Charles Krauthammer’s column (Dec. 5) didn’t go far enough.
It’s criminal that someone who was trusted would download secret documents and distribute them to the media and that the media would print them without first considering the damage it would cause not only to this country but to those helping us around the world.
Much can be gleaned by experts who know what they are looking for, e.g., how our special forces operate, our communication methods, tactics and other information that can be used against us now and in the future.
With thousands of documents to go through, it is reasonable to believe that some information will compromise our diplomatic efforts as well as our forces.
Anyone calling these documents innocent and a matter of freedom of speech is not seeing the big picture.
We can hope that the Department of Defense will close whatever loophole enabled the perpetrator(s) to download this information and hold them accountable for this treasonous act.
There is a balance between what is secret and the public’s right to know. Freedom of speech does not give cover to those who would compromise our security in the name of transparency.
Krauthammer suggests, “Let the world see a man who can’t sleep in the same bed on consecutive nights.” A more effective approach is to prosecute Mr. Julian Assange for treason.
Jerry J. Thorius
U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
Amana
What Would Paul Do?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/45930.html
It is the largest security leak in history – and has rocked the intelligence world to the core. I don’t buy the story U.S. soldier Bradley Manning acted alone in the theft of 250,000 classified documents. I don’t believe anyone could steal that amount of classified data without triggering numerous security alerts. A person, persons, or an agency on the inside pulled this one off and there is plenty of motivation to do so.
So far the greatest benefactor of political destruction is Hillary Clinton and Saudi Arabia. The question remains who and why? Bradely Manning and Julian Assange are just a couple of dumb patsies IMO.
Gonna have to cite that, Junior, or admit you’re plagiarizing.
Assange is NOT a US CITIZEN, so treason is not applicable- The legal tem we use when a “non-citizen” supplies classified information to the enemy is called “ESPIONAGE”.
Also since he is not a US Citizen, he is not guaranteed the freedom of the speech/press either.- This is very important when talking about this case because a non-citizen could give a hoot less about our National Security.
A “solution” for this non citizen is called “assassination”.
why do you think he is in an undisclosed location? He is a non-citizen who is a threat to our national security and should be treated no different than any other Enemy of the US such as Osama bin Laden is.
Logically speaking, assassination would be not produce any positive results at this point because the classified information has already been disseminated to so many other places it would not stop the leaks. Also since this is now a high profile case in the world, assassination at this time would only serve to make America look bad and even hypocritical to the rest of the world.
Many rogue countries including Iran, Russia, or China would do anything to get those files including torture or assassination. Only a fraction of the information has been released for “discrimination”.
Who said he is in a undisclosed location? Additionally since this is such a “high profile” case all the more reason for a rogue nation to assasinate Assange to make us look “bad”.
He’s not a US citizen and owes no allegiance to the US. By the very dictionary definition of treason, much less the legal definition, it cannot apply here. You can attempt to charge him with other things, but not treason.
Just a question: who writes the headlines? Sometimes, they seem problematic, such as this one. Nowhere is Assange mentioned in the letter; I assume that Thorius is referring to the person inside the US military who leaked the docs to Wikileaks. So why was a headline added which misrepresents the content of the letter?
Assange is mentioned in the last sentence of the letter.
But yes, MANY times the piece titles poorly reflect the content of the letter or seem to misrepresent the intent of the letter writer. I doubt that each letter gets more than a skim reading by the editor in charge of creating the titles.
“Skim” reading is right. Unfortunatly it happens a lot in newspapers and magazines. I have worked for both. It’s funny how many times I can spot a “typo,” and not spot my own! It’s true: You only spot it after it’s in print.
“Nowhere is Assange mentioned in the letter”
Ted……..try reading the last sentence of letter.
I assume you just missed it, but the letter writer specifically mentions Assange in the last sentence of the letter.
I’m not a fan of Ron Paul, but in this case he’s got it right.
“In a free society we’re supposed to know the truth, 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.” – Ron Paul
He also defends Wikileaks in Congress.
http://tinyurl.com/23gw7no
Ron Paul is an !diot. if “truth” endangers lives at a time of war…i think physical safety of troops, locations, etc, TRUMPS ‘truth’ and releasing clas.sififed documents not authorized for release. Ron Paul obviously knows nothing bout the military or the sensitivity of these documents, because her is forgetting something very important here. “need to know”. i have access to clas.sified information on a daily basis, but just because i have the clearance that allows me to, i can’t access everything – because i don’t have that “need to know”. just because it may be the “truth”, that doesn’t mean everyone needs to know it or have access to it, especially when there are lives on the line.
Since Assange is not a US citizen, treason charges can not apply. Even espionage charges are problematic insofar as he didn’t appear to have intent to harm a specific government- MANY governments have egg on their faces as a result of this expose. Wikileaks is more or less like a free-lance, global muckraking news organization. You could even accurately call them “fair and balanced”.
One of the governmental reactions to 9/11 was to make government info more accessible across the various departments, so that counter-terrorism info could be quickly shared. This is what enabled the low-ranking Army infotech soldier who leaked the data to Assange’s organization to obtain “sensitive” State Department data. The Law of Unexpected Consequences strikes again.
Make that the “Law of UNINTENDED consequences.” It’s still early here in the dimension I inhabit…
The truth shall make you free…and get you charged with espionage, and potentially assinated or a life sentance. The other side of this is if we can’t face the truth about what we do in the rest of the world, maybe we shouldn’t be doing it. General Smedley Butler said what we do is run a racket, where only the few benefit from the sacrifice of the many who offer up their blood, and lives for the benefit of millionaires. Those who represent these same gangsters are the one’s who would bring these charges, these “crimes” of truth telling. Naturally, those who most benefit from that sacrifice want to keep those facts hidden, and want them called “secret” to hide themselves from the public.
