Wikileaks protects their sources as much as any journalist does, and for the exact same reason. If you don't protect your sources, you won't have any sources to protect.
Hicks was charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy, and had a trial date set of November 18, 2005. The trial was stopped due to court battles about the procedures being used. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 governed the legal procedures used, not a new offense to retroactively charge him with. After all the questions about legal procedures had been worked out, Hicks plead guilty to providing material support to terrorism in exchange for a greatly reduced sentence and for aiding the prosecution. They could have easily kept the original charges and sentenced him to a very long sentence.
I think this is worth noting:
The Australian government has refused to lobby for Hicks' release, saying it has faith in the U.S. military commission process.
During a visit to the United States in July, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government was "satisfied that the military commission process... will provide a proper measure of justice."
"The allegations against (Hicks) are particularly serious, and we look forward to them being dealt with before the tribunal," Howard said. U.S. sets trial of Australian
By the way, you can hold enemy combatants in wartime without charges. Al Qaeda makes war on the United States, and the United States now makes it right back under authority of the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by Congress.
So far he has recieved much better treatment by the Aussie government than David Hicks did.
What? You're saying that the Australian government actually treated an Al Qaeda trainee more harshly in some fashion than Mr. Wikileaks? For shame!
Jihad" diary reveals David Hicks terror training DAVID Hicks's handwritten "jihad diary" gives new insight into the sophisticated terrorism training he underwent, exploding claims that he was an innocent abroad. The confessed terrorism supporter used a school exercise book - complete with boy's-own images of fighter aircraft - to write up the detailed instruction he received in weapon use, explosives and military tactics from Islamic extremists in Pakistan.
After describing how "to kill a VIP", Hicks noted that guerilla war involved "sacrifice for Allah". He sketched the mechanism of the telescopic sight of a sniper's rifle and the circuitry of deadly rocket-launched warheads. The exercise book was released yesterday by federal magistrate Warren Donald who, in easing the interim control order covering Hicks since his release from jail last month, found that, on balance, he remained at risk of committing a terrorist act or of undertaking further terrorism training......
The exercise book was filled out by Hicks while he was training with the Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group in northern Pakistan between March and June 2000.
Hmmm.... Lashkar-e-Toiba.... where have we heard of them before?
US blames Lashkar-e-Toiba for Mumbai About 10 gunmen landed in rubber dinghies in Mumbai on Wednesday and wreaked havoc with automatic weapons and hand grenades, in an assault that killed 188 and injured more than 300. The dead included 22 foreign nationals, among them two Australian men....
I'm sure most Australians remember the horror of the Bali Bombings and the many Australians killed there. Most people probably remember their handiwork on September 11, 2001 as well.
I would say that Mr. Hicks was involved with a rather nasty bunch, and is quite lucky he didn't get himself killed.
The Aussie politicians asked the federal police to see if Assange had broken any laws, they came back with a definite "no".
Well, it's actually a bit more subtle than that.
"The AFP has completed its evaluation of the material available and has not established the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have jurisdiction," it said in a statement.
"Where additional cables are published and criminal offences are suspected, these matters should be referred to the AFP for evaluation."
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the AFP had noted a number of offences that could be applied depending on the circums
Begging a dying man to go for a weapon so he could be finished off is sick.
Actually, I took it as the opposite, as in "Don't do it, or you'll be dead".
Whether or not you agree with the conclusions wikileaks came up with from the video, it's pretty undeniable that the soldiers involved were having a grand time.
Didn't sound like a "grand time" to me. It sounded like a group of professional soldiers going about their business. Apparently they were engaged in stopping the Mehdi Army. The Mehdi Army caused Iraq plenty of grief.
It is a remarkable change from years past, when the militia, led by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, controlled a broad swath of Baghdad, including local governments and police forces. But its use of extortion and violence began alienating much of the Shiite population to the point that many quietly supported U.S. military sweeps against the group. Mahdi Army waning, a tentative sign of stability in Iraq
Interpol can only be activated against individuals that are international criminals - their crimes spawn country boundaries.
Assange is a citizen of Australia. He went to Sweden. While in Sweden he allegedly committed acts against two citizens of Sweden that could be criminal acts. The citizens of Sweden complained to the Swedish police. The possible criminal acts were brought to the attention of the Swedish prosecutors who had some disagreements about how serious this matter was, and various legal actions took place. While the Swedish prosecutors were sorting things out, Assange - citizen of Australia who was only visiting Sweden, left Sweden for the UK. Eventually the Swedish prosecutors got things sorted out, and had a warrant from a Swedish court to detain Assange on, "probable cause suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion". Assange lost an appeal to the Swedish Supreme Court, so the warrant continued in effect, and the Interpol notice was made since Assange was no longer in Sweden, and refused to return. He is currently in the UK, under "house arrest", and fighting extradition back to Sweden.
