Posted on 12/04/2010 7:07:52 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is defending WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's release of thousands of classified diplomatic cables.
In an interview with Fox Business Thursday, Paul went against the opinions of many of his Republican colleagues, asserting that Assange should be given the same protections as the media.
"In a free society we're supposed to know the truth," Paul said. "In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble. And now, people who are revealing the truth are getting into trouble for it."
“This whole notion that Assange, who's an Australian, that we want to prosecute him for treason. I mean, aren't they jumping to a wild conclusion?” he added. “This is media, isn't it? I mean, why don't we prosecute The New York Times or anybody that releases this?"
Earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department is investigating Assange's case to determine whether he can be charged with a crime for leaking the secret documents.
Arkansas Goveror Mike Huckabee went so far as to say Tuesday that Assange should be tried for treason and face the death penalty if proven guilty.
Most U.S. politicians claim that the leaked cables will damage relations with U.S. allies.
*Ahem* I resent your accusation.....:-).....: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2637348/posts
We need to go after the US leaker who was the source of the info and the gov’t officials who designed and maintained the lame info security system. The aussie is a scapegoat.
Who knows. This certainly won’t win him a lot of supporters.
The uber-libertarians (those who have come to the mole’s defense) seem to believe that there should be zero restraint on freedom of speech, including national intelligence that is garnered in the course of duty (the original source, allegedly, of this information) while under agreement to maintain secrecy.
In such a world, there can be no espionage and no treason. It is all just speech.
“This is media, isn’t it? I mean, why don’t we prosecute The New York Times or anybody that releases this?”
The above is “defending Assange”? Maybe the healine should be changed - eh? I think Paul is pointing out the inconsistancy with the way the government has handled the NYT as an example.
Looks like Lew Rockwell still does all his foreign/ national security policy for him; can you imagine the French dealing with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams during the Revolution under these conditions (yes, I know the English spy in Franklin’s camp).
Heck -- just this morning there were several items posted here on FreeRepublic about WikiLeaks material that exposes the U.S. role in pushing global warming bullsh!t. Who can possible argue with someone who exposes that?
It’s odd that people focus only on Assange - Who gave him the documents?
Ron Paul is a nut. Anyone who would publish the invasion plans of Europe is not “telling the truth,” they are putting American lives at risk. Even in a free society, there are situations where government should expect to keep their communications private.
Drudge lost all credibility with me when he started using Alex Jones’ Prison Planet as a source.
Moreover, these hang em high yahoos are asking for an internet police force. The WWW should be free and uncensored. The little fagot who gave the info should be shot.
Just when you start to think maybe just maybe that Ron Paul knows what he’s talking about . . . . .
finally?
been doing it for a while
his Large L Libertarianism does not make exceptions for National Security....which is why I am a small l (sometimes)libertarian/(sometimes) conservative.
This is the same Arkansas governor who granted clemency to a violent criminal who later went on to kill four police officers in the state of Washington. You can do an internet search on the terms "Mike Huckabee" and "Maurice Clemmons" for all the details.
And now this guy is suggesting that an Australian citizen should somehow be prosecuted for treason in the U.S. and subject to execution if found guilty?
Go back to Arkansas, you jack@ss. Hmm . . . I seem to remember hearing myself say that a lot back in the 1990s.
>> Has he finally jumped the shark?
Ron Paul jumps the shark like fourth-grade girls jump rope.
Every day. Over and over. To cadence.
When it comes to politicians I have to agree with Ron. Politicians have to learn that you never put in words or print anything you wouldn’t want to hear quoted in a courtroom with your mother or whoever you were talking about present. When politicians think they have a right to keep secrets from the rest of us [mere peons] they’ve become our rulers instead of our servants.
Agreed, but... isn't it the Government's responsibility to protect their own communications? And, not make them available to a Private, First Class??
As a wise man once said “This guy is ready for a padded cell and a strait jacket........ “
Not one person had anything negative to say about Wikileaks until he said that he also has thousand of documents pertaining to a VERY LARGE BANK and their activities. Seems to me that where theres smoke theres fire. Even threatening to expose the Slave Masters and their illegal activities brings out the daggers from the entire Political Establishment. RELEASE ALL DOCUMENTS NOW and let the chips fall. Either way things are bound to get a lot worse before they get better.
Sorry, Ron. Your right to the truth does not give you the right to endanger our national security and/or the lives of our troops in the field. You need to step back, homie.
Maybe Huckabee knows more about Treason than I do... How can you prosecute an Australian for “treason” against the United States???
You hit on something profound. The PFC was allowed access. There has to be higher ups who allowed this. Follow the trail. Many on here with security clearances say this is not possible. Hmmm!
I agree with you. Why should Assange be prosecuted if the NYT publishers aren't? It seems a little hypocritical. Assange is taking all the heat but the MSM whores are the ones making the money off of the leaks.
