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US Military Designates Julian Assange an "Enemy of State"
First time accepted submitter Cute and Cuddly writes in with some new Julian Assange news. "The U.S. military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States — the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency. Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with 'communicating with the enemy.'"
Can drone-strike him, with impunity, then?
America. It just keeps getting more like a bad Harlan Ellison story.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
The constitution places the power to declare war and issue letters of marque with the congress, not the executive. It's up to the congress to tell the military who's an enemy, not the other way around.
Whoever has taken it upon themselves to do this has libeled Assange.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
For a country that prides itself on freedom of speech - they like to tell people to shut up.
Stories like this are really starting to worry me. Our country is rapidly losing civil rights, not to mention disregarding international laws regarding things like drone strikes in other countries.
after Obama yesterday's utopian freedom of speech speech at the UN.
It appears that this might be designed to prevent further leaks by military personnel.
Ftom TFA:
Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy", a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.
They may never go after Assange. But the next Brad Manning may find him/herself swinging from the gallows.
Have gnu, will travel.
When what you're talking about is things businesses and governments wish to keep secret, there is no such thing as free speech. You pay for it in blood.
Were I Assange, I'd be far more worried about a bullet in my head or a mickey in my drink than a legit arrest.
Am I insinuating that a government or business would kill over information they wish to keep secret for legitimate reasons, or otherwise?
Hell yes, I am.
I'm sure there are many secrets that should remain so -- but buried in that pile are atrocities and behind-the-scene dealings that impact people like you and I in the worst ways -- and those are the dirty bits of laundry that need to get out.
Frankly, I still think the Internet is nothing but television magnified by 1000, with all the lolcatz and pr0n and myface and spacebook and all that -- but the ability to shed light on nasty, shady dealings -- that's what I had hoped the Internet would be able to do.
We need more of this. We need to know more about what businesses and governments do in secret to line their pockets by picking ours. The mainstream media can't quite be trusted to do so, I feel they're in the payroll of government and business -- so the last resort is.. this.
But, who vets this kind of leaks? Who can assure the reader that it isn't misinformation? Wow, paranoids are right, I think!
Still, there's a little place in my heart that tells me.. we really don't want to know. I think it could be that revolting, that repulsive.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
The same tactic that is banned in the First Geneva Convention, of which the US is a signatory. Anyone ordering or carrying out those kinds of drone strikes is a war criminal.
I am officially gone from
I hope I live to see those war criminals, Bush and Obama among them, hauled in front of the Hague and sentenced to spending the rest of their lives in jail.
TWICE. Never though I'd be a terrorist supporter so soon. I'm so fucking proud of myself.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
He already is.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
There has to be a reason we pick fights that we can't win. War on drugs, War on poverty, war on terrorism, ...
It has been almost 100 years since the start of the War on Drugs.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Anyone ordering or carrying out those kinds of drone strikes is a war criminal.
Hahaha good one! Only losers are war criminals, winners are heroes. Commiting a war crime is a petty offense at best, it isn't worth pursuing. Better to focus the effort in fighting real criminals, like file-sharers.
This act more than any other speaks of the corruption of the United States, of it pursuit of political gain regardless of the lies, the lives lost or the corruption of justice. The speaks of a United States that goes out of it's way to hide incompetence because it looks better regardless of how much incompetence results. All leading to escalating failure until it no longer can be hidden.
This is bureaucracy at to protect it's criminality and corruption, of individual who have gained position of power through political appointment, seeking to keep that power by hiding their failures and corrupting the government departments they are meant to serve.
There is a war going on, an insane war, where criminals in government service in associations with criminal contractors and desperately trying to keep the billion dollar gravy train flowing with false intelligence, by hiding crimes, by making false claims of national security, by creating the illusion and lie that should the truth be known the US will suffer.
The truth is, the public demonstration of the willingness to investigate and prosecute your own, publicly demonstrates integrity and proves the value of democracy and justice. That has always been the truth, there will always be failures, there will always be criminals who gain position of power and those shit heads will always spread the lie that should you publicly punish them it will make everyone look bad, lie, lie, lie. No greater proof exists of the value of justice than it's unwavering application. No greater lie exists than crimes must go unpunished in order to protect your reputation, once you do that, than in truth you no longer have something to protect. The United States is now the evil that they claim to fight, they have sullied themselves as a child dirties it nappy and by refusing to remove that soiled garment they continue to fill it.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen