Press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that the Pentagon is formally demanding — through the news media — that WikiLeaks return the reports, as well as 15,000 additional records that the Web site says it might release soon.
"We are asking them to do the right thing and not further exacerbate the damage done to date," he said. "If doing the right thing is not good enough for them, we’ll figure out what other alternatives we have." He declined to elaborate on whether the Defense Department is contemplating legal action, but noted that the FBI and the Justice Department are investigating how the documents were leaked.
Wow, that would have me shaking in my boots. WikiLeaks was obviously worried as they tweeted, “Obnoxious Pentagon spokesperson issues formal threat against WikiLeaks: Destroy everything, or else.”
This reminds me of the parody of the English Bobby who when confronting a criminal says, “Stop or I’ll say stop again.” If you are going to make demands shouldn’t you know your game plan ahead of time? Shouldn’t you know that you have some leverage or actually have teeth to your threats?
What was likely was an attempt to project strength made us look incredibly weak, and WikiLeaks certainly isn’t taking the Pentagon seriously.