144-723: The Iraq War documents leak is the disclosure to WikiLeaks of 391,832 United States Army field reports, also called the Iraq War Logs , of the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009 and published on the Internet on 22 October 2010. The files record 66,081 civilian deaths out of 109,000 recorded deaths . The leak resulted in the Iraq Body Count (IBC) project adding 15,000 civilian deaths to their count, bringing their total to over 150,000, with roughly 80% of those civilians. It
288-630: A Presidential Finding authorizing the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command to conduct cross-border paramilitary operations from Iraq and Afghanistan into Iran. These operations would be against the Quds Force and "high-value targets." "The Finding was focused on undermining Iran's nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change," a person familiar with its contents said, and involved "working with opposition groups." According to an Iraqi intelligence study which discusses
432-629: A cache of NSA documents . Scott Shane of The New York Times stated that the involvement "shows that despite its shoestring staff, limited fund-raising from a boycott by major financial firms, and defections prompted by Mr. Assange's personal troubles and abrasive style, it remains a force to be reckoned with on the global stage." In September 2013 Julian Assange announced the creation of the WikiLeaks counterintelligence unit. The project surveilled 19 surveillance contractors to understand their business dealings. According to Assange, they were "tracking
576-470: A "tragedy" while the US Department of Defense requested the return of the documents. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the leak, saying that it "puts the lives of United States and its partners' service members and civilians at risk." The US military responded to the information in the documents about civilian deaths, saying that "it did not under-report the number of civilian deaths in
720-514: A 2008 US military report that said leaks to WikiLeaks "could result in increased threats to DoD personnel, equipment, facilities, or installations". The report suggested a plan to identify and expose WikiLeaks' sources to "deter others from using WikiLeaks" and "destroy the center of gravity" of Wikileaks by attacking its trustworthiness. According to Clint Hendler writing in the Columbia Journalism Review , many reactions to
864-583: A Latin American country and US intercept information for "over a hundred Internet companies". Assange stated that Domscheit-Berg had deleted video files of the Granai massacre by a US Bomber. WikiLeaks had scheduled the video for publication before its deletion. According to Andy Müller-Maguhn , it was an eighteen-gigabyte collection. Domscheit-Berg said he took the files from WikiLeaks because he did not trust its security. In Domscheit-Berg's book he wrote he
1008-465: A base in the former compound of the U.S. Embassy, which was overrun in 1979. According to Filkins and American General Stanley A. McChrystal , it was the Quds Force that "flooded" Iraq with " explosively formed projectiles " which fire a molten copper slug able to penetrate armor, and which accounted for "nearly 20%" of American combat deaths in Iraq (i.e. hundreds of soldiers). In September 2007,
1152-431: A covert political operative", thus betraying WikiLeaks' focus on exposing "corporate and government wrongdoing". In 2016 and 2017, WikiLeaks promoted several false conspiracy theories , most related to the 2016 United States presidential election . WikiLeaks promoted conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich. Unfounded conspiracy theories, spread by some right-wing figures and media outlets, hold that Rich
1296-519: A delegation from the party, including its chairman John Shipton , visited Syria and met with President Bashar al-Assad . Shipton said the goal of the meeting was demonstrating "solidarity with the Syrian people and their nation", improving the party's understanding of the country's civil war and told a Syrian TV station that WikiLeaks would be opening an office in Damascus in 2014. The meeting with Assad
1440-464: A document from December 2006 described a plan by a Shia militia commander to kidnap US soldiers in Baghdad in late 2006 or early 2007. The Australian also reported that "detainee testimony" and "a captured militant's diary" are cited among the documents, in order to demonstrate "how Iran provided Iraqi militias with weapons such as rockets and lethal roadside bombs." According to The New York Times ,
1584-730: A few years after the publication of American Hiroshima: The Reasons Why and a Call to Strengthen America's Democracy in July 2006, General David Petraeus reported to Congress that the Quds Force had left Iraq. Petraeus said, "The Quds Force itself, we believe, by and large, those individuals have been pulled out of the country, as have the Lebanese Hezbollah trainers that were being used to augment that activity." On 7 July 2008, journalist Seymour Hersh wrote an article in The New Yorker revealing that President Bush had signed
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#17327933432381728-476: A lack of internal transparency. Some journalists have alleged it had associations with the Russian government. Journalists have also criticised the organisation for promotion of conspiracy theories, and what they describe as exaggerated and misleading descriptions of the contents of leaks. The US CIA and United States Congress characterised the organisation as a " non-state hostile intelligence service " after
1872-541: A malware warning for "WikiLeaks.info", a "very loosely" affiliated website that "WikiLeaks.org" redirected to. The website said they could "guarantee that there is no malware on it". A series of resignations of key members of WikiLeaks began in September 2010, started by Assange's decision to release the Iraq War logs the next month, internal conflicts with other members and his response to sexual assault allegations. According to Herbert Snorrason, "We found out that
2016-532: A marketing department. Marketing was something he himself knew best. After Julian Assange was granted asylum and entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, new CCTV cameras were installed and security personnel working for UC Global and Promsecurity recorded his activities and interactions, including with his legal team. In a 2017 email, the surveillance was justified with suspicions that Assange
2160-438: A plan which suggested "[spreading] disinformation" and "disrupting" Glenn Greenwald 's support for WikiLeaks. Team Themis planned to expose the workings of WikiLeaks using disinformation and cyberattacks. The plans were not implemented and, after the emails were published, Palantir CEO Alex Karp issued a public apology to "progressive organizations ... and Greenwald" for his company's role. In December 2010 PayPal suspended
2304-584: A preference for a Republican victory in the 2016 election. Having released information about a broad range of organisations and politicians, WikiLeaks started by 2016 to focus almost exclusively on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election , WikiLeaks only exposed material damaging to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton. According to The New York Times , WikiLeaks timed one of its large leaks so that it would happen on
2448-417: A reflection of public opinion on the actions of the targets. Cyber-attacks and legal restrictions forced WikiLeaks to change server hosts several times by 2010. In December 2011 WikiLeaks launched Friends of WikiLeaks , a social network for supporters and founders of the website. Friends of WikiLeaks was designed for users to never have more than 12 friends, half local and half international. The site
2592-590: A reporter at The Intercept fired over the Reality Winner case . WikiLeaks has defended the practice with their vetting record, saying "police rewards produce results. So do journalistic rewards." Its website stated in 2015 that it had released 10 million documents online. Assange wrote on WikiLeaks in February 2016: "I have had years of experience in dealing with Hillary Clinton and have read thousands of her cables. Hillary lacks judgement and will push
