WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange 'to be charged with spying by the US'

[Sosa]

America is set to bring spying charges against jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, claims his lawyer.

US prosecutors are said to be finalising their case against the 39-year-old Australian behind the publication of more than 250,000 secret diplomatic messages.

Mr Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said she understands US charges are ‘imminent’.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337554/WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange-charged-spying-US.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[Sosa]

Surprisingly (or not) Ron Paul comes to his defense:

GDp1izlMQT0

Transcript:


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 publishing 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 precipitated 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. For 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 America People deserve 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 governments failure to protect classified information?
Number 4: Are we getting our moneys 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.' I yield back the balance of my time.

[RadioRaheem84]

Holy Shit! I cannot believe this! They are really going to charge a non-citizen?

[Comrade Marxist Bro]

Holy Shit! I cannot believe this! They are really going to charge a non-citizen?

Rather predictable. Being a soldier of truth, Mr. Assange is an enemy combatant.

[Sosa]

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out

[MilkmanofHumanKindness]

Is this really surprising? Eric Holder has been saying for awhile now that they were building a case. My guess is that once he's in Sweden the rape charges will be dropped or he'll be acquitted, than the U.S will request Sweden to extradite him.

[Comrade Marxist Bro]

Isn't it a bit controversial to extradite to countries that torture prisoners before convicting them?

[Sasha]

Is this really surprising? Eric Holder has been saying for awhile now that they were building a case. My guess is that once he's in Sweden the rape charges will be dropped or he'll be acquitted, than the U.S will request Sweden to extradite him.

actually if the US really wants him chances are bigger that he wont be extradited too sweden but will held in the UK (either in prison or by making him surrendering his passport), its pretty clear that whatever the US would want to prosecute him for isnt an crime acording to swedish law. under Swedish law he is an journalist and those are severly protected there while the UK has both an more comptabile with the US "official secrets act" and an very roomy extradition agreement with the US.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Don't worry, this is from the Daily Mail (oft known as the Daily Heil) A right-wing hack paper in the UK that prints lies every fucking day. It also funded Franco in the Spanish Civil War and were threated with Censorship in 1939 for it's strongly pro-Nazi stance.

In short: Don't belive a fucking word.

[Sosa]

Don't worry, this is from the Daily Mail (oft known as the Daily Heil) A right-wing hack paper in the UK that prints lies every fucking day. It also funded Franco in the Spanish Civil War and were threated with Censorship in 1939 for it's strongly pro-Nazi stance.

In short: Don't belive a fucking word.

I didn't know they were right-wing

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

I didn't know they were right-wing

They basicly recruit for the BNP.

[Sosa]

Huffington Post is also reporting this though

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/julian-assange-indictment_n_794997.html

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Huffington Post is also reporting this though

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/julian-assange-indictment_n_794997.html

Hmm, well I'm more inclined to belive them. But, legally, Assange hasn't committed espionage, the person who leaked to wikileaks did.

But then when has justice ever got in the way of a witch-hunt.