Pentagon Urges Press to Ignore Documents Due to Be Released on WikiLeaks

Added by James Morley on October 19, 2010

On Monday, the Pentagon has asked news press and media not to use in their reports the classified US documents that are to be released by WikiLeaks.

Spokesman Col. David Lapan requested WikiLeaks in the name of the US military to return stolen Iraq war documents to the government of the United States and to retain from publishing them.

In an attempt to minimize the damage that would be caused by the mass disclosure of these documents, Colonel Lapan also asked news media not to publish or facilitate the leak.

Back in July 2010, the controversial website WikiLeaks released about 70,000 documents of the US linked to the Afghan conflict that showed the bad side of the war.

The same website is now expected to release nearly 500,000 classified US documentations on the Iraq war. Just as the US government condemned the website for last summer’s leaks, it is now opposing another disclosure.

Lapan pointed out that the press shouldn’t ignore the leak of this documentation but avoid giving the “disreputable” organization even more credibility by using the information provided by it.

On another note, also on Monday, Sweden has denied a residency and work permit to Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder.