These aren’t top secret documents. They are embassy cables on a much lower level of classification. Documents like these are opportunistic quoted and leaked all the time by the favored elites in the MSM and “public notables” who have served, and are serving, in government. The only difference is that Assange is making these documents, such as those further implicating the federal government in climategate, to the taxpayers who funded them on a much less selective scale. In this, he is performing a great service.
Sorry... but I think people should not be able to freely conspire to divulge classified information— at any level of classification. Even these state dept. cables... while the subject matter has so far been fairly pedestrian, our diplomatic corps (like them or not) need to be able to conduct frank, honest and confidential communications with their various opposite numbers around the world. Now— they can’t do that. That’s a non-trivial problem.
He's notable now only because he's one of the first. Soon there will be many more like him and what he's doing will become a given.
I agree that he is doing a service. I was not aware that Saudi Arabia was funding al queda with impunity after they murdered 3000 Americans on 911. I was not aware that Russia was funding the terrorists in Venezuela. This guy is a hero.
WikiLeaks deserves our thanks for shining a huge spotlight on all this. But some in the corporate-owned press have dismissed the importance of WikiLeaks (”they’ve released little that’s new!”) or have painted them as simple anarchists (”WikiLeaks just releases everything without any editorial control!”). WikiLeaks exists, in part, because the mainstream media has failed to live up to its responsibility. The corporate owners have decimated newsrooms, making it impossible for good journalists to do their job. There’s no time or money anymore for investigative journalism. Simply put, investors don’t want those stories exposed. They like their secrets kept ... as secrets.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/why-im-posting-bail-money
How does it feel, Captain,to have the same opinion as Michael Moore?
DG