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CNET/ November 30, 2010, 5:23 PM

Key GOP Pol: WikiLeaks a Terrorist Group

This story was written by CNET's Declan McCullagh

The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says WikiLeaks should be officially designated as a terrorist organization.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the panel's next head, asked the Obama administration today to "determine whether WikiLeaks could be designated a foreign terrorist organization," putting the group in the same company as Al Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that released deadly sarin gas on the Tokyo subway.

"WikiLeaks appears to meet the legal criteria" of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, King wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reviewed by CNET. He added: "WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States."

WikiLeaks Releases State Dept. Documents
WikiLeaks Puts U.S. In Damage Control Mode
Leaked Cables Shine Light on Iran Nuclear Threat
Worldwatch: Embarrassing Revelations Abound
Worldwatch: Diplomatic Shockers
White House Condemns WikiLeaks' Document Release
WikiLeaks Defies U.S., Releases Embassy Cables

King's letter was prompted by a massive document dump totaling more than 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables, which WikiLeaks gave in advance to news organizations, including Germany's Der Spiegel and Spain's El Pais, that began appearing on the Internet this morning. The White House has condemned the release, which Der Spiegel called "nothing short of a political meltdown for U.S. foreign policy."

King also wrote separately to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking him to "criminally charge WikiLeaks activist Julian Assange under the Espionage Act" for conspiracy to disclose classified information. The Espionage Act makes it illegal to disclose "information relating to the national defense" if that information could be used "to the injury of the United States."

Click here to read full story

Links to Leaked Cables:

Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels (NYT)
The US Embassy Cable (Guardian)
A Superpower's View of the World (Spiegel, in English)
Los papeles del Departamento de Estado (El Pais)
Wikileaks: Dans les coulisses de la diplomatie am?ricaine (Le Monde)
CNET
42 Comments Add a Comment
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magstowens says:
by honestjohng December 1, 2010 8:27 PM EST

It is refreshing to see an American condemning the I.R.A.

It was the British people that were being blown up and shot,they didn't really operate in the Republic of Ireland.

I would just like to broaden this because i would appreciate your views.

Peter King wasn't on his own.Your government policies over the years
helped the I.R.A.

Clinton gave visa's to known I.R.A members to fund raise against our countries requests.
Gave them the biggest stage-The Whitehouse.
You refused extradition of wanted terrorists and even escaped convicted terrorists.
Gave them political status by not recognising our justice system,like some third world country.

Carter refused Thatchers request for guns for the R.U.C (police force of Northern Ireland.) by not recognising our law and order
Legend says she nearly hit him with her bag.
The U.S gave I.R.A men awards and even named streets after them.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D7143AF93AA25752C0A964958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fS%2fSupreme%20Court%20

On 9/11 one of the first questions asked to Tony Blair,was ,do you think they will view terrorism differently now ?
It was part of our deal in supporting the U.S in Afghanistan and Iraq

But it was only in 2005 that most support was withdrawn .

Peter King has never shown remorse.He has been backing an escaped convicted terrorist Pol Brennan who has been in the U.S illegally.

If you have't the time to read this,
http://kingwatch.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
The main quote is,

"My experience dealing with (Irish) republicans is that they don't jump bail in this country. They honor their commitments. Based on my experience, and also the republican movement's commitment to the peace process, I think he should get bail."

This is about an escaped convicted terrorist.

There has been 27 bombings in Northern Ireland in the last twelve months.
It's not if but when they come to the mainland.
Our security services have put us on high alert from an attack by dissident republican groups not on ceasefire.
More of a risk the muslim terrorists.
A plot to bomb the Tory party convention to redue the Brighton bombing that nearly killed Thatcher has been foiled.
They are issuing threats
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169828/Real-IRA-threatens-new-attacks-mainland-Britain-Easter-message-hate.html

Peter Kings opinion seems to remain the same, he actually called the I.R.A the legitimate force against British occupation.

After supporting the U.S following 9/11 going into Afghanistan and Iraq that now Americans will have a different response to these terrorist groups.


Ironically, Sinn Fein /I.R.A used to fly the PLO flag and trained together in Lybia with other muslim extremists groups.
So King has been helping enemies of America
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honestjohng replies:
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Nice to hear from you but I must take issue with what you said about only British being shot and blown up. British subjects, yes, but most were Northern Irish and many were innocent victims of other Irish. Also, the IRA did operate in the South by robbing banks and extortion.
The recent bombings have been committed by the so-called "Real IRA" who are nothing but a bunch of savage murderers who won't give up their idiocy.
I am first generation Irish here in Boston and was raised Catholic but I never fell for the garbage that Noraid spouted. I despised all of those who gave money to these people because most have never even been to Ireland. They think that drinking beer and wearing green on St. Patrick's day makes them a real Irishman.
I have relatives both North & South and have been to Belfast 15 times and love it. AS an army veteran, I knew how difficult it was to be a British soldier stationed. I never gave them a bit of trouble and had disdain for the few Americans who would go there back in the 70's & 80's
and do the opposite.
As with our actions in Vietnam & now the Middle East, there was blood on the hands of some British soldiers but this is what happens when you put 18 & 19 year olds into battle and allowing them to watch their friends die.
I wish that my country would mind our own business and stop trying to save the world but I guess that will never happen.
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magstowens says:
Peter King forged links with leaders of the IRA and Sinn Fein in Ireland, and in America he hooked up with Irish Northern Aid, known as Noraid, a New York based group that the American, British, and IRISH governments often accused of funneling guns and money to the IRA.

(
. He spoke regularly at Noraid protests and became close to the group's publicity director, the Bronx lawyer Martin Galvin, a figure reviled by the British.