In short: Assange is from country A, allegedly committed a crime in country S, and left for country B before the issue was settled in country S. That leaves him an international fugitive from justice. Interpol deals with that.
Assange picked a very odd place in introduce Wikileaks...
Shortly after getting WikiLeaks off the ground, Assange flew to Kenya to attend the World Social Forum — a yearly symposium dedicated to the redistribution of wealth and the eradication of capitalism — where he delivered a presentation about his new website. The Founder of WikiLeaks and His Secret Life *
..if he truly favors free enterprise, a proposition of which I'm a bit skeptical....
Australian acquaintances say he was bitterly disappointed by the outcome of the Cold War with a resounding global victory for the United States and its allies. Mr. Assange then began identifying with the defeated "progressives," from the pensioned-off millions - on starvation stipends - of the old Soviet nomenklatura to the innocent dupes who never realized that the World Peace Council was a KGB-controlled organization.... DE BORCHGRAVE: International Subversives
Oddly enough, some other people also have a different view of Assange....
In the late 1960s, I attended a university in Singapore. My dormitory roommate was a 19-year-old American student. He hung pictures of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong on the wall and spent days on end writing a treatise about when and how the “rotten capitalist system” in the United States would be overthrown.
In the 1970s, I worked as the Soviet consul in San Francisco. Every month or so, a crazed American anarchist would approach me and ask the consulate to provide dynamite or Kalashnikov machine guns to fight the “imperialist pigs” in Washington and cleanse U.S. society of the “capitalist filth.”.....
Now, in the 21st century, we have WikiLeaks founded by anarchist and anti-imperialist Julian Assange who is driven by a hatred for capitalism and the United States. In the modern age of the Internet, Kalashnikovs and dynamite are no longer necessary to try to overthrow the enemy. Modern technology and outstanding hacking skills allow anarchists to help weaken the United States, the citadel of capitalism.
Undoubtedly, WikiLeaks delivered a heavy blow to the United States. First, it showed the world that U.S. diplomats might smile to your face while they sharpen their knives behind your back.
Second, WikiLeaks exposed the vulnerability of the world’s most powerful country. Seasoned spies used to hunt for years for a single page of classified information, but WikiLeaks and its alleged main leaker, U.S. Private Bradley Manning, in one fell swoop scored more than 500,000 classified and secret U.S. military and diplomatic documents.
Third, the leaks will surely discourage the world from dealing candidly with the United States. Let’s say, for example, that Russia (or any other country) wanted to sign a secret agreement with Washington on a plan to arrest a top Afghan drug lord. Before any U.S. partner signs the agreement, it will wonder if the details of the operation will be splashed across the Internet before the plan can be executed.
Finally, WikiLeaks will surely inspire copycats who are just as zealous as Assange to undermine the United States at all costs.
Thanks to the cables, Russia and most of the world are once again laughing at Uncle Sam’s gullibility and criticizing the United States for being two-faced. Surely, Russia’s diplomats will now be more tight-lipped in dealing with U.S. diplomats......
Of course, radical, anti-establishment rebels like Assange and Che Guevara will always make themselves known in the modern
"There is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Considering information available at present, my judgement is that the classification of the crime is rape," director of prosecutions Marianne Ny said in a statement.
"The basis for further considerations is not sufficient at the moment. More investigations are necessary before a final decision can be made (concerning possible charges)," she added.
A Swedish duty prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Assange on August 20th over rape allegations. But chief prosecutor Eva Finne abruptly withdrew it the next day, saying new information had come to light.
Then last week Finne said there was no reason to believe a crime had been committed, adding however that she had enough evidence to keep looking into a molestation allegation from another woman against Assange.
The lawyer for Assange's alleged victims, Claes Borgstroem, lodged an appeal against Finne's decision to a special department in the public prosecutions office....
Ny, head of the department that oversees prosecution of sex crimes in particular, overturned Finne's decision on the rape claim, and also said the investigation into the molestation claim would be extended.
"Based on the information available, the crimes in question come under the heading of sexual coercion and sexual molestation," she said.
Ny told AFP that overturning another prosecutor's decision was "not an ordinary (procedure), but not so out of the ordinary either."
A new study in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Family Psychology sides with a delayed approach.
The study involves 2,035 married individuals who participated in a popular online marital assessment called "RELATE." From the assessment's database, researchers selected a sample designed to match the demographics of the married American population. The extensive questionnaire includes the question "When did you become sexual in this relationship?"