2736-539: A source, breaking WikiLeaks' rules about source anonymity. Journalists suggested that Wikileaks may have made the statements to imply that Swartz was targeted by the US Attorney's Office and Secret Service in order to get at WikiLeaks. In 2013 the organisation assisted Edward Snowden leave Hong Kong. Sarah Harrison , a WikiLeaks activist, accompanied Snowden on the flight. According to US investigators, WikiLeaks played an active role in assisting Snowden to disclose
2880-690: A subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation . Quds force Corps budget was leaked in a hack in February 2024 to be $ 7,700 billion toman. While it reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran , there are debates over how independently Quds Force operates. Mahan Abedin, director of research at the London-based Center for the Study of Terrorism (and editor of Islamism Digest ), believes
3024-805: Is a level of responsibility toward our people that needs to be balanced with a right or need to know. It's likely that a leak of that information could cause the death of our own people or some of our allies." After the documents were released, US Iraq War resisters seeking refuge in Canada , including Joshua Key and the 17-year veteran Chuck Wiley, said that the October 2010 round of military documents released by WikiLeaks offers further support of their claims. Joshua Key , author, with Lawrence Hill , of The Deserter's Tale (a book chronicling his service in Iraq and his subsequent departure from military life), said, "It’s
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#17327933432383168-455: Is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange . Kristinn Hrafnsson is its editor-in-chief . Its website states that it has released more than ten million documents and associated analyses. WikiLeaks' most recent publication of original documents
3312-463: Is most commonly known as القُدس al-Quds , meaning "The Holy" or "The Holy Sanctuary", cognate with Hebrew : הקדש , romanized : Ha-Qodesh , lit. 'The Holy'. It was originally titled Corps but changed to Force by Khamenei. The predecessor of the Quds Force, known as 'Department 900', was created during the Iran–Iraq War as a special intelligence unit, while
3456-636: Is sceptical of those theories and that he believes Russia to have initially obtained the DNC emails. In April 2017 the WikiLeaks Twitter account suggested that the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack , which international human rights organisations attributed to the Syrian government, was a false flag attack. WikiLeaks stated that "while western establishment media beat the drum for more war in Syria
3600-693: Is the biggest leak in the military history of the United States , surpassing the Afghan War documents leak of 25 July 2010. The logs led to news reports of previously unknown or unconfirmed events that took place during the war. The Iraq Body Count project estimated 15,000 civilian deaths that had not been previously admitted by the US government based on an extrapolation of a sample of the deaths found in about 800 logs. Although American and British officials had denied any official record of civilian deaths,
3744-635: Is unstable. We don't have that kind of relationship with the Iranians. That's why I am particularly troubled by the interception of weapons coming from Iran. But we know that it's more than weapons; it's money; it's also according to some reports, training at Iranian camps as well. In March 2012, Najibullah Kabuli, leader of the National Participation Front (NPF) of Afghanistan, accused three senior leaders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards of plotting to assassinate him. Some members of
3888-775: The Electoral Act . In 2015 WikiLeaks began issuing " bounties " of up to $ 100,000 for leaks. Assange had said in 2010 that WikiLeaks didn't but "would have no problem giving sources cash" and that there were systems in Belgium to let them. WikiLeaks has issued crowd-sourced rewards for the TTIP chapters, the TPP and information on the Kunduz massacre . WikiLeaks has issued other bounties for LabourLeaks, 2016 U.S. Presidential election -related information, and information to get
4032-650: The 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike , titling it Collateral Murder , in which Iraqi Reuters journalists and several civilians were killed by a U.S. helicopter crew. It published thousands of US military field logs from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq war , diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia , and emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey . WikiLeaks has also published documents exposing corruption in Kenya and at Samherji , cyber warfare and surveillance tools created by
4176-589: The Afghan Parliament accuses Iran of setting up Taliban bases in several Iranian cities, and that "Iran is directly involved in fanning ethnic , linguistic and sectarian tensions in Afghanistan." There are reports about Iran's Revolutionary Guards training Afghans inside Iran to carry out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. Currently, the Revolutionary Guards recruit young people for terrorist activities in Afghanistan and try to revive
4320-775: The Basij militia. The "Lebanon Corps" of the IRGC was established in June 1982 when Iran sent 1,500 Revolutionary Guard commandos to the Syrian -controlled Beqaa Valley of Eastern Lebanon to fight against Israel's invasion . This force was led by IRGC Brigadier-General Hossein Dehghan (later Defense Minister) and was tasked with training members of Hezbollah . Two other people who were influential in guiding and communicating with Hezbollah after Dehghan were IRGC Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi ,
4464-526: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism seemed to show a US military Apache helicopter gunship open fire on Iraqi insurgents who were trying to surrender. According to Dagbladet Information , Danish soldiers "passed on responsibility for a much higher number of prisoners to Iraqi police than had previously been made public. The practice continued even though the coalition witnessed, and was repeatedly warned of widespread torture and mistreatment of prisoners in
Iraq War documents leak - Misplaced Pages Continue
4608-595: The CIA , and surveillance of the French president by the National Security Agency . During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign , WikiLeaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager , showing that the party's national committee had effectively acted as an arm of the Clinton campaign during the primaries , seeking to undercut
4752-757: The Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan led by Gulbadin Hekmatyar and Taliban groups Following an attack on an Israeli diplomat in India in February 2012, Delhi Police at the time contended that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had some involvement. This was subsequently confirmed in July 2012, after a report by the Delhi Police found evidence that members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had been involved in
4896-590: The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative legislation to establish a "journalism safe haven" in Iceland . In June, the parliament voted unanimously for the resolution. WikiLeaks originally used a wiki format website, and was changed when it relaunched in May 2010. The blogger Ryan Singel claimed that after the website relaunched, its cryptographic security had degraded. In October 2010
5040-623: The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), estimated that the force has about 5,000 personnel. In 2020, Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute estimated the Quds Force had the " divisional strength military formation " of approximately 17,000 to 21,000 members, split regionally. Companies controlled by the Quds Force maintain banking relationships with the Bank of Kunlun,
5184-627: The Iran-Iraq War , Major-General Mohsen Rezaee , then the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, ordered the formation of the 9th Badr Brigade , which consisted of Iraqi Shia fugitives who had fled from Saddam Hussein 's persecution and were fighting for Iran. The Badr Brigade was manned by Iraqis but led by Iranian officers. Among the Badr Brigade's earliest Iraqi members were Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis , Deputy Chief of
