WikiLeaks publishes list of 'targets'
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WEBSITE WikiLeaks has published details of sites around the globe which the United States deems vital to its interests, prompting criticism that it is helping militants identify targets for attack.
The details are part of 250,000 diplomatic cables obtained by the campaigning website which are being made public.
The list begins with a cobalt mine in Kinshasa, Congo and refers to locations in Europe where companies produce insulin, treatment for snake bites and other vaccines.
In the Middle East, it notes that Qatar will be the largest source of imported liquified natural gas by 2012 and also refers to the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil process and stabilization plant in the world.
Al-Qaida mounted an unsuccessful attack on Abqaiq in 2006 and there were warnings that the WikiLeaks cable setting out so many targets could help militants.
Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind went as far as to accuse WikiLeaks of being "generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal."
"This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," he told The Times newspaper.
Professor Richard Aldrich of Warwick University in England said it had the potential to help militants find soft targets.
"What it says to terrorists is you are attacking highly defended targets of relatively low value, what you could be doing is attacking high-value targets that are relatively weakly defended," he told the BBC.
"So it's the overall message which has the potential to change the pattern of a number of terrorists groups around the world," he added.
The cable sets out details of facilities whose loss could hit the public health, economic or national security of the US. It was drawn up after the State Department last year asked US missions abroad for a list of sites.
It also refers to places where undersea communications cables reach land and energy routes including oil pipes.
The details are part of 250,000 diplomatic cables obtained by the campaigning website which are being made public.
The list begins with a cobalt mine in Kinshasa, Congo and refers to locations in Europe where companies produce insulin, treatment for snake bites and other vaccines.
In the Middle East, it notes that Qatar will be the largest source of imported liquified natural gas by 2012 and also refers to the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil process and stabilization plant in the world.
Al-Qaida mounted an unsuccessful attack on Abqaiq in 2006 and there were warnings that the WikiLeaks cable setting out so many targets could help militants.
Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind went as far as to accuse WikiLeaks of being "generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal."
"This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," he told The Times newspaper.
Professor Richard Aldrich of Warwick University in England said it had the potential to help militants find soft targets.
"What it says to terrorists is you are attacking highly defended targets of relatively low value, what you could be doing is attacking high-value targets that are relatively weakly defended," he told the BBC.
"So it's the overall message which has the potential to change the pattern of a number of terrorists groups around the world," he added.
The cable sets out details of facilities whose loss could hit the public health, economic or national security of the US. It was drawn up after the State Department last year asked US missions abroad for a list of sites.
It also refers to places where undersea communications cables reach land and energy routes including oil pipes.
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