A statistical analysis showed the following benefits enjoyed by couples who waited until marriage compared to those who started having sex in the early part of their relationship:
* Relationship stability was rated 22 percent higher
* Relationship satisfaction was rated 20 percent higher
* Sexual quality of the relationship was rated 15 percent better
...contrary to the early hypotheses, research has consistently shown that those who cohabit prior to marriage have a greater chance of divorce than those who do not cohabit. (Bennett, Blanc, and Bloom, 1988; Bramlett and Mosher, 2002; Dush, Cohan and Amato, 2003; Lillard, Brien, and Waite, 1995).
Examined relationship between premarital sexual activity and risk of divorce among women married between 1965 and 1985. Found that nonvirgin brides faced considerably higher risk of marital disruption than did virgin brides.
yet, fscking american media still talks of 'rape'. when you look into legalese of that rape in swedish law, it comes up as something that more than half of american males would be charged with, every few months in their lives.
yet, whore of an 'opinionated entertainment' (in their own legalese) channels like fox and whatnot still fool the gullible with talk of 'rape'.
I guess the Swedish media got it wrong too, eh?
The Stockholm district court on Thursday ordered an arrest warrant for Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, for questioning on "probable cause of suspected rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion" in Sweden in August - Sweden issues global warrant for Assange
Thank goodness you're there to set things straight.
That makes for an interesting contrast to the way Assange / Wikileaks has treated the alleged primary source of the classified US government documents they've been so recently leaking:
Now that shadowy organization Wikileaks has unleashed another wave of military field reports, people want to know more about its founder, Julian Assange. According to a Times profile today, he's running Wikileaks with an iron fist.
Even remotely, his style is imperious. When Herbert Snorrason, a 25-year-old political activist in Iceland, questioned Mr. Assange’s judgment over a number of issues in an online exchange last month, Mr. Assange was uncompromising. “I don’t like your tone,” he said, according to a transcript. “If it continues, you’re out.”
Mr. Assange cast himself as indispensable. “I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier, and all the rest,” he said. “If you have a problem with me,” he told Mr. Snorrason, using an expletive, he should quit.
No need, the matter appears as if it could be more substantial than that.
Interpol, based in Lyon in eastern France, later said it had received an arrest warrant for the extradition of Assange.
The Stockholm district court on Thursday ordered an arrest warrant for Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, for questioning on "probable cause of suspected rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion" in Sweden in August. Sweden issues global warrant for Assange
The US has no Official Secrets act. It is perfectly legal for anyone to tell classified information to anyone else as long as they have not sign documents stating they will not do that.
Basically, all punishment for leaking classified information is contractual. Mannings agreed to it, and hence he be punished.
(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it;....
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(g) If two or more persons conspire to violate any of the foregoing provisions of this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be subject to the punishment provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.
This also looks interesting: 18 U.S.C. 798 (disclosing classified information)
As does this: 18 U.S.C. 2511. Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited
The Pentagon Papers case does not have the expansive application that many assume.
II. There is no Clarity in Current Constitutional Doctrine Over Whether The First Amendment Permits the Criminal Prosecution of Reporters for the Mere Possession or Subsequent Publication of Classified Material. There is, however, Substantial Reason to Doubt that Current First Amendment Doctrine Does Bar the Making of Mere Possession or Subsequent Publication of Classified Material Criminal. Testimony of Dean Rodney A. Smolla, United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary
Contrary to some people's ideas, Interpol does get involved in rape cases.
Since when does the CIA investigate crime?
The CIA has its own Inspector General, and no doubt other investigators. There are plenty of circumstances that might call for investigations when national security is involved in a large organization like the CIA.
I'm just a little baffled that the CIA is openly admitting the government is trying to figure out ways to charge Assange with a crime.
Assange was/is allegedly?/apparently? involved in a conspiracy to procure and publish hundreds of thousands of stolen classified US Government documents on the web so that any enemy of the United States can access them and hunt down named info
Wikileaks is guilty only of receiving the data and publishing the parts they feel are morally justifiable to make public, not stealing, and not espionage, and certainly not treason (they aren't even eligible to commit that one).
This could turn into a feedback loop. If enough informants against the Taliban and Al Qaeda are killed as a result of Wikileaks, it could have consequences in the United States or Europe.
In December, 2006, WikiLeaks posted its first document: a “secret decision,” signed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Somali rebel leader for the Islamic Courts Union, that had been culled from traffic passing through the Tor network to China. The document called for the execution of government officials by hiring “criminals” as hit men. Assange and the others were uncertain of its authenticity, but they thought that readers, using Wikipedia-like features of the site, would help analyze it. They published the decision with a lengthy commentary, which asked, “Is it a bold manifesto by a flamboyant Islamic militant with links to Bin Laden? Or is it a clever smear by US intelligence, designed to discredit the Union, fracture Somali alliances and manipulate China?”