5328-535: The Mahdi Army —"all" of which "had close ties to Iran, some dating back decades" as part of their struggle against Saddam Hussein 's oppressive Arab nationalist regime. The Quds Force trained the Shiite militias in the use of roadside bombs, known as IEDs , that were the largest cause of U.S. military deaths in Iraq. In November 2006, with sectarian violence in Iraq increasing, U.S. General John Abizaid accused
5472-739: The National Assembly of Venezuela , accused Nicolás Maduro in January 2020 of allowing Qasem Soleimani and his Quds Forces to incorporate their sanctioned banks and their companies in Venezuela . Guaidó also said that Soleimani "led a criminal and terrorist structure in Iran that for years caused pain to his people and destabilized the Middle East, just as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis did with Hezbollah." The Quds Force has been described as
5616-757: The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan , led by Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani . One of the Ramadan Headquarters' senior commanders and its chief of staff in the 1980s was the IRGC Brigadier-General Iraj Masjedi , who from 2017 to 2022 served as Iran’s ambassador to Iraq. At the time, another commander of the Ramadan Headquarters was the IRGC Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Naqdi , who was later appointed as commander of
5760-563: The Popular Mobilization Forces who was assassinated together with Soleimani in January 2020, and Brigadier-General Hadi al-Amiri , later Interior Minister of Iraq. Muhandis and Amiri took part in the 1986 Iranian Siege of Basra under the command of IRGC General Hassan Danaeifar . After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Danaeifar became the Iranian ambassador in Iraq between 2006 and 2010. Muhandis had fled Iraq to Kuwait in
5904-723: The Taliban . However, in recent years, the Quds Force is alleged to have been helping and guiding the Taliban insurgents against the NATO-backed Karzai administration . There were also reports of the unit lending support to Bosnian Muslims fighting the Bosnian Serbs during the Bosnian War . According to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram , former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad helped fund
Iraq War documents leak - Misplaced Pages Continue
6048-490: The Taliban insurgents against the NATO-backed Karzai administration . Iranian-made weapons, including powerful explosive devices are often found inside Afghanistan. We did interdict a shipment, without question the Revolutionary Guard 's core Quds Force, through a known Taliban facilitator. Three of the individuals were killed... Iranians certainly view as making life more difficult for us if Afghanistan
6192-631: The United Nations Convention Against Torture the Obama administration had an obligation to investigate them." The convention, according to Nowak, forbids the US from turning over detainees to the Iraqi government, if doing so meant they might be subjected to torture. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay said that "the US and Iraq should investigate claims of abuse contained in files published on
6336-521: The United States , Taiwan , Europe , Australia , and South Africa . In January 2007 WikiLeaks organizer James Chen told TIME that "We are serious people working on a serious project... three advisors have been detained by Asian government, one of us for over six years." WikiLeaks said that its "primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, sub-Saharan Africa and
6480-466: The "allegations of killings, torture and abuse" in the documents, having stated, "We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious". Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki dismissed the records as politically timed smear and as a series of "media games and bubbles" as a defence against the information contained in the documents, which included "allegations [his administration] had permitted
6624-875: The 13 February bomb attack in the capital. On 11 October 2011, the Obama Administration revealed the United States Government's allegations that the Quds Force was involved with the plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir , which also entailed plans to bomb the Israeli and Saudi embassies located in Washington, D.C. In August 2022, plans to assassinate former US government officials John Bolton and Mike Pompeo were uncovered by US federal prosecutors, likely in retaliation for
6768-418: The 2016 U.S. elections . Conservative commentators such as Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter speculated about this possibility on Twitter, and Rush Limbaugh discussed it on his radio show. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Vault 7 showed that "the CIA could get access to such 'fingerprints' and then use them." In The Washington Post the cybersecurity researcher Ben Buchanan writes that he
6912-446: The 2016 presidential campaign" was "arguably even more consequential" than the Iraq War documents leak , the Afghan War documents leak and the United States diplomatic cables leak . According to Joscelyn, "Assange made it his goal in 2016 to counter the 'American liberal press,' which he accused of supporting Clinton. He aimed to turn that same press against her. Ultimately, with Russia's help, Assange succeeded." In November 2017 it
7056-429: The Al-Quds Force is "a classic example of state-sponsored terrorism ." The Quds Force reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran , Ayatollah Khamenei . After Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike , his deputy, Esmail Qaani , replaced him. The U.S. Secretary of State designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2019 based on
7200-402: The British newspaper, The Independent , at least a dozen key supporters of WikiLeaks left the website during 2010. Several staffers who broke with Assange joined with Domscheit-Berg to start OpenLeaks , a new leak organisation and website with a different management and distribution philosophy. Sarah Harrison , who stayed with WikiLeaks, later told Andrew O'Hagan she did not agree with
7344-440: The IRGC was allegedly active abroad in Afghanistan before the war. The department was later merged into 'Special External Operations Department'. After the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, the IRGC was reorganized and the Quds Force was established as an independent service branch . It has the mission of liberating "Muslim land", especially al-Quds , from which it takes its name—"Jerusalem Force" in English. Both during and after
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#17327933432387488-436: The IRGC's "continued support to and engagement in terrorist activity around the world." This was the first time that the U.S. ever designated another government's department as a FTO. While the formation's official name is Quds Force ( lit. ' Jerusalem Force ' ), it has also been referred to as the 'Quds Corps' ( Persian : سپاه قدس , romanized : sepah-e qods ) in Persian media. In Arabic, Jerusalem
7632-426: The IRGC’s intelligence chief at the time and later the first commander of the Quds Force from its establishment in 1988 to 1998, and Fereydoun Vardinejad, later the Political Deputy of the Office of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani . Both Vahidi and Vardinejad were tasked in 1985 by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the IRGC to negotiate with Robert McFarlane , U.S. President Ronald Reagan ’s special envoy to Iran, on
7776-439: The Iranian "unit deployed to challenge the United States presence" in Iraq following the U.S. invasion of that country, which put "165,000 American troops along Iran 's western border," adding to the American troops already in Iran's eastern neighbor Afghanistan . The force "operated throughout Iraq, arming, aiding, and abetting Shiite militias"—i.e., the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq , Dawa , and
7920-412: The Iraq War documents. Julian Assange explained that this was to stop people distracting from the message contained in the material. WikiLeaks made the documents available under embargo to a number of media organisations: Der Spiegel , The Guardian , The New York Times , Al Jazeera , Le Monde , the Bureau of Investigative Journalism , and the Iraq Body Count project . In October 2010, it
