Have you dreamed of a world with no lies? Wikileaks does not have the ability to transform human nature, but it does give us a better glimpse of truth.
Truth is rare in government and diplomacy, both of which essentially run on smoke, mirrors and duplicity.
I remember an old cartoon, the symbol of the free press shining a light on the dark smoke-filled room of Congress, exposing the politicians in there like a nest of scurrying cockroaches. Wikileaks is like that, doing what the press has aspired to do. What the press does not have the guts to do.
You can gather from the above that I support Wikileaks wholeheartedly, and consider Julian Assange and the others associated with Wikileaks as heroes. As well as the soon to be martyred young private who leaked the documents.
If only leaks like this could have occurred before the genocidal fiascos of Afghanistan and Iraq had matured. The fools and liars that guided the United States from 2001 through 2008 would have been thwarted, and many mistakes avoided.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton, joined by America's fascists from the Far Right, are after Assnage and Wikileaks like a posse hopped up on speed. More accurately, like a pack of rabid wolves.
Remember from Watership Down? "All the world is your enemy, El Ahrairah. And when they catch you they will kill you. But first, they must catch you."
Truthtellers are never beloved, generally hated, and often murdered while asleep in their beds. Or crucified.
Run, Julian, Run.
And if you are ever in Texas, I have a spare bed, sans lovely Swedish ladies. Veeerrry slow internet connection. Sorry.
Copied below are some posts I have made over the last few days on this topic.
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Is Julian Assange guilty of anything...
...in relation to Wikileaks? [No idea on the Swedish rape charges.] Should he be indicted, arrested, and tried in the USA?
1. Assange is not an American citizen.
2. He was not in the USA when he got the material, as far as I am aware.
3. He did not steal it.
4. He did not, as far as I am aware, buy the material.
5. He did not arrange for its theft.
6. The material was dropped into his lap.
7. Why should he be compelled to obey America's designations of this material as classified?
8. Especially when the release of this material stemmed primarily from U.S. carelessness in its handling and security?
9. If some idiot throws his property away, should the person who picks it up and uses it be branded as a thief?
I suspect that U.S. prosecutors are setting up Assange as a scapegoat and object of official rage resulting from American diplomats having egg on their face. I am urging everyone to immediately express their outrage at U.S. reaction when the real culprit were officials themselves. Write your congressman, the president, whomever. Put it on a bumper sticker.
Ever heard the expression "THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE"? In Assange''s case, the result may be the opposite.
Truth is not a commodity governments are in the habit of willingly providing, or encouraging. Even in the Obama administration. Now we begin to get a more real picture of the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan and our parts in them, and who our enemies really are in the world, and what their capacities are.
For myself, I can only say "Thank you, Julian."
1. Assange is not an American citizen.
2. He was not in the USA when he got the material, as far as I am aware.
3. He did not steal it.
4. He did not, as far as I am aware, buy the material.
5. He did not arrange for its theft.
6. The material was dropped into his lap.
7. Why should he be compelled to obey America's designations of this material as classified?
8. Especially when the release of this material stemmed primarily from U.S. carelessness in its handling and security?
9. If some idiot throws his property away, should the person who picks it up and uses it be branded as a thief?
I suspect that U.S. prosecutors are setting up Assange as a scapegoat and object of official rage resulting from American diplomats having egg on their face. I am urging everyone to immediately express their outrage at U.S. reaction when the real culprit were officials themselves. Write your congressman, the president, whomever. Put it on a bumper sticker.
Ever heard the expression "THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE"? In Assange''s case, the result may be the opposite.
Truth is not a commodity governments are in the habit of willingly providing, or encouraging. Even in the Obama administration. Now we begin to get a more real picture of the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan and our parts in them, and who our enemies really are in the world, and what their capacities are.
For myself, I can only say "Thank you, Julian."
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JA was not a spy. He didn't procure these documents. All he has done is publish documents that were furnished him. If you want to put someone in jail, there are any number of people in Russia and Israel who ought to be first on the list. [Why Israel? Because the Mossad has had agents spying here, one of whom was caught, tried and imprisoned. Russia quite recently ran spies here, as we well know thanks to the glam appearance of one of them. Do you think for a moment that any administration will indict foreign spymasters and seek to have them extradited?]
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There we get into what previous contact the pfc and Assange had. If Assange encouraged or prompted the pfc to get the data, then I agree there was conspiracy. If Assange had no provable prior contact, or did not ask for the documents or encourage their download, then I don't see any crime on the part of Assange.
If Assange had been an American citizen who did this, then there might be charges merely from his holding, accessing, or publicly releasing documents. But Assange owes no loyalty to the United States.
Can the concept of receipt of stolen property be stretched to include Assange? The problem I see with that is that the documents were not stolen, they were copied, and so international law pertaining to theft and fencing do not apply.
There are many nations that might offer Assange asylum and a location from which to disseminate further data. But the U.S. has been working behind the scenes like an 800 lb gorilla. Ecuador is a case in point. Probably Sweden. The prosecutor was asked if she was pressured by the U.S. government to return an indictment in the rape cases. She said "No." What the interviewer failed to ask her on follow up was "But if there was pressure on your office, then your answer to us would be the same, wouldn't it?"
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I'm gonna go radical. [For once. ;)] I believe there is or should be an absolute right of access to information under the First Amendment. There is a fundamental constitutional right TO KNOW.
Secrets are the enemy of democracy. Don't even believe in copyrights of music or printed matter, because they resrict the flow and use of information.... Just as the ancient Greeks idolized anyone who killed even a good tyrant, I idolize anyone who breaks information free and disseminates it to the public. This young man [the pfc who leaked the info to Wikileaks] is a hero. And I think in the end, the release of all this info will make us better voters and better citizens -- secrets are always in the long run our enemies. Some may be harmed by this data diarrhea, but IMO they deserve it.
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