The 16 Words, WikiLeaks, And Rank Hypocrisy

[mmonk]

The last few weeks concerning WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the London arrest, the interpol red alerts for arrest, and the 250,000 pages of the diplomatic document dump have been interesting to say the least. Adding to the intrique has been Prosecutor Ny's changing proclamations, no official charges but yet an arrest by appointment with no bail (until recently), cyber attacks on WikiLeak's enemies by Anonymous, and the flight of one of Assange's sex crimes accusers, Anna Ardin, to the Palestinian territories along with some reports she may be linked to the CIA. Could the most creative of screen writers come up with more twists for a plot line for a movie than this? Its so convoluted that it has led some to suggest it may be a psy ops operation to shut down or control information available on the internet. But what is not intriguing is the onerous and dangerous suggestions from Obama's DOJ and elected officials in Washington of invoking some of the darkness of America's past abuses of power such as the 1917 Espionage Act in going after Julian Assange.

Senators Lieberman and Feinstein have voiced such an approach of using the 1917 Espionage Act to go after and/or prosecute Julian Assange. While such a call might fly with a propaganized mind with no comprehension of the past, this is very much a direct assault on freedom and a free press. In a piece by author Naomi Wolf at the Huffington Post, she explains this dubious historical abuse of power which is titled, "Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Agression Against the People of the United States". It was a period whereby even prominent Americans such as E.E. Cummings served jail time and many Americans were rounded up. It was used to treat journalism that told the truth and also to frame dissent both as treasonous. This runs counter to a free society. And Senator Lieberman has also added that the New York Times should be investigated. Eric Holder and the Obama Department of Justice have also weighed in quite dubiously by saying "significant" actions are being taken in the "criminal investigation" of WikiLeaks though what crimes WikiLeaks has committed seem to be uncertain under the constitution, domestic law, and international law. WikiLeaks is supposed to be a news organization, and Assange is neither a spy or leaker, engaged in espionage, or even an American citizen. In fact, the leaker of much of this, Pfc. Bradley Manning is in jail. And concerning The Espionage Act, Holder said,

That is not the only tool we have to use in the investigation of this matter. People would be misimpressioned if they think the only thing we are looking at is the Espionage Act

And then Holder added,

"National security of the United States has been put at risk. The lives of people who work for the American people have been put at risk. The American people themselves have been put at risk by these actions that I believe are arrogant, misguided and ultimately not helpful in any way. We are doing everything that we can."

One would say hypocrite is thy name, Eric Holder. Along with interpol's red alert arrest warrant for Assange also came one for former Vice President Dick Cheney relating to bribery charges in Nigeria (of which Halliburton is currently negotiating a $250 million settlement). Where was the quick arrest and extradition in that? And isn't that the same Dick Cheney who's office was involved in leaking classified information to the press? Did that not put the "national security of the United States at risk"? Also in quoting you, "the lives of people who work for the American people have been put at risk", wasn't the leaking of a covert agent in the employ of the C.I.A. thus putting all operations past and present she was involved in and the lives of all operatives and contacts in those operations put at risk? Were "significant" actions undertaken in the criminal investigation of that? Was the 1917 Espionage Act called upon to investigate the New York Times or Bob Novak? How about the Office of Vice President? Or did the Department of Justice under the administration that leaked the information engage in a much narrower defined investigation under a prosecutor? And if the Office of the Vice President had the authority to declassify her name, did it also declassify those C.I.A. operations or the identities of those involved when our nation's enemies began their own investigations concerning her contacts in their countries? And all for what? Because former Ambassador Joe Wilson felt compelled to tell the truth in a newspaper op-ed that he did not find evidence that Iraq had sought a deal for yellow cake uranium in Niger? To cover the 16 words in the Bush state of the union address Bush knew came from a forged document? The Obama DOJ finds no threat to US security in that lie, nor the lies from the Office of Special Plans created solely to lie a nation into an http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3661134.stm">illegal war of aggression? No call for the Obama DOJ to reopen the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Franklin_espionage_scandal">AIPAC spy scandal and invoke the Espionage Act, a real case of espionage? No, but Eric Holder, the administration, members of Congress want to invoke the Espionage Act on journalists for publishing these cables. Yale Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Bruce Ackerman claims prosecuting Assange under this act would be unconstitutional. So just how "secret" are these cables and what matters of national security do they reveal? Are they really revealing secrets or just embarrassing information the administration doesn't want the American people to know? Let's take a look.

