Australia blames Washington for WikiLeaks furor in Reuters interview

Reuters made diplomatic waves and international headlines with an exclusive interview on Dec. 8 with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on the WikiLeaks furor. Having himself been labeled a media-obsessed “control freak” by one leaked U.S. cable, Rudd used the interview to vent his frustration with Washington, saying the blame for the mass leak of cables lay with the United States - not WikiLeaks Australian founder Julian Assange. Rudd said the real focus should be on Washington’s questionable security over its own diplomatic communications and, for good measure, he offered consular support for Assange, who was by then in U.K. custody on a European arrest warrant over sex-crime charges. The interview immediately shot to the top of world news bulletins, becoming the BBC World’s top story for 24 hours, and it marked the first time that a staunch U.S. ally had pointed the finger of blame away from the besieged WikiLeaks founder and towards Washington.