It was only a matter of time before someone made this distinction: New York Congressman Peter King, the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is calling for WikiLeaks to be classified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.
King made the call in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
"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."
The idea of WikiLeaks as a terrorist organization seems to follow logically from statements made by the State Dept. itself, as WikiLeaks planned to dump its 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables and State Dept. officials prepped other countries for the documents' pending release.
In a letter to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his attorney, State Dept. Counsel Harold Koh reiterated the U.S. government's claim that the WikiDump would put U.S. lives in danger and charged that WikiLeaks had obtained the documents "illegally." From Josh Rogin's write-up at The Cable:
"Despite your stated desire to protect those lives, you have done the opposite and endangered the lives of countless individuals. You have undermined your stated objective by disseminating this material widely, without redaction, and without regard to the security and sanctity of the lives your actions endanger. We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained U.S. Government classified materials," Koh wrote.
(source:theatlantic.com)
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