LibyaGadhafi-NatoStrikes

Moammar Gadhafi has boasted he is safe and secure in a new audio recording        

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Taunts: Moammar Gadhafi has boasted he is safe and secure in a new audio recording

Taunts: Moammar Gadhafi has boasted he is safe and secure in a new audio recording

I'm in a place where you can't get me: Gaddafi taunts the West in defiant audio recording


Taunts: Moammar Gadhafi has boasted he is safe and secure in a new audio recording

In a brief recording played Friday on Libyan TV, Gaddafi said he wanted to assure Libyans concerned about a strike this week on his compound in Tripoli.

'I tell the coward crusaders - I live in a place where you can't get to me,' he said. 'I live in the hearts of millions.'

He referred to a NATO airstrike on Thursday that targeted his Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, claiming it had killed 'three innocent journalist-civilians.'

Reporters on Thursday were shown the airstrike damage by Libyan officials, including one who said Gaddafi and his family had moved away from the compound some time ago. One missile appeared to have targeted some sort of underground bunker at the compound - a sprawling complex of buildings surrounded by towering concrete blast walls.

 

 

Many people 'driven by their love for me put in many calls to check on my well-being after they heard of the cowardly missile attack of the crusaders on Bab al-Aziziya last Thursday, May 12,' Gaddafi said in the recording, which lasted just over a minute.

NATO shrugged off the statement.

'We are not targeting him, our targets are solely military,' alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels.

Shortly before Gaddafi's remarks were broadcast, regime spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed that NATO had attacked Brega while dozens of imams and officials from around Libya were gathered there to pray for peace.

Ibrahim said 11 imams were killed in their sleep at a guesthouse, and 50 people were wounded, including five in critical condition.

The alliance, responding to the claim, said it had attacked a military command-and-control center in Brega, 450 miles southeast of Tripoli.


Fake? The Libyan leader was filmed talking to tribal elders apparently in a Tripoli hotel.Mr Frattini expressed scepticism over the footage

Fake? The Libyan leader was filmed talking to tribal elders apparently in a Tripoli hotel.Mr Frattini expressed scepticism over the footage


'We're very careful in the selection of our targets and this one was very clearly identified as a command centre,' said an official at NATO's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy, who spoke under the alliance's rules that he could not be named.

Italian Foreign minister Franco Frattini said he believed reports from Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Catholic Bishop in Tripoli, that the despot had been wounded by Nato airstrikes and had very likely left the Libyan capital.

He told reporters in Tuscany that 'Gaddafi was most probably outside Tripoli and probably even wounded'. The Libyan government has denied the reports.

Mr Frattini stressed that Italy has 'no hard information on the current fate of Gaddafi'.

Still, 'I tend to take as credible the words of the Tripoli Archbishop (Giovanni) Martinelli who tells us that Gaddafi is very probably outside of Tripoli and probably also wounded,' the ANSA news agency quoted Mr Frattini as telling reporters in Rome.

In comments during a TV interview posted on the Corriere della Sera newspaper's website, Mr Frattini added that 'international pressure has likely provoked the decision by Gaddafi to seek refuge in a safe place.'

'I lean toward the solution of an escape from Tripoli, not an escape from Libya,' he said.

'Libya is a big country, with desert areas.'

Colonel Gaddafi's compound has been a frequent site of Nato-led air strikes, including an attack on April 30 where he is believed to have been inside but have escaped unharmed.

The claims come the day after the colonel made his first TV appearance in weeks after a Nato air strike on Tripoli killed his youngest son and three grandchildren.

It was the first sighting of the Libyan dictator since April 9. He was filmed talking with tribal leaders in a hotel in the capital.

A projection screen behind him showed a morning chat show on state al-Jamahirya TV which displayed yesterday's date in one corner.

It seemed a very deliberate move to scotch rumours - helped along by an official Nato spokesman the day before - that he may have been killed by an air strike.

Gaddafi had been in hiding since the rocket attack which struck a house in Tripoli. The Libyan government said he and his wife were unhurt in the attack.

Mr Frattini said he had 'many doubts that that footage had been made that day and especially in Tripoli.'

Nato air attacks have continuously targeted Gaddafi's compounds in and around the Libyan capital ever since support for the rebel forces from the east began several weeks ago - although leaders claim not to be deliberately targeting him.

Nato has said it has carried out around 2,400 sorties against the Colonels forces since March 31.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386819/Colonel-Gaddafi-wounded-left-Tripoli-claims-Italian-foreign-minister.html#ixzz1PjkjrZrH



By Daily Mail Reporter 13th May 2011

Taunting NATO, Moammar Gaddafi said that he is alive despite a series of airstrikes and 'in a place where you can't get to me.'

The defiant audio recording was broadcast after the Libyan government accused NATO of killing 11 Muslim clerics with an airstrike on a disputed eastern oil town.

Gaddafi had appeared on state TV but had not been heard speaking since a NATO attack on his Tripoli compound two weeks ago, which officials said killed one of his sons and three grandchildren.

 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386819/Colonel-Gaddafi-wounded-left-Tripoli-claims-Italian-foreign-minister.html#ixzz1PjkVBNei

Unidentified woman at the Libyan-Tunisian border
The International Criminal Court believes Col Gaddafi's forces are using rape as a weapon of war



Colonel Gaddafi's Tripoli facilities 'hit by UK forces'


British forces have hit facilities in Tripoli that play a key role in Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule in Libya, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

Intelligence agency buildings and a base of Col Gaddafi's "executive protection force" were attacked.

RAF Tornado jets and Royal Navy cruise missiles fired from the submarine HMS Triumph were used in Monday's attacks.

It is two months since UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorised air strikes to protect Libyan civilians.

The UN vote followed the violent suppression of protests against Col Gaddafi's regime.

On Monday, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Nato bombing strikes would not end until Col Gaddafi stopped "slaughtering" his own people.

And, at the weekend, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards called for Nato jets to bomb more targets in a bid to avert a stalemate.

Referring to Monday night's attacks, MoD spokesman Major-General John Lorimer said: "The facilities that were struck lay at the heart of the apparatus used by the regime to brutalise the civilian population."

'Instruments of repression'

He said one of the intelligence facilities hit played a "significant role" in the collection of information by Colonel Gaddafi's secret police.

Vehicles from the training base for the executive protection force, which guards Col Gaddafi's inner circle, were directly involved in the suppression of demonstrations in Tripoli on 4 March, he claimed.

Maj Gen Lorimer said the move "clearly demonstrates both Nato's commitment and its ability to reach out and strike directly at Gaddafi's instruments of repression".

He added that the "utmost care" was taken in targeting, with "every measure taken to avoid innocent civilian casualties".

Some 23 RAF aircraft and two Royal Navy warships are committed to Operation Ellamy, the Ministry of Defence's code name for operations in Libya.

RAF Tornadoes
The MoD said "significant" intelligence facilities were struck during Monday night's attacks

'Up To Nine Killed' In Tripoli Air Strike


Nato is investigating claims by the Libyan government that it was responsible for bombing a residential area in Tripoli, killing up to nine civilians.

Unconfirmed reports said a further 18 were injured in an air strike in the east of the capital in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Reporters were taken by Libyan government officials to a residential area in the Arada neighbourhood of Tripoli and saw a body pulled out of the rubble of a destroyed building.

"There was intentional and deliberate targeting of the civilian houses," deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim told reporters at the site.

"This is another sign of the brutality of the West."

Nato, which is enforcing a UN resolution to prevent Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's troops from attacking his own people, has denied directly targeting the site and repeatedly insisted it tries to avoid killing civilians.

If it confirms it was responsible for the alleged deaths, it will fuel further debate about the military campaign in Libya.

There were heaps of rubble and chunks of shattered concrete at the scene of the alleged raid, which a large crowd of what appeared to be local residents were helping to clear.

At a local hospital, reporters were shown three bodies, including a child, which government officials said were people killed in the air strike.

One of the bodies was covered with debris and dust and reporters were also shown a wounded child.

"Basically, this is another night of murder, terror and horror in Tripoli caused by Nato ," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters at the hospital.

Five families were living in the building which was hit, he said.

It has not been verified whether the three bodies had come from the destroyed building in Arada, a neighbourhood in the Souq al Juma district, which is known for anti-Gaddafi sentiment.

One man told reporters at the scene that anti-aircraft guns were located nearby, fuelling suspicions that the strike may have been aimed close to the impact zone.

Two weeks ago, Libyan government officials were accused by a hospital worker of falsely labelling a child hurt in a car crash as the victim of a Nato attack.

The incident occurred just over 24 hours after the Libyan government accused Nato of specifically targeting civilians in its campaign to aid rebels in their war against the regime of Col Gaddafi .

The dictator has recently reiterated his determination not to be pushed from power.

Rebels in the city of Misratah claim to have taken heavy casualties after coming under heavy artillery fire from pro-Gaddafi forces on Sunday.

Four rebels were killed and 18 wounded, according to a doctor at a field hospital near the front line in Dafniyah, an area just west of Misratah.

After four months of civil war, the rebels control much of the east of Libya, the area around the western port city of Misratah and much of the western mountain region stretching to the border with Tunisia.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has told Sky's Murnaghan show he did not have precise figures for the true cost of the Libyan campaign - and that it could run "into the hundreds of millions".

He said the campaign was currently costing the taxpayer "tens of millions" but spending would rise as operations continued.



  • Looks like an aging rock star who's had too much meth.

