Washington:
The Pentagon has said it would not negotiate for a 'sanitised' release of thousands of sensitive Afghan war documents, currently in possession of whisteblower website Wikileaks that has plans to make them public.
The defence department however acknowledged that an attempt was made to contact the lawyer of the website.
Wikileaks, which has already released a huge cache of classified documents on the Afghan war, is still in possession of 15,000 documents which it plans to upload soon.
"We are not interested in negotiating any sort of minimisation or sanitised version of classified documents," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said when asked about the offer made by Wikileaks to review the documents, before they are made public.
The department of defence has not changed its position on documents, he said.
"Our position has been consistent and clear, and that is that these documents should be returned, there should be no further posting of these classified documents. And that those that have been posted should be removed," Whitman said.
The defence department however acknowledged that an attempt was made to contact the lawyer of the website.
Wikileaks, which has already released a huge cache of classified documents on the Afghan war, is still in possession of 15,000 documents which it plans to upload soon.
"We are not interested in negotiating any sort of minimisation or sanitised version of classified documents," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said when asked about the offer made by Wikileaks to review the documents, before they are made public.
The department of defence has not changed its position on documents, he said.
"Our position has been consistent and clear, and that is that these documents should be returned, there should be no further posting of these classified documents. And that those that have been posted should be removed," Whitman said.
A similar demand was made by Jeh Charles Johnson, general counsel, department of defence, in a letter to Timothy Matusheski, Wikileaks attorney. According to the letter there was a call scheduled between Johnson and Matusheski, but the letter was a "no-show for the call".
In his letter Johnson says that Wikileaks is holding the property of the US government, including classified documents, that has not been authorised for release.
However, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that the Pentagon has expressed willingness to discuss a request for help in reviewing classified documents from the Afghan war.
In his letter Johnson says that Wikileaks is holding the property of the US government, including classified documents, that has not been authorised for release.
However, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that the Pentagon has expressed willingness to discuss a request for help in reviewing classified documents from the Afghan war.
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