Nukes WikiLeak 'illegal, irresponsible and dangerous': NATO

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Nukes_WikiLeak_illegal_irresponsible_and_dangerous_NATO_999.html Brussels (AFP) Nov 30, 2010 NATO slammed Tuesday the release of confidential US files revealing where the United States has deployed nuclear weapons in Europe as "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said. "As a matter of policy we won't comment on classified information and we strongly condemn the leaking of confidential documents," Longescu insisted.
However, "it is illegal, irresponsible and dangerous, regardless of whether the leaked material is diplomatic or military," she underlined.
Sensitive US diplomatic cables placed on the Internet show that most of the 200 US nuclear bombs still left in Europe are located in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.
While these countries have raised the issue of disarmament, the precise location of these tactical bombs had not been made official prior to the latest leaks.
In the text files, a top Berlin official is logged as having told US counterparts it "made no sense to unilaterally withdraw 'the 20' tactical nuclear weapons still in Germany while Russia maintains 'thousands' of them."
He added that a "withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Germany and perhaps from Belgium and the Netherlands could make it very difficult politically for Turkey to maintain its own stockpile."
WikiLeaks at the weekend began releasing around 250,000 cables, after two other leaks this year involving hundreds of thousands of classified files on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The whistleblowing site's Australian founder Julian Assange on Tuesday appealed to Sweden's Supreme Court to overturn a ruling he should be detained for questioning on allegations of rape.