    To be perfectly honest, I can't say if all the tales they tell about Gadaffi the dictator are true or not, I haven't been there. On the other hand, it's difficult to suppose he's a hero to his people if at least half of them are trying to unseat him. I mean, the vast majority of European leaders are fools or villains, arse-lickers to the banking aristocrats who are currently leading the return to a mediaeval model of society, and there's no movement in Europe to overthrow them militarily. Gadaffi's proponents claim that he has created a very prosperous society. Why then, Mustafa Lulu and Perdo, are so many Libyans up in arms against so great a hero?
    Replies (3)
  • Nat333
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    Nat333 Thu 16 Jun 2011 00:10 BST Report Abuse
    Well, you need to visit a country like Nigeria, a pro-Western country the EU and US continue to over exploit. The country is a democracy, but a vast number of small Nigerian kids can be found on the road selling petty stuff worth less than 30p otherwise they and their parents will go hungry for 4 days. This is a country with a democracy, but American and EU companies own OIL BLOCKS having bribed the corrupt so called pro-Western government. A country where the government gives less than 1% to education, where more than half the population can't read or write, where there is no security of lives and property, where people die from preventable illnesses due to lack of hospitals, where there is hardly any good roads, one of the world's largest oil producers yet oil is unavailable for Nigerian motorists but in the UK it flows 24/7 in every filling station. A country where the government allows Western oil companies to get away with oil spillage and flaring year by year, where the Western media never raise the awareness because they want to keep on sapping Nigeria's oil, finding and staking 90% ownership of new oil reserves. This is over-exploitation by foreigners in a democratic country. Every Libyan in the so called dictatorship regime was entitled to free education in excellent schools. No Nigerian is entitled to free education, besides the schools are deplorable, no chairs, no blackboard, few teachers. Healthcare is very good in Libya a dictatorship, in Nigeria a Western democracy hundreds of thousands die annually from lack of healthcare. The president of Nigeria goes to London for medical treatment; he provides nothing for his country. Nigeria is a democracy that permits the Westerners to drain her resources. Libya is a dictatorship that doesn't permit Western exploitation and still manages to ensure a good standard of living for her people. The idea of the West supporting REBELS is very dubious. The fact that the rebels have started shipping oil to the West is also troubling. The fact that the West is not taking military action on Syria or Israel is very worrying. Having bullied their way into Africa and carving out colonies for maximum over-exploitation, the West continues to reveal their real evil intents to us Africans. They gave our countries stupid names, beheaded our kings, stole our sacred artefacts and put in their museums, shipped the best of our kinds to foreign lands and over-exploited their strength through slave-labour, stole our ancestors' farmlands and gave to their b!tch queen, stole our gold, diamond, and cash-crops, and left us with f4king Christianity. Having stolen so much from Africa, they still come to steal more by first brain-washing us Africans into believing we are Third-world. No, fools, Africa is exceedingly rich. They said we were pagans and backward. But none of us was hungry in the streets when our ancient systems were in place. The West should leave Africa alone. Leave our shores, leave our minerals, we don't need your aid. We've got the resources, we can think for ourselves, we never needed you. Go away.
    Replies (3)
  • Mustafa Lulu
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    Mustafa Lulu Wed 15 Jun 2011 18:25 BST Report Abuse
    For the very first time, the most realistic and logical cause of the events in Libya,Appeared in media....WHY THEY CHOSE LIBYA??
    There are lots of other countries in this region with,as says the media,BLOODY DICTECRORS killing UNARMED and PEACEFULL VICTIMS,noone come there to bring JUSTICE.
    Why the INVASION of COALIATION is so FANATICALLY pushy Namely in this COUNTRY??
    WHY the westerners DEMOCRAZY AND DEMOCRACY IS SO OBSESSED WITH FINISHING,OFF A WORLD GREATEST HERO,CONEL GADAFFI???
    And with the DESTRUCTION of LIBYA AS AN INDEPENDENT SOCIAL STATE WITH THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF LIFE IN AFRICA???
    ROTHS CHILD FINISH OFF A BRILLANT,INTERNATIONAL HERO...GADAFFI.
    THIS SHOWS THAT THIS PEOPLE ARE WOLFES AMONG THE SHEEP,THEY DONT WANT ANY THING GOOD TO HAPPEN IN AFRICA,COS THE GADAFFI GOLD DINER WILL ESTABLISH AFRICA TO THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIFE,AND SWEEP POVERTY AWAY,IN AFRICA NATION BUT WILL SET DOLLER AND B PONDS BACK....OH, GOD DO NOT ALL THIS PEOPLE TO CONTINUE TO SIT ON THE POWER,THAT COUNTROL THE WORLD,LET OTHER PEOPLE TOPPLE TO SHOW THEM THAT ALL POWER BELONGS TO YOU,AND YOU ALONE.BUT I KNOW SOMEDAY,WE THE BLACKS,THE AFRICANS WILL TAKE OVER THE POWER,AND IT MUST SURELY BE IN JESUS NAME...AMEN....GADAFFI THE WORLD RECOGNISE YOUR VISION TO US,YOUR DREAMS AND TACTICE THAT SUPERSIDE ALL THEY CLAIM TO BE....AND LET ME REMIND IT TO EVERYONE ON EARTH,GADAFFI IS LIVING IN THE HEART OF TRILLIONS IN THE WORLD,HE IS A HERO AND MUST BE,IN JESUS NAME....AMEN.
    Replies (3)
  • Nancy
    1
    1
    Nancy Wed 15 Jun 2011 21:56 BST Report Abuse
    I am sorry to read any comment to say Ghadafi is a hero. He is a bloody dictator who ruled the country by force for decates..His time is over. I do not care what tthe alies want from Libya, but libian people deserve better life along with any other nation occupied by dictators.
    Reply
  • PERDO Wed 15 Jun 2011 18:11 BST Report Abuse
    what game again is busy to attend stupid game from A;B;C;D for nothing
    they was said they are agaist any rebel group but today they are supporting
    rebel group let MY BROTHER GADDAFI MAY GOD BE WITH YOU . VIVA , VIVA
    I'M NOT MUSLM BUT I'LL GIVE ONE OF MY SON YOUR NAME FOR ME
    TO REMEMBER ANY STRONG AFRICA MEN YOU ARE
    Reply
  • Snap Wed 15 Jun 2011 21:04 BST Report Abuse
    I see Perdo is another nutter

    Maurice Sutton Wed 15 Jun 2011 23:13 BST Report Abuse
    wanted for treason blair, prestcot ,brown, straw, flint, reid, Hewitt, collaborators and their enforcers. the price is working stubbing out blairs legacy and labours war of mass destruction imposed on liberty, respect, tolerance, equality, identity, compassion, democracy, integrity, united kingdom. who gave who the right to impose persecution, bullying, abuse, and the deaths of innocent people under their controlled democracy are traitors have no elusions, they are accountable for this so this is your better united kingdom. as in war you pay the price for liberty.its not what we want its what thay gave in memory of anthony mcdermott who was bullied and persecuted into suicide and hanged himself and all others. so this is your new healthy united kingdom to all parties protect demands liberty and movments reinstated, no liberty no peace, lest they forgot. no compromise. this is an afront to our forfathers from protect health before wealth the sun news paper Friday ,February 3,2oo6 bullied by is work mates over the smoking ban on liberty and hanged himself.
    Reply
  • Uniko Thu 16 Jun 2011 07:31 BST Report Abuse
    reading the comments on here is such fun where do you get ya ideas from? take a look at what these dictators are doing to there own people just take a real look ....it dont matter who bombs them as long as someone dose something to top these poor people being put down and murderd by there own govenments. so stop @#$%@n going on like a bunch of do gooders and look at the way they treat there own people .hanging ya because your gay, hanging ya because you dont agree...the list is endless and its time these cun@ where put down once and for all. thats why the people in these countries are giving there lives to make real change and live a life that most of us do, no one has the right to own a life or to kill anyone who dont agree = DICTATORS, i wonder how many of you have lived in any of these countries (not a 2 week holiday) well i have and its a joke the way a few men at the top can tell there people how to live and repress them to the point that they live in fear and cry out to live as free people they dont care who helps as long as someone dose, what ever happends after history will tell but you can not have a world where people and treated in this was and what ever you simple folk think they want help now from anyone. if it were you living in repression you would be happy the Obama,Sarkozy ext were doing something, these men anr helping they are not dictators they are keepers of the free world.
    Reply
  • Uniko Thu 16 Jun 2011 07:17 BST Report Abuse
    he is so dam ugly anyway best thing is to blow the lot of the up kill the fu@kers then do the same to iran dictator.
    Reply
  • WAM! Wed 15 Jun 2011 23:51 BST Report Abuse
    The propaganda you heard from the government is talking in your words. They have lied to you over and over again. But you believe them that is really upto you. If you start anything against the government you think they will help you. They will throw you in th eprison and throw away the key.

    Cameron, Sarkozy, and Obama are as criminal as Gaddafi is. These people send other people to kill innocent people and call them soldiers. Who cares if Gaddafi is criminal or not, all these leader have filled their pockets with his money. Dont be so supporting about these soldiers they go into other countries kill innocent children and rape women and when they are killed stupid people here make them hero. In any case Gaddafi is not the only dictator setup by the western idiots, world is full of them.

    Gaddafi doesn't provide me anything but the way they are bombing Libya is simply wrong because all the innocent people are being killed. As far as helping Rebels, after few years they will be bombing Libya again to take them out. Its a vicious cycle. And all doing is from these politicians liek Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy and many more

Colonel Gaddafi greets supporters in Tripoli

Libyan state TV broadcast footage of what they claim is Colonel Gaddafi among supporters in Tripoli.


In the video a convoy of vehicles can be seen driving through a crowd outside Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli.

In Libya the footage was accompanied by an onscreen newsflash which read 'The brother leader among his supporters.'

Coalition forces have been launching air-strikes against the Gaddafi regime over the past three weeks as rebels in the country attempt to install a new government.

 

Libyan woman 'forced to retract rape allegations'

A Libyan woman who burst into a Tripoli hotel to tell foreign journalists that she had been raped by Muammar Gaddafi's troops has told how she was forced to go on TV to recant the allegations.

05 Apr 2011

Iman al-Obeidi last month was dragged away from the Rixos Hotel by government agents as she screamed the rape allegations.

The CNN interviewer, Anderson Cooper, said the network could not be certain the woman they spoke to by telephone was Miss al-Obeidi, but they were satisfied it was her after days of research and from the testimony of several people who had talked with her at the hotel and with the women interviewed. She spoke in Arabic through a female translator, but was not shown on camera.

The story she told was also consistent with the account Miss al-Obeidi gave at the hotel.

She said, "There is no safe place for me in Tripoli. All my phones are monitored, even this phone I am speaking on right now is monitored. And I am monitored."

"Yesterday I was kidnapped by a car and they beat me in the street, then brought me here after I was dragged around."

"Yes, yes, I want to leave Tripoli. In the middle of the night I get nightmares, and I feel threats 24 hours a day. They are constantly threatening me, with death."

The woman interviewed by CNN said that after the initial hotel uproar, Gaddafi's militamen bought her new clean clothes and took her to the Libyan TV station to have her broadcast a recantation of her story, to say that the rebels had raped her, but she refused to do so.

"The TV station has no credibility and I was fearing the consequences," she told CNN. "Behind the camera, I was facing 15 Kalashnikovs."

On Sunday and Monday, Miss al-Obeidi did telephone interviews with two TV networks, but she was not seen. A government official said she had an agreement not to talk to reporters, but she was blocked from getting to the reporters' hotel again on Sunday.

