I can't believe I am going to type this...

[Rainbow7]

I don't have to defend myself and won't throw stones but there are laws broken. Maybe not by you but there has been a break along the way by people that have signed an NDA that binds them to the law,

Exactly! - Any laws that have been broken, were not broken by WikiLeaks. So what is there to prosecute the guy for?
Even if new laws were passed, they'd be unlikely to be retrospective, so there's nothing for which WikiLeaks can be held accountable.

I suspect that if the U.S. Government tries to prosecute Julian Assange, they'll lose, create a firestorm of indignation against themselves, and end up paying a huge settlement to him.

 

[Troppo]

So you believe that Interpol is the step-n-fetchit for the Unites States? And you're going to claim that this man did absolutely no wrong in one area based on your gut feeling, but when we present conjecture, you call it unfounded. Double standards have no place in rational discussion. Either he is a suspect in a crime or he isn't. Until he is cleared, you have no right to tell anyone that their concerns are invalid based on your gut feeling.

Sounds to me as if you have some animosity towards the U.S. I hope I'm wrong.

I like the US and her people. In fact, I will be there next week. I visit often. When I wore a uniform, I served with the USN on exercises.


The man's guilt or otherwise is of no real concern to me. But what isof concern is the fact that a previously dismissed charge has mysteriously been reactivated....it all seems so very convenient....

As others have said, the offence was committed by the person who leaked to Wikileaks.

What if the person had leaked directly to the media?

 

[Vonderbach]

The man's guilt or otherwise is of no real concern to me. But what isof concern is the fact that a previously dismissed charge has mysteriously been reactivated....it all seems so very convenient....

If a hunch is all that you have to go on, then you can't logically condemn anyone for calling for his head. I would say that people have just as much right to call him a rapist as you do to call him innocent. The fact that it's convenient may well be founded, but you have no basis other than your gut feeling to make such a case.

As for the leaks, I'll grant you that there is likely no law broken, otherwise Obama and Holder would be seeking his immediate detention. But you can't tell me that this guy isn't a scumbag. He has systematically maneuvered himself to disclose every detail possible that might embarrass and potentially harm our foreign affairs with both allies and enemies of the state. This man is a fellow Australian, you would think that being an Australian you might recognize the fact that we're allies. Your efforts to give this man some level of credibility appears to me and others (I assume) as some sort of hero worship. You know, stickin' it to the man. The fact is, what hurts our foreign relations ultimately hurts our people.

Yes, politicians are scumbags. But this does not mean that we go about releasing private communique to the world.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Why are we not talking about the person who fed him these so called stolen documents ?
Have they been charged or arrested ?
Wiki has done nothing different from any of the other sensationalist news orgs.
The NY Times as well as other large well known press orgs publishes the same type of things all the time and they are American. Do they go after the editor or author of the article ?
Nope !

So wiki published things that are embarrassing to some.
Big deal .
What security risks have been created by publishing things like this ?
Were any codes to nuclear weapons published ?
Were any design patents or detailed technical info on classified military items published ?
Were any names of undercover CIA agents released ?
Has anyones life been jeopardized by them doing nothing different from any other newspaper does ?
NOPE !

What wiki did , has done or is doing is certainly not precedent .

BUT,

the owner of wikileaks def should be worried as numerous others who have publicly criticized the Clintons have met with untimely mysterious deaths !
Can anyone say Vince Foster !

 

[Vonderbach]

What wiki did , has done or is doing is certainly not precedent .

I can't recall a single point in history where citizen of an ally nation has worked so hard to undermine our government. Where was the precedent set prior to this?

 

[Commuta_Busa]

hmmmmm... politics.... What an ugly subject. I wonder why...

 

[S4L]

Hey... Who has the best facepalm pic...I think it is needed here

 

[skydivr]

I am an Australian, and I am not embarrassed about him at all.

Shall we get the facts straight before we come running with the noose?

How, exactly, is this bloke a "Terrorist"?

He has exposed diplomatic cables, that are not classified and do not contain significant military intel.

The only thing the release of the cables have done is embarrass politicians...and expose them for the sanctimonious hypocrites they are.

I see that there is a honey trap nicely laid out for Julian now.

Mind you, I would not be surprised if he has an 'accident'....he has pissed off a lot of politicians....

A 'terrorist', he is not.

I'm not claiming he's a terrorist (but the release of these documents sure helped our adversaries in the world), but more that he is a young fool that has no idea what he's doing, and is bringing a world of hurt down on himself over it.

These were CLASSIFIED. They were not meant for public consumption, or they would certainly have been phrased differently. Let's put it this way: What if EVERY single thought you had about someone was automatically broadcasted on a jumbotron? Wouldn't go over well, would it? Diplomats need some way to back-channel communicate or the system fails because they can't postulize/speculate/gameplan if everything they say is going to be in the open.

I would be more sympathic if what was being released was proof of an illegal conspiricy or something, but it's just meant to disrupt and embarass the USA.

The guy is using our own freedoms against us. IF this were in China/Russia/NK/Iran, etc., he's already be fishfood.

Blanca, the Army Private that gave him the documents is in custody.

Todd: There are some of us out here who DO understand.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

I can't recall a single point in history where citizen of an ally nation has worked so hard to undermine our government. Where was the precedent set prior to this?