It seems that in a report by France 24 that these cables were not "top secret" so that alone should stop any notion of invoking The Espionage Act. In fact, it indicates that SPIRNet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network) by which these cables were transmitted is accessed by some 2.5 million Americans in the U.S. government's employ and that "top secret" cables are transmitted on a more restricted network. And if someone wants to use the diplomatic cables as a guide to determine whether this is true or not, they may find they bear that out. Around the year before the events of September 11th, 2001 through the launch of the Afghan war and the attack and invasion of Iraq and with all the reported "chatter" of terror networks, one would expect quite a bit of activity concerning diplomatic cables. So let's take a look at the time distribution and nation distribution of what has been released so far, particularly from the years of 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

2000.
No diplomatic cables.

2001.
1 cable Caracas Venezuela, 7 cables Bogota Colombia, 12 cables Kinshara Congo, 307 cables Harare Zimbabwe, 4 cables Pretoria South Africa, 86 cables Hanoi Vietnam.

2002.
349 cables Rome Italy, 2 cables Jerusalem, 326 cables Abuja Nigeria, 419 Harare Zimbabwe, 1 Pretoria South Africa, 1 Maputo Mozambique, 102 cables Hanoi Vietnam, 24 cables Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, 4 Jakarta Indonesia.

2003.
290 cables Ottawa Ontario, 19 Montreal Quebec, 15 cables State Department, 23 cables Nova Scotia, 243 cables Guatemala City Guatamala, 282 cables Teguigalpa Honduras, 5 Bogota Colombia, 45 Brasilia Brazil, 1 Santiago Chile, 52 Frankfurt Germany, 188 Zagreb Croatia, 1 Sofia Turkey, 80 Istanbul, 1173 Ankara, 747 Amman Jordan, 460 Kuwait, 542 Abu Dhabi, 273 Sanaa Yemen, 344 Abuja Nigeria, 122 Lagos Nigeria, 5 Kinshasa Congo, 504 Harare Zimbabwe, 17 Kabul Afghanistan, 288 Katmandu, 560 Colombo Sri Lanka, 199 Rangoon Myanmar, 183 Hanoi Vietnam, and 73 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam.

Hardly a treasure trove of secrets that would define the events that have shaped the U.S. since the year 2000 through 2003 when its character changed. No cables to the Taliban government regarding the negotiations over the TAPI pipeline, the breakdown of those negotiations and the demand for Bin Laden before the events of September 11th, 2001. No cables to Pakistan or the involvement of the Pakistani ISI. No cables from Saudi Arabia, home of the 9/11 hijackers, the Bin Laden family and its oil partnership with the U.S. No cables from Downing Street and Bush's poodle and co-conspirator over Iraq. Not very much in cable traffic from countries deeply involved in deep state matters during this period over the U.S.'s Middle East and Central Asia foreign policy, Israel and Turkey, except 2 from Jerusalem in 2002 and several cities in Turkey, but not until 2003. In the overall release of the 251,287 cables, probably the countries with most concern would be the US (8,017), Turkey (7,918) from US diplomats in Ankara, Iraq, and possibly Japan, but a concern from more of a political nature rather than a direct security threat nature. Instead of releasing these cables directly itself , WikiLeaks decided to release them through the mainstream media sources Le Monde, El Pais, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and The New York Times. They will be researched, analyzed, and vetted by editorial boards and names of people who may be endangered by any revelation protected before publishing. This shows a deeper concern for security and lives than the U.S. government officials showed when they leaked the name of a covert agent. And one of The New York Times point persons in covering the WikiLeaks documents is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Sanger">David E. Sanger who is a member of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations">Council on Foreign Relations and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Strategy_Group">Aspen Strategy Group. Could the US government with its neoconservatives and neoliberals have hand picked anyone safer from their point of view? And Julian Assange himself says he does not question the US government accounts surrounding the events of September 11th, 2001 and immediate aftermath which one would suppose includes the 9/11 Commission Report. That was a hand picked commission of neoconservatives and neoliberals that were for the invasion of Iraq and headed by the Bush administration's point man Thomas Kean, keeper of the flame, and whose report repeated the Bush Administration's lie that Wilson's wife sent him to Niger.

It appears what we have going on is a case of the emperor having no clothes. Let's not end freedom of the press and freedom of speech by invoking The Espionage Act because some want to put those clothes back on.



http://americancommentary.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-16-words-wikileaks-and-rank-hypocrisy/">Original

[truedelphi]

1. One half hour ago, on CNN, there ws an assembled group of Talking Heads

Decrying the fact that many people are not convinced by the woman who is screaming the most about her "rape" by Assange.

All of the speakers were agreeing that to let Assange off the hook, is really a big blow to the rights of women everywhere.

