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.
Now that's putting the 'tard' in Paultard!
Mash here...IMHO...this it what this is all about....Obozo’s handlers know exactly what they’re doing...and so does theRinocratic Oligarchy..
“.......vast majority of them classified to hide the truth from the American public, the secrets covertly justify/protect bad policy decisions and actions.......”
That VAST majority of classification is done because it's easier to classify things then to spend time reading the arcane rules and regs on whether the topic should be classified or not!
The numbers do tell a story, but its not quite as sinister as you think. Much material is over classified and there is material that's classified by one agency and not by another. Yes there are examples of documents classified to hide stupidity but its not as common as you think. Its hard to classify bad policy decisions because when the “policy maker” makes his/her decision and the policy implemented the consequences are usually public maybe not immediately but eventually it's “out there” for all to see. The “system” is set up to classify even the most innocuous or mundane communication unless the document creator takes action to prevent it.Human beings being what the are its easier to take no action then to take action.
Like dumbing deviancy down to “acceptability” and then relaxing the security rules to accommodate the new norm. The consequences might not be immediate but eventually it has to be dealt with.
"I would like to call upon America to be more careful with its trust to prevent those pundits who are attempting to establish fine degrees of justice and even finer legal shades of equality (some because of their distorted outlook, others because of short-sightedness, still others out of self-interest)to prevent them from using the struggle for peace and social justice to lead you down a false road.They are trying to weaken you; they are trying to disarm your strong and magnificent country in the face of this fearful threat -- one which has never before been seen in the history or the world. Not only in the history of the country, but in the history of the world."
But.. But,. LOOK how successful Holder was! Through tough negotiation, he was able to secure the World Cup.... for Russia!
My only complaint about the guy is that he didn’t do more, didn’t expose the workings of other international players, other governments, NGOs, the UN, corporate, financial, religious, academic and media behemoths in bed with the political and regulatory appartchiks in our own out of control tyranny.
*Applause*
So....? Ron White was wrong??
This is all just wrong. This b*st*rd, using stolen documents, has put confidential informants to unnecessary deadly risk. This also puts at risk some of our troops and intel people. Also, our future intel gathering and future credibility is damaged. But to many this is all just hunky dory, since he SAYS he is going to publish info regarding banks.
Evil is evil. He is on the side of al-qaeda, not us. But that is OK, Ron Paul seems to be on their side too, along with many, here on FR.
DG
Thanks. A warning well worth heeding:
"Prevent those pundits...from using the struggle for peace and social justice to lead you down a false road."They are trying to weaken you; they are trying to disarm your strong and magnificent country in the face of this fearful threat -- one which has never before been seen in the history or the world. Not only in the history of the country, but in the history of the world."
EXACTLY! The media’s job is to publish information, and Wikileaks is media. They’ve even gone as far as NOT publishing info that would endanger lives; people haven’t taken time to read their website and policies. Gov employees are another matter altogether.
Its hard to classify bad policy decisions because when the “policy maker” makes his/her decision and the policy implemented the consequences are usually public maybe not immediately but eventually it’s “out there” for all to see.
If only this were true. Wikileaks exposed lies through omission about North Korea, Iran, Saudis, Israel, Palestine, China, Syria, etc... the omission of the truth allowed weak policy decisions, non-response to growing threats / attacks, and dangerous inaction from our policy makers.
damn well said DG. If your screenname reflects your military service, thank you sir for this service to our country.
That was my first thought as well...
I DO find it hard to fathom how Assange could be charged with Treason against the US seeing as how he is an Australian. However, being an accomplice to disseminating stolen classified documents could surely bring charges of some sort.
What I’d ALSO like to see is someone talking about how Obama did NOTHING to try to stop the leaks — which he had the opportunity to do since at least July. [Assange gave them copies, and asked if there was anything he couldn’t print, or anything that should be redacted...]. As far as I’m concerned Obama and the WH operatives who facilitated this and did nothing to stop it are just as liable as Assange.
One would have to be an idiot to not understand why Obama did nothing to stop the leaks (taking Hillary out of the game). For putting our CIA agents, and other espionage assets in harm’s way — especially in hostile countries — I believe he should be impeached (just one more count against him at this point).
Take a look at post 73.
The U.S. Govt. has known for MONTHS Wikileaks has this information. They have that little bstrd Manning.
That they haven’t found out what Manning gave them, or just beat the livin’ sht out of him daily, gone to Wikileaks and said some of this info is going to get people killed and laid out some options to Assange is what is wrong.
Blame your government.
The range of opinions, and official sanctions, on this topic reflect both a desire to know and whose ox is being gored: the military, the diplomatic corps, the banks or either political party. Now that Assange has stepped on powerful toes (Afghan informants are not influential), the law will be applied. The law is fair. Did Assange bribe a government employee? We don’t know yet. Did he knowingly accept and disseminate stolen property and commit telecom offences?. It certainly appears so. The remedies are: turn off his DNS registration (Web access), arrest him and prosecute him. We don’t assassinate people (Executive Order 12333).
Cut and Run is Anti-America and everything we stand for. He is for anything that will make us weaker.
Again, your’s is not the choice you posed. If it’s a U.S. president-—ANY U.S. president-—or someone out to destroy the U.S. through leaks, I’d take the U.S. president. ANY U.S. president.
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