Julian Assange notices Sarah Palin’s reaction to his WikiLeaks.
Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups, that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the US government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a US, citizen. There have been dozens of serious calls in the US for me to be “taken out” by US special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be “hunted down like Osama bin Laden”, a Republican bill sits before the US Senate seeking to have me declared a “transnational threat” and disposed of accordingly. An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister’s office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.
And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Prime Minister Gillard and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.
(I think he is misquoting her; at the least, the phrase “hunted down like Osama bin Laden” does not appear in her Facebook post on the WikiLeaks scandal. She wrote, “He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?”)
I hate to say it, but the loon* seems to have a point in that his last paragraph. If the Obama administration really wants to stop state secrets from appearing all over the front page of the New York Times, perhaps they ought to start applying more pressure on that newspaper, threatening to withhold exclusive access to the president, etc.
UPDATE: Seriously? Seriously? People thought I was referring to Palin as “the loon”? Have any of you ever read anything I’ve written before?
As for the argument in the comments section that “freedom of the press” somehow means that the administration cannot apply pressure to the New York Times, adherents of that view drastically misread the Constitution. There is no constitutional guarantee of exclusive interviews with the president or other members of the administration. That is a perfectly legal and moral method of obtaining leverage, particularly when invoked in the name of national security. Think of it as a variation of the old prohibitionist slogan, “Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine”; publications that publish classified material will never get the exclusive.
I see Sarah Palin Tweeted this item. Well, the day has its good moments . . .
...said it before, say it again..i have big problems w. assange, and his soros backed (?) leftism...'n he prob. has blood on his hands,...but very problematic that Christians 'n conservatives seem to have a "get" on this bloke...what's conservative in granting state this much power..'n surely the whole "thou shalt not commit murder" thing would dissuade one from this wholesale embrace...@ least unquestioningly...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI like his translation of what Palin said better. We should hunt him down. We should get some of our "friends" to do it for us, so as not to dirty our hands with the scumball.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Geraghty,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf in your comments "I hate to say it, but the loon seems to have a point in that last paragraph..." you're referring to Gov. Palin, this shows me you're a very small man with great insecurities.
If I misunderstand your intentions, accept my apology. However, you've at the very least failed to clearly say what you mean.
That's one of many reasons many of us in America have great respect for Gov. Palin... she says what she means and means what she says. She has what Finns call “sisu” (determination, perseverance or just plain “has guts”).
If only we had many more men today inside and outside of government who'd have sisu like her.
Mr. Nichols,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think it's very problematic that you take the word of this dishonorable man in saying that "Christians and Conservatives... want to put a 'get'" this guy in the way you interpret it.
We shouldn't be putting a "hit" on him, as you accuse us of. We should relentlessly pursue bringing him to justice and see that he legally faces the consequences for putting many intelligence agents and sources lives at risk by pushing hundreds of thousands of classified documents out into the public. That’s all I’ve heard public people here say.
He’s also now reportedly further threatening our country’s security by publishing a key to encrypted files that’ll lay out our military and sensitive infrastructure making it much easier for our country’s sworn enemies to attack us. That puts our nation’s average citizens’ very lives a risk. That’s a crime in most civilized nations to aid and abed our enemies.
Please throw cold water on your obvious prejudice against Christians and Conservatives, it’ll not serve to further your point of view.
Mr. Assange has not only damaged us but many other people, innocent people around the world. Specifically in Afghanistan Mr. Assange's malicious pranks have actually killed people.
Mr. Assange and his like minded accolytes are cowards. They attack us because they are confident that we will not harm them. They have grown so bold that Mr. Assange dares to threaten us with further, more damaging, even catastrophic disclosures if we attempt to stop him. This is the mark of the bully, a cowardly thug. The bully threatens even more harm if the victim attempts to defend himself. The bully needs to be reeducated that we are not afraid of him, that we will pursue him and fight back with persistence and ferocity.
Perhaps if the families of Mr. Assange's Afghan victims were to get their hands on him a video of Mr. Assange's beheading (with a dull, rusty knife) would persuade Mr. Assange's accomplices of the dangers they face by causing the deaths of people far away. These cowards need to learn that Muslim extremists are not the only force to be feared in the world. Let them show their "courage" in the teeth of our wrath.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think Assange's point is largely misguided. Once the information is out, it doesn't matter as much that the New York Times reports on findings - terrorists certainly have the sophistication to obtain the information directly from WikiLeaks and you can bet foreign governments (and ours as well!) have their decryption teams working on the "insurance file" to determine what's in there.
The difference between the New York Times and Assange is that Assange has one overarching interest: to harm the United States. And as much as it pains me to defend the Times, I doubt that the reporters and editors are hoping the U.S.'s diplomatic teams and armed forces are diminished or destroyed in the fashion that Assange seems to desire.
That being said, I'd have been surprised and pleased if the Times had gone the same route as the WSJ.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy don't we give him a pat on the back. This is the most transparency we've seen.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Finn....i refute ur baseless and wrong accusations on me personally...i am unashamedly Christian (anglican), likewise unapologetic conservative..being a long time (early 90's) peruser of tomes pertaining to the cause (national review, brit spectator, n.y. post, weekly standard; even u.s spec, criterian et al)...ad hominens are not overtly socratic, and go little in the way of overturning valid points that give cause (and pause) for concern...otherwise, God bless, and may the conservative notion of "the truth shall set ye free" thrive.. :=/
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, Mr. Nichols... You're right of course. Maybe you should take the next step and rethink the politics and politicos you're supporting.