The last time Miss al-Obeidi, who is from eastern Libya, which is now in rebel hands, was seen was when she was dragged away from the hotel on March 26. She had gone to the hotel after she said she had escaped her gang-rape ordeal.

She said that Gaddafi forces originally abducted her from a taxi at a checkpoint, repeatedly raped her and held her captive for two days.

"Of course they had my hands tied behind me, and they had my legs tied, and they would hit me when I was tied, and they would bite me, and they would pour alcohol in my eyes so I would not be able to see," she told CNN.

She managed to escape after she was untied by another captive, a 16-year-old girl, she told CNN.

The woman who spoke to CNN claimed she was detained and beaten when she tried to reach reporters in the Rixos Hotel a second time on Sunday.

She told CNN that she earlier was stopped from leaving the country at the Tunisian border and returned to Tripoli. The Tunisian border is to the west of Tripoli.

On Sunday a Libyan dissident network based in Qatar played a phone interview where a woman claiming to be al-Obeidi said Libyan authorities had declined her request to join her parents in Tobruk. Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, is under rebel control.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Miss al-Obeidi had made a deal with the attorney general not to speak to reporters so as not to compromise her case, and that he was aware that Miss al-Obeidi was trying to reach media on Sunday.

"She broke her agreement with the attorney general by trying to speak to the media and was taken away," Ibrahim said.

RAF strikes at Libya with four extra Tornado fighter jets

More British warplanes are being sent to Libya amid concerns that many of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have survived air strikes.

David Cameron announced that four more Tornado fighter-bombers were being deployed to the Libyan mission, taking the total for the operation to 12.

It is understood the Tornados, from RAF Marham in Norfolk, will help fill gaps left by US forces, which are reducing their operations in Libya.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, also told MPs that Britain would supply the rebels with equipment, including communications kit.

Officials said it would “primarily” allow rebel commanders to contact the front line, but could also be used to call in coalition air strikes. Mr Hague said: “We are not engaged in arming the opposition forces.”

The extra Tornados, which increase Britain’s ground-attack capability by 50 per cent, have been deployed despite repeated claims that Col Gaddafi’s forces have been weakened. Even after almost three weeks of Western attacks, pro-Gaddafi forces have still prevented rebels from advancing on Tripoli.

On his flight to the Gioia del Colle airbase in southern Italy, the Prime Minister said British forces destroyed 10 armoured vehicles and three tanks over the weekend. “They have been extremely successful in holding back Gaddafi’s forces,” Mr Cameron said.

The increase in the Government’s commitment may raise fears that Britain is being sucked into a prolonged conflict that will drain resources.

In other developments:

• It was disclosed that Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who fled to Britain, could face criminal proceedings in a British court within weeks for his alleged involvement in IRA bombings.

• Ministers were heavily criticised by an MPs’ committee for misjudging the risk that British arms exports could be used to kill protesters.

• A rift opened in the Gaddafi family between the leader’s hardline sons and others pursuing diplomatic initiatives.

As well as the 12 Tornados, Britain has 10 Typhoons enforcing the no-fly zone. A senior source admitted there was still work to be done before Col Gaddafi’s forces crumbled, saying: “He still has a lot of people left.”

The head of the RAF warned that the operation was close to overstretching his force. Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said: “It’s a heck of a lot to be doing at one time.”

He suggested the RAF may be in action for six months, while Mr Cameron said: “It is not easy to know how the end game will work.”

Libya: al-Qaeda 'receive looted Libyan weapons'

Convoys of weapons have been looted from Libyan barracks and taken to al-Qaeda camps in northern Mali, according to security officials.

Rebels head towards Brega after setting uniforms left by retreating loyalist soldiers on fire. Col Gaddafi has justified the crackdown on the uprising as a fight against al-Qaeda.

By Damien McElroy

 04 Apr 2011

The Libyan bombing campaign has allowed terrorist groups free access to some of Col Muammar Gaddafi's arms dumps and an Algerian official said that monitored shipments had made their way from Libya to al-Qaeda strongholds in the Sahara.

Eight Toyota pickup trucks crossed into Chad, across Niger and into northern Mali from desert armouries in eastern Libya. Algeria warned that al-Qaeda's North African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), had seized shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles in Libya.

Intelligence reports said Russian-made anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and ammunition were stacked on the pickups.

"A convoy of eight Toyotas full of weapons travelled a few days ago through Chad and Niger and reached northern Mali," the official said.

"We know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing. Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region [eastern Libya] with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity."

Col Gaddafi has justified the crackdown on the uprising against his regime as a fight against al-Qaeda.

An internet message from al-Qaeda on Monday said that Nato was using the operation to defend Libya's citizens to attack its presence. Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's supreme allied commander for Europe, warned last week that "flickers" of an al-Qaeda presence in Libya were being closely followed by the alliance. "AQIM is taking advantage by acquiring the most sophisticated weapons," he said.

Algeria has been fighting a nearly two-decade insurgency by Islamist militants who in the past few years have been operating under the banner of al-Qaeda. Algeria's security forces also monitor al-Qaeda's activities outside its borders.

Col Gaddafi has placed arms caches throughout Libya. A strike on an arsenal in Sebha last week resulted in three days of secondary explosions and damage to half the houses in the town.

Locals said large stocks of weapons at the military base could still be salvaged.

"AQIM has maintained excellent relations with smugglers who used to cross Libya from all directions without the slightest difficulty," the Algerian official said.

Libyan officials have compiled videos of their fighters being beheaded and killed by jihadist fighters to justify their claims that the opposition Interm Transitional National Council is a front for al-Qaeda. Tripoli maintains the West will come to regret military action.

Libya: diplomatic initiative opens up rift between Gaddafi sons

A rift in the Gaddafi family has emerged as two hardline sons of the Libyan leader have dismissed efforts to implement a ceasefire as part of a diplomatic initiative to end the Nato bombing campaign.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has reportedly argued with his more hardline brothers after outlining proposals for a ceasefire

Mutassim Gaddafi, the National Security Adviser and Khamis Gaddafi, the commander of elite forces, have confronted supporters of a peace plan that has circulated in diplomatic circles in Tripoli.

Diplomats have said that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, another son, had offered to act as interim president to oversee a transition to a democratic system. The offer would mean Col Muammar Gaddafi's withdrawal from power and the end of the family's tyrannical hold on power.

But one family aide said there had been arguments over Saif's initiative, which is supported by Saadi, another brother with power in the armed forces. He said: "It is not in the military interest of the government to have a ceasefire now. While we have the momentum, Mutassim wants to keep going." The official said that the brothers had argued over a ceasefire.

While Saif believes that talks would be impossible without a ceasefire, Mutassim wants to ensure the regime cannot be beaten. He is reported to have said: "People get sick of dying, we have to keep fighting until we've beaten the opposition."

Mutassim and Saif have been rivals for almost a decade. A US diplomatic cable said that Saif's overseas reputation – he cultivated British and US leaders while living in London as a PhD student – had made Mutassim jealous.

All four brothers are known to enjoy glamorous social events. The singer Beyoncé performed for Mutassim in the Caribbean at the New Year.

A Libyan official claimed that the crisis represented an opportunity for Saif to achieve reforms that were blocked by his father's oldest allies. He said: "They have hit so many brick walls with the old guard, and if they have the go-ahead, they will bring the country up quickly."

Meanwhile Libya's opposition on Monday rejected attempts by the regime to kick-start diplomatic talks, saying Col Gaddafi could not remain in Tripoli.

Col Gaddafi's acting foreign minister flew into Ankara with proposals that Tripoli has described as a road map to a ceasefire and eventual peace.

Abdulati al-Obeidi met Ahmed Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, but European diplomats had already dismissed his proposals as unacceptable. Mr Obeidi told the Greek government on Sunday that Tripoli was ready to negotiate.

"Gaddafi and his sons have to leave before any diplomatic negotiations can take place," Shamseddin Abdulmelah, a spokesman for the rebel Interim Transitional National Council. "How can you negotiate at the point of a gun?"

The rebels warned that the talks were buying time for the Gaddafi regime's onslaught on the rebel held city of Misurata, where government forces were targeting residential enclaves with artillery shelling.

But Mr Davutoglu said he would attempt to broker a ceasefire if the opportunity arose. He has invited the rebel council to Turkey for discussions in the wake of Mr Obeidi's trip.

Italy announced it would be the first country to set up a representative office in Benghazi, the rebels' base city. Kuwait also recognised the opposition as the sole voice of Libya.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, meanwhile told the Commons that Britain was willing to call for any defector who had clearly broken with Col Gaddafi to be removed from United Nations sanctions lists.

Downing St said a ceasefire – not talks about Col Gaddafi's position – was the vital first step. "There have been lots of reports of envoys and of the regime reaching out in a number of ways," a spokesman said. "The next step ... needs to be a genuine ceasefire and an end to violence. An exit strategy for Gaddafi is not something we are involved in pursuing."

Oliver Miles, the former British ambassador in Tripoli, said that proposals to send Col Gaddafi into internal exile while his sons introduced democracy were based on a fantasy. "It can't be done," he said. "As soon as Gaddafi steps down, his sons are dead in the water politically. In theory, according to Gaddafi, he's already a figurehead and holds no official role, so it should not matter if he stays or goes. The reality, however, is otherwise."

While the rebels are winning diplomatic acceptance, internal disputes are hampering their fight. A rebel insider described a squabble between the three top leaders at the weekend that resembled a childish spat. Fatah Younis, the rebels' commander-in-chief, Khalifa Heftar, a former general and Omar al-Hariri, the defence minister, were no longer on speaking terms after the heated dispute.

Notwithstanding the fractious command structure, the rebel's ragtag forces advanced into the oil town of Brega on Monday. Col Gaddafi's troops were reported to be laying landmines as they pulled back.

 

16 June 2011
Muammar Gaddafi (13 February 2011)
Col Muammar Gaddafi said the protesters were "trigger happy" and often "stoned with drugs"
 

Tripoli mortuary eyewitness: 'Haunted by Libya deaths'

"They pulled off the patients' oxygen masks, yanked off the wires connected to their monitors, pulled out the drips and tubes, and took them away”

Graffiti in Arabic reading: 'We will not forget the martyrs, the people want the fall of the regime' on a wall in Tripoli (21 February 2011)
Bodies may have been removed from hospitals, but anti-regime graffiti remained

A doctor zips up body bags in Benghazi (25 February 2011)
Foreign media found proof of the violent crackdown in the mortuaries of Benghazi
Libyan interior ministry spokesman appears at news conference (February 2011)
Libyan government officials insisted no-one had been hurt in the initial protests in Tripoli



Anti-government protests began in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on 15-16 February, but spread rapidly westwards, reaching the capital, Tripoli, on 20 February. Officials denied anyone had been injured in clashes between security forces and protesters. But a former orderly at a Tripoli hospital mortuary, who has fled to Tunisia, told the BBC's Pascale Harter what he saw:

Many young people went to protest in Green Square that day, and I believe almost no-one came back alive that night.

