The United States has intensified its bid to stop WikiLeaks in view of the harm it has brought between Washington and the world, to ensure classified information does not find its way into the public domain.
US Embassy public affairs officer in Harare Sharon Hudson-Dean, without confirming or denying whether the diplomatic cables were accurate, said: “We are not commenting at all on anything that potentially concerns classified information. We strongly condemn the disclosure of any potential classified information. But, when this whole thing began last year (the disclosures) we did take measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Political analyst John Makumbe said the WikiLeaks disclosures would change the way politicians and people in general interacted with US diplomats.
“Zimbabwean politicians must know there is no free lunch. There is no free dinner either. They now know that you can end up in hot soup, because the officials will quote you verbatim and send the cables to the United States,” he said.
Makumbe said American diplomats were expected to have credible reports hence the mentioning of names unlike diplomats from other countries who did not necessarily have to use people’s names in their reports.
He said classified information was also likely to be sent through hotlines and not diplomatic bags to ensure information would not fall into wrong hands.
