Julian Assange, founder of the website that published more than 91,000 secret U.S. military reports from Afghanistan, says he’s revealing injustices. President Barack Obama says he’s concerned that disclosure of sensitive information may harm military operations.
Conceived as an electronic dead-drop for confidential documents, WikiLeaks.org receives material that governments and businesses seek to keep secret and publishes them so that they remain in the public domain forever.
“We want to produce positive reform,” Assange, a 39-year- old Australian, said in a telephone interview from London yesterday. “An efficient way to do that is to selectively go after material that organizations are trying to conceal.”
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WikiLeaks founder defends publication of war documents
IDF preparing for forceful interception of Libya-sponsored aid ship bound for Gaza
The IDF is preparing for the forceful interdiction of a Libyan sponsored ship allegedly headed for the Gaza Strip, despite lingering criticism over the handling of the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla on May 31 in which nine people were killed, military sources told Haaretz yesterday.
An internal military probe into the incident released yesterday found only professional mistakes in planning and carrying out the operation against the Mavi Marmara.
The Libyan ship could come within range of the Gaza-shore tonight, but at this stage it is still unclear whether its captain will opt to head for the Sinai port of El Arish, where it will instead aim for Gaza. In its official log the ship has El Arish as its destination.
Petraeus: Military didn’t recommend Obama’s July 2011 withdrawal date
Gen. David Petraeus testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week that President Barack Obama’s July 2011 drawdown date for U.S troops in Afghanistan was not proposed by military officials.
Petraeus said that he understood that the “president has to be interested in fiscal considerations, political considerations, diplomatic considerations” in making decisions about withdrawing troops from a war.
Nonetheless, Petraeus said he agreed with the dateline, while adding that a U.S. presence in Afghanistan is necessary for “quite some time.”
AWOL Afghans Found … on Facebook
At least 11 of the 17 members of the Afghan military who went AWOL from an Air Force base in Texas and are considered deserters by their nation have turned up in the exact place you’d expect to find them in the year 2010.
They’re on Facebook.
And, by the look of things, they’re not unlike millions of other young men on the social networking site. One proclaims to be a fan of Paris Hilton and is a member of a group named “FREE Webcam Sex with ME!” Another is a fan of hip hop music, Michael Jackson, the tearjerker movie The Notebook, Family Guy and Sports Center. Another is a fan of soccer and the Godfather.
Iran to send blockade-busting ship to Gaza
Iran said Tuesday it would send a blockade-busting ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza, fueling concern in Israel, where commandos were training for another possible confrontation at sea.
Israel warned archenemy Iran to drop the plan. The Iranian announcement came days after Israel eased its three-year-old blockade of Gaza under international pressure following its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month.
“No one in their right mind can believe that a ship sent by the ayatollahs and their Revolutionary Guards has anything to do with humanitarian aid,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “I don’t think there is one single country in this region and beyond that would let such an ayatollah ship come near its coasts.”
Israelis consider ‘reverse flotillas’
The Jerusalem Post, “Ideas for ‘reverse flotillas’ gain steam”
Although most of the recent talk regarding flotillas has revolved around ships sailing toward Gaza, at least two plans have emerged for “reverse flotillas” – from Israel toward Turkey – to highlight what organizers have labeled the Turks’ “shameless hypocrisy” in their criticisms of the Jewish state.
The most ambitious of the two plans has been devised by members of Israel’s National Student Union, who this week announced their intention to set sail toward Turkey, in an effort to bring humanitarian aid to the “oppressed people of Turkish Kurdistan” and to members of the “Turkish Armenian minority.”
The Jerusalem Post article continues here.
Iran threatens to provide escort for next aid convoy
The Guardian, “Gaza blockade: Iran offers escort to next aid convoy”
by Ian Black
Iran has warned that it could send Revolutionary Guard naval units to escort humanitarian aid convoys seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza – a move that would certainly be challenged by Israel.
Any such Iranian involvement, raised today by an aide to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would constitute a serious escalation of already high tensions with Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon and of backing Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval forces are prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys that carry humanitarian assistance for the defenceless and oppressed people of Gaza with all their strength,” pledged Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei’s personal representative to the guards corps.
The Guardian article continues here.
Obama Admin pushing for an investigation of Israel
Forbes, “U.S. Interferes With Israel’s Gaza Blockade”
by Anne Bayefsky
The Obama administration is pushing for an internationalized investigation of Israel’s recent effort to preserve its naval blockade of Hamas-run Gaza. In an extraordinary interference with the sovereignty of a democratic society and its right of self-defense, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Wednesday that the United States wants “a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation. … We are open to different ways of assuring a credible investigation, including international participation … ”
Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley elaborated that the administration was demanding Israel produce “an investigation that is broadly viewed as credible by the international community.” That would be the same international community which has condemned Israel without the facts, and which has refused to walk back their spontaneous reactions, though the video evidence of armed “civilian” attackers and martyr-seeking “humanitarians” now stares them in the face.
Forbes article continues here.
Israeli forces board Gaza-bound vessel- without incident
Fox News, “Israeli Forces Board Gaza-Bound Vessel”
Israeli forces seized a Gaza-bound vessel swiftly and without meeting resistance on Saturday, preventing it from breaking a naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory days after a similar effort turned bloody.
Israel has faced mounting international pressure to lift the blockade since Monday’s deadly confrontation aboard a Turkish vessel headed for Gaza. But it stood by the embargo — which it says is needed to prevent the Islamic militant group from getting weapons — even as the Obama administration called the current restrictions “unsustainable.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the blockade in remarks following the takeover, saying it was meant to keep weapons out of the hands of the Iranian-backed Hamas and he would “not allow the establishment of an Iranian port in Gaza.”
Fox News article continues here.
Ground Zero Imam tied to Free Gaza Movement
New York Post, “Imam unmosqued”
by Andy Soltis
The imam behind a proposed mosque near Ground Zero is a prominent member of a group that helped sponsor the pro-Palestinian activists who clashed violently with Israeli commandos at sea this week.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a key figure in Malaysian-based Perdana Global Peace Organization, according to its Website.
Perdana is the single biggest donor ($366,000) so far to the Free Gaza Movement, a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Monday.
Nine passengers aboard the largest ship died in clashes with Israeli commandos, and a new confrontation loomed today, when another Free Gaza Movement ship was due to reach Gaza waters in defiance of Israel.
New York Post article continues here.
Al Qaeda: No. 3 official killed
Yahoo! News (AP), “Al-Qaida: No. 3 official killed with family”
by Kimberly Dozier
Al-Qaida announced Monday that its No. 3 official, Mustafa al-Yazid, had been killed along with members of his family — perhaps one of the most severe blows to the terror movement since the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida began. A U.S. official said al-Yazid was believed to have died in a U.S. missile strike.
A statement posted on an al-Qaida Website said al-Yazid, which it described as the organization’s top commander in Afghanistan, was killed along with his wife, three daughters, a grandchild and other men, women and children but did not say how or where.
The statement did not give an exact date for al-Yazid’s death, but it was dated by the Islamic calendar month of “Jemadi al-Akhar,” which falls in May.
Yahoo! News (AP) article continues here.