8064-499: The Iraq war increasing mortality. Another study by the World Health Organization called the Iraq Family Health Survey estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) from March 2003 through June 2006. The Iraq Body Count reviewed the war logs data in three reports in October 2010 and concluded that the total recorded death toll, civilian and combatant, would be more than 150,000. WikiLeaks WikiLeaks ( / ˈ w ɪ k i l iː k s / )
8208-540: The Iraq war or ignore prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces". Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan added that "the US military never claimed to have an exact count of the number of civilians killed in Iraq." He also added that both WikiLeaks and the Pentagon had the same database to collate a civilian death toll and was further sceptical WikiLeaks "made any new discovery." General George Casey, the army chief of staff, said US forces went to morgues to collect data and he did not "recall downplaying civilian casualties." In response to
8352-466: The January 2020 death of Soleimani. It's been reported that Iran has been increasing its presence in Latin America through Venezuela . Little is known publicly what their objectives are in the region, but in 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates denounced Iran for meddling in "subversive activities" using Quds Forces. However, Iran claims it is merely "ensuring the survival of the regime" by propagating regional influence. Juan Guaidó , President of
8496-474: The Middle East" but it "also expects to be of assistance to those in the West who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their own governments and corporations". WikiLeaks was usually represented in public by Julian Assange, who has described himself as "the heart and soul of this organisation". Assange formed an informal advisory board in the early days of WikiLeaks, with journalists, political activists and computer specialists as members. In 2007 WikiLeaks said
8640-408: The Northern Alliance against the Taliban, who were backed by Pakistan and the Arab world . In 1999, after several Iranian diplomats were killed by the Taliban in Mazar-e Sharif , Iran nearly got into a war with the Taliban. The Quds Force reportedly fought alongside the United States and the Northern Alliance in the Battle for Herat . However, in recent years Iran is accused of helping and training
8784-433: The Quds Force as an organization analogous to a combination of the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the United States. Responsible for extraterritorial operations , the Quds Force supports non-state actors in many countries, including Hezbollah , Hamas , Palestinian Islamic Jihad , the Houthi movement , and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. According to Michael Wigginton et al.,
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#17327933432388928-520: The Quds Force is classified and unknown. In 2007, Mahan Abedin of Center for the Study of Terrorism said that Quds Force numbers no more than 2,000 people, with 800 core operatives. Scott Shane , who interviewed several American scholars later that year, wrote that estimates range from 3,000 to 50,000. In 2013, Dexter Filkins wrote that the Quds Force has 10,000–20,000 members, "divided between combatants and those who train and oversee foreign assets". The 2020 edition of The Military Balance, published by
9072-566: The Quds Force of supporting "Shi'a death squads", while the government of Iran was pledging support in stabilization. Similarly, in July 2007, Major General Kevin Bergner of the U.S. Army alleged that members of the Quds Force aided in the planning of a raid on U.S. forces in the Iraqi city of Karbala in January 2007. Former CIA officer Robert Baer asserts the Quds Force uses couriers for all sensitive communications. On 24 December 2006, The New York Times reported that at least four Iranians had been captured by American troops in Iraq in
9216-431: The Quds Force while he was stationed at the Ramazan garrison near Iraq, during the late 1980s. In January 2010, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy , the mission of the Quds Force was expanded and the Force along with Hezbollah started a new campaign of attacks targeting not only the US and Israel but also other Western bodies. In January 2020, Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani
9360-482: The Russian government called the detainments unacceptable. Alireza Nourizadeh , a political analyst at Voice of America , stated that their arrests were causing concern in Iranian intelligence because the five alleged officials were knowledgeable of a wide range of Quds Force and Iranian activities in Iraq. According to American ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad , one of the men in custody was Quds Force's director of operations. Iranian and Iraqi officials maintained that
9504-421: The Shi'a Hezbe Wahdat forces against the Afghan government of Mohammad Najibullah . When Najibullah stepped down as President in 1992, Iran continued supporting Hezbe Wahdat against other Afghan militia groups. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996, Hezbe Wahdat had lost its founder and main leader, Abdul Ali Mazari , so the group joined Ahmad Shah Massoud 's Northern Alliance . Iran began supporting
9648-407: The State Department. Assange did not release the alleged documents. Assange also said that a volunteer was arrested in March and questioned about WikiLeaks. According to Assange, police said that authorities had spied on and photographed a private WikiLeaks meeting. WikiLeaks later admitted that the interrogation did not happen as originally suggested. According to the deputy head of news for RUV ,
9792-452: The Trump campaign would lose. WikiLeaks asked Trump Jr. to share a WikiLeaks tweet with the made-up quote "Can't we just drone this guy?" which True Pundit said Hillary Clinton made about Assange. WikiLeaks also shared a link to a site that would help people to search through WikiLeaks documents. Trump Jr. shared both. After the election, WikiLeaks also requested that the president-elect push Australia to appoint Assange as ambassador to
9936-427: The U.S. Iraq Study Group , and had concluded that they must increase efforts with Sunni and Shiite groups in order to counter the influence of Sunni states. On 11 January 2007, U.S. forces raided and detained five employees of the Iranian liaison office in Erbil , Iraq. The U.S. military said the five detainees were connected to the Quds Force. The operation drew protests from the regional Kurdish government while
10080-415: The US . Trump Jr. provided this correspondence to congressional investigators looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Assange repeated his offer of being ambassador to the US after the messages became public, publicly tweeting to Donald Trump Jr. that "I could open a hotel style embassy in DC with luxury immunity suites for whistleblowers. The public will get a turbo-charged flow of intel about
10224-451: The US apologise to Iraqis, they should compel Mr Maliki to leave the political arena altogether and apologise to everyone." Spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying, "Serious ambiguity and doubt linger regarding the intentions behind the suspicious release of WikiLeaks documents," and that Iran will "confront this mischievous act". During an interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on
10368-498: The US military handed over many prisoners to the Iraqi Wolf Brigade which was accused of beating prisoners, torturing them with electric drills, and executing suspects. According to The Guardian , the logs also show that "US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers." The coalition, had "a formal policy of ignoring such allegations", unless
10512-574: The United States into endless, stupid wars which spread terrorism. ... she certainly should not become president of the United States." In a 2017 interview by Amy Goodman , Julian Assange said that choosing between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is like choosing between cholera or gonorrhea . "Personally, I would prefer neither." WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison stated that the site was not choosing which damaging publications to release, rather releasing information available to them. In conversations that were leaked in February 2018, Assange expressed