Between 600 and 700 people were killed. I know this because I carried the bodies into my hospital.

Each ambulance brought three or four dead people. And the ambulances just kept coming and going, like delivery vans dropping off goods.

Every one of Tripoli's ambulances - and we have a lot of them - was out on the roads, carrying dead bodies.

When the mortuary's refrigerators were full, we placed the bodies on tables and stretchers, or left them on the floor. It was the same at the other hospitals.

Col Gaddafi killed people who were demonstrating peacefully.

I know this because I saw it myself. I saw men in military uniform in pick-ups, their faces covered, shooting at people. It was like a scene from a horror film.

'Down with Gaddafi'

I think Col Gaddafi's forces were using anti-aircraft guns on people.

The people had gunshot wounds to their heads or chests. The bullets had exploded and some of the people had their heads blown open. I tried to pick up the pieces.

It was very confused at the hospital. We did not count the number of dead or register them. We just dropped the dead bodies and sent the wounded into surgery. No-one was taking down names or counting.

Also, the bodies were coming in without identity cards on them. But in one man's pocket I found a receipt with his name on it so I wrote it down.

The ambulances picked up all the dead and wounded they could, but then Col Gaddafi's forces started shooting at them.

I told one ambulance driver to fetch more wounded, but he said: "I don't want to die", and just threw down his keys down and walked away.

A military commander brought in a soldier in who had been shot in the stomach. He did not trust the doctors to operate, so he told another soldier to stay with the wounded man.

When the three of them came into the hospital the families of the protesters who had been killed or injured started chanting: "Down with Gaddafi."

The commander started firing his gun at the ceiling and everyone dropped to the floor.

Haunting images

A few days later, soldiers came and took the dead and injured.

They pulled off the patients' oxygen masks, yanked off the wires connected to their monitors, pulled out the drips and tubes, and took them away.

Some of them were sedated and were not conscious. Even the ones who were not did not have the chance to scream. The soldiers just piled them up with the dead in Toyota Land Cruisers and drove away.

None of the hospital staff dared speak out at all. What could we do? If I had done anything, I would have been piled up with the dead too.

We never found out what happened to the people taken by Col Gaddafi's forces. No-one had the courage to ask.

The next day, the government brought a Libyan state television crew to interview our doctors. They said: "No, there are no injured at the hospital, not even a person who has fallen off a ladder."

Before they took the dead, my colleague told me to take pictures of them so that their families would still be able to know what happened.

My phone did not have a camera so he gave me his. I took the keys to the mortuary and I took the pictures. Afterwards, I gave the phone back to him.

A few days later I heard he was caught by the police. I do not know what they did with him.

When I heard, I ran away. I left Tripoli and went to join the revolutionaries in Zawiya. They helped me get to Tunisia through the desert.

I am now taking pills that allow me to fall asleep straight away. But whenever I am awake, I am haunted by images of Hajj Basset. He is always around - I even see him on the street.

Hajj Basset was the man who had a receipt in his pocket bearing his name. His head was blown apart. When we lifted him from the stretcher, some of his head fell away and bits of his brain spilt on the floor. I picked them up and tried to put his head back together afterwards.

He was about 45 years old. He was not a terrorist or taking the hallucinogenic drugs which Col Gaddafi claims the protesters were taking.

The receipt in his pocket was from a DIY shop.

Unidentified woman at the Libyan-Tunisian border The International Criminal Court believes Col Gaddafi's forces are using rape as a weapon of war
14 June 2011

Libya rape victims 'face honour killings'

By Pascale Harter BBC News, Tunisian-Libyan border

Libyan women and girls who become pregnant through rape risk being murdered by their own families in so-called "honour killings", according to Libyan aid workers.

Rape is a sensitive topic worldwide, but in this country it is even more of a taboo.

"In Libya when rape occurs, it seems to be a whole village or town which is seen to be dishonoured," says Arafat Jamal of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Libyan charities say they are getting reports that in the west of the country, which is particularly conservative, Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces have tended to rape women and girls in front of their fathers and brothers.

"To be seen naked and violated is worse than death for them," says Hana Elgadi. "This is a region where women will not go out of the house without covering their face with a veil."

Ms Elgadi is in a group of Libyan volunteers offering medical help and HIV tests. The organisation is also offering to pay for abortions for women who have been raped in the war.

'Killing with love'

"Time is against us," says Nader Elhamessi from the Libyan aid agency, World for Libya.

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

A foreigner cannot go in there with a clipboard and a translator and get a response”

Hana Elgadi Aid worker

"For the moment pregnancies can be disguised, but not for much longer. Many fathers will kill their own daughters if they find out they have been raped."

"It is killing done with love," says Ms Elgadi. "They believe they are saving the girl."

"That's why we are offering to pay for abortions for women who want them," says Ms Elgadi. She says fatwas - Islamic clerical rulings - have already been made, which sanction abortion in circumstances such as rape.

The charity World for Libya has engaged imams across the border in Tunisia to preach that rape is not the victim's fault.

An estimated 130,000 people have fled western Libya for Tunisia, and the Libyan NGOs which have sprung up to deal with their needs say they believe many are rape survivors who are too ashamed to come forward for help.

World for Libya is trying to reach a group of teenage girls still inside Libya whose school was attacked by forces loyal to Col Gaddafi.

"The armed men separated the girls and raped those they deemed more attractive," says Nader Elhamessi. "One of the girls cut her wrists and killed herself rather than face the shame. The rapes were only reported to us by the girls who were left alone."

One family who contacted Ms Elgadi needed medication for HIV.

"The mother, the father and the son were all raped by Col Gaddafi's forces. The mother came to us when they discovered they had contracted HIV/Aids as a result."

Viagra

Ms Elgadi says the father has gone back to Tripoli rather than get help. "The mother desperately wants anti-retrovirals for herself and her son, but is afraid to go to the hospital in Tunisia in case other Libyan refugees see her and guess that she has been raped."

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

We have also seen evidence that would seem to suggest that rape has been carried out by both sides”

Arafat Jamal UNHCR

"Rape is a crime in this war, like being shot," says Ms Elhamessi. "We are even flying in a highly respected sheikh from the Emirates so he can get this message across."

The International Criminal Court says it believes Col Gaddafi's forces are using rape as a weapon of war. The ICC says it has reason to believe orders to rape were given, and the drug Viagra was distributed to fighters.

A major in the Libyan army who has now deserted told the BBC the shipments of Viagra were widely known about, but neither he nor his colleagues saw them.

"The order to rape was not given to the regular army," says the major, who did not want his name to be used, because his family is still in Tripoli. "Col Gaddafi knew we would never accept it. It was given to the mercenaries."

Mr Jamal, the UNHCR's emergency co-ordinator for Libya, says it has not so far uncovered evidence that rape has been used as a weapon of war, although it has seen evidence of individual instances of rape throughout the country.

"We have also seen evidence that would seem to suggest that rape has been carried out by both sides, but we cannot say on what scale," he says.

Libyan volunteers are advising international agencies on how to get Libyans who have been raped to come forward.

"A foreigner cannot go in there with a clipboard and a translator and get a response," says Ms Elgadi.



Libyan-Leader-Colonel-Muammar-Gaddafi.jpg Libyan-Leader-Colonel-Muammar-Gaddafi.
Moammar Gadhafi has boasted he is safe and secure.jpg Moammar Gadhafi
has boasted he is safe and secure.


RAF jets have completed well over 70 combat sorties from southern Italy.jpg RAF jets have completed well over
 70 combat sorties from southern Italy.

Rebels head towards Brega after setting uniforms left by retreating loyalist soldiers on fire.jpg Rebels head towards Brega after setting uniform
 left by retreating loyalist soldiers on fire

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has reportedly argued with his more hardline brothers.jpg Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has reportedly argued
with his more hardline brothers.jpg

 
MoD said -significant-intelligence facilities were struck during Monday night-s attacks.jpg MoD said -significant-intelligence facilities
were struck during Monday night-s attacks.

Fake-The Libyan leader was filmed talking to tribal elders apparently in a Tripoli hotel.jpg Fake-The Libyan leader was filmed talking
to tribal elders apparently in a Tripoli hotel.

 
Libyan government officials insisted no-one had been hurt in the initial protests in Tripoli.jpg Libyan government officials insisted no-one
had been hurt in the initial protests in Tripoli

 



USA WikiLeaks Embassy Cables _From The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-us-embassy-cables


Anna Nicole Smith US embassy cables

How Anna Nicole charmed Bahamas

Island was intoxicated by antics of former model, whose death revitalised media and led to government scrutiny

Julian Assange defends decision not to face questioning in Sweden

julian assange close up WikiLeaks founder says he is not obliged to return to be questioned over sexual assault allegations



US embassy in London

The key points at a glance

There are no fewer than 251,287 cables from more than 250 US embassies around the world, obtained by WikiLeaks. We present a day-by-day guide to the revelations from the US embassy cables both from the Guardian and its international media partners in the story

All the Guardian's embassy cables stories


Assange reported to have sold memoirs

Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder expected to publish book in March, through UK publishers Canongate


Wikileaks page Audio (39min 01sec)


Latest news

Latest on the Julian Assange case

Key points: day by day

Latest comment

You ask, we search

About the cables

Latest on the Julian Assange case

Key points: day by day

Latest comment

You ask, we search

About the cables

Datablog






WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange's lawyer says he has seen police documents that prove the whistleblower is innocent of rape claims.

Bjrn Hurtig, who is representing Assange in Sweden, said the documents, which form part of the official Swedish investigation, revealed two women had lied about being coerced into having sex with Mr Assange, 39. Assange is being held in Wandsworth prison, London, while fighting extradition to Sweden.

Assange met both women at a seminar in Stockholm last August. After having intercourse with each, at different times, he faced sex charges, which he strenuously denies, that were withdrawn and then reinstated.

 

In an interview from his Stockholm office, Mr Hurtig said: "From what I have read, it is clear that the women are lying and that they had an agenda when they went to the police, which had nothing to do with a crime having taken place.

 

"It was, I believe, more about jealousy and disappointment on their part ...