Mr. King's support for the IRA was unequivocal. By the mid-1980s, the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic were openly hostile to Mr. King.
On one occasion, a judge threw him out of a Belfast courtroom during the murder trial of IRA men because, in the judge's view, "he was an obvious collaborator with the IRA." When he attended other trials, the police singled him out for thorough body searches.

During his visits to Ireland, Mr. King would often stay with well-known leaders of the IRA, and he socialized in IRA drinking haunts. At one of such clubs, the Felons, membership was limited to IRA veterans who had served time in jail. Mr. King would almost certainly have been red-flagged by British intelligence as a result, but the experience gave him plenty of material for the three novels he subsequently wrote featuring the IRA.

Peter King helped give the IRA a respectable face in America, .
The IRA took its campaign to Britain - where London's financial district was twice devastated by bombs - and to mainland Europe, where British NATO bases were frequently targeted. The IRA nearly killed Prime Minister Thatcher and her cabinet with a bomb in 1984, and it assassinated prominent British politicians and members of the royal family.

The IRA's primary contribution to international terrorist know-how, the car and truck bombs now commonplace in Iraq, and Afghanistan were devised and first deployed by the IRA in Belfast in 1972.

Much of the conventional weaponry and a great deal of the money necessary for IRA violence came from Irish-American sympathizers. Mr. King's advocacy of the IRA's cause encouraged that flow and earned him the deep-seated hostility of the British and Irish governments.
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honestjohng replies:
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Excellant point "MAGSTOWENS". Mr. King didn't mind when innocent Irish women & children were getting killed by "terrorists" in their own country with weapons supplied by the very groups that Mr. King helped support. I guess that one man's terrorist is another one's freedom fighter.
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honestjohng says:
Mr. King must be in a New York state of mind to compare WikiLeaks to a terrorist group. The total incompetants at the State Dept. and everywhere else in D.C. are the people who have screwed everything up and nobody else. Despite all of the money spent on security two attacks are made on the World Trade Center. the second of which was caused by 17 Muslim fanatics buying one way tickets to martyrdom and nobody noticed. Now we have a PFC who is in jail being blamed for being a patriot. Good for him & good for WikiLeaks. Oh, and by the way, I am an Army veteran and retired from the government so I hope Mr. King doesn't think I'm a terrorist also.
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noloyalisti says:
Bottom line is that this GOP clown has a lot of nerve calling OTHERS terrorists. He is one for supporting the Bushoccio Crime Family and the giant corporate bankster terrorists. So I guess that is why he is calling others what he is, to confuse the issue.
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honestjohng says:
Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist as were the 9/11 conspiritors. I disagree that anyone connected with this situation is a terrorist but instead I think that they thought they were showing their patriotism by defending their country from the government. These hotheads should be asking how a PFC in the U.S. Army could have such access to secret materials and have the time to copy, paste & diseminate. Isn't anybody awake in Washington and what does this incident say about security in D.C.?
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noloyalisti says:
Always remember that WHATEVER a Republican says, it is exactly the opposite or they are doing it themselves.

This is a perfect example of a representative of the party of terror, death and spending (the GOP) who supported the war criminal Bushoccio. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
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scray1 says:
Amazing, only in America can the people that publish the truth be called terrorist.
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cbsblogger says:
King is a *****. This is about exposure not terrorism. Until the US media exposes all the government corruption and and fascism in the world instead of protecting some and covering for others I don't buy it. They freely cover for Israel by freely exposing the USA.
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ibsteve2u says:
Man...righties freakin' out over some leaked documents that unsurprisingly reveal that U.S. diplomacy encompasses a goodly amount of deceit and deception...

But where was their outrage when America found out that a Republican President - and PNAC - had lied us into war?

Wikileaks may - MAY - get people in other countries killed if and only if the State Department didn't begin warning them when these leaks were discovered MONTHS ago.

That lie of a war in Iraq? That DID and IS killing people in other countries AND Americans.

Is something wrong with our right...plain old common sense - and morality - should tell anyone that avoidable deaths are wrong under any circumstances, and death that results from lies and deception is an outrage; a betrayal of all things American.

But our right? As long as it is one of theirs who is doing the killing - even the killing of their fellow Americans - they're OK with it.

Like I said, there is something wrong with them. Better call Father Marrin back from the grave.
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nottblu replies:
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Why is it you ignore what politians on both sides of the aisle stated about Sadam, going back to Bill Clinton? When you state we lied to go to war is your thinking so simplistic and naive that you believe one man can go to war and fund it ongoing? Guess so, that helps to trivialize your blather now doesn't it? How are you people able to ignore the entirety of the information and =who stated it? Blind hatred? brainwashing? Profound ignorance? All ofthe above?
david4673 replies:
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notblu... Bill Clinton didn't ask for authorization to go to war based on trumped up intel -- and in doing that, abandoned the war that had already started.

Yes, Congress authorized the Iraq invasion, based on the information they were given, that we all know today ... was false.

You are the one that hasn't assimilated the entirety of available information. I won't return your ugly accusations of blind hatred and profound ignorance, I'll just ask you to accept facts ... oh yeah and read the comment you reply to.

The point made was valid.
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being_doug says:
Let's start some Joe McCarthy hearings, and go after all these terrorists who disclose "information relating to the national defense" if that information could be used "to the injury of the United States."
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being_doug replies:
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Following Peter King's logic, fat kids (and/or their parents) are terrorists too:

"Make no mistake. Child obesity threatens our nation's security," said Retired U.S. Army Major General Paul Monroe, a former head of the California Army National Guard.

http://www.missionreadiness.org/HearingPR.pdf
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