Iraq says Wikileaks documents 'no surprise'

Graphic accounts of torture and civilian killings in Iraq revealed by WikiLeaks have not come as a surprise, according to the Iraqi human rights ministry. The ministry was responding after the whistleblower website WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 US military documents related to the Iraq War. The secret military field reports span five years, in what's been called the largest military leak in history. Many of the documents, which span from 2004 to 2009, chronicle claims of abuse by Iraqi security forces, while others appear to show that American troops did nothing to stop state-sanctioned torture. It's the second release of documents from the controversial website, which accused the United States of "war crimes" after earlier this year releasing some 92,000 similar secret military files detailing operations in Afghanistan. "There are over 300 recorded reports of coalition forces committing torture and abuse of detainees across 284 reports and over 1,000 cases of Iraqi security forces committing similar crimes," WikiLeaks said in a press release. "There are numerous cases of what appear to be clear war crimes by US forces, such as the deliberate killing of persons trying to surrender," WikiLeaks said. "The report did not contain any surprises, because we had already mentioned many things that happened, including at Abu Ghraib prison, and many cases involving US forces," said ministry spokesman Kamil al-Amin. Mr Amin declined to comment on allegations also contained in the documents of abuses by Iraqi security forces. However he said the Iraqi government supported a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper, which had advance access to the documents, listing claims that "more than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents". "There were many deaths and many people were buried without any documents, at a time when the (Iraqi) government still had not imposed its control over the situation," Mr Amin said. "The ministry has proof of many deliberate killings." US anger US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has condemned "in the most clear terms" the leaks of any documents putting Americans at risk, while the Pentagon warned that releasing secret military documents could endanger US troops and Iraqi civilians. "By disclosing such sensitive information, WikiLeaks continues to put at risk the lives of our troops, their coalition partners and those Iraqis and Afghans working with us," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. He said the documents were "essentially snapshots of events, both tragic and mundane, and do not tell the whole story." (From ABC News)