Documents published by WikiLeaks as prove that the Americans are bloodthirsty killers, but at the same time denouncing WikiLeaks as an American front publishing forged documents to try to embarrass the Islamic Republic.
Across the border in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is grousing that he is the target of WikiLeaks.
Brig. Gen. Masud Jazayeri, the deputy commander of the Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, waved the WikiLeaks reports indicating that thousands more Iraqi civilians died than previously reported and said that was “horrifying news” about the crimes of the US government. He said he United States should be taken to court for violating the rights of its own citizens as well people in other countries.
But others in Iran seemed to fear that the Iranian public would pay more attention to the reports of Iranian-promoted killings in Iraq, and sought to discredit WikiLeaks.
Mohammad-Javad Larijani, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights, part of Iran’s Judiciary, said the documents published by WikiLeaks were distorted. He said WikiLeaks, which is headed by an Australian who doesn’t hide his anti-Americanism, was affiliated with the US government.
Larijani asserted that the documents were published “on the orders of the US government.”
Larijani said, “The message of the WikiLeaks documents is that the Iraqi people have been tortured by Iraq’s security forces and the only wrongdoing of Americans is that they witnessed the incidents and remained silent. This is while the United States had the main role in these incidents and is the defendant.”
The Fars news agency called the WikiLeaks website “the new US lie-fabrication machine.” It complained specifically about the documents asserting that Iran was behind killings in Iraq.
Fars said, “These documents were digital copies without any signature. Therefore, they cannot be very authentic.” This displayed a remarkable ignorance since cabled reports and memos are never signed.
Fars said the American media was flogging the charge that Iran had provided chemical weapons to Iraqi militias to use to kill people. The Iran Times has seen no such allegation in any documents or in any news reports about the documents.
Fars said the ultimate proof that the WikiLeaks documents were fabricated was the fact that the Pentagon “did not do anything to prevent the release of the documents” despite “the media repression in America.” In fact, Fars asserted, the Pentagon even helped to draw more attention to the documents. Actually, the Pentagon has maintained silence about the contents.
Fars said the purpose of the leaks was “to distract public opinion and spread lies across the world.”
In Baghdad, Prime Minister Maliki didn’t seem to notice the WikiLeaks documents that have embarrassed Iran and the US military. Instead, Maliki said the reports of mass torture of Iraqi civilians by Iraqi government agents were intended to malign him. His office issued a statement accusing WikiLeaks of creating a national uproar by releasing documents to be used “against national parties and leaders, especially against the prime minister.” The statement said the documents provided no proof that any detainees had been improperly treated while he was prime minister.