Wikileaks publishes more classified war documents

London, England (CNN) -- Human Rights Watch on Saturday urged the Iraqi and U.S. governments to launch investigations into reports of torture and detainee abuse after the WikiLeaks website published thousands of classified military documents detailing the war in Iraq.

The release includes evidence that Iraqi security forces tortured and killed prisoners, the group said. Human Rights Watch called on the Iraqi government to prosecute those responsible.
It also urged the U.S. government to look into whether its forces broke international law by transferring thousands of detainees to Iraqi custody despite what Human Rights Watch called "the clear risk of torture."

"These new disclosures show torture at the hands of Iraqi security forces is rampant and goes completely unpunished," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "It's clear that U.S. authorities knew of systematic abuse by Iraqi troops, but they handed thousands of detainees over anyway."

Also Saturday, anti-war activists said at a news conference that the WikiLeaks release revealed that 15,000 more Iraqi civilians died during the conflict than previously thought.
Video: Iraq reacts to WikiLeaks Video: Activists cite higher death toll Video: WikiLeaks under fire Video: Protecting U.S. contacts
"We have seen that there are approximately 15,000 never previously documented or known cases of civilians who have been killed by violence in Iraq," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said.

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Brit sub in a bit of a pickle ...

London, England (CNN) -- A recently-christened British submarine foundered off the coast of a Scottish island when it got caught in rocks, the Ministry of Defense said Friday.
"We are aware of an incident involving one of our submarines off the Isle of Skye," a spokesman told CNN.

"This is a not a nuclear incident. We are responding to the incident and can confirm that there are no injuries to personnel and the submarine remains watertight. There is no indication of any environmental impact."
The sub is HMS Astute, described by the ministry as Britain's "most powerful attack submarine."
The craft is a "highly complex feat of naval engineering" that is "at the very cutting-edge of technology, with a suite of sensors and weapons required to pack a powerful punch," the ministry said.

The submarine was undertaking sea trials when it ran aground. People were transported out of the craft. The ministry emphasized that only a part of the submarine was stuck.

The ministry said the sub can carry a mix of up to 38 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles.
Britain's Press Association reports that "it is understood that the submarine's crew is waiting for high tide so they could free the vessel."

Ask Monica - Clinton looses nuclear codes card.

CNN) -- A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says in a new book that while Bill Clinton was in the White House, a key component of the president's nuclear launch protocol went missing.
"The codes were actually missing for months. This is a big deal," says Gen. Hugh Shelton. "We dodged a silver bullet."

In his book "Without Hesitation," the retired Army general writes, "Even though movies may show the President wearing these codes around his neck, it's pretty standard that they are safeguarded by one of his aides, but that aide sticks with him like glue." He adds that President Clinton "assumed, I'm sure, that the aide had them like he was supposed to."

What apparently was missing was a card with code numbers on it that allows the president to access a briefcase -- called the "football" and kept by an aide always near the president -- containing instructions for launching a nuclear attack.

Once a month, Defense Department officials conduct an in-person verification to make sure the president has the right codes. At least twice in a row, Shelton writes, a White House aide told the Pentagon checker that the president was in a meeting but gave a verbal assurance that the codes were with him.

`Then one month around the year 2000, according to Shelton, when the time came to replace the codes with a new set, "the president's aide said neither he nor the president had the codes -- they had completely disappeared."
Shelton writes that all this happened very likely without Clinton's knowledge.

CNN called and e-mailed a spokesman for President Clinton Thursday, but there was no immediate response.

Fran Townsend, who served as homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush and who is a CNN contributor on national security issues, said Thursday, "I can't imagine a more serious breach, if something like that were ever to be lost or be compromised.

"That's the command and control capability of the president to launch a nuclear attack."
But if an unauthorized person found or obtained the codes, she said, it is very unlikely that they could execute a launch, because they are only one part of the launch protocol. Another part of that protocol is the "football," containing the actual launch instructions. Townsend said it's a multi-layered system.

"Even if you had a piece that was required, it would be very difficult for one person to execute the command and control of this thing," Townsend said. "There are plenty of things to be concerned about. I just find it difficult to imagine somebody could execute this thing, if they found a piece to it."

Shelton says the president was given new codes within minutes when the previous codes could not be found, and the procedures have since been changed, so that the Pentagon aide who carries out the monthly check is required to wait at the White House until he or she can visually confirm the codes are in the possession of the president or an aide who is with him.

Shooter took six potshots at Pentagon

Washington (CNN) -- More bullets struck the Pentagon in a shooting Tuesday than initially thought, officials said.

