Good tactics, bad strategy (Assange on Wikileaksleaks)

I guess this is predictable, but it's still surprising that it happened. An unnamed high-ranking official of the U.S. government (hint: he was recently injured in a basketball game) has issued the following statement regarding the Wikileaks that appeared on various news sites:

I do not like the idea that the United States Government may be forced into a trial in the media. I do not know who has given these documents to the media, but the purpose can only be one thing - trying to make me look bad."

Actually, the two paragraphs above are a complete fabrication. While the U.S. government has made several statements about Wikileaks, they didn't make the one above. Who made it? Well, read on...

Jesse Stay shared a Business Insider post that referenced a statement in The Australian attributed to Julian Assange's lawyer.

In a move that surprised many of Mr Assange's closest supporters on Saturday, The Guardian newspaper published previously unseen police documents that accused Mr Assange in graphic detail of sexually assaulting two Swedish women. One witness is said to have stated: "Not only had it been the world's worst screw, it had also been violent."

Bjorn Hurtig, Mr Assange's Swedish lawyer, said he would lodge a formal complaint to the authorities and ask them to investigate how such sensitive police material leaked into the public domain. "It is with great concern that I hear about this because it puts Julian and his defence in a bad position," he told a colleague.

"I do not like the idea that Julian may be forced into a trial in the media. And I feel especially concerned that he will be presented with the evidence in his own language for the first time when reading the newspaper. I do not know who has given these documents to the media, but the purpose can only be one thing - trying to make Julian look bad."

The Guardian's excerpts appear here.

I can only think of three words. And the first two are "pot" and "kettle."