WikiLeaks criticised for linking Benghazi attack to Julian Assange case
Tweet says US 'gave tacit approval for attacks' by accepting 'UK siege on Ecuadorean embassy' where Assange is taking refuge
Peter Walker
Thursday 13 September 2012 04.07 EDT
WikiLeaks has been accused of crass self-centredness after it intimated that its founder Julian Assange's current refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London in part explained or even justified Wednesday's attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi which killed the ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans.
A post on the official WikiLeaks Twitter feed, which is generally presumed to be operated by Assange, read: "By the US accepting the UK siege on the Ecuadorian embassy in London it gave tacit approval for attacks on embassies around the world."
As a series of other Twitter users objected to the language – one early response read: "@wikileaks you are losing supporters fast with comments like that." – the initial tweet was deleted, though not before some Twitter users saved images of it.
The tweet was then re-sent in two slightly amended forms, firstly: "By the US accepting the UK threat to storm the Ecuadorian embassy in London it helped to normalize attacks on embassies," and later: "By the UK threatening to breach the Ecuadorian embassy in London it helped to normalize attacks on embassies, in general. It must retract" ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/sep/13/wikileaks-benghazi-attack-julian-assange
