Wikileaks releasing 1.3 million U.S. diplomatic cables from 1973-1976

"Starting Monday, the whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks is releasing for public access 1.3 million US diplomatic cables from the period of the Cold War, 1973 – 1976.

The project is dubbed The Kissinger Cables.

They include 205 901 records relating to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They cover a variety of diplomatic traffic including cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence. These include more than 227 000 cables classified as "CONFIDENTIAL" and 61,000 cables classified as "SECRET". Perhaps more importantly, there are more than 12 000 documents with the sensitive handling restriction "NODIS" or "no distribution", and more than 9 000 labeled "Eyes Only".

At around 700 million words, the Kissinger Cables collection is approximately five times the size of WikiLeaks' Cablegate.

It includes significant revelations about US involvements with fascist dictatorships, particularly in Latin America, under Franco's Spain (including about the Spanish royal family) and in Greece under the regime of the Colonels.

The documents also contain hourly diplomatic reporting on the 1973 war between Israel, Egypt and Syria (the "Yom Kippur war"). While several of these documents have been used by US academic researchers in the past, the Kissinger Cables provides unparalleled access to journalists and the general public.

WikiLeaks' publisher Julian Assange has stated: "The collection covers US involvements in and diplomatic or intelligence reporting on every country on Earth. It is the single most significant body of geopolitical material ever published.""

[link to www.novinite.com]