I don’t blame Assange one bit for leaking the info provided to him. He’s not an American citizen and has every right to publish the leaks. Who we should be concerned with are the source(s)of the leaks. They should be tried, convicted, and executed.
Who we should be concerned with are the source(s)of the leaks. They should be tried, convicted, and executed
agreed. but I am not sure the country has the will to do that.
You are correct that the traitors who passed these secrets on to Assange, and those further up the chain of command who allowed it to happen, and possibly those in the White House and elsewhere who arranged for it to happen, should be punished for their treason.
But Assange has shown himself to be an enemy to our country, who has deliberately set out to damage our country and its relations with others, as well as to cause the deaths of informers and others whose identities have been revealed.
It's like the difference between a foreign spymaster and the domestic traitors who are willing to work for that spymaster. Both deserve fit punishment for their crimes.
The usual penalty for such crimes is death.
Assange and his Wikileaks operation solicited and enabled the leaks — it’s not like Assange was some passive recipient and the, let’s call it by the right name.... STOLEN documents just dropped into his hands from the sky.
The fact that Assange is not a US citizen may affect his legal standing in some respects, although it should also (in a rational world) make it easier to ban him from ever setting foot in the USA again. It seems unlikely that he’ll ever be prosecuted by the US for anything, but I’ll be very happy if he ends up in jail somewhere, preferably some hellhole of a jail.
Your sympathies for Assange are badly misplaced. The guy is an radical anarchist scumbag who’s would destroy counter-terrorism and military operations worldwide if he can.
If some of the leaked info is proving to be innocuous, amusing, or even helpful from almost any perspective (for purposes of battling dishonest politicians for instance), that does not change the FACT that these kinds of massive leaks attack the necessary confidential communications which allow all kinds of important military and diplomatic goals to be advanced.... especially in the area of counter-terrorism.
What I am most concerned about is that it is now much more difficult for any non-US politician to cooperate with us on counter-terrorism (especially referring to leaders in Arab and Muslim countries). Assange’s deeds attack any basis for confidential cooperation by Arab/Muslim leaders who can often be deposed or even murdered if they are perceived as in any way cooperative with our efforts against jihadists.
It will be ‘interesting’ to see how long the President of Yemen lasts now that he’s revealed cooperating with our efforts against budding jihad scum on the Arabian peninsula.
And since he's not an American citizen, America has every right to have a Predator drone visit him, without trial. He has repeatedly said he is trying to bring down the U.S. He's a spy, that's all, collecting foreign secrets. Robert Peters put it well, and almost gave a heart attack to the Lamestream interviewer questioning him:
"He belongs on a 'kill-or-capture' list."
I'd say capture would be preferred, temporarily, because as a spy, rather than a uniformed soldier, he can be cross-examined very, er, intensely, and induced to reveal contacts, server locations, passwords, that sort of thing. He doesn't look like a tough-guy who would be able to hold anything back.
Then he can be hanged with a length of Monster cable.
I am not sure who Assange is an agent for. My guess is it is O/Soros. I think the idea of leaks exposing political corruption and the corruption of the Federal Reserve is a good idea. I think Wiki Leaks has a lib agenda and a tool for Hussein.
If it was done to help citizens in countries around the world - I would support it. Not one world but to encourage citizens in their countries to push for freedom. If some Web leaks site attacked the EU, Hussein and other left wing fascists then I would be all for it.