WikiLeaks: It’s not just about poking fun at Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s “voluptuous” Ukrainian nurse anymore. The State Department said Thursday that hundreds of human-rights leaders, government officials, and business leaders were at risk thanks to being named in leaked cables — and a select few have already been relocated.
But maybe it’s all just smoke and mirrors: Officials admitted that so far, no one’s reported any threats or attacks. Though Pentagon spokesman Major Chris Perrine noted the Taliban was eager to obtain and study the WikiLeaks documents.
Human-rights groups advocate that officials redact names in the documents, though they also noted a surprising advantage of the cables — empirical information on human-rights abuses. “This is a new way to distribute information,” said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International’s operations in Asia. “We just want to make sure it has the same safeguards as traditional journalism.” [NYT]
