BEIJING, November 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Wikileaks, a website that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive governmental, corporate, or religious documents, has posted what it says are pager and text messages sent during the 9/11 attacks in the United States 8 years ago.
Wikileaks says it will not reveal who gave it the messages as the website has a policy of preserving the anonymity and untraceability of its contributors.
However Internet analysts say they believe the messages are genuine though federal authorities have refused to comment. Many of the messages appear to have been sent by federal agencies while others were sent by ordinary citizens.
The messages are being posted to the Wikileaks site over a 24-hour period, ending at 08:00 GMT on Thursday, November 26. They are also being released simultaneously via its Twitter feed @wikileaks.
The messages are being posted at the same times as originally sent in 2001 with the first message being posted at 03:00 local time (08:00 GMT). While some of the messages are mundane, others are specific to the attacks that day which left at least 3,000 dead.
One reads, "Please don’t leave the building. One of the towers just collapsed! PLease, please be careful. Repeat."
A message from a New York City official sent just minutes after the first attack said, "WTC has been hit by an airplane and a bomb." Another says, "It's reported that a US military helicopter circled the building then crashed into or next to the Pentagon." Later in the day, a message presciently says, "We are bombing Afghanistan." One New York resident describes their situation in one message which reads, "Still in my apt, nowhere to go ... This is the end of the world as we know it."
While some conspiracy theorists hope the messages may reveal more of what happened on the day, others posting comments on forums were skeptical that the information would reveal anything new.
There has also been anger expressed for the relatives of those that died in the terrorist attack, with many people saying the posting of the messages was disrespectful and will unearth old wounds.
Wikileaks was created in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Schmitt said the messages were submitted anonymously to the site several weeks ago. Talking to the Associated Press, he said "From the context information that the source provided we have strong reasons to believe that this is valid data." He said the messages would help provide a fuller picture of what happened that day.
While the site remains controversial and blocked in some corners of the world it has exposed many important scandals and effected political change. Wikileaks has won a number of significant awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine New Media Award.
In June 2009, Wikileaks and Julian Assange, who has described himself as a member of Wikileaks' advisory board, won Amnesty International UK's Media Award 2009 (in the category "New Media") for the 2008 publication of "Kenya: The Cry of Blood - Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances", a report by the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights about police killings in Kenya.
(Agencies)
