By Ian Drury
Last updated at 9:20 AM on 4th December 2010

The founder of WikiLeaks last night claimed his life was at risk for exposing government secrets.
In an extraordinary rant, Julian Assange also revealed he would publish classified U.S. files about aliens and unidentified flying objects.
The reclusive Australian insisted he had received death threats after disclosing hundreds of thousands of confidential files on his whistleblowing website.

Threats: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (left) has said his life is in danger over the row and has praised U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning as a hero

He first sparked fury by publishing U.S. army logs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that suggested soldiers were complicit in murder and torture.

Then this week he disclosed around 250,000 cables from U.S. embassies, many containing sensitive information and embarrassing verdicts on leaders including David Cameron.
One senior American politician, Mike Huckabee, called for whoever leaked the documents to be executed.
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The leading suspect is Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is now in military custody.
During an online question and answer session on The Guardian’s website, Mr Assange said: ‘The threats against our lives are a matter of public record, however, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a superpower.’
In a clear warning to the authorities, he said the leaked American diplomatic cables, along with ‘significant material from the U.S. and other countries’, had been copied to more than 100,000 people in code.

Embassy snub for Ed Miliband ignoredAmerican diplomats did not consider Ed Miliband worthy of mention when they briefed the White House on likely challengers to Gordon Brown’s ‘abysmal’ leadership.

Leaked cables reveal that the U.S. embassy told Washington of the strengths and weaknesses of nine potential Labour leaders – including some little-known figures.

Top of the list was David Miliband, Ed’s brother, who was described as having star power.

Also mentioned was Harriet Harman, who was described as a ‘policy lightweight but an adept inter-party operator’ and Alan Johnson, who was seen as popular but lacking a ‘killer instinct’.

Even the obscure left-winger Jon Cruddas was considered worth a mention, with diplomats describing him as a ‘highly astute and wily politician’.

Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls was described as ‘super bright’ but was considered to have presided over a failing department.

Diplomats said he was known as a dull speaker and charmless individual.
‘If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically,’ he said.

In a fresh twist, Mr Assange, who is in hiding somewhere near London, pledged to publish leaked diplomat cables relating to flying saucers.

‘Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-Christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot plant,’ he said.

None had so far satisfied the twin publishing criteria for WikiLeaks: that the documents are original and not self-authored.

But he said: ‘It is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.’
Mr Assange said his decision to dump top secret U.S. documents on its website was revenge against ‘abusive elements of the United States government’.
The former computer hacker is wanted by Swedish prosecutors on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.
The allegations surfaced in August when two women in Sweden made complaints to police.

Mr Assange, 39, says he is the victim of a smear campaign and has vowed to fight any extradition attempt.
He also described the young American soldier suspected of passing classified U.S. documents to his whistleblowing organisation as an ‘unparalleled hero’.
But he refused to confirm Manning was the source of the latest leaks.
UK ‘not up to the task’ in HelmandBy Defence Correspondent
Britain's military effort in Helmand was severely criticised by U.S. commanders and Afghan politicians, according to leaked diplomatic documents.

President Hamid Karzai contemptuously dismissed UK forces as ‘not up to the task’ of securing the Taliban stronghold, cables released by WikiLeaks have revealed.

And U.S. General Dan McNeil, who led Nato forces in the war zone in 2007-08, claimed to be ‘dismayed’ that Britain had ‘made a mess of things’.

'Dismayed': U.S. General Dan McNeil, who led Nato forces, claimed that Britain had 'made a mess of things'
The despatches were particularly scathing about the failure to secure Sangin, a town that has seen a third of Britain’s 345 deaths.

A cable, dated late 2008, from the U.S. embassy stated ‘we and President Karzai agree that British forces are not up to the task of securing Helmand’ without American support.
Coincidence? President Karzai said the deteriorating security situation in Helmand coincided with Britain's deployment of thousands of troops
Provincial governor Gulab Mangal told a deputation led by vice-president Joe Biden in January 2009 that American forces were urgently needed because British troops in Sangin ‘did not leave their bases and engage with the people’.
President Karzai said the deteriorating security situation in Helmand coincided with Britain’s deployment of thousands of troops to the insurgents’ hotbed in 2006.
But Hillary Clinton made a full apology yesterday for the criticisms.

‘I personally want to convey to the Government and the people of the United Kingdom both my deep respect and admiration for the extraordinary efforts and our regret if anything that was said by anyone suggested the contrary,’ the U.S. secretary of state told the BBC.

Alun Hicks, whose son Captain David Hicks, 26, died in Helmand in 2008, said: ‘The U.S. takes a different view of how to approach these things.

'We don’t have as many troops so we have to take a step-by-step approach to try to win people over.

'They throw everything at it and try to blast their way through.’

Ian Sadler, of Exmouth, Devon, lost his son, Trooper Jack Sadler, 21, when his Land Rover hit a mine near Sangin in 2007. He said: ‘We weren’t up to doing the job. The soldiers were, but they didn’t have the support of the Government, and they still don’t have the full support.’



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