Hillary Clinton is under fire after the WikiLeaks "cablegate" data dump revealed that she sanctioned the collection of confidential information, including biometric data and credit card details, about U.N. leaders and foreign diplomats. The State Department cables were signed in Clinton's name, and some say this intelligence-gathering amounts to "spying" on the U.N. leadership — an act that contradicts several international laws. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called for Clinton to resign, as has Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, but the White House is standing firm behind her. Can she continue in her current position?
Hillary has lost trust, and must resign: Clinton is done for, says Jack Shafer at Slate. Foreign diplomats will never trust her again, and even those who forgive her will forever see her as "the symbol of an overreaching United States." Though it's not surprising that this kind of activity goes on, proof that the Secretary of State actively sanctions it is deeply humiliating for the U.S. The only way to help "other nations... save face will be to give them Clinton's scalp."
"WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton, and the Smoking Gun"
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This type of intelligence-gathering has gone on for years: Much as it pains me to say it, says James S. Robbins in the Washington Times, we "need to give Hillary Clinton a break." The State Department has collected intelligence for decades, and everyone knows U.S. embassies keep close ties with the C.I.A. It's simply business as usual. "Had the Obama administration ended this collection program, it would have been engaging in unilateral disarmament."
"Hillary Clinton's State Department spooks"
Hillary isn't even responsible for this anyway: Hillary Clinton did not "order diplomats to spy," says Marc Ambinder at the National Journal. These cables were just a handful of the hundreds of thousands that go out in the Secretary of State's name each year. It's also highly unlikely that U.S. diplomats tapped U.N. phones and collected data. "In all probability, that task fell to case officers at the C.I.A's New York field office and F.B.I. counterintelligence agents."