Foreign news agencies and papers have done same as wiki for as long as they have been in business . Am I to understand VB you don't think any British papers ever slammed Bush or did similar ? No foreign tabloids have ever revealed any of our 'secrets' ? Your targeting an individual because it's a website in question and not a printed tabloid. If Wiki was an Aussie newspaper would we all feel the same ?

 

[Lycan]

I like our Aussie friends myself...at least the ones on the Org and the few I met when I was there many years agoman can they DRINK!

People get all emotional about BS.....I doubt the Million or so unemployed people in this country care about Wikileak...and what they publish...there ARE more important things to worry about right now...

Now can we all just have a beer and see WHAT happens to this dumbazz?

 

[Lycan]

Oh and 1 more thing..Hillary tried to steal furniture from the White House...

 

[Vonderbach]

Foreign news agencies and papers have done same as wiki for as long as they have been in business . Am I to understand VB you don't think any British papers ever slammed Bush or did similar ? No foreign tabloids have ever revealed any of our 'secrets' ? Your targeting an individual because it's a website in question and not a printed tabloid. If Wiki was an Aussie newspaper would we all feel the same ?

Bashing a President is not the same as releasing a plethora of sensitive documents. No newspaper, to my recollection, has ever released anything to the magnitude of this. If you know of something, I would gladly cede my argument.

 

[Lycan]

Bashing a President is not the same as releasing a plethora of sensitive documents. No newspaper, to my recollection, has ever released anything to the magnitude of this. If you know of something, I would gladly cede my argument.

Watergate????

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Watergate????

Mmmmm maybe Iran Contra ?
Mmmmm maybe CNN and Abu Graib ?
Many others in fact too many .
It's no different . A tabloid like Wiki or the NY Times get ahold of something and releases it .
Happens every day .

 

[aussiesuzukirider]

Now can we all just have a beer and see WHAT happens to this dumbazz?

I'm with you Lycan

 

[Vonderbach]

What is the one thing that Watergate, Iran Contra and Abu Ghraib have in common? All three events were criminal or at the very least suspect of criminal wrongdoing. Are we seriously going to compare those events to a document dump containing confidential diplomatic communique? We're talking about a massive breach of protocol that has been aired to the public. These are documents that expose our geopolitical strategies, both good and bad. He's not exposing our criminal behavior, he's exposing our national security.

I can't believe we're making these comparisons.

 

[afterhours]

can someone please post examples of the "dangerous and classified" information that was leaked. From what I have seen it is mostly tabloid stuff, yes its embarassing but not neccessarily a threat to national security....

the same people that are firing on US troops last week, will be firing on them this week.

PS: remember Geraldo Rivera, drawing a map in the sand....with Iraqi positions and showing planned US troop movements?

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

What is the one thing that Watergate, Iran Contra and Abu Ghraib have in common? All three events were criminal or at the very least suspect of criminal wrongdoing. Are we seriously going to compare those events to a document dump containing confidential diplomatic communique? We're talking about a massive breach of protocol that has been aired to the public. These are documents that expose our geopolitical strategies, both good and bad. He's not exposing our criminal behavior, he's exposing our national security.

I can't believe we're making these comparisons.

VB you and I are always on the same page and on this I would probably agree with you.
Just keep in kind though that to many others worldwide some of our Natl security practices are seen as criminal by them. The practice of 'rendering' whereas our special forces whomever dept they work for flat out abduct citizens from other countries fly them to another country and vigorously interogate them .
This may be necessary but others would see it as criminal kidnapping.
This is just one thing regarding Wiki where I think we could go round and round .
Just a slow say in Iraq and Afg and this happens to be all they can find to talk about ?

 

[Troppo]

If a hunch is all that you have to go on, then you can't logically condemn anyone for calling for his head. I would say that people have just as much right to call him a rapist as you do to call him innocent. The fact that it's convenient may well be founded, but you have no basis other than your gut feeling to make such a case.

As for the leaks, I'll grant you that there is likely no law broken, otherwise Obama and Holder would be seeking his immediate detention. But you can't tell me that this guy isn't a scumbag. He has systematically maneuvered himself to disclose every detail possible that might embarrass and potentially harm our foreign affairs with both allies and enemies of the state. This man is a fellow Australian, you would think that being an Australian you might recognize the fact that we're allies. Your efforts to give this man some level of credibility appears to me and others (I assume) as some sort of hero worship. You know, stickin' it to the man. The fact is, what hurts our foreign relations ultimately hurts our people.

Yes, politicians are scumbags. But this does not mean that we go about releasing private communique to the world.

I am not glorifying the man.

What, exactly, is the difference between Wikileaks and a newspaper?

What if the leaker had passed the info straight to a newspaper? Would you be calling for the editor's head?

Have you read the info, in detail? it is a bunch of opinions by civilian diplomats. There is zero military intel there.....

 

[Vonderbach]

So you don't feel that disclosure of diplomat espionage activities are in the least bit a security risk? Or perhaps the wishes of a Saudi King asking us to remove Iran from the face of the planet? You don't think that could lead to instability in the Middle East? That's just for starters.

And no, I do not believe that any respectable newspaper would print any information that would be damaging to friendly nations.