The document’s authenticity was never determined, and news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself. Several weeks later, Assange flew to Kenya for the World Social Forum, an anti-capitalist convention, to make a presentation about the Web site. “No Secrets
I thought the most barbaric thing to come out of this story is that a US corp pimped children out to afghan warlords to secure a contract and the US government is covering it up and not holding anyone responsible?
You forgot a US corp pimping children to afghan warlords to win a contract and related coverup.
Not quite.
In the Afghanistan case, both DynCorp and the State Department say what occurred was far less sinister than portrayed in such reports.
According to a detailed statement provided by DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke, a going-away party for a departing Afghan employee was held at the regional police training center in Kunduz. The party organizer, a local employee, hired "a 17-year-old local dancer who performed at... weddings and other celebrations, to perform a traditional Afghan dance."
Shortly after the dancing began, a DynCorp manager "recognizing that the situation was culturally insensitive... stopped the performance," according to the statement.
The company conducted its own investigation of the matter, "determined that the leadership of the team exhibited poor judgment and were subsequently terminated. That is the whole story; no alcohol or drugs were involved, or other illegal behaviors occurred."
The State Department concurred, saying there were no drugs, no alcohol and no boys procured for sex.
"There was no evidence of any of that," said Susan Pittman, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.
Both the bureau and the Office of the Inspector General investigated the matter, Pittman said, including reviewing videos of the party.
For several days after the leaked memo was published, DynCorp's Burke said, none of the online media writing about it bothered to contact the company or the State Department. Eventually, one blog, TalkingPointsMemo, did and reported the company and State Department side of the story.
The leaked memo says the Afghanistan government was prosecuting two Afghan police officers and nine other persons for "the crime of purchasing a service from a child."
Publication of the leaked memo didn't actually break any news. The Washington Post reported on the party in a July 2009 article about DynCorp. The Post said the company was taking steps to strengthen its ethics and employee behavior standards in response to U.S. government criticisms and, in part, because of the party with the boy dancer DynCorp disputes WikiLeaks allegations
Reports that Wikileaks released the names of Afghan informants hasn't helped
Sad, but true. Hopefully none are killed. We need as many informants against the Taliban as we can, both to protect the Afghans, and to protect the US from more terrorist attacks.
From personal experience in the military, and from being in a war, I can tell you that you feel close to your buddies and that sexuality is almost non-existent in the sense most people thing about it, when you are in combat. After a few days under fire you just comfort each other however you can, and nobody is self conscious about showing affection to each other, man or women. You just want to do a good job and take care of each other.
Really?
Soldier Sex In Afghanistan December 18, 2009 - Last year, the U.S. Army in Afghanistan has removed the prohibition on sex between male and female soldiers. There are 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and about ten percent of them are female. So far this year, about fifteen percent of these female troops have had pregnancy tests, and a few percent of the female troops have gone home because they were pregnant.
Your views differ markedly from many in the military, especially those in the ground combat arms - the ones with the primary responsibility for attacking the enemy. The closer the person is to the sharp end, the less interest they have in this experiment.
60% of Marines Deployed to Combat Zone Say DADT Repeal Would Have Negative Impact Early reports on the Pentagon's survey of the troops on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" were nothing but roses for repeal supporters, but the details of the survey complicate that narrative somewhat. While only 20% of troops who have never been deployed to a combat zone say that repeal of DADT would "very negatively" or "negatively" affect their "immediate unit's effectiveness at completing its mission," more than 44% of combat troops say repeal would have a negative impact on unit effectiveness:
An exception to the pattern was the response of Service members deployed to a combat zone now or in the past to the circumstance of being “in a field environment or out to sea.” Among all Service members in this group, 44.3% (and 59.4% of Marines—see Q71a in Appendix E) said performance would be “very negatively/negatively” affected in this situation. Of note, among all survey items related to the review’s major subject areas, this item had the highest percentage of Service members reporting negative perceptions about the impact of a repeal.
Update: The report also says that "67% of those in Marine combat arms units"--i.e. infantry, artillery, armor--"predict working alongside a gay man or lesbian will have a negative effect on their unit’s effectiveness in completing its mission 'in a field environment or out at sea.'"
About 11% of all combat troops surveyed said repeal would "positively" or "very positively" affect performance, while 19% said repeal would have "no effect." Another 26% of combat troops surveyed said repeal's affect wold be "equally as positively as negatively." These troops--who see both negative and positive effects of repeal--are lumped together with those who believe it will have "no effect" under the survey's "neutral" category.
This is a list of 1,163 distinguished retired military leaders from all branches of the service who have shown their support for the 1993 law with personal signatures requested and received by regular mail. The list (as of February 2010) includes two former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, several Service Chiefs, a number of combatant command, theater, and other major U.S. and allied force commanders, together with two Medal of Honor recipients and hundreds of retired flag and general officers who have led the men
I think this sheds some interesting light on the Assange case in Sweden and its political connotations...