"If I am able to reveal what I know, everyone will realise this is all a charade," he said. MAIL ON SUNDAY


WikiLeaks cable shed light on Singaporeans' view of Anwar

 2010-12-12 16:19

KUALA LUMPUR, Sunday 12 December 2010 (Bernama) -- Singapore's intelligence services as well as its senior minister Lee Kuan Yew believe that opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim "did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted."

This was revealed by WikiLeaks through a release of a US State Department cable issued in November 2008.

The cable was exclusively released to the Australian tabloid, The Sun-Herald, and was widely reported by other Australian newspapers today.

WikiLeaks is a website that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive governmental, corporate, organisational, or religious documents, while attempting to preserve the anonymity and untraceability of its contributors.

The US State Department cable that dealt with Anwar's sodomy case, dated November 2008, and was released exclusively to The Sun-Herald by WikiLeaks, had stated:''The Australians said that Singapore's intelligence services and [Singaporean elder statesman] Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA in their exchanges that Opposition leader Anwar 'did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted'.''

In the newspaper report, it said the document stated that the Singaporeans told ONA that they made this assessment on the basis of ''technical intelligence'', which was likely to relate to intercepted communications.

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange's lawyer says he has seen police documents that prove the whistleblower is innocent of rape claims.

MySinchew 2010.12.12

Martijn Gonlag


Second Dutch teenager arrested for WikiLeaks-related DDoS attacks



by Graham Cluley on December 12, 2010 | Comments (4)

FILED UNDER: FeaturedLaw & orderMalware

Police in the Netherlands have arrested a second teenager in relation to the pro-WikiLeaks distributed denial-of-service attacks seen earlier this week.

The arrest of the 19-year-old man follows Friday's attacks on websites belonging to Dutch Police and national prosecutor's office, which were themselves widely seen as retaliation against the apprehension the day before of a 16-year-old Dutch boy alleged to have participated in "Anonymous" pro-WikiLeaks attacks against a number of websites, including MasterCard and PayPal.

Prosecutors claim that the 19-year-old, from Hoogezand-Sappemeer, in the north east of the Netherlands, flooded the prosecutor's website with internet traffic:

"From behind his computer, the man used hacker software to flood the website of the prosecutor’s office with as much digital traffic as possible. Investigations by the National Police Services Agency showed that the man, who was active under the internet nickname Awinee, urged other internet users to participate in the attack."

However, it is reported that the DDoS attack software being used did not hide the IP address of the computer involved, making it easy for high-tech crime cops to identify where the attack was coming from.

That's a pretty silly mistake to make if you're going to attack the website of your country's national prosecutor.

Who is "Awinee"? Well, a quick search on Google found a gaming website of a guy who lives in Hoogezand-Sappemeer, is 19 years old, and uses the online nickname "Awinee", going by the real name of Martijn Gonlag:




Wikileaks Mirrors

Find all the current Wikileaks Mirrors and Links here. Helpful, if the main site - wikileaks.org - is down.



Important Wikileaks Links

Protests expected outside court for WikiLeaks Julian Assange


Protests expected outside court  for WikiLeaks Julian Assange

Tuesday 14 December 2010
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will ask to be granted bail when he appears before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court for a second time today.
The former computer hacker was remanded in custody last week, despite the offer of surety from a number of high-profile backers, including journalist John Pilger, director Ken Loach, and charity fundraiser Jemima Khan.

If Julian Assange is denied bail, he is expected to appeal at the High Court.

The Australian, 39, turned himself into police after an international warrant was issued accusing him of sex offences in Sweden. Charges are thought to include rape and molestation in one case, and molestation and unlawful coercion in a second. Assange has denied the allegations, which he has claimed stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex." He has vowed to fight extradition to Sweden.

According to Australian media reports, supporters of Assange and WikiLeaks are expected to protest outside the court.

Yesterday, around 15 supporters of the 'Justice for Assange' campaign gathered outside the Swedish Embassy in central London. They held banners saying "political prisoner" and "gagging the truth" and wore masks of Assange's face.
His court appearance comes as another cable released through the WikiLeaks site reveals the United States was concerned that the UK was struggling to cope with home-grown extremists in the year after the 7th July bombings in London.

In the cable, a diplomat noted that Tony Blair's embarked on a drive to isolate radicals from the mainstream Muslim community after the 2005 attacks.

The message from the US Embassy states: "Since 7/7, HMG [Her Majesty's Government] has invested considerable time and resources in engaging the British Muslim community. The current tensions demonstrate just how little progress has been made."

Another cable suggests British police helped 'develop' evidence against Madeleine McCann's parents as they were investigated by Portuguese authorities investigating the disappearance of their daughter.

Julian Assange
Enemy of the State Hero of the People
By Lucy Carne LONDON
SEEDS OF CHANGE: Julian Assange the boy and the thorn in the side of governments, and a rally by his Brisbane supporters this week
In front of an adoring crowd at the Frontline journalist’s club in London last month, Australia Julian Assange explained why he’s risking the wrath of the world’s most powerful governments.
In his face could still be seen traces of the sweet natured, sensitive little boy his Sunshine Coast-based mother has described and, smiling, the Queensland born 39 year old leaned into the microphone.
“They say I enjoy crushing bastards and. Yes, that’s part of my motivation,” Assange said.
“For some reason, the White House finds that offensive.”
Today, the founder if whistle blowing website WikiLeaks and the man on whom the world’s spotlight is focused, sits is a grey tracksuit in one of western Europe’s biggest prsions.
This week he was remanded in custody of rape, sexual assault and unlawful coercion stemming from alleged  non-consensual sex without a condom with two women in Sweden.
Assange’s imprisonment, after he handed himself in, was met with relief in the US, where authorities were angered by his website’s release of embarrassing diplomatic cables last week.
The man who kicked the hornets’ nest had been silences they thought.
“I hadn’t heard that but it sounds like good news to me,” US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on being told of Assange’s arrest.
But while Assange grows restless behind bars – he has already complained about the “boring” daytime television and his request to be reunited with his own laptop has been denied – a global groundswell of support has grown.
The strongest act of revenge is coming from a group of ”hacktivists”  known as Anomymous, which temporariiy shut down the websites of US and Swedish corporations this week.
The group also froze the websites of credit-card companies Visa and Mastercard,n which had cancelled financial donations to WikiLeaks.
Post Finance – the Swiss bank that froze Assange’s private account – was disabled too, as was the Swedish prosecution office and the Swedish lawyers representing the two  women who claim  to have been sexually assaulted by Assange.
The Anonymous group’s spokesman, known only as Coldblood, told reports they had not met Assange and were not connected to his organization but felt the need to defend him.
“If we let WikiLeaks fall without a fight then government will think they can just take down any sites they wish or disagree with,” Coldblood said.
In Brisbane on Thursday, some 300 protestors took to the streets in anger at Assange’s imprisonment.
Protests in London were due to be held today.
More than 35,000 people have joined a Facebook group to support Assange, with calls for all members to donate to his legal fund, while around 28,000 Australians have signed a letter to US President BARACK Obama supporting him.
In an open letter published yesterday, prominent supports, including Australia documentary film maker John Pilger, Minty Python member Terry Jones, English actress Miriam Margolyes and author Iain Banks, call for his immediate release from jail
Assange’s unusually harsh imprisonment for allegedly ignoring two women’s  requests to use contraception has caused this sudden swell of skepticism and fury.
Many believe it is a flimsy excuse to keep Assange, who was placed on Interpol’s most wanted list, within reach of the US Justice Department so it can prosecute him under the Espionage Act.
Even while he is hailed by the public as a champion of transparency, to the governments of Australia and the US he remains a menace. To them he is not an innocent messenger but an anti-government terrorist who wants to harm the US and governments across the world.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard labeled WikiLeaks’s activities illegal but, despite calls for her to do so, has failed to outline any Australian law that Assange has broken.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland also has stood by his condemnation of Assange, while arch-conservative US politician Sarah Palin called him an anti-American operative with blood on his hands.”
How did the tousled-haired boy in overalls grow up to become an Andy Warhol-esque hero of the people.
“Hr can seem – with his spectral white hair, pa8iled skin, cool eyes, and expansive forehead – like a rail thin being who has rocketed to Earth to deliver humanity some hidden truth,” The New Yorker wrote in June.
Born in Townsville in 1971, Assange has described his childhood as “pretty Tom Sawyer”’ filled with horseriding, building rafts and fishing.
I was, however, far from Idyllic. By the age od 14, his family had moved 37 times, living everywhere from Magnetic Island to Byron Bay. It set the scene for his future nomadic life.
The young boy was home schooled, sporadically educated by university professors and even taught himself in hours spent alone in council libraries.
But his life changed when his mother’s abusive boyfriend tried to gain custody of Assange’s half brother in order to submit him to religious sect The Family.
His mother and her young family “disappeared”, constantly moving, never leaving a trail.
But at the age of 16, in 1987, Assange got a computer and modem and his life was suddenly transformed.
He embraced the random problem-solving and solace if life as a computer hacker.
“We were bright sensitive kinds who didn’t fit the dominant subculture and fiercely castigated those who did as irredeemable boneheads,” he wrote of himself and a teenage friend.
He was arrested in the early 1990’sw for hacking into the computer system of a major Canadian telecommunications company, but avoided a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
A brief spell in hospital for depression soon followed, as well as time spent living rough in the Dandenong Ranges National Park in Victoria and a stint motorcycling across Vietnam.
While working towards a physics degree at the University of Melbourne in 2006, He founded WikiLeaks.
It was a site for anyone wishing to “reveal illegal or immoral behavior in their own governments and corporations” he wrote at the time of the site’s launch.
“ I am the one who9 takes that risk,” he said prophetically, explaining his role at WikiLeaks while addressing the Frontline club last monthly. “As a consequence, I also get a lot of undue credit. I also get all the criticism.”
His original WikiLeaks mandate was to9 “make the news, not be the news”.
But that seems to have backfired, with Assange now a household name around the world.
“Is is weird?” an audience member asked him of his new celebrity status.
“No,” Assange shrugged.” Actually, I find it quite boring.”
Lucy Marne is The Courier-Mail’s European correspondent

Dear Friend,

Sarah Palin wants Julian Assange hunted as a terrorist.1 She's among a swelling chorus of American politicians calling for the arrest - and even the death - of the Australian citizen who runs WikiLeaks. It's a shame that real terrorists, the kind we should be focusing our attention on, don't show up at British Police stations with their lawyers, as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange did yesterday.

