It has been, by any standard, an extraordinary campaign of vilification and persecution, wholly comparable to the kind of treatment doled out to dissidents in China or Burma. Lest we forget, WikiLeaks is a journalistic outlet - just like The New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, all of whom are even now publishing the very same material - leaked classified documents -- available on WikiLeaks. The website is also a journalistic outlet just like CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox and other mainstream media venues, where we have seen an endless parade of officials - and journalists! - calling for Assange to be prosecuted or killed outright. Every argument being made for shutting down WikiLeaks can - and doubtless will - be used against any journalistic enterprise that publishes material that powerful people do not like.
[snip]
What is perhaps most remarkable is that this joint action by the world elite to shut down WikiLeaks - which has been operating for four years - comes after the release of diplomatic cables, not in response to earlier leaks which provided detailed evidence of crimes and atrocities committed by the perpetrators and continuers of Washington?s Terror War. I suppose this is because the diplomatic cables have upset the smooth running of the corrupt and cynical backroom operations that actually govern our world, behind the ludicrous lies and self-righteous posturing that our great and good lay on for the public. They didn?t mind being unmasked as accomplices in mass murder and fomenters of suffering and hatred; in fact, they were rather proud of it. And they certainly knew that their fellow corruptocrats in foreign governments - not to mention the perpetually stunned and supine American people - wouldn?t give a toss about a bunch of worthless peons in Iraq and Afghanistan getting killed. But the diplomatic cables have caused an embarrassing stink among the closed little clique of the movers and shakers. And that is a crime deserving of vast eons in stir - or death.
[snip]
...how many thousands of people, how many tens of thousands, have been killed by our bipartisan Terror Warriors in the four years of WikiLeaks? existence? How many millions have been ?harmed? not only by the direct operations of the Terror War, but by the ever-widening, ever-deepening violence, hatred and turmoil it is spreading throughout the world? (Not to mention the accelerating collapse of American society, which has been financially, politically and morally bankrupted by the acceptance of aggressive war, torture, elite rapine and authoritarian rule.)
But none of the perpetrators of these acts, past or present, are in jail, or have even been prosecuted, or investigated, or inconvenienced in any way. Yet Assange is in a British prison tonight - and it is certainly not for the ?sexual misconduct? charges that were filed against him in August, which then became the basis of an unprecedented worldwide arrest order of the type ordinarily reserved for war criminals - for those, in fact, accused of aggressive war, torture, elite rapine and authoritarian rule. The judge refused to grant bail, saying that Assange had ?access to financial means? and could flee the country - perhaps a bitter joke on milord?s part, aimed at a man whose means of financial support are being systematically shut down by the most powerful government and corporate forces in the world.
Take the time to read the whole thing, to the bitter end. It won't do your blood pressure any good, but the truth almost never does.
Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2010/12/amen-brother-ii.html
Sean Hannity Harry Reid Mitch McConnel Rush Limbaugh George Bush
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