Hillary Clinton: Leaks an 'Attack' on America

The US “strongly condemns” WikiLeaks’ disclosure of confidential State Department cables, Hillary Clinton said today, calling it an “attack on America’s foreign policy interests” and on the international community. Though she refused to comment specifically on “what are alleged to be stolen State Department cables,” she said the cables revealed no wrongdoing. “What is being put on display … is the fact that American diplomats are doing the work we expect them to do.”

Clinton also defended the need for the secret communiqués. “In almost every profession … people rely on confidential communications to do their jobs,” she said. She insisted that the leaks wouldn’t harm the US’ relations with other governments. "At least one of my counterparts said, 'Well, don't worry, you should hear what we say about you,'" she offered. Asked specifically about Iran, Clinton said the disclosures proved that other countries also viewed the regime as a threat, and hence went along with US sanction proposals. “It did not happen because the United States went out and said, ‘please do this for us.’” (More Hillary Clinton stories.)