Your link shines little light on Assange's case. It reveals that the Swedish government has connections with the US to share anti-terrorist intelligence. It appears to have worked..... until last weekend.
It is possible that Assange will be hoisted on his own petard. Consider: Assange released stolen classified secret American military and diplomatic dispatches. Some of the dispatches released by Assange's Wikileaks showed the discreet connections between Sweden and the US to share anti-terrorism intelligence. As a result of the revelations, the Swedish parliament may have forced their Justice ministry to cut off ties to the US. As a result of severing the intelligence ties, the Swedes may have missed vital intelligence that could have prevented the suicide bombing. The Swedish Justice ministry is not amused by the bombing, and being forced to cut ties with the US as a result of Assange's revelations, and cuts no slack for Assange in prosecution. Ouch. No American pressure required - only the natural result of screwing with anti-terrorism intelligence in a time of widespread threat of terrorism, as Wikileaks has done repeatedly. (I think various people like to use the phrase - "blowback") We will be lucky if the recklessness of Assange and Wikileaks doesn't end up killing large numbers of people. Sweden may only be the first to see the result of Assange's handiwork, I doubt if it is the last.
“My attitude on this is that there are two areas of culpability,” Gates said on ABC’s This Week. “One is legal culpability. And that's up to the Justice Department and others -- that's not my arena.
“But there's also a moral culpability,” he added. “And that's where I think the verdict is guilty on WikiLeaks. They have put this out without any regard whatsoever for the consequences.”
Those consequences could be the loss of innocent lives, Gates said, and not just those of American troops.
“If I'm angry, it is because I believe that this information puts those in Afghanistan who have helped us at risk. It puts our soldiers at risk because they can learn a lot -- our adversaries can learn a lot about our techniques, tactics and procedures from the body of these leaked documents,” the secretary said.
Gates said that having an intelligence background, he knows that “protecting your sources is sacrosanct.” He noted that “there was no sense of responsibility or accountability” associated with the leak of information. WikiLeaks Guilty on Moral Grounds, (Secretary of Defense) Gates Says
If Assange thinks everything should be open, why isnt he (or wikileaks) releasing all the information, why are they redacting there information to protect individuals.
After WikiLeaks published a trove of U.S. intelligence documents—some of which listed the names and villages of Afghans who had been secretly cooperating with the American military—it didn’t take long for the Taliban to react. A spokesman for the group quickly threatened to “punish” any Afghan listed as having “collaborated” with the U.S. and the Kabul authorities against the growing Taliban insurgency. In recent days, the Taliban has demonstrated how seriously those threats should be considered. Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar province’s embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.
The violence may just be beginning. According to Agha Lali, the deputy head of Kandahar’s provincial council, threatening letters have been delivered to 70 elders in Panjwaii district. While it is unknown whether any of the men were indeed named in the WikiLeaks documents, it’s clear the Taliban believes they have been cooperating with Western forces and the Afghan government. One short handwritten note, shown to NEWSWEEK, said: “We have made a decision for your death. You have five days to leave Afghan soil. If you don’t, you don’t have the right to complain.” The screed, written on the letterhead of Mullah Mohammed Omar’s defunct Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, bore the signature of Abdul Rauf Khadim, a senior Taliban official and former inmate at the American lockup in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who had been released into—and subsequently escaped from—Kabul’s custody last year.
The frightening combination of the Taliban spokesman’s threat, Abdullah’s death, and the spate of letters has sparked a panic among many Afghans who have worked closely with coalition forces in the past, according to a senior Taliban intelligence officer who declined to be named for security reasons. The officer said he has seen reports of Afghans rushing to U.S. and coalition bases in southern and eastern Afghanistan over the past few days, seeking protection and even asking for political asylum. (U.S. military officials would not verify this information.) The Taliban officer claimed that the group’s English-language media department continues to actively examine the WikiLeaks material and intends to draw up lists of collaborators in each province, to add to the hit lists of local insurgent commanders.
After drawing ire from officials in Kabul and Washington who claimed the WikiLeaks files put the lives of NATO soldiers at risk, Assange received a letter from a coalition of leading human-rights groups last week that criticized his decision to publish the names of hundreds of Afghans identified in the war logs as helpers of the NATO war effort, saying that this could make them targets of the Taliban. WikiLeaks joint-published the Afghan documents with the New York Times, the Guardian and the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. While those publications redacted names in the documents they published, WikiLeaks' version was largely unedit
Hopefully, if Manning is being tortured, someone on the staff there has at least a little human dignity and will let the world know.
