WikiLeaks’ last-month posting of as many as 76,000 classified US government documents about the war in Afghanistan has led Pentagon to warn that the Web site, as well as its founder Julian Assange, may one day have “blood on its hands.”

According to Pentagon, since some of the documents that were posted contained information which could be used to identify Afghans who have cooperated with the US, the safety of these individuals and their families could be in danger.

The administration officials are of the opinion that in addition to any immediate security risk to Afghans, the leaked information also undermines the credibility of US promises in terms of protecting the identity of informants – a fact that could potentially impede all the future efforts by the US intelligence.

As such, Pentagon is demanding that Assange should hand back the original documents and permanently remove the information from his Web site. Assange, however, has said that he intends posting yet another lot of 15,000 or so similar unfiltered classified documents.

Though the US Defense Department probably has little influence on Assange – given the fact that he is an Australian who spends a large part of his time in Iceland, Sweden and Belgium -, the US Justice Department is reportedly considering charges against him for violation of the Espionage Act, which is intended to reprimand people who spy on the US on behalf of a foreign power.