Here in Australia, Prime Minister Gillard pre-emptively judged Mr. Assange "illegal," even as the Attorney General confirmed that no Australian nor international crime by WikiLeaks has been identified.2

The death penalty? Judgment before trial? This isn't the kind of justice system we have in Australia. If our Government won't stand up for the rights of Australian citizens, let's do it ourselves.

We're printing ads in The Washington Times and The New York Times with the statement our Government should have made, signed by as many Australians as possible. Will you add your name to the signatories, and invite your friends to join too?

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Wikileaks

The statement:Dear President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder:

We, as Australians, condemn calls for violence, including assassination, against Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, or for him to be labeled a terrorist, enemy combatant or be treated outside the ordinary course of justice in any way.

As Thomas Jefferson said, "information is the currency of democracy."3 Publishing leaked information in collaboration with major news outlets, as Wikileaks and Mr. Assange have done, is not a terrorist act.

Australia and the United States are the strongest of allies. Our soldiers serve side by side and we've experienced, and condemned, the consequences of terrorism together. To label WikiLeaks a terrorist organisation is an insult to those Australians and Americans who have lost their lives to acts of terrorism and to terrorist forces.

If WikiLeaks or their staff have broken international or national laws, let that case be heard in a just and fair court of law. At the moment, no such charges have been brought.

We are writing as Australians to say what our Government should have said: that all Australian citizens deserve to be free from persecution, threats of violence and detention without charge, especially from our friend and ally, the United States.

We call upon you to stand up for our shared democratic principles of the presumption of innocence and freedom of information.We're printing this statement in The Washington Times and The New York Times early next week - and the more Australians sign, the more powerful the message will be. Please add your name by clicking below, and forward this message to friends and family:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WikiLeaks

What has started with WikiLeaks being branded as terrorists won't end there.

In fact, just yesterday U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Chair of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee, said thatThe New York Times should also be investigated under the U.S. Espionage Act for publishing a number of the diplomatic cables leaked to WikiLeaks.4 We can help stop such plans in their tracks, by showing how they are affecting the image of the US in the eyes of their staunchest friends and allies.

Click here to sign the statement before it's published in The New York Times and Washington Times.

Thanks for being part of this,
The GetUp team

---

1 Beckford, M., 'Sarah Palin: hunt WikiLeaks founder like al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders', The Telegraph, 30 November 2010.

2 Oakes, L., 'Oakes: Gillard gushes over US leaks', Perth Now, 4 December 2010.

3 The quote is widely attributed to Jefferson, but some now dispute whether he actually said it. We know, at least, that he said "knowledge is power," even if Francis Bacon did say it first.

4 Savage, C., 'U.S. prosecuters study WikiLeaks prosecution', The New York Times, 7 December 2010.



Julian Assange from Jail to Masion






Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. Photo: Jacky Ghossein

 \

Assange gets bail but still locked up (01:12)
British judge grants bail to WikiLeaks founder under strict monitoring conditions, but he remains in jail as Sweden appeals the ruling.

Assange will never receive a fair trial: Hicks
Cameron Atfield
December 15, 2010

Hicks answers the tough questions
Former terrorism suspect David Hicks has come out in support of jailed freedom-of-speech campaigner Julian Assange, saying he feared for Mr Assange's safety should he end up in American hands.
Mr Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, has been returned to London's notorious Wandsworth prison despite winning bail from a British Court.
He will be held there for another 48 hours while Swedish prosecutors, who want to extradite him to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes, mount a High Court appeal against the decision.
Supporters of Mr Assange, including his lawyer, have claimed the charges are politically motivated after the release of thousands of secret diplomatic cables, causing embarrassment for several governments.
Yesterday, Mr Hicks told Fairfax Radio he was concerned about what might happen to Mr Assange if he was extradited to the United States.
"He will never receive a fair trial," he said.
"We have already established that it's a political decision rather than a legal one. It's important that our governments are held to account for any war crimes they may be involved in and that is why the work of WikiLeaks is so important."
Mr Hicks spent six years at Guantanamo Bay, the US-run prison camp in Cuba, before he returned home to Australia to serve nine months at Adelaide's Yatala jail.
He was convicted by a US military commission of "providing material support for terrorism".
Mr Hicks said he believed future WikiLeaks releases could contain information about his incarceration.
"I will watch with interest in more leaks released because I have heard that they might contain information about my treatment in Guantanamo and the political interference in my case," he said.
"I just hope the Australian government doesn't abandon him like they did to me."
WikiLeaks: Julian Assange sex assault court case branded a 'show trial'
The Swedish authorities are turning the sexual assault case against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, into a "show trial", his lawyers claimed.

Mark Stephens attacked the decision by the Swedish authorities to appeal against a judge's ruling to grant the 39 year-old Australian bail.
He said their decision was now a "'persecution" rather than a prosecution and was politically motivated.
He accused the authorities of stopping at nothing to have the Wikileaks founder behind bars, a claim they denied.

 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is refused bail
15 Dec 2010
WikiLeaks: summary of the latest disclosures
15 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: is 'Wikileaker' on a crusade or an ego trip?
15 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: Jemima Khan comes to aid of Wikileaks founder in Swedish extradition fight
15 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: 'don't shoot the messenger'
15 Dec 2010

Julian Assange: 'don't shoot the messenger'
Governments around the world must not "shoot the messenger" by attacking disclosures by WikiLeaks, Julian Assange said on Tuesday.
Julian Assange says his whistle-blowing website deserves protection and has not cost a single life despite the claims of critics

The former computer hacker said his whistle-blowing website deserves protection and has not cost a single life despite the claims of critics.
Writing for The Australian newspaper, Mr Assange quoted its founder, Rupert Murdoch, as once saying the truth will inevitably win over secrecy.
He said: "Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public."
Mr Assange said WikiLeaks has coined "scientific journalism" that allows readers to study the original evidence for themselves.
He added: "Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest.
"WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption."
The campaigner denied he is anti-war, but said Governments must tell the truth about their reasons for fighting.
He claimed the United States, supported by its "acolytes", has attacked WikiLeaks instead of other media groups because it is "young and small".
Branding the website "underdogs", he accused Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard of "disgraceful pandering" to the Americans.
He said: "The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings."
Mr Assange highlighted some of the most high-profile revelations made by his website over the last week.
He added: "The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth."

In news
  
The WikiLeaks bunker
  
WikiLeaks: 10 greatest scoops
  
WikiLeaks: do they have a right to privacy?
  
The key WikiLeaks revelations
  
Why law is powerless to stop WikiLeaks

 

WikiLeaks 'will continue releasing documents'
15 Dec 2010

 
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is driven into Westminster Magistrates Court in London Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA
WikiLeaks 'will continue releasing documents'
WikiLeaks has pledged to continue releasing confidential documents after Julian Assange, the website's founder and chief, arrived at court for an extradition hearing.
Wednesday 15 December 2010

Richard Edwards and Nick Collins 2:53PM GMT 07 Dec 2010
Mr Assange handed himself over to police in central London on Tuesday morning after a warrant was issued for his arrest on rape charges.
But ahead of his first court appearance a spokesman for the website insisted the arrest would not prevent the planned release of further cables on Tuesday evening.
The spokesman wrote on Twitter: "Today's actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won't affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal."

The 39-year-old Australian was due to appear before a district judge at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday afternoon, where his lawyers were expected to fight extradition proceedings.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Officers from the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit have this morning arrested Julian Assange on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape.
"Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court today."
Supporters of Assange were told to protest against censorship outside the Horseferry Road court house on several websites.
His arrest came after an Australian newspaper published an editorial written by Assange, in which he urged governments around the world not to "shoot the messenger".
He wrote: "Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest."
He accused the Australian government and prime minister Julia Gillard of "disgraceful pandering" to the Americans, adding: "The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings."
Mr Assange has not been seen publicly for 31 days, since an appearance in Geneva, and was believed to have been in hiding in the south-east of England as the latest tranche of WikiLeaks material was released.
A European Arrest Warrant was issued by the Swedish last month but could not be acted upon because it did not contain sufficient information for the British authorities. A spokesman for Marianne Ny, the Swedish prosecutor, said the extra details were sent last week.
Police processed the warrant yesterday and arrangements were made with Mark Stephens, Mr Assange’s British lawyer, for the Wikileaks founder to attend a central London police station.
Mr Stephens said his client was keen to discover what allegations he was facing so he could clear his name.
"It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law," he said.
"Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name.
"He has been trying to meet with her (the Swedish prosecutor) to find out what the allegations are he has to face and also the evidence against him, which he still hasn't seen."
The 39-year-old Australian has been under intense pressure since the release of thousands of secret documents in recent weeks.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, spokesman for WikiLeaks, said Mr Assange had been forced to keep a low profile after several threats on his life.
Sweden’s Supreme Court upheld a court order to detain Mr Assange for questioning on suspicion of “rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion” after he appealed against two lower court rulings. He denies the allegations.
His details were also added to Interpol’s most wanted website, alerting police forces around the world.
Mr Stephens said he would fight any bid to extradite his client. He added that Mr Assange “has been trying to meet with the Swedish prosecutor since August this year”.
Mr Assange’s troubles deepened when his Swiss bank account was shut down after it was found he had given a false address. Postfinance, the financial arm of Swiss Post, said: “The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process.”
Mr Assange had allegedly told Postfinance he lived in Geneva but could offer no proof that he was a Swiss resident.
News of his potential arrest came as WikiLeaks was criticised for publishing details of hundreds of sites around the world that could be targeted in terrorist attacks.
Among the British sites listed are a transatlantic undersea cable landing in Cornwall; naval and motoring engineering firm MacTaggart Scott, based in the small Scottish town of Loanhead; and BAE Systems sites, including one in Preston, Lancashire.
The revelations prompted Sir Peter Ricketts, David Cameron’s national security adviser, to order a review of computer security across all government departments.
Julian Assange: Jemima Khan comes to aid of Wikileaks founder in Swedish extradition fight
Jemima Khan appeared in court to lend her support to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as he was put behind bars over sexual allegations originating from Sweden.
By Andrew Hough, and Caroline Gammell  07 Dec 2010

Khan, the socialite and charity worker, offered to provide a £20,000 surety to prevent the 39-year-old Australian from being remanded in custody in Britain over the claims.
Swedish officials want him extradited to answer questions over the alleged rape of one woman and molestation of another while he was in Stockholm this summer.
Mr Assange, who was also supported in court by film director Ken Loach and four others, has repeatedly denied the claims.

