WikiLeaks says it's leaking over 500,000 Saudi documents

[Lite Beer]

WikiLeaks says it's leaking over 500,000 Saudi documents
RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press
MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — WikiLeaks is in the process of publishing more than 500,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, the transparency website said Friday, a move that echoes its famous release of U.S. State Department cables in 2010.

WikiLeaks said in a statement that it has already posted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic.

There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" or "Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Some were marked "urgent" or "classified." At least one appeared to be from the Saudi Embassy in Washington.

If genuine, the documents would offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the notoriously opaque kingdom. They might also shed light on Riyadh's longstanding regional rivalry with Iran, its support for Syrian rebels and Egypt's military-backed government, and its opposition to an emerging international agreement on Tehran's nuclear program.

One of the documents, dated to 2012, appears to highlight Saudi Arabia's well-known skepticism about the Iranian nuclear talks. A message from the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran to the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh describes "flirting American messages" being carried to Iran via an unnamed Turkish mediator.

Another 2012 missive, this time sent from the Saudi Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said the United Arab Emirates was putting "heavy pressure" on the Egyptian government not to try former president Hosni Mubarak, who had been overthrown in a popular uprising the year before.

Some of the concerns appear specific to Saudi Arabia.

In an Aug. 14, 2008 message marked "classified and very urgent," the Foreign Ministry wrote to the Saudi Embassy in Washington to warn that dozens of students from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had visited the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. capital as part of an international leadership program.

"They listened to diplomats' briefings from the embassy employees, they asked questions and then they took pictures," the message said, asking the embassy for a speedy update on the situation.

Another eye-catching item was a document addressed to the interior and justice ministers notifying them that a son of Osama bin Laden had obtained a certificate from the American Embassy in Riyadh "showing (the) death of his father."

Many more of the dozens of documents examined by The Associated Press appeared to be the product of mundane administrative work, such as emails about setting up a website or operating an office fax machine.

The AP was able to partially verify a handful of documents' authenticity by calling the telephone numbers included in many of them. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AP he was confident that the material was genuine.

It is not clear how WikiLeaks got the documents, although in its statement the website referred to a recent electronic attack on the Saudi Foreign Ministry by a group calling itself the Yemen Cyber Army. Hrafnsson declined to elaborate on the statement or say whether the hackers subsequently passed documents on to WikiLeaks.

"As a matter of policy we're not going to discuss the source of the material," he said.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately return repeated messages seeking comment.

In its statement, WikiLeaks said the release coincided with the three-year anniversary of its founder, Julian Assange, seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about alleged sex crimes. Assange has denied any wrongdoing.

___

Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Hamza Hendawi in Beirut contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-20

[ezzra]

"In an Aug. 14, 2008 message marked "classified and very urgent," the Foreign Ministry wrote to the Saudi Embassy in Washington to warn that dozens of students from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had visited the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. capital as part of an international leadership program."

Soon, it will be reveled that Saudi Arabia and other gulf states are actually in close cahoots

over the Iranian issues, more that any one has imagined, why? because the enemy of

my enemy is my friend.... 'Nuff said....

[Chao Lao Beach]

I wonder how Fox will spin this ?

[boomerangutang]

Among other things, such leaks will compel S.Arabians to be even more clandestine in their communications. As such, it may slow the already-slow emergence of S.A. from the dark ages, regarding equal rights for women and a being a breeding ground for Al Qaeda. 19 of 20 9-11 killers were Saudis, as was their boss.

[quandow]

Nothing good will come of this.

Should the truth be revealed? Yes.

Do I want to be around when it is? HELL no!

[Thakkar]

The good news is that the Saudies are catching up to the twentieth century--they have a fax machine!

The bad news: they need instructions on how to use one.

My question is: what's a fax machine??

T

[F430murci]

F Saudi, F Dubai, F all those BS places that rape the world for oil because soon, very soon there will be little or no demand for the only thing they have to offer this world. Dubai is nothing but a bunch of f'in crooks. One of my clients, Fed Ex, uses Dubai as a hub solely due to location and gets popped on average $ 250,000 a flight in bs penalties during shake downs wherein the Dubai Abutts allege that a bunch of innocuous stuff on the plane could be used to manufacture weapons. Fed Ex is about to find another mini hub and soon all of those credit stretched buildings will perish when oil money gets cut in half or less. Could not happen to better people.

Edited June 20, 2015 by F430murci

[AsiaCheese]

I wonder how Fox will spin this ?

They won't. Too busy with Benghazi and excusing white shooters.

[Suradit69]

Among other things, such leaks will compel S.Arabians to be even more clandestine in their communications. As such, it may slow the already-slow emergence of S.A. from the dark ages, regarding equal rights for women and a being a breeding ground for Al Qaeda. 19 of 20 9-11 killers were Saudis, as was their boss.

"...and a being a breeding ground for Al Qaeda. 19 of 20 9-11 killers were Saudis, as was their boss."

One of al Qaeda's objectives was the overthrow of the Saudi royal family, so to say Saudi Arabia was a breeding ground is somewhat disingenuous since it implies it was done with the complicity of the Saudi government.

I know Moussaoui has recently claimed that some Saudi royals gave them financial support, but that allegation is not considered entirely credible and even if true it isn't a complete surprise that there are members of either the family or the general public who would like to see the current establishment fall.

I suppose one could also claim that the US is a breeding ground for terrorists since Timothy McVeigh and David Coleman Headley, among others, were born in the US, as were most of those who have staged mass shootings like the one in Charleston or at Columbine.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Suradit69

[teacher0826]

OK, here we go again with the Fox bashing comments. If you really listen to what they say and do research they give facts and all the facts both side but most are to busy drinking that wonderful kool-aid to notice. Have to laugh... excusing white shooters, so many illiterate primates. well am sure I will be racked over the coals for my opinion. yes amazing Thailand

[spidermike007]

For many, many years, I have believed that the Saudi and Pakistani governments are the true enemies of the west. Hope some of these intercept point to that, though the western media would never reveal that. The Saudis in their blind pursuit of extreme Wahhabism, support many of the extremists, and create a lot of trouble. Calling them sponsors of terrorism might be considered extreme by some, but it would not surprise me in the least. Much of the same can be said of the Pakistani government, and especially their intelligence agencies.