From the article you quoted, but apparently didn't read:
The WikiLeaks documents reveal numerous cases of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Iraqi police and soldiers,
As you may recall, the United States isn't Iraq. Manning is not Iraqi, and is being held in the US. And, for what it is worth, Iraq is a sovereign state. The United States can influence them, but they make their own decisions. The US has been able to influence the Iraqis to improve in many areas, but old habits die hard.
Bradley Manning will go down in history as the agent of one of the largest thefts of secret documents during wartime* in US history. He knowingly provided them to an actor who he knew would disseminate them as widely as possible, including to the enemies of the United States. The Taliban have made it known they are researching the documents, no doubt Al Qaeda is as well. I doubt he will ever be free again - he will probably be lucky to avoid execution.
The Taliban and Al Qaeda are going to keep trying. I expect that some people here will not seriously question some of the nonsense they believe until something truly dreadful happens.
*Yes, the Authorization for Use of Military Force counts.
Lapan said Pentagon officials don't expect any huge surprises from the scheduled dump of classified "significant activities" documents by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, but he repeated his warning that releasing the identification of individuals who worked in close cooperation with U.S. and allied forces puts their lives at risk.
"We know terrorist organizations have been mining the leaked Afghan documents for information to use against us and this Iraq leak is more than four times as large. By disclosing such sensitive information, WikiLeaks continues to put at risk the lives of our troops, their coalition partners and those Iraqis and Afghans working with us," Lapan said in a statement.
Of course, there is another article that people should see...
After WikiLeaks published a trove of U.S. intelligence documents—some of which listed the names and villages of Afghans who had been secretly cooperating with the American military—it didn’t take long for the Taliban to react. A spokesman for the group quickly threatened to “punish” any Afghan listed as having “collaborated” with the U.S. and the Kabul authorities against the growing Taliban insurgency. In recent days, the Taliban has demonstrated how seriously those threats should be considered. Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar province’s embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.
After WikiLeaks published a trove of U.S. intelligence documents—some of which listed the names and villages of Afghans who had been secretly cooperating with the American military—it didn’t take long for the Taliban to react. A spokesman for the group quickly threatened to “punish” any Afghan listed as having “collaborated” with the U.S. and the Kabul authorities against the growing Taliban insurgency. In recent days, the Taliban has demonstrated how seriously those threats should be considered. Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar province’s embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.
Slashdot Mirror
Wikileaks protects their sources as much as any journalist does, and for the exact same reason. If you don't protect your sources, you won't have any sources to protect.
Is WikiLeaks Reneging on its Financial Promise to Bradley Manning?
Hicks was charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy, and had a trial date set of November 18, 2005. The trial was stopped due to court battles about the procedures being used. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 governed the legal procedures used, not a new offense to retroactively charge him with. After all the questions about legal procedures had been worked out, Hicks plead guilty to providing material support to terrorism in exchange for a greatly reduced sentence and for aiding the prosecution. They could have easily kept the original charges and sentenced him to a very long sentence.
I think this is worth noting:
By the way, you can hold enemy combatants in wartime without charges. Al Qaeda makes war on the United States, and the United States now makes it right back under authority of the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by Congress.
Link for AFP quote section above.
So far he has recieved much better treatment by the Aussie government than David Hicks did.
What? You're saying that the Australian government actually treated an Al Qaeda trainee more harshly in some fashion than Mr. Wikileaks? For shame!
Hmmm.... Lashkar-e-Toiba .... where have we heard of them before?
Training with al-Qaeda.... hmm....
Mumbai attacks: al-Qaeda plotter behind Bali bombing linked to terror attacks
I'm sure most Australians remember the horror of the Bali Bombings and the many Australians killed there. Most people probably remember their handiwork on September 11, 2001 as well.
Of course, the Taliban are reaching out as well.
I would say that Mr. Hicks was involved with a rather nasty bunch, and is quite lucky he didn't get himself killed.
The Aussie politicians asked the federal police to see if Assange had broken any laws, they came back with a definite "no".
Well, it's actually a bit more subtle than that.
Begging a dying man to go for a weapon so he could be finished off is sick.
Actually, I took it as the opposite, as in "Don't do it, or you'll be dead".
Whether or not you agree with the conclusions wikileaks came up with from the video, it's pretty undeniable that the soldiers involved were having a grand time.
Didn't sound like a "grand time" to me. It sounded like a group of professional soldiers going about their business. Apparently they were engaged in stopping the Mehdi Army. The Mehdi Army caused Iraq plenty of grief.
Interpol can only be activated against individuals that are international criminals - their crimes spawn country boundaries.