The 36-year-old former wife of Imran Khan said she would pay “whatever sum was required” to ensure he was granted bail.
However, a district judge at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court decided he was too much of risk as it emerged that there was no record him ever arriving in Britain.
During Tuesday's hearing he was accompanied by officials from the Australian High Commission after asking for consular assistance.
Outside court, Khan said: “I am not here to make any kind of judgement on the Julian Assange as an individual as I do not know him and I have never met him.
“I am here because I believe in the principle of the human right to freedom of information and our right to be told the truth.”
Mr Assange’s supporters believe his arrest is a political stunt to detract from the revelations being made on a daily basis on the Wikileaks website.
Geoffrey Robertson QC, a prominent Australian human rights barrister who was a defending lawyer at the Brighton Bombing trial in the mid 1980s, has reportedly agreed to act for Mr Assange in future hearings.
The former computer hacker claims he had received several death threats since the secret documents were published and that someone had called for the kidnap of his 20-year-old son in Australia.

Julian Assange in British prison on rape charge
08 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: Extradition case involving Wikileaks founder could last many months
08 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: question of consent
08 Dec 2010
Julian Assange: 'don't shoot the messenger'
07 Dec 2010
The Scarlet Pimpernel of cyberspace
07 Dec 2010
US Attorney General taking 'significant' action
07 Dec 2010

 

Julian Assange: is 'Wikileaker' on a crusade or an ego trip?
Julian Assange, the man who published the Afghan war files on his Wikileaks website, is unlikely to be chastened by Admiral Mike Mullen’s claims that he might now have “blood on his hands”.
Julian Assange outside court in Melbourne in 1995, where he was later convicted of hacking offences.

Julian Assange, pictured in London this week, relies on donations and the hospitality of wellwishers as he travels the globe.

WikiLeaks: summary of the latest disclosures
The latest round of WikiLeaks releases disclose more detail about the US's relationships with allies and foes across the globe. Here is a round-up of today’s headlines.

Britain
Prince Andrew criticised a variety of governments, including those of Britain and America, as corrupt, stupid and backward in a conversation with a US diplomat.
In his wave of “almost neuralgic patriotism”, the Duke also made the bizarre claim that British geography teachers are the best in the world.

Families of British servicemen killed in Sangin, Afghanistan have reacted furiously after it was claimed WikiLeaks would disclose dismissive remarks by US commanders on British efforts to secure the town.
The Welsh family of Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of handing the classified documents to WikiLeaks, have flown to America but been prevented from visiting him in prison.
The internet has been rife with speculation about which former Labour minister was labelled “a bit of a hound dog” with women by an American official.
David Cameron was seen as “lightweight” by Barack Obama after the first meeting between the two leaders, leaked files will show.
Prince Charles does not command the same respect as the Queen, according to a senior Commonwealth official.
International
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, dismissed claims that Arab countries had asked the US to attack his country as a deliberate attempt by the US to destabilise the Middle East.
Released Guantánamo Bay prisoners should have electronic tagging devices implanted so that they can be followed by security officials, the King of Saudi Arabia suggested to a White House official.
Silvio Berlusconi responded to leaked claims by American diplomats that he has a penchant for “wild parties” by claiming he only throws parties in a “proper, dignified and elegant way”.
One of the more unlikely stories to surface from the leaked documents was that of a 77-year-old American dentist who fled Iran on horseback after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
American officials suspect that North Korea has been secretly aiding Iran in its attempts to build nuclear weapons under the auspices of the Chinese government.
Colonel Gaddafi was believed to be very close to a “voluptuous” Ukrainian nurse who followed him everywhere he went, a US cable claimed.
An exile from Iran was living in London when he was targeted in an assassination plot by an Iranian agent, who was later arrested in America.
Hillary Clinton asked US diplomats in Argentina about the mental health of President Cristina Kirchner and questioned whether she was using medication to help her “calm down”.
The White House has told federal agencies to tighten security around the US military computer network following the leaking of classified information.
China would support a unified Korea controlled from Seoul because it believes the North is behaving like a “spoiled child”, documents show.
Sarah Palin has accused Barack Obama of taking insufficient action to prevent the release of the latest batch of WikiLeaks files.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, could die within months from terminal cancer, an Iranian informant told American officials.
Angela Merkel is the only leader “man” enough to lead the European Union, according to American cables.
The United Nations has angrily hit back at American “interference” after learning that Hillary Clinton ordered what amounted to an espionage campaign on its senior officials.
Julian Assange
The WikiLeaks founder is in hiding after an international warrant was issued for his arrest on rape allegations.
Assange’s next target will be the banking sector, with one American bank in particular to suffer from his next revelations, which he compared to the Enron scandal.
Assange has accused Barack Obama of attempting to smother the freedom of the press.
A criminal investigation is underway into how the latest batch of documents was made public, and Barack Obama could take legal action against Mr Assange.

Kazakh defence minister 'was openly drunk'
01 Dec 2010
WikiLeaks: Best quotes from Duke of York's Kyrgyzstan breakfast with US ambassador
30 Nov 2010
WikiLeaks: bereaved families' fury at US 'insult' over Afghanistan
30 Nov 2010
WikiLeaks: British and US governments stupid, says Prince Andrew
30 Nov 2010
WikiLeaks: Criminal investigation underway into leak of classified diplomatic documents
30 Nov 2010
WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton states WikiLeaks release is "an attack"
30 Nov 2010



Wikileaks Mirrors and Links here. Helpful, if the main site - wikileaks.org - is down


Julian Assange's alleged dating profile surfaces

December 14, 2010

Julian Assange allegedly used dating website OkCupid, his supposed profile now becoming fodder for media scrutiny around the world.

Intrepid internet users tracked down the disused profile that existed around 2006, revealing insightful information into Assange's personality, if it is to be believed that the information was written by Assange himself.

The WikiLeaks founder reportedly describes himself on the website: "Passionate, and often pig headed activist intellectual seeks siren for love affair, children and occasional criminal conspiracy,"

Prefacing his profile with a "warning", Assange explains: "Want a regular down to earth guy? Keep moving. I am not the droid you are looking for. Save us both while you still can"

When asserting what he likes in a woman, Assange's alleged profile states a woman should be "spirited, erotic, non-conformist. Non-conformity is not the adoption of some pre-existing alternative subculture. I seek innate perceptiveness and spunk"

"I like women from countries that have sustained political turmoil. Western culture seems to forge women who are valueless and inane. OK. Not only women!" he continues.

When describing what he is doing with his life, the profile states "Directing a consuming, dangerous human rights project", not without giving reference to his background in mathematics, neuroscience and philosophy.

According to the profile, Assange would have last used it on New Year's Eve December 2006. It states that he has never used drugs and only drinks socially, and that he spends a lot of time thinking about "Changing the world through passion, inspiration and trickery."

Ellingham Hall near Bungay, Suffolk

Pheasant dinners, port and brisk walks may be just days away for Julian Assange, whose bail address is to be Ellingham Hall. Photograph: Alban Donohoe

Julian Assange offered bail haven at former soldier's Suffolk manor


guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 December 2010

Maverick libertarian Vaughan Smith rescued WikiLeaks founder from jail - but then came appeal


His supporters include teenage hackers, freedom of speech activists and a motley group of celebrities. But it was the maverick British establishment that rode to the rescue of Julian Assange, offering to whisk him from dull confinement in Wandsworth jail to a large and comfy manor house in Suffolk.

For once, Assange was not the star at the afternoon bail hearing at Westminster magistrates' court. Dressed in a white shirt and blue suit, he watched the proceedings impassively. Instead the hero was Vaughan Smith, a former army officer, journalist adventurer and rightwing libertarian. For much of the past five months, until his arrest last week, Assange has been living at Smith's Frontline Club in Paddington, west London.

Standing to address district judge Howard Riddle, Geoffrey Robertson QC announced that "Captain Smith" was now ready to put Assange up at his rambling country home, Ellingham Hall, near Bungay in Suffolk – that is, should he be granted bail. The WikiLeaks saga has so far been short of jokes. But Robertson had one ready-made.

It would not be so much "house arrest as manor arrest", he quipped. Not only that, but it was inconceivable Assange would attempt to escape "since darkness descends rather early in that part of Britain". Additionally, Assange was willing to give up his Australian passport and wear an electronic tag. Finally, he wasn't likely to get very far given that "media exposure" had made him "well-known around the world", Robertson said with understatement.

Last week Assange was refused bail after he unwisely gave an Australian postal address as his place of residence. This time his legal team would allow no such mistake.

Robertson, Assange's new barrister, asked Smith to give his own assessment of WikiLeaks' controversial founder, in the light of Sweden's attempts to have him extradited on sex allegations.

"He is a very honourable person, hugely clever, self-deprecatory and warm. Not the kind of things you read about," Smith said loyally. But the clincher came when Robertson asked Smith to explain what precisely Assange's new rustic home would look like. After establishing that Smith was a former Guards officer and one-time captain of the British army's shooting team, the QC asked for details of Smith's family home and organic farm. "It has 10 bedrooms and 600 acres," Smith replied. Better still, there was even a police station. "It's a short distance on a bicycle. I can cycle it in about 15 minutes," Smith explained. "It's about a mile. Perhaps a little bit more." Smith added helpfully: "It's an environment where he would be surrounded. We have members of staff. My parents live in proximity as well. My father was a Queen's Messenger and a colonel in the Grenadier Guards."

On the second floor of the court several celebrity supporters had gathered outside next to the coffee machine and green metal benches – John Pilger, Jemima Khan, Ken Loach, Bianca Jagger, and others. But it turned out they weren't really needed – though their money was. Outside on the pavement, a polyglot scrum of journalists waited impatiently for news.

Judging from his appearance, Assange appeared to be surviving his ordeal in Wandsworth prison pretty well. From inside a glass box for the defendant, he confirmed his identity and address. He also gave a cheery thumbs-up to his team.

Robertson, however, made clear that Assange was having a miserable time of it. His conditions inside Wandsworth were nothing short of living hell, he suggested. "He can't read any newspapers other than the Daily Express. This is the kind of Victorian situation he finds himself in," Robertson lamented. He went on: "Time magazine sent him a magazine with his picture on the cover but all the person would allow him to have was the envelope!"

To no one's great surprise, the judge announced that "bail was going to be granted under certain conditions". These turned out to be not overly onerous: an electronic tag, an afternoon and night curfew and a requirement to report to Bungay police station between 6-8pm every evening. Oh, and £200,000 in cash.

Assange's lawyers asked if it might be possible to hand cheques into the court instead? The magistrate was unimpressed, insisting in these financially troubled times it had to be money up front.

Outside, the tweeted news of Assange's bail brought a loud cheer from the 150 or so people who had gathered opposite the court to cheer on their hero and share their banners and placards with the world.

