fresh warrant of arrest for Wikileak's creator

[joey_downunder]

Part of me feels proud to come from the city of Townsville (North Queensland, Australia).

"As the fallout grows from WikiLeaks' release of secret US diplomatic cables, the website's founder Julian Assange could be extradited to Sweden as early as today.
A fresh arrest warrant has been issued for the 39-year-old Australian, who is believed to be in hiding in Britain, to face possible charges of rape and molestation.
WikiLeaks embarrassed the US government this week by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, which include frank assessments of world leaders.
The whistleblowing website is back online this morning with a new Swiss address, after the organisation's American service provider pulled the plug on the whistleblower website yesterday....."

Fresh warrant issued for Assange's arrest - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

So what does everyone think? Has Assange done the right thing releasing such dangerous material online?

 

[Nathan45]

I'm split on this.

IMO he should definately release the really damning cables-- ones showing hypocrisy or illegal activity-- because the people have a right to know what the government is doing... but the mundane stuff or the embarassing/private but not illegal stuff shouldn't be released.

I think that dumping 250,000 documents onto the internet is overkill and too much information.

On the other hand, i'd rather them release all of it than none of it, and the rape charges are totally bogus.

 

[Jade Margery]

If our country had nothing to be ashamed of, the leaks wouldn't even be a problem.

The ugly truth is that the government (military in particular) participates in some truly deplorable actions, and the people have no way of knowing about it. They have a blank check to do anything they want with absolutely no accountability so long as they can claim that it's for the sake of national security. They are abusing the people's trust (or lethargy), and people need to know about it. If the governments of the world were honest with the people, wikileaks wouldn't need to exist.

The man's a hero. The rape charges (from what I've researched) seem unlikely to be true, but if they are he should be punished for them like anyone else. That doesn't mean that wikileaks (which has a large staff) should be shut down even if it were true.

 

[joey_downunder]

Yes overall I think freedom of information is a terribly important thing. Where do you draw the line though?

Releasing potentially embarressing information about one country's leader's bad table manners is completely different to releasing details about military tactics and plans.

 

[TG123]

If our country had nothing to be ashamed of, the leaks wouldn't even be a problem.

The ugly truth is that the government (military in particular) participates in some truly deplorable actions, and the people have no way of knowing about it. They have a blank check to do anything they want with absolutely no accountability so long as they can claim that it's for the sake of national security. They are abusing the people's trust (or lethargy), and people need to know about it. If the governments of the world were honest with the people, wikileaks wouldn't need to exist.

The man's a hero. The rape charges (from what I've researched) seem unlikely to be true, but if they are he should be punished for them like anyone else. That doesn't mean that wikileaks (which has a large staff) should be shut down even if it were true.

Amen.

 

[RETS]

And the smear campaign continues...

 

[durangodawood]

And the smear campaign continues...

Against Assange, right?
.

 

[Consiglieri]

That dude is a slime ball. He's going to release something confidential that will anger some assassin out there and that's OK with me. And btw, does the creep own a comb?

 

[RETS]

Against Assange, right?
.

That would be correct. Look at what happened to any other credible threat to the oligarchs wishing to run the US.

 

[SithDoughnut]

I'm backing him up right until the point that he releases something that gets someone killed. Then I'll re-think my position.

 

[joey_downunder]

Assange's answered questions from a UK newspaper put an interesting slant on things.
Julian Assange answers your questions | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[Ayersy]

I'm backing him, for sure. If the government didn't do stupid crap, then they wouldn't have to worry about lying about it, and keeping it secret.

They only have themselves to blame for doing/saying these things, and then not being smart enough to cover up their tracks properly.

If you're gonna lie, then be good at it. Otherwise, don't bother.

 

[RETS]

I'm backing him, for sure. If the government didn't do stupid crap, then they wouldn't have to worry about lying about it, and keeping it secret.

They only have themselves to blame for doing/saying these things, and then not being smart enough to cover up their tracks properly.

If you're gonna lie, then be good at it. Otherwise, don't bother.

Exactly. That's what I meant by saying that if there is treason afoot, it is towards the American people.

 

[callmeMurph]

Question - Has Wikileaks done anything illegal? They published documents that someone else stole. Is that illegal? Are they protected by the 1st amendment?

I think what they did was good for the most part but I'm wondering ff the U.S. government follows the law can they realistically prosecute Wikileaks?

 

[Douger]

Question - Has Wikileaks done anything illegal? They published documents that someone else stole. Is that illegal? Are they protected by the 1st amendment?

I think what they did was good for the most part but I'm wondering ff the U.S. government follows the law can they realistically prosecute Wikileaks?

Everything Wikileaks story I've read has come from other news organizations that Wikileaks shared their stories with.

If Wikileaks is illegal and needs to be shut down, then so do most news organizations in the world.

 

[Thekla]

Assange is leading Time Magazine's "person of the year" poll.

Poll Results - Who Will Be TIME's 2010 Person of the Year? - TIME

Seems he's 'struck a chord' ...

 

[lawtonfogle]

I'm backing him up right until the point that he releases something that gets someone killed. Then I'll re-think my position.

U.S. Gov. does something horrible to make 3 terrorist suicide bomb the U.S., but they hide it. Someone comes along and shows this to everyone to see what the U.S. Gov. is doing. The terrorist bomb and kill others. Who is at fault for the deaths?

The terrorist?
The U.S. Gov.?
The guy who uncovered the secret?

 

[I <3 Abraham]

This whole mess is the fault of those cannot behave properly and who did not keep a lid on that embarassing fact.

If something should be secret, don't do such a crappy job of keeping it sercret. Simply because you SAY that something is confidential doesn't make it so. In this case, calling something classified is the same as calling it embarassing. Secrecy is performative, not something you can declare.

This is what the essential hypocrisy is behind arguments like this one published in the Chicago Tribune.

Second, we've suffered a major blow to our ability to collect information. Talking candidly to a U.S. diplomat can now earn you headlines around the world, reprisals at home, or worse. Success in the war on terror depends on being trusted with other countries' secrets. Who's going to trust us now?

The problem is that we are not trustworthy with our secrets, Wikileaks just made that widely known. It's like a middle school melo-drama. Jimmy tells Suzy a secret. Suzy tells everybody she knows including Jane. Jane tells Jimmy about it and all of a sudden, Suzy is griping at Jane for getting her in trouble. If Suzy didn't want to get in trouble she should have kept her mouth shut.

State Department: don't want to be embarassed? Don't do super embarassing stuff. And if you DO do (tee hee!) something embarassing that REALLY can't get out, do a good job of covering it up.

 

[I <3 Abraham]

U.S. Gov. does something horrible to make 3 terrorist suicide bomb the U.S., but they hide it. Someone comes along and shows this to everyone to see what the U.S. Gov. is doing. The terrorist bomb and kill others. Who is at fault for the deaths?

The terrorist?
The U.S. Gov.?
The guy who uncovered the secret?

Why does it matter who is at fault? The most important thing is that we learn the dynamic way in which these things unfold and move forward having learned lessons from past failures.

Our national security is not a debate, it doesn't matter who is "right" or who is "wrong". What matters is that our country do a better job maintaining the integrity of sensitive materials, and that in its behavior internationally it does not unnecessarily make enemies.

 

[tinkle]

In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble. -Ron Paul

I don't really agree with everything Ron Paul says, but this quote really hits home.