WikiLeaks set to release more files

August 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

LONDON

WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said Thursday his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be even more damaging than the organization’s initial release of some 76,000 war files.

That extraordinary disclosure, which laid bare classified military documents covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010, has angered U.S. officials, drawn the attention of the Taliban and energized critics of the NATO-led campaign.

The U.S. military has accused WikiLeaks of endangering the lives of soldiers and informants in the field and demanded that the group refrain from publishing any more secret data.

Speaking via videolink to London’s Frontline Club, Assange said he had no intention of complying. He gave no specific time frame for their release, but he said that his organization was about halfway through 15,000 or so secret files previously held back from publication.

“We’re about 7,000 reports in,” he said, describing the process of combing through the files to ensure that no Afghans would be hurt by their disclosure as “very expensive and very painstaking.”

Still, he told the audience that he would “absolutely” publish them. He gave no indication whether he would give the documents to media outlets, as he has before, or simply dump them on the Wikileaks website.