BBC News with Marian Marshall.
The Pentagon has said the damage caused by the leaking of more than 90,000 classified military documents on the war in Afghanistan may take weeks to assess. The classified documents posted on the Internet by the whistle-blowing organisation Wikileaks contain many accusations. Kevin Connolly reports from Washington.
The leaked documents portray a grim picture of a war whose winnability many Americans are increasingly inclined to question. They depict Pakistan as an uncertain ally whose own intelligence services may be helping the very Taliban enemy it's meant to be helping to fight. Robert Gibbs made the point that the leaked papers, mainly detailed but low level military reports, are months out of date, so that any improvements from President Obama's "surge" strategy would not be reflected. Mr Gibbs said the President didn't need leaks to be horrified by civilian casualties and warned that the publication of the papers could put American and allied soldiers at risk.
The founder of the Wikileaks website Julian Assange told a news conference the documents appeared to reveal evidence of war crimes, but that was up to the court to decide. The documents include details of the killing of Afghan civilians by NATO forces. Mr Assange said everyone suffered in a war.
"The real story of this material is that it's war. It is the continuous small events, the continuous deaths of children, insurgents, allied forces. Search for the word 'amputation' in this material, or'amputee', and there are dozens and dozens of references. Most of the deaths in this war are as a result of the everyday squalor of war, not the big instances."