Wikileaks

[lisaparadise]

How did you manage to hire and fire people? That requires proper reading and spelling of their names. I was putting it mildly by calling you a dummy because you deserve a worse treatment after so many bitter, hateful and ill-informed comments and calling for murder of Assange. Whatever you disagree with, keep it civilized with your arguments, otherweise stfu and go play with a dildo.

what makes you think i can type and play with my dildo at the same time?he deserves to die anybody that puts lives in danger government officials and innocent people alike hes gonna get charged with treason this i have no doubt and when there done with him hes gonna wish he was dead.

[dgs925]

he deserves to die anybody that puts lives in danger government officials and innocent people alike

Yet George Bush is still alive

hes gonna get charged with treason this i have no doubt and when there done with him hes gonna wish he was dead.

As has been mentioned in this thread, he's not a US citizen and therefore cannot be charged with treason.

[Jericho]

As has been mentioned in this thread, he's not a US citizen and therefore cannot be charged with treason.

STFU....Don't let the facts get in the way of anything...That's unpatriotic!

[lisaparadise]

Yet George Bush is still alive



As has been mentioned in this thread, he's not a US citizen and therefore cannot be charged with treason.

yes he can where does it say he cant? and george bush? i think you mean dick cheaney right?

[onmyknees]

Yet George Bush is still alive



As has been mentioned in this thread, he's not a US citizen and therefore cannot be charged with treason.

Oh Contrare my fact challanged friend....read on. Oh and this opinion is penned not by Dick Chenny, or Sarah Palin, or Jim Demint or Fox News or some other right winger, but none other than liberal Californina Dem, And Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committe, Diane Fienstein.

Those credentials in and of themselves don't mean she's right, but they should cause you libs some concern that your hero may be tarnished.



When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released his latest document trove—more than 250,000 secret State Department cables—he intentionally harmed the U.S. government. The release of these documents damages our national interests and puts innocent lives at risk. He should be vigorously prosecuted for espionage.
The law Mr. Assange continues to violate is the Espionage Act of 1917. That law makes it a felony for an unauthorized person to possess or transmit "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."
The Espionage Act also makes it a felony to fail to return such materials to the U.S. government. Importantly, the courts have held that "information relating to the national defense" applies to both classified and unclassified material. Each violation is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
That WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is breaking the law is clear.








No doubt aware of this law, and despite firm warnings, Mr. Assange went ahead and released the cables on Nov. 28.
In a letter sent to Mr. Assange and his lawyer on Nov. 27, State Department Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh warned in strong terms that the documents had been obtained "in violation of U.S. law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action."
Mr. Koh's letter said that publication of the documents in Mr. Assange's possession would, at minimum:
• "Place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals—from journalists to human rights activists and bloggers to soldiers to individuals providing information to further peace and security;
• "Place at risk on-going military operations, including operations to stop terrorists, traffickers in human beings and illicit arms, violent criminal enterprises and other actors that threaten global security; and,
• "Place at risk on-going cooperation between countries—partners, allies and common stakeholders—to confront common challenges from terrorism to pandemic diseases to nuclear proliferation that threaten global stability."


More

• U.K. Police Seek Assange Interview

None of this stopped Mr. Assange. That he is breaking the law and must be stopped from doing more harm is clear. I also believe a prosecution would be successful.
In an October analysis of earlier WikiLeaks disclosures, the Congressional Research Service reported that "it seems that there is ample statutory authority for prosecuting individuals who elicit or disseminate the types of documents at issue, as long as the intent element can be satisfied and potential damage to national security can be demonstrated."
Both elements exist in this case. The "damage to national security" is beyond question. As for intent, Mr. Assange's own words paint a damning picture.
In June, the New Yorker reported that Mr. Assange has asserted that a "social movement" set on revealing secrets could "bring down many administrations that rely on concealing reality—including the U.S. administration." The same piece revealed Mr. Assange's stunning disregard for the grave harm his actions could bring to innocent people, which he dismisses as "collateral damage."
Mr. Assange claims to be a journalist and would no doubt rely on the First Amendment to defend his actions. But he is no journalist: He is an agitator intent on damaging our government, whose policies he happens to disagree with, regardless of who gets hurt.
As for the First Amendment, the Supreme Court has held that its protections of free speech and freedom of the press are not a green light to abandon the protection of our vital national interests. Just as the First Amendment is not a license to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, it is also not a license to jeopardize national security.
This latest WikiLeaks release demonstrates Mr. Assange's willingness to disseminate plans, comments, discussions and other communications that compromise our country. And let there be no doubt about the depth of the harm. Consider the sobering assessment, delivered in an email to employees of U.S. intelligence agencies late last month, by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: "The actions taken by WikiLeaks are not only deplorable, irresponsible, and reprehensible—they could have major impacts on our national security. The disclosure of classified documents puts at risk our troops, law enforcement, diplomats, and especially the American people."
Mrs. Feinstein, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from California and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

[william.howl]

Assange cannot be charged with treason by the U.S. Suggesting that he can is so preposterous that it hardly deserve a response. On the other hand, the U.S. government would have to be really desperate to charge Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. That would be almost like France (or any other country) charging some U.S. government official (say, the director of the CIA) with espionage (spying on France). To make it even funnier, the french could then demand that the U.S. extradite said official to France to be tried. This would be so funny!!! I cannot wait for the U.S. to try it!!

[hippifried]

Treason & espionage aren't the same thing. By definition, treason is disloyalty or breach of allegience to one's own country. I just assume that anyone who doesn't understand that, probably doesnt know what they're talking about in the first place.

Assange won't be charged by or extradited to the US. He didn't leak the documents. He just published them. American journalists & their publishers pull this all the time. The State Department was given a chance to make a case for redaction of anything that they might consider dangerously sensative, & they shined it on. Probably because there wasn't anything in all that mess that was dangerously sensative. There wasn't anything secret. Just confidential. There's a big difference. There's really no espionage because he didn't do the spying, there's no evidence that he paid for or even solicited it, & he wasn't in the employ of any adversary of the US. He just made what he had public. That makes him a journalist by definition. Sloppy & amateurish, but a journalist all the same. You can talk all the laws you want, but the First Amendment trumps them all. It doesn't say the American press. As soon as we insist on taking jurisdiction over him, he falls under all of our protections, regardless of his nationality. If they go after Assange, they'll have to go after Woodward & everybody else. Ain't gonna happen.

It's up to the government to keep their confidentials confidential. Most of this is just email. Their computers aren't even secure. They're just going to have to be more careful.

[jefff]

he deserves to die anybody that puts lives in danger government officials and innocent people alike hes gonna get charged with treason this i have no doubt and when there done with him hes gonna wish he was dead.

who has he put at risk? the pentagon has admitted previously that reports wikileaks leaked, didn't put national security as risk. everytime wikileaks releases something people go crazy about putting people at risk and then some times passes and everyone forgets about it, as no one ends up dead.

your own supreme court ruled "“Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government”"

and wikileaks are only the publishers, not the "rats" as you love to say, who initially got hold of the documents. why is your anger not directed towards them?

what do you do for a living?how much money have you made in your life?probably 10 per cent of what ive made and you call me dummy?your a pathetic piece of shit who doesnt know his ass from a hole in the ground,i ran one chevy dealership top gun in 2 others made well over 2 million dollars in my lifetime hired and fired dozens of people so im far from a dummy asshole

no you are very very close to being a dummy, and an asshole. firstly, you could actually look up the word treason and find out it doesn't apply to assange at all.

also, anyone can be anything on the internet. $2 million dollars? is that all you've made? ha. i make at least that before breakfast everyday.

[GroobySteven]

and will Assange be Time's Person of the Year?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...029037,00.html

[dderek123]

I shit gold coins which makes me a genius obviously. True story.