The Real WikiLeaks Villian Is Not Julian Assange

Pajamas Media ^ | December 9, 2010 | Zombie

[Kaslin]

The Berkeley City Council plays a handy role in contemporary American politics: If you want to know what your opinion should be regarding any particular event, note carefully what the Berkeley City Council has voted on that week, and whatever they’re for, that’s what you should be against. In this instance, Berkeley is voting to give Bradley Manning — the traitorous ex-soldier who was the original source of all the “Wikileaks” documents — an award for heroism.

Berkeley’s sickening municipal resolution has received a smattering of media coverage here and there, but it hasn’t aroused the national outrage it deserves, for the simple reason that most Americans still don’t know who Bradley Manning even is. Bradley who? Shouldn’t Berkeley be giving an award to Julian Assange, just as so many other leftists have lavished praise on Wikileaks’ Australian-born head honcho?

Well, no. Say what you want about Berkeley, but they got it right this time, in their own sick way: If you’re going to praise the America-hating traitor responsible for this incident, your award should go to Manning, who actually leaked the secret government files, rather than Assange, who merely put them on his Web site.

The very fact that this incident is usually dubbed “the Wikileaks case” by the media is absurd; it’s not about Wikileaks. It should be called “The Manning Incident” or “The Manning Files.”

Julian Assange is a bit player in this case. His crime, if any, is minor. I can’t fathom why there has been so much media attention focused on him as opposed to Manning, who after all is the one who stole the top-secret documents.

The focus should be on the leaker, not the leakee. When the Rosenbergs “leaked” nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, did we put Stalin on trial for treason? Of course not. He was simply the recipient of the leak. Even though Stalin benefited from the treachery, it was neither his fault, nor was he under U.S. jurisdiction, so he could not be (nor should he have been) prosecuted. Instead, the law and the nation’s attention were correctly directed at the people who actually did commit treason and who were under United States jurisdiction: the Rosenbergs.

Antiquated Espionage Laws Inadequate to Handle Stateless Anti-American Sentiment

Just as our honor-based rules of war are not equipped to handle our interactions with stateless amoral opponents in an age of terrorism, so too are our laws against treason and espionage not equipped to deal with stateless opposition in the Internet era.

Despite the much-mocked phrase “war on terror,” we’ve never officially declared war on anyone since 9/11, because you can’t declare war on an individual, an ideology or a tactic. And now it’s becoming clear that it may be difficult to prosecute someone like Bradley Manning as a traitor or a spy because there is no foreign government to which he has betrayed his nation.

In an age of non-state players, “leaking” government secrets to the Web plays the same role that traditional espionage played in the Cold War.

If Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had lived in the 21st century, they would have given atom-bomb secrets to Julian Assange, not the Soviet Union.

Fury is now being directed at Assange due to the lack of a tangible nation-state opponent in this case. Someone has to fill the role of “bad guy.” But the public’s anger is misdirected. Julian Assange is not the source of the leaks; he is simply the mechanism through which they have been publicized. Bradley Manning is the real villain here, since he is the one who violated his oath to protect and serve his country, and to guard national secrets. Assange has never sworn to protect the United States; not only is he not in the U.S. military, but he was never given access to classified documents, and he’s not even an American citizen. Consequently, he has no allegiance to the United States, nor should we expect him to respect our laws or defend our national interest.

Nihilism Is Not a Crime

It’s not that I like Julian Assange or have sympathy for him; in my opinion, he’s an anti-American political nihilist who takes adolescent pleasure in tearing everything down just for the fun of it. But that doesn’t mean I think he’s committed a crime. Is he malicious? Certainly. Unethical? Probably. But criminal? Not so much.

As much as I hate his politics, I can’t bring myself to zero in on Assange as the supervillain here. He is simply a name we have affixed to a tactic — the tactic of disseminating information on the Internet. As you may know, by now there are innumerable “mirrors” of the Wikileaks files — identical duplicates put online and hosted by sympathetic anarchists and hackers all over the world. Even if Julian Assange and Wikileaks had never existed, the same information would have been available on the Internet; all Assange provided was a brand name and publicity. If it had not been Assange putting the leaked documents online, it would have been someone else. Once the information is leaked, it has been leaked — the horse is out of the barn. There’s no point in chasing it around the field, because you’ll never be able to catch it; nor will you be able to build a new enclosure fast enough and big enough to capture it. Nor do you curse the field for playing host to the horse. Just assume that once the horse is out, it’s gone. Instead, try to find out who left the barn door open in the first place, to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And (if the news reports are true), that person is Bradley Manning.

To borrow a phrase from Bob Dylan: Julian Assange is the Wicked Messenger, the man who takes glee in bringing bad news. Yet despite his ill-intent, his sanctimonious attitude, and his undeserved attention, he is in the final analysis just a messenger. We may hate him and hate his message and hate the pleasure he derives from delivering it, but he did not create the message. He should be dismissed from the stage and quickly forgotten.

[brytlea]

I can actually multi task. I detest them both.

[Surrounded_too]

Why isn’t the fruitcake toast already?

[FS11]

The real WikiLeaks Villain is BO who is the primary source of all the WikiLeaks up to November 28 that put our Troops, Diplomats and Allies’ Lives at risk.