Assange is a citizen of Australia. He went to Sweden. While in Sweden he allegedly committed acts against two citizens of Sweden that could be criminal acts. The citizens of Sweden complained to the Swedish police. The possible criminal acts were brought to the attention of the Swedish prosecutors who had some disagreements about how serious this matter was, and various legal actions took place. While the Swedish prosecutors were sorting things out, Assange - citizen of Australia who was only visiting Sweden, left Sweden for the UK. Eventually the Swedish prosecutors got things sorted out, and had a warrant from a Swedish court to detain Assange on, "probable cause suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion". Assange lost an appeal to the Swedish Supreme Court, so the warrant continued in effect, and the Interpol notice was made since Assange was no longer in Sweden, and refused to return. He is currently in the UK, under "house arrest", and fighting extradition back to Sweden.
In short: Assange is from country A, allegedly committed a crime in country S, and left for country B before the issue was settled in country S. That leaves him an international fugitive from justice. Interpol deals with that.
Link to video and commentary here.
Assange picked a very odd place in introduce Wikileaks...
Oddly enough, some other people also have a different view of Assange....
Assange and the Anarchist War Against the U.S.
Renewed rape suspicions for WikiLeaks' Assange
Study: Couples who delay having sex get benefits later
Single and Multiple Cohabitors’ Risks of Divorce
Premarital Sex and the Risk of Divorce
Marriage & Relationships
yet, fscking american media still talks of 'rape'. when you look into legalese of that rape in swedish law, it comes up as something that more than half of american males would be charged with, every few months in their lives.
yet, whore of an 'opinionated entertainment' (in their own legalese) channels like fox and whatnot still fool the gullible with talk of 'rape'.
I guess the Swedish media got it wrong too, eh?
Thank goodness you're there to set things straight.
So is he waffling on his long-time insistence that he is not wikileaks, but merely a member?
If he is just a member, he is clearly a member with "benefits".
Julian Assange paid two thirds of WikiLeaks salary budget
That makes for an interesting contrast to the way Assange / Wikileaks has treated the alleged primary source of the classified US government documents they've been so recently leaking:
Is WikiLeaks Reneging on its Financial Promise to Bradley Manning?
As to how he views himself....
Pied Piper Julian Assange brooks no dissent in land of WikiLeaks
I guess the above also explains: ‘Chaos’ at WikiLeaks Follows Assange Arrest
Still wrapping my head around "sex by surprise"
No need, the matter appears as if it could be more substantial than that.
The US has no Official Secrets act. It is perfectly legal for anyone to tell classified information to anyone else as long as they have not sign documents stating they will not do that.
Basically, all punishment for leaking classified information is contractual. Mannings agreed to it, and hence he be punished.
Not quite.
18 U.S.C. 793 : US Code - Section 793: Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
This also looks interesting: 18 U.S.C. 798 (disclosing classified information)
As does this: 18 U.S.C. 2511. Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited
The Pentagon Papers case does not have the expansive application that many assume.
There is plenty of reason to believe that the investigation against Assange is motivated by his behavior, not by some government conspiracy.
10 days in Sweden: the full allegations against Julian Assange
The wildly promiscuous lifestyle of WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange: Look away now Jemima as our report reveals the sordid truth
Contrary to some people's ideas, Interpol does get involved in rape cases.
Since when does the CIA investigate crime?
The CIA has its own Inspector General, and no doubt other investigators. There are plenty of circumstances that might call for investigations when national security is involved in a large organization like the CIA.
I'm just a little baffled that the CIA is openly admitting the government is trying to figure out ways to charge Assange with a crime.
Assange was/is allegedly?/apparently? involved in a conspiracy to procure and publish hundreds of thousands of stolen classified US Government documents on the web so that any enemy of the United States can access them and hunt down named info
Wikileaks is guilty only of receiving the data and publishing the parts they feel are morally justifiable to make public, not stealing, and not espionage, and certainly not treason (they aren't even eligible to commit that one).
Well, thats kind of the problem.
Taliban Study WikiLeaks to Hunt Informants
WikiLeaks Comes Under Fire from Rights Groups
Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review
This could turn into a feedback loop. If enough informants against the Taliban and Al Qaeda are killed as a result of Wikileaks, it could have consequences in the United States or Europe.
The diplomatic consequences have already been considerable.
What motivates Assange?
Assange the Anti-American
Manning supposedly had some encrypted chats with Assange prior to releasing any material. It will be very interesting if those come to light.
I thought the most barbaric thing to come out of this story is that a US corp pimped children out to afghan warlords to secure a contract and the US government is covering it up and not holding anyone responsible?
Not so much. Covered here.
You forgot a US corp pimping children to afghan warlords to win a contract and related coverup.
Not quite.
One possibility is that Wikileaks and Assange are losing public support.
They are.
