Summary of diplomatic cable leaks so farWikiLeaks' next target - US bankInterpol issues arrest warrant for Julian AssangeAustralia, US investigating WikiLeaksWikiLeaks says it was under cyber attackThe secret life of Assange
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Sarah Palin has called on the US government to hunt down WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange like an al-Qaeda or Taliban leader, calling him "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands".
In a post on her Facebook page, the former US Republican vice-presidential candidate wrote: "Assange is not a 'journalist', any more than the 'editor' of al-Qaeda's new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist'."
"He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders?"
She added that the activist website should have its financial assets frozen "just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organisations" and that "cyber tools" should be used to "permanently dismantle WikiLeaks".
The 46-year-old, who is known for her conservative views, questioned on Twitter why the US government couldn't "stop WikiLeaks' treasonous act", perhaps unaware that Mr Assange is not an American citizen, and that the activist website is hosted in Sweden with servers across the globe.
She also linked to a blog by William Kristol, the editor of the right-wing US magazine The Weekly Standard, who called for his country's government to "use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are".
"Congress can have emergency hearings - in closed session, if necessary - to find out if the executive branch has the necessary means to defeat WikiLeaks. If it doesn't, Congress can provide additional means and authorities to those that already exist," wrote Kristol, who served under former US president Ronald Reagan and former US vice-president Dan Quayle.
"But in either case, Congress can act, in an expeditious and bipartisan manner, to encourage and authorise the use by the executive branch of all necessary means to respond to and defeat WikiLeaks."
Kristol did not elaborate on what he meant by "all necessary means", although some US media have speculated that he and Mrs Palin could be calling for the US to " treat WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a target to be snatched off the streets somewhere by the CIA", The Christian Science Monitor wrote.
It is not the first time US politicians and commentators have called for action against Mr Assange.
Last month, the daughter of Senator John McCain, Sarah Palin's presidential running mate, said Mr Assange's release of military documents on Afghanistan and Iraq as "unAmerican".
"He looks like a James Bond villain. He harbours a lot of ill will towards America. To me he's a villain," Meghan McCain said, adding that Mr Assange was a "creepy rogue Swedish guy".
But while Mrs Palin slammed the Obama administration's "incompetent handling of this whole fiasco", the US Defence Secretary today played down the impact of WikiLeaks' latest documents' release, calling them embarrassing and awkward but only having a "fairly modest" impact on US foreign policy.
"Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for US foreign policy? I think fairly modest," Robert Gates said in a Pentagon press conference.
The US government is seeking to charge Mr Assange and other WikiLeaks representatives under its Espionage Act, although it is unclear whether such moves are possible.
A US defence lawyer specialising in intelligence cases, Mark Zaid, told Reuters it would be "very difficult for the US government to prosecute [Mr Assange] in the US for what he is doing".
Under US law, anyone charged would had to have been in contact with a foreign power and also provided them with secrets. Mr Assange has not been accused of doing either.
But former US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who is accused by his government of supplying WikiLeaks with some of the recently released documents and is being held in detention, already faces charges of leaking State Department and US military documents.
The US government has already introduced new security safeguards and reversed the increased sharing of sensitive documents post-9/11 in response to the leaks.
- with wires
