Stratfor gave membership to Hameed Gul: WikiLeaks

[Saifullah Sani]

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks on Monday began publishing more than five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence firm Stratfor, the anti-secrecy group said.

The messages, which date from between July 2004 and December 2011, will reveal Stratfor's "web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods," claimed a WikiLeaks press release.

"The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients," added the press release.

The online organisation claims to have proof of the firm's confidential links to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co and Lockheed Martin and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is currently in Britain fighting extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning on rape and sexual assault allegations, and WikiLeaks has long expressed concern that if he is sent to Sweden, Stockholm would quickly send him on to the United States.

Washington is eager to lay hands on the founder after the organisation's publication of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic files.

WikiLeaks promises that the latest leak will highlight Stratfor's attempts to "subvert" the website and expose the US's attempts to "attack" Assange.
Stratfor, which was founded by George Friedman in 1996, describes itself as "a subscription-based provider of geopolitical analysis." "Unlike traditional news outlets, Stratfor uses a unique, intelligence-based approach to gathering information via rigorous open-source monitoring and a global network of human sources," according to the Texas-based firm's website.
The company promises subscribers will "gain a thorough understanding of international affairs, including what's happening, why it's happening, and what will happen next." WikiLeaks predicts that the significance of the emails will only become clear over the next few weeks as its 25 media partners and the public sift through the raft of messages.

Its media partners include Rolling Stone magazine, The Hindu newspaper and Italy's La Repubblica.
The group claims to have found evidence that Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack against international forces in Afghanistan in 2006.
The group also alleges it has proof that Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of activists seeking redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India.

Bradley Manning, the man suspected of turning over a massive cache of classified US documents to the secret-spilling site, on Thursday declined to enter a plea at his arraignment.

Manning, a 24-year-old US Army private, is charged with 22 counts in connection with one of the biggest intelligence breaches in US history.

WikiLeaks was due to hold a press conference at London's Frontline Club later on Monday.
Stratfor gave membership to Hameed Gul: WikiLeaks publishes 'millions' of Stratfor emails | Business Recorder

 

[canadian icehole]

WikiLeaks posts emails from U.S. intelligence firm

5 million messages from think-tank allegedly obtained by hackers

CBC News
Feb 27, 2012 11:14 AM ET


Whistle-blower group WikiLeaks says it has begun publishing more than five million emails from a U.S.-based intelligence company, which the group believes has been targeting WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.

The emails from Stratfor, which were apparently obtained by hackers, began appearing on the WikiLeaks website around midnight on Sunday.

"The material contains privileged information about the U.S. government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks," the group said in a statement posted online. "There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange."

The group said the messages, which are dated between July 2004 and late December 2011, reveal "the inner workings" of a company that provides intelligence to clients including military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. marines.

Assange held a news conference Monday at the Frontline Club in London, where he described Stratfor as "a private intelligence Enron," the energy giant whose spectacular bankruptcy turned it into a byword for corporate malfeasance.

Assange accused Stratfor of running a network of paid informants, monitoring activist groups on behalf of major multinationals and making investments based on its secret intelligence. But he refused to answer questions about how WikiLeaks obtained the emails.

Stratfor, which describes itself as a subscription-based "provider of geopolitical analysis," announced in December that its computer system had been breached. Subscribers' email addresses and credit card information were stolen, the company said, as well as internal emails.

The hacker group known as Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack.

Move called 'breach of privacy'

Stratfor said the messages appeared to be the same ones stolen by hackers over the Christmas holidays. The company called the emails being released a "deplorable breach of privacy" and claimed that some of the messages may have been "forged or altered."

Stratfor pushed back against the suggestion there was anything improper in the way it dealt with its contacts, saying the company "has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world, as any publisher of global geopolitical analysis would do."

The company also posted a message on the social media site Twitter disputing rumours that its founder and CEO, George Friedman, had resigned.

The small selection of emails initially published to WikiLeaks' website turned up a mix of the innocuous and embarrassing, but Assange promised more explosive material in the coming weeks.

One message described a $6,000 monthly payment made to a Middle Eastern source, another carried bits of gossip dropped by a retired spook, and many were filled with off-colour office banter.

WikiLeaks said it had partnered with more than 25 publications, including Rolling Stone in the U.S. and The Hindu in India, which are helping to sift through the trove of correspondence.

------------------------------------------------

Interesting that the first article made no mention of hackers (or CBC News could be making stuff up). I guess Wikileaks changed it's submission rules.

 

[Bl[i]tZ]

Hamid gul is a member of DPC, talks tough on NATO and still covertly provided information for this shadowy CIA think tank.

 

[RazPaK]

Hamid Gul has time and time said that the west is lying. He said that US does not give him a Visa. If he was a criminal they could give him a Visa and arrest him in their country.


Basically US is making **** up out of their ***.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

this is a former DG-ISI who was at the forefront of the jihad against the soviets.....he knows a lot more than we know, he's also fairly articulate with his words.

a lot of people think he's Anti-American. I personally don't think he is against America or Americans per se, though he has been vocally opposed to the foreign policy of the US post-911.


Mr. Gul seems to arouse more interest outside of Pakistan than INSIDE of Pakistan.....everyone from Charlie Rose to Stratfor to CNN, AJE and even that dothead (Fareed Zakariah on CNN's GPS) are always quick to get him on their shows and discussions.


i wish i could get paid to speak my mind for 12-15 minutes