WikiLeaks is an "absolutely awful" obstacle to conducting diplomacy and the US embassy is worried about the threatened release of more classified documents, ambassador James Jeffrey said on Friday.
His remarks came just days after the whistleblower website promised to publish nearly three million secret files in its third such release since July, without saying when it would do so or what they contained.
"We are worried about additional documents coming out," Jeffrey told reporters at an embassy briefing.
"WikiLeaks are an absolutely awful impediment to my business, which is to be able to have discussions in confidence with people. I do not understand the motivation for releasing these documents. They will not help, they will simply hurt our ability to do our work here."
Asked what Iraqi officials had said to him about the release of the documents, Jeffrey replied: "They clearly are very unhappy… anybody who has confidential discussions, who finds these confidential discussions find their way into the press, is going to be very unhappy and very upset."
WikiLeaks has not said what will be contained in its forthcoming release, saying only that there would be "seven times" as many secret documents as the 400,000 it posted in the Iraq War logs.
A new posting would mark WikiLeaks' third mass release of classified documents after it published 77,000 secret US files on the Afghan conflict in July.
WikiLeaks argues the release of the documents — US soldier-authored incident reports from 2004 to 2009 — has shed light on the wars, including allegations of torture by Iraqi forces and reports that suggested 15,000 additional civilian deaths in Iraq.
Its announcement on Monday came just days after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for the website's head, Julian Assange of Australia, wanted for questioning over rape and sexual molestation allegations.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