He’s this year’s John McCain for the media!
If you remember . . . the big story behind his exposure of the whole Monica Lewinsky charade wasn't the news story itself, but the fact that Newsweek had done an extensive pile of research on the story and decided to spike it.
Years later, Drudge would laugh as he pointed out that Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff won a Pulitzer Prize for being something like the sixth person to report his own story. LOL.
If he is posting ANYTHING that endangers the lives of my friends and fellow patriots on the battlefield, he ain’t no Matt Drudge. Try Benedict Arnold.
Ron Paul is confused, freedom of speech does not include trying to divide the country.
WTF? Everyone I know said this guy was a threat to national security, was endangering the lives of diplomatic staff and military personnel, and in a sane world would have been shot by any country that had lives at risk. To try and take this toward Jekyll Island is as fruity as Ron Paul.
I saw part of an Assange interview where he claimed he invited U.S. officials (the State Department) to review the material beforehand. He said they refused.
If that is true, and I tend to believe it, I am 100% for Assange.
You can’t. But you can assassinate him for being a threat to national security. There. Problem solved.
I think folks here need to wake up and pay attention. Government incompetence, national and international cannot be protected through classification. The harm is resulting from the incompetent acts, not their revelation to a free people who are masters of the government that serves them (/s/).
You gotta admit that these cables didn’t actually damage National Security much. Some careers maybe. Make life harder for the State Dept, sure.
Please explain yourself, because on its face, this statement is awfully Orwellian in its logic.
I hate it when politicians presume on our trust and good will, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. We should be ashamed and profoundly angry with our policians - burying us with 13 trillion in debt that they then have the nerve to call the “public” debt. And that’s just one area they’ve absolutely blown trust and good will from the rest of us.
Trust but verify - these leaked documents are about the only way we peons can verify trust for what goes on behind doors normally closed to us.
Ron Paul believes in civil disobedience, which means yes, breaking the law
It's pure cognitive dissonance - "Don't mess with the free market, put Goldman Sachs in charge of us, we love freedom, you don't have rights under a bank owned and run globe - you're free to 'quit'."
Yes, Drudge was the original & a national treasure. But, those days appear to be over.
That makes more sense to me than what Huckabee said.
This is the ultimate in naivete. In a competitive "survival of the fittest" world does it make sense to reveal all of your thoughts and knowledge?
Would you play in a poker game where you are revealing your cards and everybody else is hiding theirs?
I don't see China, Russia, or even the Vatican laying bare all of their information.
We need to go after the corrupt US government and Banksters that Julian Assange has done us the favor of exposing. I totally agree with Ron Paul.
All of the information Assange leaked out on his website just verifies what we all suspected anyway. Who was shocked to find out that NK sold nuclear material to Iran? Nobody thats who. Who didn’t know the Saudi’s wanted an attack on Iran? And On and on and on.
Message to Huckabuck: Assanage is not a US citizen he can’t be tried for treason.
You folks better be a lot more worried about the shadow government and the unelected beauracrcy that are currently taking our freedoms and installing a marxist regime right under our noses than one international information broker who is publishing the truth on his website.
Wake up before its too late.
Whose invasion plans were published? What has been published is stuff like how we used your tax dollars to pay off third world dicatators to sign up to global warming.
You're right, he's what, Australian? Why should we expect any non-American to be bound by American laws outside America? I've got no particular beef with Assange, other than he is playing a dangerous game releasing information that may endanger our people. If I were in his shoes I think discretion and common decency would lead me to not release that information.
Now, who-ever it is that released the information to him, they ought to be hung. Literally and publicly.
Step A - get the actual leaker for treason.
Step B - Roll some heads of those above him, all the way to Zer0.
That will not go over well here!
The painful truth is that it is probably best it happened this way. The US had a huge whole in its security that without a doubt had been compromised by foreign governments. This info was in the hands of our enemies - it just was not known.
As you say, the people who should be charged with treason are the individuals who provided the data and especially those responsible for designing the security of the system.
However, I don’t expect many people here agree with us.
Heck... exposing the TRUTH about the Saudi funding of Al qaeda might actually IMPROVE our national security.
He is certifiable.
In a competitive world where you are a democracy and there are facts that your government leaders are stumblebums, does not your survival require knowing those facst so that the People who control the government can take corrective action.
We are not talking about publishing the security codes for the communications for our troops in Afghanastan. We are talking about information like the decision to resolve the palestinian question BEFORE we deal with the Iran nuke problem. like the former is going to happen in God's lifetime.
In the end, all we’re witnessing is the deconstruction of the Western Democracies...which by their very virtue of the deficits required to run them, are becoming as much of an anachronism to the world as the European Monarchs were 100 years ago.
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