WikiLeaks dismisses 'obnoxious' Pentagon spokesman's 'threat'

WikiLeaks fired back at the Pentagon's request for Afghanistan war documents with a series of tweets responding to "obnoxious" Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

Morrell at Thursday's briefing said "the only acceptable course" is for WikiLeaks to turn some 15,000 documents still being reviewed by the website back to the U.S. government and delete all the files from its website pertaining to the original nearly 92,000 documents posted July 25.

"If doing the right thing is not good enough for them," the Pentagon spokesman said, alternatives will be explored "to make them do the right thing."

WikiLeaks tweeted:

Obnoxious Pentagon spokesperson issues formal threat against WikiLeaks: Destroy everything, or else http://cs.pn/aOxf0Y

Then followed that with a fundraising request:

Now is a good time to send WikiLeaks all your money! http://bit.ly/cpxJWC

Reiterating the Pentagon briefing and money call a couple of hours later:

Pentagon: return our "stolen" docs, or else http://bit.ly/cvcWRu Support us now: http://bit.ly/cpxJWC

And then said that the site, which posts confidential documents, was weighing Morrell's statement:

We are examining the Pentagon's "request" and will issue a statement in due course.

WikiLeaks sparked speculation by posting a 1.4GB encrypted file called "Insurance" on its site -- a file about 20 times larger than the original document dump. The title suggests a challenge to the U.S. government's pressure on the secretive site.