[Peace-discuss] Obama administration's lawlessness & Wikileaks

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Rep. Ron Paul made the following comments on the floor of the house on 
Thursday.  At about the same time, at a news conference in Moscow, Prime 
Minister Putin asked, "Why was Mr. Assange hidden in prison? Is this democracy?"]

WikiLeaks' release of classified information has generated a lot of attention in 
the past few weeks. The hysterical reaction makes one wonder if this is not an 
example of killing the messenger for the bad news. Despite what is claimed, the 
information that has been so far released, though classified, has caused no 
known harm to any individual, but it has caused plenty of embarrassment to our 
government. Losing our grip on our empire is not welcomed by the 
neoconservatives in charge.

There is now more information confirming that Saudi Arabia is a principal 
supporter and financier of al Qaeda, and that this should set off alarm bells 
since we guarantee its Sharia-run government. This emphasizes even more the fact 
that no al Qaeda existed in Iraq before 9/11, and yet we went to war against 
Iraq based on the lie that it did. It has been charged by experts that Julian 
Assange, the internet publisher of this information, has committed a heinous 
crime, deserving prosecution for treason and execution, or even assassination.

But should we not at least ask how the U.S. government should prosecute an 
Australian citizen for treason for publishing U.S. secret information that he 
did not steal? And if WikiLeaks is to be prosecuted for publishing classified 
documents, why shouldn't the Washington Post, the New York Times, and others 
also published these documents be prosecuted? Actually, some in Congress are 
threatening this as well.

The New York Times, as a results of a Supreme Court ruling, was not found guilty 
in 1971 for the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg never served 
a day in prison for his role in obtaining these secret documents. The Pentagon 
Papers were also inserted into the Congressional record by Senator Mike Gravel, 
with no charges of any kind being made of breaking any national security laws. 
Yet the release of this classified information was considered illegal by many, 
and those who lied us into the Vietnam war, and argued for its prolongation were 
outraged. But the truth gained from the Pentagon Papers revealed that lies were 
told about the Gulf of Tonkin attack. which perpetuated a sad and tragic episode 
in our history.

Just as with the Vietnam War, the Iraq War was based on lies. We were never 
threatened by weapons of mass destruction or al Qaeda in Iraq, though the attack 
on Iraq was based on this false information. Any information which challenges 
the official propaganda for the war in the Middle East is unwelcome by the 
administration and the supporters of these unnecessary wars. Few are interested 
in understanding the relationship of our foreign policy and our presence in the 
Middle East to the threat of terrorism. Revealing the real nature and goal of 
our presence in so many Muslim countries is a threat to our empire, and any 
revelation of this truth is highly resented by those in charge.

Questions to consider:

Number 1: Do the American people deserve to know the truth regarding the ongoing 
wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen?

Number 2: Could a larger question be, How can an army private access so much 
secret information?

Number 3: Why is the hostility mostly directed at Assange, the publisher, and 
not at our government's failure to protect classified information?

Number 4: Are we getting our money's worth of the 80 billion dollars per year 
spent on intelligence gathering?

Number 5: Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into 
war, or Wikileaks' revelations, or the release of the Pentagon Papers?

Number 6: If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that 
he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and 
the independence of the internet?

Number 7: Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on 
Wikileaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy 
of empire than it is about national security?

Number 8: Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to 
help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of 
information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death and 
corruption?

Number 9: Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government 
when it is wrong?

Thomas Jefferson had it right when he advised 'Let the eyes of vigilance never 
be closed'...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/ron-paul-wikileaks-defense_n_795014.html