible government", according to the secretary of state:
"Every country, including the US, must be able to have honest, private dialogue with other countries about issues of common concern.... When someone breaches that trust, we are all worse off for it."Now there are some questions.
6.20pm GMT: Secretary Clinton still talking, saying that the US government was tightening its internal security "so that this kind of breech does not and cannot happen again":
I would also add to the American people and to our friends and partners that we are taking aggressive steps to hold responsible those to account.Clinton also raised the spectre of the cables exposing individuals to danger, saying:
"US diplomats meet with local human rights leaders who offer their own candid insights. Revealing that person's identity could have serious repercussions.""Some may mistakenly applaud those responsible," says Clinton, before going to explain that "there is nothing laudable" about the release of what she is calling "these alleged cables".
6.14pm GMT: Hillary Clinton speaking now, saying that the WikiLeaks cable leaks imperils lives and US diplomatic efforts. Arguing that the revelations hurts diplomacy, Clinton said:
"Let's be clear: this disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests... I am confident that the partnerships that the Obama administration has worked so hard to build will withstand this challenge.
"I will not comment on or affirm on what are alleged to be stolen US state department cables. But I can say that the US deeply regrets the disclosure of discussions that were meant to be confidential ... I want to make clear that our policy is not set in these messages but here in Washington."
5.55pm GMT: Hillary Clinton is about to start speaking at the State department on the WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables – and much of the focus will be on the revelations of US diplomats spying on the UN leadership.
5.45pm GMT: At last Sarah Palin speaks on the WikiLeaks revelations – well, she tweets on the subject. And being Sarah Palin, it's mainly about her:
"Inexplicable: I recently won in court to stop my book America by Heart from being leaked, but US Govt can't stop Wikileaks' treasonous act?"
Well, one is under the jurisdiction of the United States' government and laws, and one isn't. Apart from that, inexplicable. But top marks for using this unlikely subject to plug your own book.
