HA!

So they say revealing their secrets will damage their relations with their allies. That means that either the US is internally communicating things about their allies that these allies won't like - which they deserve to know about; that the US is having secret dialog with its allies about third parties, which I can only see as acceptable if the third parties are terrorist organizations, or rogue states who hate the US anyway; or that the US is communicating with other States in confidence about things the public would be very displeased about learning - which, again, means the public probably deserves to know; or, finally, that the US and others are sharing secrets pertaining to real national security threats with one another - this is the only situation where I agree that a leak would really be irresponsible. If the documents are so numerous, however, it's probably safe to assume there will be a little of everything, for good or ill.

I for one can hardly wait for the US State Department's bullying tactics to be revealed. This may well be one of the best things that will have happened since the end of WWII.

'It's a complete game-changer, and one that has long been needed. Media consolidation has rendered the "free press" an appendage of the global corporate powers and the "governments" that are their lapdogs. WikiLeaks has stepped in to fill the vacuum. If Assange manages to survive as a free man for the next decade (which seems unlikely given the enemies he now has) this could even represent a paradigm shift in public oversight and government transparency.

National security is often overplayed for its own sake. For example, one (now rather long ago) attempted bombing trial in Scotland involved evidence from the man who defused the device. 'No' he says (paraphrased; I have no idea what the exact quotes of the conversation are) 'I can't possibly tell you publicly how I defused it'. 'Would it have anything to do' the defence asks, pointing to a public-record-diagram-thingy of the bomb 'with a pair of pliers, and cutting that wire there?'

'Er, yes' a rather embarrassed bomb disposer admits. 'Yes, it would'.