I can't see what all the fuss is about. From what's been discussed in the press, the information leaking is simply embarrassing to our diplomats, not damaging to national security. What one of our ambassadors thinks about Medvedev, or Berlusconi isn't that newsworthy. Nothing in the WikiLeaks pile released so far is anything like the 'Pentagon Papers', and certainly is not a diplomatic 9/11, as some beaurocrat in Spain ( I think) commented.
And the solution is simple, don't talk dirt about foreign dignitaries behind their backs if you are going to use vulnerable means to dish the dirt. Stick to verifiable facts in written communication (or cables - whatever that term means these days) and only speak opinion in face to face meetings, or via secure media. Haven't our state department folks heard of video chat over secure VPN connections?
We should use this WikiLeaks barrage as a wake-up to improve our security. Because you know if a former hacker like Julian Assange can dredge up these 'secrets', so can the intelligence operatives of other countries.
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Wiki "facts" maybe, but a summary -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning
Assange looks more like a fence then a thief.
The snarky stuff? We's all human ... "In my conversations at least one of my counterparts said to me, 'Well, don't worry about it, you should see what we say about you,'" Clinton said in a press conference today.
Our pols have egg on their faces over this, and when that happens heads must roll. I don't know what motivated Private Manning to do what he did, but I do believe democracy would be impossible without people willing to risk jail (or worse) to be sure shameful truth is revealed...
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