[mmonk]

3. That charge is not what our government wants him prosecuted for

of course. And of course we're in Afghanistan to protect women and girls as well.

[GeorgeGist]

15. sarcasm tag

[mmonk]

19. That would be cheating.

:)

[Catherina]

14. We should pick him up for sex by surprise too then and classify that under terrorism

I thank those Talking Heads for trivializing real rape, not.

To quote Anna Ardin herself, the woman who is screaming the most about her "rape" by Assange,

7 Steps To Legal Revenge Manifesto

...


Step 2
Think about why you should take revenge. You do not just be clear about who to take revenge on, but also why. Revenge should never be directed against only one person, but also meet a certain action.

Step 3
The principle of proportionality. Remember that revenge will not only match the deed in size but also in nature. A good revenge is linked to what has been done against you. For example if you want revenge on someone who cheated or who dumped you so should the punishment be something with the dating / sex / fidelity to do.

...

Step 6
Rank your schemes from low to high in terms of probability of success, effort and cost required, and satisfaction if Achieved. The ideal revenge scheme should combine a high probability of success with satisfaction that is not outbalanced by the cost. The perfect revenge scheme Should Combine a high probability of success with satisfaction That Is Not outbalanced by the cost.

Read more: How to Get Legal Revenge | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2296915_get-legal-revenge.html#ixzz18cJZenqC

http://www.crimeandfederalism.com/2010/12/anna-ardins-wikileaks-false-accuser-revenge-manifesto.html

I hope the force of the law is turned on this *Christianly woman*.

[mmonk]

17. If nothing else, the manifesto should be a huge mitigating factor

in the Swedish case.

[TheMadMonk]

27. Strange then that NOW and other organisations directly tied to women's rights...

...are calling the way these charges are being use a complete mockery and a slap in the faces of all sexually abused women around the globe.

IIRC NOW decried the charges themselves (as best we are able to determine what those charges are and the facts surrounding them) as a mockery of women's rights, in their own right.

[truedelphi]

28. I am glad to hear that NOW is not as easily "fooled"

As these other "women's rights" supporters seemingly are.

[xchrom]

2. Strong recommend. Nt

[PSPS]

4. Holder's quote translated

"National security of the United States has been put at risk. The lives of people who work for the American people have been put at risk. The American people themselves have been put at risk by these actions that I believe are arrogant, misguided and ultimately not helpful in any way. We are doing everything that we can."

Translation:

The security of the wealthy in the United States has been put at risk. The lives of people who work for the wealthy American people have been put at risk. The wealthy American people themselves have been put at risk by these actions that I believe are arrogant, misguided and ultimately not helpful in any way. We are doing everything that we can.

[glinda]

12. Further translation: The wealthy have put this Country and it's people at risk.

[JDPriestly]

22. But we haven't seen the indictments for Bush and Cheney

for sending thousands of people who work for the American people to their death in Iraq -- for no good reason.

Nor have we yet seen the indictments for the folks at BP and the others who caused deaths in the Gulf of Mexico.

Has Holder named one person who has died because of Wikileaks? How about ten as in those who died in the Gulf of Mexico? How about thousands as in those who died in Iraq?

Our values are way out of balance on this.

These cables cannot have been all that secret. Too much of the information is readily available in the news. And most of the rest is conjecture and opinion.

[jaxx]

5. Some statements appear to be odd.

WikiLeaks is supposed to be a news organization, and Assange is neither a spy or leaker, engaged in espionage, or even an American citizen. In fact, the leaker of much of this, Pfc. Bradley Manning is in jail serving his sentence.

When did WikiLeaks get the news org label? It's a leak site that puts out stolen material that is reportedly given to them by anonymous people.

Assange is most definitely a leaker. He puts out the material. The person who stole it doesn't.

Manning hasn't been tried yet, so he is not serving his sentence.

[mmonk]

6. The Manning part has been taken care of through edit.

If Assange is a leaker, then the New York Times is a leaker, right?

[jaxx]

7. Right.

[mmonk]

10. Should the Espionage Act be considered in prosecution of the

Times then? In this case? In the Pentagon Papers case? In the Plame leak?

[jaxx]

11. I don't know, I'm not a lawyer.

Publishing known stolen documents isn't very good. Writing a story about those stolen documents is another thing.

[mmonk]

16. The answer is no if you support freedom of the press

and speech even if you don't support the public's right to know. Click on the link provided about when it was used in the past.

[BlueMTexpat]

34. The NYT is doing both, just as are all the others.

You can see the documents AND read the stories at their website.
Let's not get too cute with splitting hairs here.