10656-536: The War Logs an indictment of the war that "must be investigated not ignored for the sake of political expediency". Slate wrote the "bigger finding" was that "most Iraqi civilian deaths were caused by other Iraqis" and that "while some American guards behaved horrendously toward Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, Iraqi police and soldiers have behaved much worse". Other writers said the War Logs highlighted
10800-581: The WikiLeaks account after they received a letter from the US State Department that characterised WikiLeaks' activities as illegal in the US. Mastercard and Visa Europe also stopped accepting payments to WikiLeaks after pressure from the US. Bank of America , Amazon and Swiss bank PostFinance had previously stopped dealing with WikiLeaks. Datacell, the IT company that enabled WikiLeaks to accept credit and debit card donations, said Visa's action
10944-747: The WikiLeaks website". In addition, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak called "for a wider inquiry to include alleged US abuses." Hamit Dardagan, co-founder of the Iraq Body Count project , said that the publication of the Iraq War logs had revealed specific details about 15,000 previously unreported violent deaths of Iraqi civilians. Dardagan said that, for some of the deaths, WikiLeaks provided "hitherto undisclosed identifying details including their names — no small matter when so many Iraqi families were still desperately searching for their missing loved ones". In preparation for
11088-485: The abuse of prisoners and other misuses of power." This was echoed by Hassan al-Sneid, a "leader of Maliki's governing State of Law coalition", who stated, in terms of the images contained in the documents, "These are all just fakes from the Internet and Photoshop". The Iraqi Government stated that it planned to investigate the role of private contractors, specifically Blackwater Worldwide , in deaths that occurred during
11232-477: The allegations involved coalition forces. Wired Magazine reported that abuse of prisoners or detainees by Iraqi security forces continued even after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse incident came to light in 2004. In one recorded case, US troops confiscated a "hand cranked generator with wire clamps" from a Baghdad police station, after a detainee claimed to have been brutalised there. One report analysed by
11376-521: The allegations of torture by Iraqi soldiers under US oversight, US General George Casey , in command of the Iraq War between 2004 and 2007, said that "[o]ur policy all along was if American soldiers encountered prisoner abuse, to stop it and report it immediately up the US chain of command and up the Iraqi chain of command." Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg also expressed his support for an investigation into
11520-434: The arrest was unrelated to WikiLeaks but the volunteer mentioned WikiLeaks to the police and said the laptop he had with him was owned by WikiLeaks. Daniel Domscheit-Berg wrote that The rumors that he was being followed originated in part from his overactive imagination. But they also had the advantage of giving him the aura of someone in dire peril, increasing the collective anticipation of every new leak. Julian didn't need
11664-652: The authenticity of what they publish – and which thus far has had a stellar record in that regard – to be making boastful claims that they published forged documents. I understand and appreciate the satire, but in this case, it directly conflicts with, and undermines, the primary value of WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks said it wanted to bring attention to the banking blockade. In January 2013, shortly after Aaron Swartz died, WikiLeaks said that Swartz had helped WikiLeaks and had talked to Julian Assange in 2010 and 2011. WikiLeaks also said it had "strong reasons to believe, but cannot prove", he may have been
11808-573: The best people in the IRGC". The Quds Force trains and equips foreign Islamic revolutionary groups around the Middle East. The paramilitary instruction provided by the Quds Force typically occurs in Iran or Sudan . Foreign recruits are transported from their home countries to Iran to receive training. The Quds Force sometimes plays a more direct role in the military operations of the forces it trains, including pre-attack planning and other operation-specific military advice. Since 1979, Iran had supported
11952-463: The board members to whom they spoke said they had little involvement with WikiLeaks. Some said they did not know they were mentioned on the site, nor how they got there. Computer security expert Ben Laurie said he had been a member of the board "since before the beginning", but he was not "really sure what the advisory board means." Former board member Phillip Adams criticised the board, saying that Assange "has never asked for advice. The advisory board
12096-486: The board was still forming but that it included representatives from expatriate Russian and Tibetan refugee communities, reporters, a former US intelligence analyst and cryptographers." Members of the advisory board included Phillip Adams , Julian Assange, Wang Dan , Suelette Dreyfus , CJ Hinke, Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang, Ben Laurie , Xiao Qiang , Chico Whitaker , Wang Youcai , and John Young . WikiLeaks' advisory board did not meet. According to Wired UK , most of
12240-642: The campaign of Bernie Sanders . These releases resulted in the resignation of the chairwoman of the DNC and caused significant harm to the Clinton campaign . During the campaign, WikiLeaks promoted false conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and the murder of Seth Rich . WikiLeaks has won numerous awards and been commended by media organisations, civil society organisations, and world leaders for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, assisting freedom of
12384-462: The claims." In response to Rasmussen, an investigation by the Danish military was ordered by the minister of defence, Gitte Lillelund Bech . The military also requested the original unedited documents from WikiLeaks for their investigation. Amnesty International said that the actions taken by American and coalition troops in turning over prisoners from American to Iraqi custody when it was known that
12528-565: The code behind the submission system with him. WikiLeaks submissions stayed offline until 2015. Herbert Snorrason resigned after he challenged Assange on his decision to suspend Domscheit-Berg and was bluntly rebuked. Iceland MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir also left WikiLeaks, citing lack of transparency, lack of structure, and poor communication flow. James Ball left WikiLeaks over disputes about Assange's handling of finances, and Assange's relationship to Israel Shamir , an individual who has promoted antisemitism and holocaust denial. According to
12672-406: The danger of Iran in Iraq and "may well derail the formation of a government by implicating caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in running death squads". Max Boot wrote that the documents "don't tell us much that we didn't already know in broad outline". The UN 's chief investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak , states that "if the files released through WikiLeaks pointed to clear violations of
12816-634: The day the Vault 7 documents were first released, WikiLeaks described UMBRAGE as "a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation," and tweeted, "CIA steals other groups virus and malware facilitating false flag attacks." A conspiracy theory soon emerged alleging that the CIA framed the Russian government for interfering in
12960-431: The detained men were part of a diplomatic mission in the city of Erbil , Iraq . The five Iranian detainees were still being held at a U.S. prison in Iraq as of 8 July 2007. The U.S. said they were "still being interrogated" and that it had "no plans to free them while they are seen as a security risk in Iraq." Iran said that the detainees were "kidnapped diplomats" and that they were "held as hostages." On 9 July 2009,
13104-593: The document were "overwrought" and "the spin" by WikiLeaks was "a step too far". In 2010 the Bank of America employed the services of a collection of information security firms, known as Team Themis, when the bank became concerned about information that WikiLeaks was planning to release about it. Team Themis included private intelligence and security firms HBGary Federal, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies. In 2011 hacktivist group Anonymous released emails from HBGary Federal showing that Team Themis proposed
