Julian Assange has always maintained that in four years since WikiLeaks launched, no report has emerged of an individual being hurt by the information exposed in one of its leaks. Tell that to former ambassador Gene Cretz. Officials say the longtime diplomat is likely to be fired from his post after WikiLeaks released cables he authored speculating on Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s health, including his dependence on a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse. According to a senior State Department official, frustrations with American ties to the notoriously thorny regime in Tripoli were also part of the reason for Cretz’s return to Washington and possible dismissal, adding, “It’s a complicated relationship, and WikiLeaks just added to that complication.” Qaddafi, who Cretz described in the cables as “mercurial and eccentric” with a penchant for filming medical exams and flamenco, has yet to comment publicly on the leak. Cretz isn’t the only one facing the consequences of the latest data dump. McClatchy reports that sources are less likely to approach American diplomats with information. Anecdotes have also circulated about foreign leaders insisting that note takers or American staff be excluded from meetings.
Foreign sources drying up for diplomats abroad is one thing. But if Cretz is dismissed, it would be the U.S. punishing him for his candor. Look, if diplomats don’t have the freedom to comment on foreign heads of states’ predilections for voluptuous East European nurses, then whither goes international diplomacy? And without international diplomacy, how will we have peace on Earth? Ergo, if you care about this planet at all, don’t fire diplomats for acknowledging the lady lumps of world leaders’ chosen flax-haired companions.
WikiLeaks: ‘Voluptuous’ nurse cable costs diplomat his job [McClatchy DC]
