WikiLeaks is Asking for Urgent Help
By David Heath
July 15, 2010 "iTWire" -- Following
the arrest of the person suspected of leaking the “Collateral Murder”
video, WikiLeaks feels that it is under attack and is seeking urgent
support.iTWire received the
following message in the past few minutes, it’s meaning is very clear.
We ask readers to assist where they can.
WikiLeaks may be under attack.
You were generous enough to write to us, but we
have not had the labor resources to respond.
Your support is important to us. Please read all of this email to
understand what is going on. We apologize for not getting back to you
before. It is not through any lack of interest on our part, but an
enforced lack of resources.
One of our alleged sources, a young US intelligence analyst, Bradley
Manning, has been detained and shipped to a US military prison in
Kuwait, where he is being held without trail. Mr. Manning is alleged to
have acted according to his conscious and leaked to us the Collateral
Murder video and the video of a massacre that took place in Afghanistan
last year at Garani.
The Garani massacre, which we are still working
on, killed over 100 people, mostly children.
Mr. Manning allegedly also sent us 260,000 classified US Department
cables, reporting on the actions of US Embassy's engaging in abusive
actions all over the world. We have denied the allegation, but the US
government is acting as if the allegation is true and we do have a lot
of other material that exposes human rights abuses by the United States
government.
Mr. Manning was allegedly exposed after talking to an unrelated
"journalist" who then worked with the US government to detain him.
Some background on the Manning case:
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/06/11/transcript-daniel-ellsberg-says-he-fears-us-might-assasinate-wikileaks-founder/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-chat/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/state-department-anxious/
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/06/143011.htm
[ note that there are some questions about the
Wired reportage, see:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/13/video-wikileaks-foun.html#comment-809677 ]
WikiLeaks a small organization going through enormous growth and
operating in an adverserial, high-security environment which can make
communication time consuming and the acquisition of new staff and
volunteers, also difficult since they require high levels of trust.
To try and deal with our growth and the current difficult situation, we
want to get you to work together with our other supporters to set up a
"Friends of WikiLeaks" group in your area. We have multiple supporters
in most countries and would like to see them be a strong and
independent force.
Please write to [email protected] if
you are interested in helping with Friends of WikiLeaks in your area. You will
receive further instructions.
We also have significant unexpected legal costs (for example flying a
legal team to Kuwait, video production. Collateral Murder production
costs were $50,000 all up).
Any financial contributions will be of
IMMEDIATE assistance.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Special:Support
Please donate and tell the world that you have done so. Encourage all
your friends to follow the example you set, after all, courage is
contagious.
Julian Assange
Editor in Chief
WIKILEAKS
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
