Pentagon: No negotiations with WikiLeaks

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- A Pentagon official says it has not, and will not negotiate with WikiLeaks on the planned release of additional classified Afghanistan war documents.

"The Department of Defense will not negotiate some 'minimized' or 'sanitized' version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. government classified documents," Pentagon general counsel Jeh C. Johnson wrote in a letter to an attorney representing the Web site, The New York Times said Thursday.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said WikiLeaks "misrepresented" conversations about its alleged contacts with the government and the group's attorney did not answer the telephone for a previously scheduled call.

"We are willing to discuss with them how they can return the stolen documents and expunge them from their records," Morrell said.

WikiLeaks published more than 90,000 classified military war logs July 25 and has said it plans to publish thousands more within the next few weeks.