The US has strongly criticised the release by the internet site Wikileaks of thousands of extracts from US diplomatic messages.
Among the many revelations is really a report Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah urged the US to destroy Iran's nuclear services.
The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, mentioned the US authorities had been afraid of becoming held to account.
However the White House mentioned the release was "reckless" and place the lives of diplomats and other people in danger.
1 Republican congressman termed for Wikileaks to be designated a terrorist organisation.
Peter King, a member on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, mentioned the newest release "manifests Mr Assange's purposeful intent to wreck not simply our nationwide interests in fighting the war on terror, but additionally undermines the extremely safety of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan".
Meanwhile, Pakistan's overseas ministry condemned what it termed "the irresponsible disclosure of sensitive official documents".
The US Department of Defence says it truly is making its computer system techniques more secure to prevent long run leaks.
Computer hacking
Wikileaks has only posted some 200 on the 251,287 messages it says it has obtained. Having said that, the complete bundle of cables has been created readily available to five publications, such as the brand new York Times and the UK's Guardian newspaper.
The leaked cables by US diplomats posted overseas consist of blunt appraisals of their host governments, and unflattering pen portraits of globe leaders.
US officials are mentioned to possess described Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as feckless, vain and ineffective, sharing a shut partnership with "alpha dog" Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is mentioned to be thin-skinned and authoritarian, whilst German Chancellor Angela Merkel is described as risk-averse.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is referred to as "extremely weak" and susceptible to conspiracy theories.
Meanwhile, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya continually travels which has a "voluptuous blonde" Ukrainian nurse, according to at least one on the cables.
Worries aired involve the security of Pakistani nuclear materials that can be employed to generate an atomic weapon, whilst the widespread use of computer system hacking by China's federal government is also noted.
Shedding light on wars?
The leaked embassy cables are the two contemporary and historic, and involve a 1989 observe from a US diplomat in Panama Metropolis musing concerning the selections open to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega and referring to him as "a master of survival" - the writer apparently had no notion that US forces would invade a week later and arrest Noriega.
In a statement, the White House mentioned: "Such disclosures place in danger our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people all over the world who arrive to the United States for assistance in selling democracy and open federal government.
"President Obama supports responsible, accountable, and open federal government in your house and all over the world, but this reckless and hazardous action runs counter to that purpose."
No-one has been charged with passing the diplomatic information to the internet site but suspicion has fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged around an previously leak of labeled US documents to Mr Assange's organisation.
The cables release was the third mass Wikileaks release of labeled documents because it published 77,000 secret US information around the Afghan conflict in July, and 400,000 documents concerning the Iraq war in October.
Wikileaks argues the release on the documents has shed light around the wars, such as allegations of torture and experiences that suggest 15,000 added civilian deaths in Iraq.
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