One read: "Sex crimes! My arse!" Another, "That's just what we need – another innocent man in jail", and a third: "Sweden: muppets of the US." Despite the indignant slogans, the judge's verdict plainly delighted the protesters. Three young activists were so thrilled, in fact, that they broke into an impromptu chorus of We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Soon afterwards, however, there was confusion as news filtered through that the Swedish prosecutor was to appeal against the bail decision, meaning that Assange has to remain for the time being in jail. But his lawyers appear confident he will be out in time for Christmas.

Pheasant dinners, port and brisk walks around the estate may be only a matter of days away.

If he wins his next bail hearing in the high court, Julian Assange's new home will be a historic rural estate on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk. For more than three centuries Ellingham Hall, a sprawling and elegant Georgian manor house near the village of Bungay, has belonged to the Smith family.

Its owner today is Vaughan Smith, a friend of Assange, and a strong supporter. Smith has previously given the WikiLeaks founder a home at his Frontline club in Paddington, west London, which includes several flats.

Surrounded by 600 acres of woods and fields, the estate is the perfect retreat. It has 10 bedrooms, a large dining room with a convivial circular table, and portraits of Smith's ancestors hanging on the walls. There is a housekeeper who cooks meals. There is also a well-stocked cellar with wine and port – the decent Quinta Do Infantado.

The estate is usually home to Smith's wife and their two children.

Speaking to the Guardian before today's bail hearing, Smith made clear that Assange and his team will be expected to pay for food and accommodation. Other paying guests have included games sports enthusiasts – the hall boasts a pheasant shoot, with pheasants wandering freely over the grounds. The local Norfolk hunt sometimes clatters through the gardens.

"It's a Georgian house from the 18th century. It's been in my family as Smith for the past 225 years, but before that it belonged to the Johnsons, whom the Smiths married into.

"Some of the buildings are even older. On the walls are paintings of the people who bred me," Smith said. "My grandfather liked shooting and I'm partial to it myself."

The estate is exceptionally isolated. The nearest train station is Diss. From there it is a £27 ride in a taxi. It takes half an hour by car from the hall into Norwich, the nearest city.

The remoteness of the location is likely to afford Assange some privacy, since it is impossible to reach the manor house without trespassing on Smith's land.

According to friends, Assange shows little interest in food, and is invariably late for meals. But Ellingham Hall is also home to a large ecologically conscious organic farm. Smith looks after it himself together with two employees; the organic produce is served at his restaurant at the Frontline Club.






Wikileaks Mirrors

Find all the current Wikileaks Mirrors and Links here. Helpful, if the main site - wikileaks.org - is down.



Important Wikileaks Links

"Could become as important a journalistic tool as the Freedom of Information Act." - Time Magazine

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative,

secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to our journalists. We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices.

WikiLeaks relies on its supporters in order to stay strong. Please keep us at the forefront of anti-censorship and support us today.

You can also read more about WikiLeaks, our mission and objectives.


Cablegate: 250,000 US Embassy Diplomatic Cables

2010-11-28

On Sunday 28th Novembre 2010, Wikileaks began publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into the US Government's foreign activities.

All released leaks archived

2010-11-28

Due to recent attacks on our infrastructure, we've decided to make sure everyone can reach our content. As part of this process we're releasing archived copy of all files we ever released - that's almost 20,000 files. The archive linked here contains a torrent generated for each file and each directory.

War Diary: Iraq War Logs

2010-10-22

The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout.

War Diary: Afghanistan War Logs

2010-07-25

From here, you can browse through all of the documents that have been released, organized by type, category, date, number of casualties, and many other properties. From any document page, clicking on the green underlined text will open a popup that links to other documents that contain those phrases, making it possible to see important search terms and connections that you might not otherwise notice.

Video: Collateral Murder

2010-04-05

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

Spamhaus' False Allegations Against wikileaks.info

Published 15-Dec-2010, 8:00 AM GMT

On Tuesday, 14-Dec-2010 Spamhaus has issued a statement wherein it labels wikileaks.info as "unsafe", as they consider our hosting company as a malware facilitator:

http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=665

We find it very disturbing that Spamhaus labels a site as dangerous without even checking if there is any malware on it. We monitor the wikileaks.info site and we can guarantee that there is no malware on it. We do not know who else is hosted with Heihachi Ltd and it is none of our business. They provide reliable hosting to us. That's it.

While we are in favour of "Blacklists", be it for mail servers or web sites, they have to be compiled with care. Just listing whole IP blocks as "bad" may be quick and easy for the blacklist editors, but will harm hosters and web site users.

Wikileaks has been pulled from big hosters like Amazon. That's why we are using a "bulletproof" hoster that does not just kick a site when it gets a letter from government or a big company. Our hoster is giving home to many political sites like castor-schottern.org and should not be blocked just because they might have hosted some malware sites.

Fortunately, more responsible blacklists, like stopbadware.org (which protects the Firefox browser, for example), don't list us. We do hope that Spamhaus hasn't issued this statement due to political pressure.

Wikileaks.info will always be safe and clean. Promised:

Google Safe Browsing Check for wikileaks.info

Update (15-Dec-2010 17:00 PM GMT): Spamhaus has updated their statement to say that they don't blacklist us.

The wikileaks.info Team


http://213.251.145.96/iraq/diarydig/

WarLogs.Wikileaks.org is a website which provides an easy way to search through the Iraq and Afghan War Logs, which were made public by Wikileaks on 22nd October 2010. The documents are a set of over 391,000 reports which

cover the war in Iraq from 2004 to 2009 and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009.

From here, you can browse through all of the documents that have been released, organized by type, category, date, number of casualties, and many other properties. From any document page, clicking on the green underlined text will open

a popup that links to other documents that contain those phrases, making it possible to see important search terms and connections that you might not otherwise notice.

Our hope is that this tool will be helpful to reporters and researchers who are interested in learning more about the US's war in Afghanistan and making sense of this important database. If you wish to support this work, we encourage

you to make a donation to wikileaks.

Source code for this website is freely available on github – we welcome any contributions, improvements or suggestions.

On to the documents.

  • CACHE FOUND/CLEARED Other 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    AFG: Cache Found/Cleared, RC EAST, 0 casualties

    KAF-1BDE -S3 REPORTS: GERONIMO 11 SALUTE AS FOLLOWS: S - 1 CAVE, A CACHE, L - 42 SWB758 778, U UNK, T 0641, E - 1X UXO, 2000RDS 7.62MM....

  • IZ RUNS TCP BY /%%% IN ZONE %%%: NO INJURIES 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    iraq: Accident, MND-BAGHDAD, 0 casualties

    WHILE CONDUCTING A JOINT CHECKPOINT /%%% MP CO FIRED ON A VEHICLE WHEN THE DRIVER FAILED TO OBEY THE POSTED WARNINGS AND COMMANDS OF THE IPS WHO WERE MANNING THE CHECKPOINT. THE VEHICLE, A %%% SEDAN ...

  • CACHE FOUND/CLEARED Other 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    AFG: Cache Found/Cleared, RC EAST, 0 casualties

    USSF FINDS CACHE IN VILLAGE OF WALU TANGAY: USSF CONDUCTED A MEET AND GREET IN THE VILLAGE OF WALU TANGAY. USSF MEMBERS WERE APPROACHED BY A LOCAL BOY WHO SPOKE OF A CACHE IN A CAVE ON A NEARBY HILL....

  • PROPAGANDA Other 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    AFG: Propaganda, RC SOUTH, 0 casualties

    (M) NIGHT LETTERS DISTRIBUTED AROUND HAZARJUFT: THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSLATED VERSION OF ONE LETTER: ISLAMIC IMARATS OF AFGHANISTAN. FOR THE BRAVE WARLORDS OF AFGHANISTAN, SALAM ALAIKOOM. AS YOU KNO...

  • DIRECT FIRE Other 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    AFG: Direct Fire, RC EAST, 3 casualties

    KAF-1BDE -S3 REPORTS: SUMMIT 09 B CO ELEMENT SALUTE REPORT AS FOLLOWS: S- 3-4 PAX, A- SMALL ARMS FIRE, L-IVO 42 SWB 3910 1617, U-UNK, T-0415Z, E-AK-47. 0448Z ENEMY ELEMENTS BROKEN CONTACT. 0442Z AIR Q...

  • DIRECT FIRE Other 2003-12-31 18:00:00
    AFG: Direct Fire, RC EAST, 8 casualties

    KAF-1BDE -S3: SUMMIT 6 REPORTS TIC SALUTE TO FOLLOW: S-18X ACM, A- SMALL ARMS FIRES, L-WB340120, T-1256Z. 1319Z: BDA UPDATE: REPORTING INDICATES POSSIBLY 8X SUSPECTED

  • ACM''S WERE KIA....

  • A /%%% and local car have been involved in a RTA. No any CAS were reported. 2003-12-31 18:10:00
    iraq: Accident, MND-SE, 0 casualties

    A /%%% and local car have been involved in a RTA. No any CAS were reported. Imported MND-SE Report Event ID:%%% Number of Rounds: Number of Blinds: Number inside the Wire: : : %%%: ...

  • /%%% INVOLVED IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT: NO INJURIES 2003-12-31 18:10:00
    iraq: Accident, MND-SE, 0 casualties

    DURING A ROUTINE PATROL A /%%% GOT INTO %%% TO A CIVILIAN CAR. NO ANY CAS WERE REPORTED....

  • SAF ATTACK ON CAMP %%% GUARD TOWER IN BAGHDAD (ZONE %%%) - NO BDA 2003-12-31 18:20:00
    iraq: Direct Fire, MND-BAGHDAD, 0 casualties

    RED SEDAN WITH A WHITE TOP WAS DRIVING NORTHWEST ON ROUTE %%%, AND ENGAGED ONE OF THE TOWER GUARDS AT CAMP %%% WITH SMALL ARMS FIRE. THERE WERE NO INJURIES TO US PERSONNEL OR DAMAGE TO ANY EQUIPMENT....

  • %%% CONDUCTS RAID VIC BALAD: %%% DETAINED 2003-12-31 20:00:00
    iraq: Raid, MND-N, 0 casualties

    %%% REPORTS THAT %%% CONDUCTED A RAID ON 2X %%% VIC %%% AND %%% (SOUTH OF BALAD) AT 0200C. THE INTENDED TARGETS WERE SUSPECTED IED ATTACKERS. %%%

  • OBSERVED 4X IZ RUNNING FROM THE OBJ AND CAPTURED THE...








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