Wkileaks founder 'dissapointed' in Gates





"Secretary Gates could have used his time, as other nations have done, to

announce a broad inquiry into these killings," the statement said. "He could

have announced specific criminal investigations into the deaths we have

exposed. He could have announced a panel to hear the heartfelt dissent of

U.S. soldiers, who know this war from the ground. He could have apologized

to the Afghani people.



"But he did none of these things. He decided to treat these issues and the

countries affected by them with contempt. Instead of explaining how he would

address these issues, he decided to announce how he would suppress them.



"This behavior is unacceptable. We will not be suppressed. We will continue

to expose abuses by this administration and others."















(CNN) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that he was

disappointed by criticism from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates over the

release of about 76,000 pages of U.S. documents related to the war in

Afghanistan.



Gates said Thursday that the massive leak will have significant impact on

troops and allies, revealing techniques and procedures.



Assange rejected that assessment Friday, saying in a release that Gates "has

overseen the killings of thousands of children and adults" in Afghanistan

and Iraq.



Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, also

criticized Assange and the person who gave him the documents. WikiLeaks,

Mullen said, was risking lives to make a political point.



"Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he

and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their

hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," Mullen

said Thursday at a Pentagon news conference.



Gates said he asked that the FBI help the Pentagon in its investigation of

who might have leaked the documents to Assange's internet site.



An Army private suspected of leaking classified material, including videos

and other documents, has been transferred from Kuwait to a Marine Corps brig

in Quantico, Virginia.



Pfc. Bradley Manning, who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, was

charged in June with eight violations of the U.S. Criminal Code and is the

military's focus in the investigation into who gave thousands of documents

to WikiLeaks.



Manning, 22, will remain in confinement as the Army continues the

investigation to determine whether he should face the military equivalent of

a trial over the charges, according to an Army statement Thursday.



Assange has refused to say where his whistle-blower website got about 91,000

United States documents about the war. About 76,000 of them were posted on

the site Sunday in what has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon

Papers about the Vietnam War.



Assange's statement Friday was harshly critical of Gates, particularly over

deaths in Afghanistan.



"Secretary Gates could have used his time, as other nations have done, to

announce a broad inquiry into these killings," the statement said. "He could

have announced specific criminal investigations into the deaths we have

exposed. He could have announced a panel to hear the heartfelt dissent of

U.S. soldiers, who know this war from the ground. He could have apologized

to the Afghani people.



"But he did none of these things. He decided to treat these issues and the

countries affected by them with contempt. Instead of explaining how he would

address these issues, he decided to announce how he would suppress them.



"This behavior is unacceptable. We will not be suppressed. We will continue

to expose abuses by this administration and others."







-----









Assange/Manning and Wikileaks have obliterated any US claim to morality in

Afghanistan.  Please spread widely.  General Joe