Kissinger cables

The Kissinger cables[1] are 1.7 million United States diplomatic and intelligence records dating from 1973 to 1976 that WikiLeaks republished in April 2013. At the time Henry Kissinger was the United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor.[2][3] They had previously been declassified and released by the U.S. government;[4] all the records are from the National Archives and Records Administration.[5] The cables can be searched using a search engine provided by WikiLeaks at the Public Library of United States Diplomacy, a special page on the WikiLeaks website.[6]

Not to be confused with United States diplomatic cables leak.

In one of the documents, Kissinger, who authored many of the 205,901 cables that deal with his activities, was quoted as saying "The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer."[7][8] The quote, however, had been public knowledge since the 1970s.[9][10]

Quote

Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, "The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer." [laughter]

— Henry Kissinger, United States Secretary of State, (March 10, 1975)[8][11]

Content

The Kissinger cables revealed that:

  • Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian National Authority, was a key asset to the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. According to the cables, the Americans were keen to have Arafat on their side. Kissinger and his State Department believed that solving the Arab–Israeli conflict would win the good will of the Arabs and thwart Moscow's regional ambitions.[12]
  • Kissinger and State Department were doubtful of Margaret Thatcher's prospects of becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom because of her "immaculate grooming" and "imperious manner", and "None of this goes down well with the working class of England".[13]
  • The Vatican dismissed reports of massacres committed by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as "propaganda".[14] After realising the full extent of the human rights violations being carried out, the Vatican still refused to criticise Pinochet's regime openly and continued with normal diplomatic relations.[14]
  • George Fernandes, chairman of the Socialist Party of India, who had faced prosecution for conspiracy against the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, sought to obtain funding from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the French government in order to organize underground sabotage activities. After an initial request to seek funding from the French government was turned down, U.S. diplomatic cables showed that he was "prepared to accept money from the CIA".[15]
gollark: Also, I have this thing for networking (at amazing 20Bps speed) over bundled cables. Perhaps that would be a sensible place to apply Ethernet stuff? It's currently only safe to use between two devices at once (lest others interfere horribly) and has no error correcting stuff.
gollark: My chat system runs over 3636, I'll add that tomorrow.
gollark: I suppose you could download more random from the internet.
gollark: Why do you actually need cryptograhically secure randomness in CC?
gollark: Using similar maths to GPS you can track the source of an outgoing modem broadcast using 4 modems.

References
  1. "Press Release". WikiLeaks. Archived from the original on 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  2. "Kissinger and tell: WikiLeaks scrapes 1.7m US diplomatic reports from the '70s". The Register. Archived from the original on 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  3. "Kissinger Cables: Wikileaks publishes 1.7m US diplomatic documents from 1970s". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  4. http://www.ibtimes.com/wikileaks-going-soft-its-kissinger-cables-release-1178821 International Business Times
  5. https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/04/wikileaks-s-kissinger-cables-is-database-of-old-un-leaked-stuff
  6. Keller, Michael (8 April 2013). "Inside the Kissinger Cables". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  7. Hedges, Chris (5 May 2013). "The Death of Truth". Truthdig. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  8. MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION - AID CUT-OFF:CYPRUS 1975 March 10, 00:00 (Monday)
  9. Jay, Antony (28 October 2010). Lend Me Your Ears: Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations. OUP Oxford. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-19-957267-0.
  10. Oberdorfer, Don (January 20, 1977). "Kissinger Oversleeps on His Last Day". Washington Post.
  11. Goodman, Amy. "WikiLeaks' 'Kissinger Cables' underline the world's debt to Bradley Manning". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2013. Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, 'The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.' [laughter] But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.
  12. Smith, Lee. "WikiLeaks' Insight Into Arafat". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  13. Ohlheiser, Abby. "WikiLeaks' Latest Release Is a Public Record Archive". Slate. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  14. "Vatican said Pinochet killings were 'propaganda': leak". AFP. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  15. George, P. J. (8 April 2013). "Fernandes 'sought CIA funding' during Emergency". Chennai, India: 'The Hindu. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
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