WikiLeaks: A Document Dump Too Far
WikiLeaks Comes Under Fire from Rights Groups
Reports that Wikileaks released the names of Afghan informants hasn't helped
Sad, but true. Hopefully none are killed. We need as many informants against the Taliban as we can, both to protect the Afghans, and to protect the US from more terrorist attacks.
WikiLeaks Reportedly Outs 100s of Afghan Informants
profiles of Assange (such as the one in the New York Times) don't paint him in a very flattering light.
They aren't the only ones.
10 days in Sweden: the full allegations against Julian Assange
The wildly promiscuous lifestyle of WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange: Look away now Jemima as our report reveals the sordid truth
Exposed: The 'creepy, lovesick' emails WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange sent to 19-year-old girl student
No one gains from this 'rape-rape' defence of Julian Assange
My understanding from the Times article is that even within Wikileaks, there is a lot of controversy about how Assange has acted.
Is WikiLeaks Reneging on its Financial Promise to Bradley Manning?
Former WikiLeaks Activists to Launch New Whistleblowing Site
‘Chaos’ at WikiLeaks Follows Assange Arrest
Although not internal to Wikileaks, thought provoking.
Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review
From personal experience in the military, and from being in a war, I can tell you that you feel close to your buddies and that sexuality is almost non-existent in the sense most people thing about it, when you are in combat. After a few days under fire you just comfort each other however you can, and nobody is self conscious about showing affection to each other, man or women. You just want to do a good job and take care of each other.
Really?
Your views differ markedly from many in the military, especially those in the ground combat arms - the ones with the primary responsibility for attacking the enemy. The closer the person is to the sharp end, the less interest they have in this experiment.
The Flag & General Officers for the Military
I think this sheds some interesting light on the Assange case in Sweden and its political connotations...
Your link shines little light on Assange's case. It reveals that the Swedish government has connections with the US to share anti-terrorist intelligence. It appears to have worked..... until last weekend.
It is possible that Assange will be hoisted on his own petard. Consider: Assange released stolen classified secret American military and diplomatic dispatches. Some of the dispatches released by Assange's Wikileaks showed the discreet connections between Sweden and the US to share anti-terrorism intelligence. As a result of the revelations, the Swedish parliament may have forced their Justice ministry to cut off ties to the US. As a result of severing the intelligence ties, the Swedes may have missed vital intelligence that could have prevented the suicide bombing. The Swedish Justice ministry is not amused by the bombing, and being forced to cut ties with the US as a result of Assange's revelations, and cuts no slack for Assange in prosecution. Ouch. No American pressure required - only the natural result of screwing with anti-terrorism intelligence in a time of widespread threat of terrorism, as Wikileaks has done repeatedly. (I think various people like to use the phrase - "blowback") We will be lucky if the recklessness of Assange and Wikileaks doesn't end up killing large numbers of people. Sweden may only be the first to see the result of Assange's handiwork, I doubt if it is the last.
If Assange thinks everything should be open, why isnt he (or wikileaks) releasing all the information, why are they redacting there information to protect individuals.
Well...maybe not everything.
Taliban Seeks Vengeance in Wake of WikiLeaks
Leaked U.S. Intel documents listed the names and villages of Afghan collaborators—and the Taliban is starting to retaliate.
WikiLeaks Comes Under Fire from Rights Groups
Is this for real?
Yes.
Bradley Manning, suspected source of Wikileaks documents, raged on his Facebook page
Hopefully, if Manning is being tortured, someone on the staff there has at least a little human dignity and will let the world know.
From the article you quoted, but apparently didn't read:
As you may recall, the United States isn't Iraq. Manning is not Iraqi, and is being held in the US. And, for what it is worth, Iraq is a sovereign state. The United States can influence them, but they make their own decisions. The US has been able to influence the Iraqis to improve in many areas, but old habits die hard.
Bradley Manning will go down in history as the agent of one of the largest thefts of secret documents during wartime* in US history. He knowingly provided them to an actor who he knew would disseminate them as widely as possible, including to the enemies of the United States. The Taliban have made it known they are researching the documents, no doubt Al Qaeda is as well. I doubt he will ever be free again - he will probably be lucky to avoid execution.
The Taliban and Al Qaeda are going to keep trying. I expect that some people here will not seriously question some of the nonsense they believe until something truly dreadful happens.
*Yes, the Authorization for Use of Military Force counts.
You seem to have left out some important details, including, oddly enough, the title of the story.
Pentagon: New WikiLeaks Doc Dump Endangers Lives of Iraqi Informants
Of course, there is another article that people should see...
Taliban Seeks Vengeance in Wake of WikiLeaks
Taliban Seeks Vengeance in Wake of WikiLeaks
It might be handy to have some surviving informants among the Taliban since...
Suspect in Times Square bombing attempt was paid by Pakistani Taliban, indictment says