This is a strike against liberty, and for government tyranny, whether the target is on the left or right.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe little creep thought it would be great fun to "beard the lion." Only now, having found out "the lion is not amused," does he worry about the personal consequences of his actions.
Find a legal way to punish this "gentleman" (we have tons of laws, one of them must be applicable) but more importantly find out who the people (there must be more than one) are who are sending him this stuff and definitely make an example of them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@CallMeIshmael Where oh where do you get your information from? specificaly "...in Afghanistan Mr. Assange's malicious pranks have actually killed people."
The Pentagon has quite openly said (though not quoted on Fox) that no-one has been physicaly hurt by any of the wikileaks. Not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq not anywhere. No additional protection was required for any person in those countries that may have been put in haprms way by the leaks.
Look, let's all agree that Assange is wrong in publishing all this information and let's hang him as some "responsible" politicians are suggesting. Now, can we please look at some of the information that he has leaked? If we are being asked to hang the messenger, what should we do to the politicians in the message who falsely got us into an un-winnable war. What are we to do with the people who have repeatedly lied to us time after time after time, for it would seem personal gain, whilst our children have died for their lies? Can we talk about them too?
Do you realise that in this matter we are becoming more intolerant then the Chinese? Our politicians are sounding more like the Hitler cabinet then people who should be setting an example to the free world.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Chinese and Russians read the cables anyway, Wikileaks or not.
American is the problem. You behave like angry children. Grow up and get a thicker skin. Your leaders behave like threatened Kings. You have forgotten why you declared Independence.
Children.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere's a good reason the US Government cannot go after the NYTimes, et al.
This little thing called Freedom of the Press. Which in instances involving state secrets from being reported, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the USA.
So really, he does not have a point. You could have done 5mins of research to invalidate this.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLet me state up front that I have no more desire to have American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan than Mr. Assange does. One of the few things I agreed with candidate Obama and disagreed with candidate McCain were these two projects. The reasonable response to 9/11 would have been quarantining travel and trade to certain Islamic countries. Instead, we embarked on our current disastrous policy, but then we would have had to come to grips that our real problem is Saudi Arabia and nobody in Washington wants to bight the hand of a paymaster.
I don't see Mr. Assange as being a loon, but as a facilitator of others who are leaking documents. If the government would put a small fraction into thinking of ways of preventing this kind of possibility in the future, the better off we would be. It was a PFC who was able to do the damage. It is also the result of information sharing policies which were instituted in the wake of 9/11. Too little information sharing is said to have led to not picking up on the 9/11 terrorists. Obviously the problem has not been solved.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Nichols,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI fear you protest too much in you imgagined personal attacks upon yourself from any quarters.
You have not addressed the points that this Assange has put our peoples' safety, Intelligence agents/sources and infrastructure at great risk.
It's Our Past and Current Corrupted Politicians that should be Charged for Treason. It was they; Presidents, Senators, Congressman and Lobbyist that betrayed the American People by putting us in this economic situation. But most of all, allowed Osama Bin Laden to attack the Our Great Nation. It's incomprehensible to except That The best Military in the World with other Military Coalition are unable to Blast Osama Bin Laden from his location. I strongly believe their is Political gain and money involved an allowing Osama Bin Laden to be kept alive... Scared Tactics= more Security and money which someone is getting Rich. For the above reason, It is Our Politicians who should be terminated from their position and charged for Treason. I say, We The People must and should know about the decisions that are made by Our Elected Officials and hold them accountable for their decisions.
It's funny, it Our Politicians that put us in this economic disaster/crisis and a deficit into the billions. Yet, they have not taken a pay-cut or reduce their medical benefits. Yet, it's Us who is paying the priceand their salary. With unemployment at 9% it's time for Our Politicians to take a 20% pay-cut.
Americans What do Think ?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI love logging in to the American nespapers and journals. You lot scream from the roof tops how everyone else inthe world should stop everything and copy your, is it first?, ammendment and proclaim freedom of speech.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn Australia our constitution doesnt state we have freedom of speech, we have a high court case where a TV company wanted to run political adverts and thats how we got our freedom of speech.
Now that someone has dared use his freedom of speech you Americans want to hunt him down, cut off his toes, your neighbours want him (I cant use the A word - your system censors it roflmao - ), you set down special laws to try and have him declared elligible to be killed by your special forces.
What a laugh and then you dare to announce the world press freedom of speech conference will be held in the USA next year.
Wait - you're a journalist, but you're advocating that the government pressure the press to not report a story? Really?
Far better that we ask our government 1) to take better care of its secrets and 2) be more selective of what it classifies as "secret."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you want to keep something secret, put it with Obama's college papers and birth certificate....the press will never find it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo say that Mr Assange is attacking America is missing the point. for those that have been visitors to wikileaks for some time will know that they release documents on all nations plus the UN (i also hear he is about to release a load regarding Russia as well).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAssange is a person who seems to hate secrets, and feels that as many secrets becoming known from all nations benefits the public of those nations.
I'm a brit, and if he was release information on our nation, which he has done in the past i wont take it as an attack, more a holding up a mirror to me and the tribe that im part off.