13248-549: The early 1980s and allegedly collaborated with Lebanese Hezbollah 's Chief of Military Operations Imad Mughniyeh in bombing the US embassy in Kuwait in 1983, after which he fled to Iran. In 1986 the Ramadan Headquarters of External Operations was created within the IRGC. This headquarters was responsible for Iran's links to Iraqi Kurdish groups, including the forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and
13392-497: The eve of the Democratic Convention . The Sunlight Foundation said that such actions meant that WikiLeaks was no longer striving to be transparent but rather sought to achieve political goals. Thomas Joscelyn , a senior fellow at Just Security , wrote that Assange had a "hatred of Clinton", whom he said was a "sadistic sociopath". Joscelyn wrote that "WikiLeaks' collusion with Russian government hackers during
13536-400: The evidence against the men was only circumstantial, but on 29 December, and under U.S. pressure, the Iraqi government ordered the men to leave Iraq. They were driven back to Iran that day. In mid-January 2007 it was reported that the two alleged Quds force officers seized by American forces were Brig. Gen. Mohsen Chizari and Col. Abu Amad Davari. According to The Washington Post . Chizari is
13680-588: The extent to which the documents revealed US complicity in torture and provided evidence that politicians in Washington "lied" about the failures of the US military mission". Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com commented that "media outlets around the world prominently highlighted this revelation, but not The New York Times ", calling their coverage of the document leak "subservient" to the Pentagon. UK papers including The Independent and The Daily Telegraph called
13824-667: The five detainees were released from U.S. custody to Iraqi officials. On 20 January 2007, a group of gunmen attacked the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala , captured four American soldiers, and subsequently killed them. The attackers passed through an Iraqi checkpoint at around 5 pm, a total of five black GMC Suburbans , similar to those driven by U.S. security and diplomatic officials. They were also wearing American military uniforms and spoke fluent English. Because of
13968-680: The force is divided into branches focusing on "intelligence, finance, foreign languages, politics, sabotage, and special operations." Members are chosen both for their skill and "allegiance to the doctrine of the Islamic Revolution." In addition, Dionisi asserts in his book American Hiroshima that the Iranian Quds Force headquarters for operations in Iraq was moved in 2004 to the Iran-Iraq border in order to better supervise activities in Iraq. The Quds Force also operates
14112-472: The foundation of the Quds Force after the end of the Iran-Iraq War and Khomeini ’s death, the IRGC-QF has four main command centers to direct its intelligence and operational activities in neighboring countries in order to achieve its goals in these countries: Besides these main command centers, the document indicates that there are also six corps for each country or area in which they operate: The size of
14256-525: The hands of the Iraqi police." According to Wired Magazine , "WikiLeaks may have just bolstered one of the Bush administration's most controversial claims about the Iraq war: that Iran supplied many of the Iraq insurgency's deadliest weapons and worked hand-in-glove with some of its most lethal militias. The documents indicate that Iran was a major combatant in the Iraq war, as its elite Quds Force trained Iraqi Shiite insurgents and imported deadly weapons like
14400-469: The issue of the Lebanon hostage crisis . The force is described as "active in dozens of countries." According to former U.S. Army intelligence officer David Dionisi, the Quds Force is organized into eight different directorates based on geographic location: According to journalist Dexter Filkins , the force's members are "divided between combatants and those who train and oversee foreign assets," and
14544-400: The journalists, were listed as "enemy killed in action". According to Al Jazeera English , some of the leaked documents describe how almost 700 civilians were killed by US troops for coming too close to checkpoints, including pregnant women and the mentally ill. At least a half-dozen incidents involved Iraqi men transporting pregnant family members to hospitals. The New York Times said
14688-724: The latest CIA plots to undermine democracy. DM me". The secretive exchanges led to criticism of WikiLeaks by some former supporters. WikiLeaks tweeted that the Clinton campaign was "constantly slandering" it as "a 'pro-Trump' 'pro-Russia' source". Journalist Barrett Brown , a long-time defender of WikiLeaks, was exasperated that Assange was "complaining about 'slander' of being pro-Trump IN THE ACTUAL COURSE OF COLLABORATING WITH TRUMP". He wrote: "Was "Wikileaks staff" lying on Nov 10, 2016, when they claimed, "The allegations that we have colluded with Trump, or any other candidate for that matter, or with Russia, are just groundless and false", or did Assange lie to them?" Brown said Assange had acted "as
14832-561: The leak "mainly demonstrates that the truth about Iraq 'already has been told', while it 'has at least temporarily complicated negotiations to form a new government'". The editor also charged that "claims such as those published by the British journal The Lancet that American forces slaughtered hundreds of thousands are the real 'attack on truth.'" After criticism over the Afghan War documents leak, WikiLeaks redacted more information from
14976-536: The leak, the Pentagon created an Information Review Task Force to look for names, keywords and other issues that would be particularly sensitive, comprising 120 people led by the Defense Intelligence Agency. A spokesperson for the Pentagon said the reports were considered to be simple observations and reports by military personnel and civilian informants, but nevertheless called their release
15120-418: The leaks released to the public. According to various sources, Domscheit-Berg had copied and then deleted over 3,500 unpublished whistleblower communications. Some communications contained hundreds of documents, including the US government's No Fly List , Bank of America leaks, insider information from 20 neo-Nazi organisations, documents sent by Renata Avila about torture and government abuse of
15264-503: The level of redactions performed on the Afghanistan documents was not sufficient. I announced that if the next batch did not receive full attention, I would not be willing to cooperate." Some members of WikiLeaks called for Assange to step aside. On 25 September 2010 after being suspended by Assange for "disloyalty, insubordination and destabilisation", Daniel Domscheit-Berg , the German spokesman for WikiLeaks, told Der Spiegel that he
15408-680: The logs released by WikiLeaks showed 66,081 civilian deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities for the period from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2009. As of 2 January 2013, the IBC has added a total of 3,334 of these previously unrecorded civilian deaths to its database from their ongoing analysis of the war logs. Some civilian deaths were classified as enemy casualties, such as the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike by US helicopter gunships which killed two Reuters journalists along with several men thought to be armed and suspected to be insurgents. They, including
15552-538: The matter is far from clear", and shared a video by a Syrian activist who said that Islamist extremists were probably behind the attack, not the Syrian government . Quds Force The Quds Force ( Persian : نیروی قدس , romanized : niru-ye qods , lit. 'Jerusalem Force') is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes
15696-471: The media. Assange described WikiLeaks as an activist organisation and said that "The method is transparency, the goal is justice". The wikileaks.org domain name was registered on 4 October 2006. The website was established and published its first document in December 2006. It described its founders as a mixture of Asian dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from