[JDPriestly]

24. How do you define a news organization?

How do you define a leaker?

What do you call a news organization that leaks?

What do you call a news organization that only publishes government or corporate propaganda?

What do you call a news organization that does investigation including obtaining confidential information?

In my book, if you are trusted with information by a corporation or government, and you provide that information to someone who is not authorized to receive it by the corporation or government, then you are a leaker.

If you publish or disseminate information you received from a leaker, you are a news organization whether you are on the web, on the TV, on cable, on the radio, on the e-mail or printing information in a magazine or newspaper.

Here is the full text of the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/

Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. That's broad. That's encompassing. Doesn't say anything about Congress being able to pass a law abridging the freedom of organizations like Wikileaks. Nothing at all.

[existentialist]

8. An apt comparison has been made between Wikileaks and

the Pentagon Papers.

This is appropriate, and there are many valid basis for comparison. In both cases government documents are exposed that indicate that the government cares more about its image than lives or a realistic chance of successful policies. In both cases government is rightly embarrassed, and attacks the messenger.

The same is also true about a series of cases brought in England in the 1760s and 70s that lead to many points of law enshrined in the Constitution--I speak of the cases concerning John Wilkes.

The issues first erupted in 1763 when Wilkes, then a member of parliament, published an article in "The North Briton No. 45" attacking the crown's negotiation of the Peace of Paris that ended the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War).
(Trying to quote Churchill on the point:) Wilkes alleged that the Treaty was not only dishonestly, but dishonorably negotiated, and that the King had had a hand in it."

A general warrant (eventually leading to the prohibition of general warrants in both the United Kingdom and the United States) issued, and Wilkes was arrested and charged with treason and seditious libel. Eventually a jury found him not guilty, and Wilkes and his cohorts turned and sued the King's ministers and eventually won verdicts totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Among the issues raised by the cases over a period of about 15 years:

The legitimacy of general warrants.

The extent of parliamentary immunity.

Whether the proceedings of Parliament could be published.

Whether a convicted felon could be elected to Parliament.

Whether the jury in a criminal libel case had the right to determine not only whether the defendant published the materials alleged to be libelous, but also whether the material published was in fact libelous.

Whether the jury in a criminal pornography case had the right to determine not only whether the defendant published the materials alleged to be pornographic, but also whether the material published was in fact pornographic.

John Wilkes was a hero to many who valued liberty on both sides of the Atlantic. He corresponded with many of the founding fathers. including Sam Adams, John Adams, and Josiah Quincy, and received gifts of turtles, tobacco, and cash to pay his legal fees from the colonies.

His name is honored by the naming of Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, and of course John Wilkes Booth was named after him, but few know of his importance today.
ry of
Still, his legal battles were successfully raised as precedent in at least one case of constitutional magnitude, that being the case that concerned whether Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. had to be seated in Congress but because he had been elected to Congress after and despite a felony conviction.

In substance, if the history behind the American Revolution, and behind the framing of the Constitution means anything, than Julian Assange is a hero. And those who would silence him are amoral cowards.

[mmonk]

9. Interesting. Thanks for that information.

I like to think of myself as a student of history but missed that.

[glinda]

13. Recommend

Assange will get NO fair trial here though even if a hero.

[Hissyspit]

18. Kick nt

[puebloknot]

20. Good. Thanks for your effort in posting this. This is scary stuff. nt

[truedelphi]

21. great little Tweet over at twitter about this:

"So Biden steps up to the podium & says - "Julian Assange and his leaks prove that he is a terrorist. However I have to go now - there are drones in Afghanistan that are awaiting my command so they can unleash themselves on innocent people there."

I am paraphrasing so it is not the required 140 characters.

[mmonk]

23. Who was the tweet from?

[truedelphi]

26. Spouse got it on his tweets from

Tiny revolution. (tinyrevolution.com)

[mmonk]

30. Thanks.

:thumbsup:

[mdmc]

25. r

[Luminous Animal]

29. There was no document dump. Jesus Fucking Christ. Your 1st sentence leads with a lie.

[mmonk]

31. Should I keep you around to keep me from being the liar I am?

[Luminous Animal]

35. Why bother. You still have that falsehood up on your blog. Catapulting the propaganda?

[saras]

32. Stolen?

Since the government didn't have the right to do many of the things the leaks describe, they have no real right to keep this concealed. Calling these documents 'stolen' is rather like complaining that the police 'stole' some meth dealer's drugs and chemicals when they were busted.

[mmonk]

33. I agree.