Contact your congressman, senators, County Sheriff, DA, State Legislators, Governor, and County Grand Jury Foreman and demand that they indict, prosecute, convict and imprison BO, Big Sis and all of their local co-conspirators for leaking information to WikiLeaks and all the other crimes: Voter Fraud, Identity Theft, Illegal Foreign Campaign Contributions, TSA Sexual Assaults, Embezzlement of Government funds etc.

Mark Levin: “The possibility of impeachment does not immunize the president from criminal prosecution. He remains, at all times, a citizen of the United States who is answerable to the law.”

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-start-and-lead-citizens-grand.html

[HiTech RedNeck]

Is there some way of voting Berkeley out of the United States?

[old curmudgeon]

Question:

How could a buck private, Manning, get so much information?

I can see him getting a small part of it, but I do not believe he could get so much without either help from someone above him or what is more likely someone planting a bomb where he would fall over it and pick it up.

Remember, there is the poison pill out there somewhere. That would have to contain something far more damaging than what we have seen so far.

That kind of information raises the specter of a person in high places.

I know I will be flamed for my next comment, but here goes anyway:

We are lucky that this information has been released because it makes it very clear to everyone, no matter how liberal, that our government is being operated by people who are totally incompetent.

We are living in difficult times, but it is better for this information and the incompetence that make it available to be revealed during this time period than for it to happen during an armed confrontation with one of the world’s major nuclear powers.

Now that we know we have such incompetence in the state department and in the Pentagon, FIX IT and FIX IT NOW.

More than Manning should go to prison.

[TalBlack]

:”And now it’s becoming clear that it may be difficult to prosecute someone like Bradley Manning as a traitor or a spy because there is no foreign government to which he has betrayed his nation.”

Stopped reading right there. Secrets need only be revealed or even just taken or even just seen to violate the law.

[Yo-Yo]

But that doesn’t mean I think he’s committed a crime. Is he malicious? Certainly. Unethical? Probably. But criminal? Not so much.

How about receiving stolen property?

[LomanBill]

>>The Berkeley City Council plays a handy role in contemporary American politics

 

Yep...

=============

"It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages.

 

The first stage being "demoralization"... "

[snip]

 

" ....Reach filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals in so-called academic circles.

 

Cynical, ego-centric people who can look into your eyes with angelic expression and tell you a lie...

...This are the most recruitable people; people who lack moral principals - who are either too greedy or too, uh, suffer from self-importance, uh, they feel that they matter a lot.  Uh, these are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit."

[snip]

--KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov 

Soviet Subversion of the Free Press (Ideological subversion, Destabilization, CRISIS - and the KGB)

[shield]

Maybe that part of California will drop off into the pacific ocean...

[Traveler59]

How could a buck private, Manning, get so much information?

Once a servicemember has access to SIPRNet, there are many places to go and see. Usually getting access requires a security clearance and "Need to Know". Sometimes just the duty position validates the "Need to Know". Example is that while I worked in the Special Ops Command Post, there was only one computer that was on the nonsecure (NIPRNet) network. The rest or the 15 or so computers were all on SIPRNet. All email was classified Secret or above, all websites we maintained or visited were classified Secret or above.

Now about this POS Manning, he deserves what he gets. But I also put blame on his supervisor for not checking him. I put blame on the computer security people for having a 'write-enabled' CD burner on a classified computer. And I blame the network security people for not noticing that someone was going to SIPRNet websites that were outside the scope of the individuals responsibility. They all need investigating, and reprimands where necessary.

[Tzimisce]

Assange is not a criminal?

Manning: hero
Illegal immigrants: pardoned by our government.
Chuck Rangel: excused.
Tim Geithner: No big deal.

I’m late on my taxes: POLICE HUNT ME DOWN.
I drive through red light: POLICE HUNT ME DOWN.
I enjoy talk radio: WE NEED TO REGULATE THE AIRWAVES.

It really is opposite land.

[Neoliberalnot]

I like your style. Good post.

[Esther Ruth]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2516189/posts

Kagan and Sunstein Aim to Censor Free Speech: Web, Books, Radio
Sunstein, Kagan, Rush ^ | May 18th | Rush

Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:30:45 PM by Halfmanhalfamazing

SUNSTEIN: Sites of one point of view agree to provide links to other sites so that if you’re reading a conservative magazine, they would provide a link to a liberal site, and vice-versa, just to make it easy for people to get access to competing views.

RUSH: Stop the tape, recue that. This is net neutrality.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2516059/posts

Obama’s Regulatory Czar Pushes Creepy Plan for Legally Controlling Internet Information
breitbart.tv ^

Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:23:14 PM by keep your powder dry

Uncovered Audio: Obama’s Regulatory Czar Pushes Creepy Plan for Legally Controlling Internet Information (link is video)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2515948/posts

The first of Czar Cass Sunstein’s mandated websites now online
canada free press ^ | 5/18/10 | Judi McLeod

Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 10:56:00 AM by Nachum

Now that Obama Information Czar Cass Sunstein is making spoon-fed government propaganda mandatory on political websites, Canada Free Press (CFP) is introducing balancingtherightmessage.com.

Forcibly including government propaganda on political blogs gave us the idea for balancingtherightmessage.com, a dumping ground for the right to do the same thing to the left.

(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...

[halthouse1]

I debated Medea Benjamin of CodePink on this topic yesterday at of all places Russia Today. She was of course for Manning to be named hero while I was for Manning to be named traitor and charged with treason. You can watch the debate at The Political Commentator here:

http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-wikileaks-berkeley-debate-on-russia.html