15840-840: The press , and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions. The organisation has been the target of campaigns to discredit it, including aborted ones by Palantir and HBGary . WikiLeaks has also had its donation systems interrupted by payment processors . As a result, the Wau Holland Foundation helps process WikiLeaks' donations. The organisation has been criticised for inadequately curating content and violating personal privacy. WikiLeaks has, for instance, revealed Social Security numbers , medical information , credit card numbers and details of suicide attempts . News organisations, activists, journalists and former members have also criticised WikiLeaks over allegations of anti-Clinton and pro-Trump bias and
15984-451: The previous few days. According to the article, the U.S. government suspected that two of them were members of Quds Force, which would be some of the first physical proof of Quds Force activity in Iraq. According to The Pentagon , the alleged Quds Force members were "involved in the transfer of IED technologies from Iran to Iraq." The two men had entered Iraq legally, although they were not accredited diplomats. Iraqi officials believed that
16128-428: The prisoners were likely to be tortured may have broken international law. An Amnesty official said that the organisation had "concern[s] that the U.S. authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they summarily handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who they knew were continuing to torture and abuse detainees on a truly shocking scale." The Iraq Body Count project , commenting on
16272-509: The projected additional 15,000 civilian casualties revealed by the logs, said that "[i]t is totally unacceptable that for so many years the US government has withheld from the public these essential details about civilian casualties in Iraq." Retired U.S. General Stanley McChrystal was quoted as saying, "I think it's sad. The decision to leak classified information is something that is illegal, and individuals are making judgments about threats and information they are not qualified to make. There
16416-440: The radio version of Democracy Now! , host Amy Goodman discussed the response from Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen , who had promised that "all allegations according to which Danish soldiers may have knowingly handed over detainees in Iraq to mistreatment at the hands of local authorities are regarded as very serious." However, he also "rejected calls by the opposition to establish an independent commission to investigate
16560-561: The release of CIA tools for hacking consumer electronics in Vault 7 . The inspiration for WikiLeaks was Daniel Ellsberg 's release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Assange built WikiLeaks to shorten the time between a leak and its coverage by the media. WikiLeaks was established in Australia with the help of Daniel Mathews and its servers were soon moved to Sweden and other countries that provided greater legal protection for
16704-589: The reports contain evidence of many abuses, including civilian deaths committed by contractors. The New York Times points out some specific reports, such as one which says "after the IED strike a witness reports the Blackwater employees fired indiscriminately at the scene." In another event on 14 May 2005, an American unit "observed a Blackwater PSD shoot up a civ vehicle" killing a father and wounding his wife and daughter. The logs corroborate previous allegations that
16848-456: The server WikiLeaks used to host its encrypted communications was compromised by hackers that a WikiLeaks spokesperson described as "very skilled". The spokesperson said that "the server got attacked, hacked, and the private keys got out"; they said it was the first breach in WikiLeaks' history. In November 2010, WikiLeaks said that its website was compromised hours before releasing US diplomatic cables . In December 2010 Spamhaus reported issued
16992-465: The shape-charged explosively formed penetrator bombs into Iraq for use against civilians, Sunni militants and U.S. troops." It was reported in the Boston Globe that the documents show Iraqi operatives being trained by Hezbollah in precision military-style kidnappings. Reports also included incidents of US surveillance aircraft lost deep in Iranian territory. According to The Australian ,
17136-525: The sophistication of the attack, some analysts have suggested that only a group like the Quds Force would be able to plan and carry out such an action. Former CIA officer Robert Baer also suggested that the five Americans were killed by the Quds Force in revenge for the Americans holding five Iranians since the 11 January raid in Irbil. It was reported that the U.S. military is investigating whether or not
17280-401: The third highest officer of Quds Force, making him the allegedly highest-ranked Iranian to ever be held by the United States. The New York Sun reported that the documents described the Quds Force as not only cooperating with Shi'a death squads, but also with fighters related to al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna . It said that the Quds Force had studied the Iraq situation in a similar manner to
17424-483: The trackers" to "counter threats against investigative journalism and the public's right to know." The WikiLeaks Party was created in 2013 in part to support Julian Assange 's failed bid for a Senate seat in Australia in the 2013 election , where it won 0.62% of the national vote. Assange said the party would advance WikiLeaks' objectives of promoting openness in government and politics and that it would combat intrusions on individual privacy. In December 2013,
17568-588: The trove of documents released by WikiLeaks in October 2010 "portrays the long history of tensions between Kurds and Arabs in the north of Iraq and reveals the fears of some American units about what might happen after American troops leave the country by the end of 2011." An analysis published by The Jerusalem Post argued the leaked documents indicates a double standard in the international community views of human rights towards Israel's military policy: An editorial in The Washington Post said that
17712-497: The truth actually being told. These [WikiLeaks] documents coming out now are right from the level of the soldiers. I guess (the brass) never realized how much the Internet would take a part in the [Iraq] war." While the U.S. tally of Iraqi and US-led Coalition deaths in the war logs is 109,000, a widely quoted 2006 study published in The Lancet used a cross-sectional cluster sample to estimate about 650,000 deaths were due to
17856-512: The unit is not independent: "Quds Force, although it's a highly specialized department, it is subject to strict, iron-clad military discipline. It's completely controlled by the military hierarchy of the IRGC, and the IRGC is very tightly controlled by the highest levels of the administration in Iran." According to a Los Angeles Times report, in Abedin's view, "[I]t's a very capable force—their people are extremely talented, [and] they tend to be
18000-479: The war and were revealed in the logs. The Iraqi News Network stated that "The WikiLeaks documents revealed very important secrets, but the most painful among them are not those that focus on the occupier, but those that reveal what the Iraqi forces, Iraqi government and politicians did against their citizens. Those leaders who returned to remove Iraq from oppression toppled the dictator but then carried out acts that were worse than Saddam himself. If these documents make
18144-505: The war, it provided support to the Kurds fighting Saddam Hussein . In 1982, a Quds unit was deployed to Lebanon , where it assisted in the genesis of Hezbollah . The Force also expanded its operations into neighboring Afghanistan, including assistance for Abdul Ali Mazari 's Shi'a Hezbe Wahdat in the 1980s against the government of Mohammad Najibullah . It then began funding and supporting Ahmad Shah Massoud 's Northern Alliance against
18288-462: The way he did it, but Domscheit-Berg had a basic point. She added that "you can tell he was probably just trying to say something true and got hated for it. That's the way it is with Julian: he can't listen. He doesn't get it." In early 2010 Assange said that he obtained documents showing that two State Department agents tailed him on a flight from Iceland to Norway. Icelandic journalists were unable to verify Assange's allegations, which were denied by