That worthless twit Mike Huckabee wants the source of the leak executed.
the army soldier currently accused is just a fall guy for people much higher up. no way he had that much access to clas.sified information. there are checks and balances in place to prevent access to information and there is an electronic and paper trail to people who view it. so if he DID ‘sneak’ thousands of pages, someone else wasn’t doing their job. something here smells of ADM…
but under the UCMJ, any military person convicted of treason in time of war can be given the drip. it won’t happen (mainly since congress never declared war), but this guy is being set up just like Oswald
Agreed. And agreed some more. Who really wants Bob Woodward or Daniel Ellsberg imprisoned? We may not like what they say, but they’re shining light on the cockroaches.
again julie, just because there is information out there, that doesn’t mean that everyone should be able to see it. a lot of things are ‘secret’ or ‘clas.sified’ for a reason. what about a reporter’s “right” to keep sources annomous? if they had to report everything – full disclosure – think they’d ever get leads on a story? of course not. when the government does business with other governments, if they can’t be given a reasonable expectation of confidentiality, then these countries are not going to work with us. it is much more complex than the average joe realizes, but i will contend that just because the “truth is out there”, that doesn’t mean it is any of your business. How about when Wikileaks starts publishing private account information of you and everyone else? Want everyone to know your spending habits and what you buy at Victoria’s secret? How about publishing all your emails to family and friends? “why that’s private – that’s different” you say? well using the logic of those that say it is OK to release the government’s PRIVATE communications with other governments worldiwide, i would disagree with you and argue to publish it. at least YOUR communications don’t have lives and government relations on the line.
OK, think of it this way, incription, we aren’t talking about someones’s bank records here. This stuff, if it is important in the first place, would not be readily available to anyone with out the incription technology. Who do you suppose has that if it isn’t other foreign governments? As to governments having dealings with us or not, how can they help it? On the other hand there is counter intelligence as well, you don’t know what someone else could be doing or for what reason and you, all knowing person that you are, assume that this automatically is the responsibility of a couple of peon’s. I’d say someone want’s you to think that.
Why aren’t people as upset about the treasonous actions/comments of Eric Cantor (R-VA)? It seems that pledging allegiance to a foreign country and it’s interests is much worse than an Australian telling the world that Sarkozy is insecure.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/13/israel/index.html
“One of the penalties of not participating in politics
is that you will be governed by your inferiors.”
Plato
Pathetic we have protect one of our allies…Israel from our own “Inferior” Administration aka “Obamanation”.
There is a very low risk that you will ever be governed by one of your inferiors. If that were to ever happen, God help us all.
we’re already goverened by “inferiors”. ruling of the people, by the people, and for the people vansihed in my lifetime. we already live in a country where the very-vocal minority press social agendas against the wishes and common sense of the too-often-silent majority.
“we already live in a country where the very-vocal minority press social agendas against the wishes and common sense of the too-often-silent majority”
Brilliant, csg! You’re finally onto what Rupert Murdich is doing with News Corp and Fox News!
what treasonous acts of Eric Cantor?
This one when he violated the Logan Act? http://www.politicususa.com/en/cantor-treason/comment-page-1
They should release all the documents he has…
And then kill him…
Funny…When Assange is hurting the military, no one gives a hoot…But when he starts making Hilary Clinton look bad…
ARREST HIM!!!
Remember when G. Gordon Liddy met John Dean in a DC restaurant, held his hand over a candle, without flinching, while his skin burned, after telling Dean he would cooperate if the White House decided to have him killed?
Liddy’s your kinda guy, huh?
This time Wikileaks has gone too far!
http://i.imgur.com/U62D8.jpg
LOL!! That’s a good one Owen!!
LOL!!! Hilarious Owen!
What about Bob Woodward? Should we assasinate him also on sight?
Daniel Ellsberg did the country a service when he leaked the Pentagon Papers to the NY Times: the American people learned of the duplicity and outright lies which produced US policy in Vietnam. What thanks did Ellsberg get? Harassment from the Nixon administration, including the burglary of his psychiatrist’s office by the same thugs who later broke into Democratic offices in the Watergate building.
See the connection? Anyone who dares expose how the US government double-deals in the name of the American people is targeted, and the forces of suppression eventually turn on their own citizens.
Criticize Assange at your own risk. What he exposed is the ugly truth of international power politics.
I think he has to be an American Citizen before he can commit treason? He is from Australia.
The drive to persecute Assange is not for endangering America per se, its because he through light on truth. Rothschild, Rockefeller, and the rest of that group own the world, including especially America.
“The money power denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.” – William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), Congressman (D-NE), US Secretary of State (1913-1915) under President Woodrow Wilson, Democratic Party nominee for President 1896, 1900, and 1908.
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson…The Federal Reserve Banks are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), President, in a letter written Nov. 21, 1933 to Colonel E. Mandell House (an American diplomat, politician, and presidential adviser).
“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control….Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” – Congressman Larry [Lawrence] P. McDonald, foreword to The Rockefeller File, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by Soviets.
Lincoln and Kennedy were assassinated because they tried to give back to the people America’s right to print money.
If Wikileaks is truly a ‘terrorist’ organization, perhaps someone can explain why they keep winning prestigious international journalism awards?
Had WL released thousands of embarrassing classified documents from just the US’ perceived ‘enemies’, they would have been the darlings of the Beltway.
Instead, they chose to keep their journalistic integrity,showing no favoritism to any organization or country.
For this act of professionalism and bravery, they are now reviled by people in this country who are showing quite clearly that they’re more than happy to suspend the Constitution when it suits their own political agenda.