"It has been determined that at least six shots were fired," Steven Calvery, director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, said in a statement Wednesday. "As previously stated, two exterior windows were impacted by bullets. Upon investigation, it has been determined that four other bullets hit the Pentagon's facade."

Calvery said the investigation was ongoing and the FBI was evaluating evidence, including video footage from the Pentagon and surrounding buildings and roads as well as ballistics.

On Tuesday, Calvery told reporters he thought the shooting, which took place early Tuesday at the Defense Department's headquarters, was "a random incident."
"We are looking at all the possibilities," he said. "What we have is an isolated incident so far."

Pentagon police officers as well as construction workers in the area heard at least five shots fired around 4:50 a.m. Tuesday, Pentagon officials said. By midday, authorities had found two bullet fragments in third- and fourth-floor windows on the south side of the building, Calvery said. That part of the building is in the process of being renovated and was empty at the time of the shooting.

The incident prompted a 40-minute shutdown of the entire Pentagon, and authorities conducted an interior sweep of the building shortly after 6 a.m.
Calvery said authorities were unsure who fired the shots and with what kind of gun, though he said he believes they came from a rifle.

A portion of Interstate 395 -- which runs along the south side of the Pentagon -- was also shut down temporarily to conduct a search in the investigation.
Tuesday's shooting followed a similar incident overnight Sunday at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, near the entrance of Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Lin Ezell, the museum's director, said Tuesday that investigators have determined that one or more assailants used rifles to fire 10 bullets at the building -- five hitting glass windows, the rest hitting metal panels.

Authorities haven't pinned down where the shots were fired from though they believe they came from Interstate 95 or nearby.

No one was hurt in that incident, which occurred between 12:15 and 5 a.m. when the building was unoccupied, Ezell said. No one has claimed responsibility, and there were no known threats before the shooting, she added. Military police and the Prince William County police are investigating that incident.
Tuesday's shooting was the first such incident at the Defense Department headquarters since March when John Patrick Bedell pulled a gun from his pocket and began shooting. Bedell, who had a history of mental health problems, was later shot and killed, while two Pentagon police officers received superficial injuries.

CIA suing one of its REDs.

Washington (CNN) -- The CIA has filed a civil suit against a former spy who published a book critical of the agency without the necessary review of the material by the agency, in violation of a secrecy agreement.

The legal action is being taken against Ishmael Jones, the pen name for a nearly 20-year veteran of the CIA who, he says, worked deep undercover overseas, mostly in Arabic-speaking nations. In 2008, he published "The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture," under his pseudonym.

In a statement released Tuesday, the CIA said "Jones" violated the secrecy agreement he voluntarily signed as a condition of employment.

"Although Jones submitted his manuscript to the Agency's Publications Review Board (PRB) as his secrecy agreement requires, he did not let that review process run its course and instead published in defiance of the Board's initial disapproval," said the CIA statement.

Jones' real identity remains classified, mainly to protect the sources he worked with as a covert officer overseas.

Jones, who was contacted by CNN through his website, does not dispute the fact he went ahead and published his book in violation of his agreement, but says he did so after the PRB sent back a heavily redacted manuscript "which was essentially a stake of blank pages with a sentence every 10 pages or so."

"I decided to defy censors as a whistleblower in order to expose something that puts Americans at risk," Jones told CNN.

He said his book, which remains available online, contains no classified information, but it "exposes the CIA as a place to get rich, with billions of taxpayer dollars wasted or stolen in espionage programs that produce nothing."

In his book, Jones claimed that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress gave the CIA $3.5 billion to train and deploy more covert officers overseas, but the money was instead spent on contractors, buildings and personnel in the United States. He said 90 percent of CIA employees live in the U.S. where they are mostly ineffective.

"We need financial accountability and whistleblower systems to stop tremendous waste and theft," he said.

The CIA statement said the pre-publication review is "an indispensable tool to protect intelligence sources, methods and activities. In publishing without authorization, he (Jones) risked disclosure of classified information."

The suit seeks the recovery of all profits from the book and an injunction against Jones further violating his secrecy agreement.
Jones questioned the timing of the suit since his book has made very little money.

"The conventional wisdom is that the CIA is wise to ignore a critic because to do otherwise merely gives the critic publicity," he said.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer who has handled many pre-publication challenges but who is not involved in this case, agreed that the lawsuit could have the perverse effect of creating sales. However Zaid said he believes the CIA is sending a message to the growing number of former intelligence officers who are writing books and appearing in the media.

"The message by the CIA--and I'm surprised it took so long--is telling former officers and employees there is a process to follow and you don't make the decision on what is or is not classified," said Zaid.