18432-664: The world. In January 2010 WikiLeaks shut down its website while management appealed for donations. Previously published material was no longer available, although some could still be accessed on unofficial mirror websites . WikiLeaks stated that it would resume full operation once the operational costs were paid. WikiLeaks said the work stoppage was "to ensure that everyone who is involved stops normal work and actually spends time raising revenue". The organisation planned for funds to be secured by 6 January 2010, and on 3 February that WikiLeaks announced that its fundraising goal had been achieved. In February 2010 WikiLeaks helped propose
18576-508: Was "waiting for Julian to restore security, so that we can return the material to him". The Architect and Domscheit-Berg encrypted the files and gave them to a third party who did not have the key. In August 2011 Domscheit-Berg said he permanently deleted the files "to ensure that the sources are not compromised." He said that WikiLeaks' claims about the Bank of America files were "false and misleading" and they were lost because of an IT problem. The Architect left with Domscheit-Berg, taking
18720-425: Was "working for the Russian intelligence services ." New cameras and microphones were installed in December 2017, and Morales arranged for the United States to have immediate access to the recordings. Writing for The Guardian in 2010, Nick Davies said there was "some evidence of low-level attempts to smear Wikileaks", including false online accusations involving Assange and money. In 2010, Wikileaks published
18864-611: Was criticised by the Australian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and many WikiLeaks supporters. Shipton stated that the meeting with al-Assad was "just a matter of good manners" and that the delegation had also met with members of the Syrian opposition. However, these meetings with the opposition have not been verified. The WikiLeaks Party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission on 23 July 2015 for lack of members under
19008-434: Was dropped from the WikiLeaks network after questioning plans for a multimillion-dollar fundraising goal. He accused the organisation of being a CIA conduit and published 150 pages of WikiLeaks emails. According to Wired , the emails document the group's attempts to create a profile for themselves and arguments over how to do so. They also discuss political impact and positive reform and include calls for transparency around
19152-536: Was in 2019 and its most recent publication was in 2021. From November 2022, numerous documents on the organisation's website became inaccessible. In 2023, Assange said that WikiLeaks is no longer able to publish due to his imprisonment and the effect that US government surveillance and WikiLeaks' funding restrictions were having on potential whistleblowers. WikiLeaks has released document caches and media that exposed serious violations of human rights and civil liberties by various governments. It released footage of
19296-470: Was in beta status. In July 2012 WikiLeaks took credit for a fake New York Times website and article falsely attributed to Bill Keller . The hoax prompted criticism from commenters and the public, who said it hurt WikiLeaks' credibility. Glenn Greenwald wrote in Salon that it might have been satire but it doesn't strike me as a good idea for a group that relies on its credibility when it comes to
19440-601: Was killed by a US airstrike on his convoy outside Baghdad International Airport . The Quds force is run from Tehran, and has ties with armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories. The LMU of the IRGC was established in 1981 by Mohammad Montazeri , son of Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri , and Mehdi Hashemi , then a member of the IRGC Command Council and brother of Ayatollah Montazeri’s son-in-law. This unit
19584-550: Was pretty clearly window dressing, so he went for people identified with progressive policies around the place." Assange responded by calling the advisory board "pretty informal". When asked to join their initial advisory board, the promininent critic of secrecy Steven Aftergood declined; he said to Time that "they have a very idealistic view of the nature of leaking and its impact. They seem to think that most leakers are crusading do-gooders who are single-handedly battling one evil empire or another." In January 2007 John Young
19728-561: Was reported that WikiLeaks was planning to release up to 400,000 documents relating to the Iraq War . Julian Assange initially denied the reports, stating: "WikiLeaks does not speak about upcoming releases dates, indeed, with very rare exceptions we do not communicate any specific information about upcoming releases, since that simply provides fodder for abusive organizations to get their spin machines ready." The Guardian reported on 21 October 2010 that it had received almost 400,000 Iraq war documents from WikiLeaks. On 22 October 2010, Al Jazeera
19872-494: Was resigning. He said "WikiLeaks has a structural problem. I no longer want to take responsibility for it, and that's why I am leaving the project." Assange accused Domscheit-Berg of leaking information to Newsweek , with Domscheit-Berg saying that the WikiLeaks team was unhappy with Assange's management and handling of the Afghan war document releases. Domscheit-Berg said he wanted greater transparency in WikiLeaks finances and
20016-461: Was revealed that the WikiLeaks Twitter account secretly corresponded with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential election. The correspondence shows how WikiLeaks actively solicited the co-operation of Trump Jr., a campaign surrogate and advisor in the campaign of his father. WikiLeaks urged the Trump campaign to reject the results of the 2016 presidential election at a time when it looked as if
20160-615: Was tasked with providing military assistance to "Islamic liberation movements" abroad, especially in Shia -majority countries ruled by Sunni minorities, including Bahrain , Iraq and Lebanon . Both Montazeri and Hashemi had themselves received irregular warfare training in Palestinian Liberation Organization -run training camps in Southern Lebanon before the 1979 Iranian Revolution . During
20304-651: Was the first to release analyses of the leak, dubbed The War Logs . WikiLeaks posted a tweet that "Al Jazeera have broken our embargo by 30 minutes. We release everyone from their Iraq War Logs embargoes." This prompted other news organisations to release their articles based on the source material. Upon the lifting of the embargo, the media coverage by these groups was followed by further coverage by other media organisations. The Guardian said that "the New York Times , Washington Post and other papers were accused by web publications and some bloggers of downplaying
20448-717: Was the result of political pressure. WikiLeaks referred to these actions as a banking blockade. In response to the companies' actions, the hacker group Anonymous launched a series of cyberattacks against the companies, and against the Swedish Prosecution Authority for its attempted extradition of Assange . WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said: [Anonymous] is not affiliated with Wikileaks. There has been no contact between any Wikileaks staffer and anyone at Anonymous. Wikileaks has not received any prior notice of any of Anonymous' actions. We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks. We believe they are
20592-561: Was the source in order to obscure that Russia was the actual source. WikiLeaks popularised conspiracy theories about the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton, such as tweeting articles which suggested Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta engaged in satanic rituals , claiming that Hillary Clinton wanted to drone strike Assange, suggesting that Clinton wore earpieces to debates and interviews, promoting thinly sourced theories about Clinton's health and according to Bloomberg creating "anti-Clinton theories out of whole cloth". On
20736-415: Was the source of leaked emails and was killed for working with WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks fuelled such theories when it offered a $ 20,000 reward for information on Rich's killer and when Assange implied that Rich was the source of the DNC leaks, although no evidence supports that. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election said that Assange "implied falsely" that Rich
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