“Spy,” “Terrorist,” “Messenger” Witch Hunt

INCREASING FORCE TO
Silence the messenger
Re-reporting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

Deutsche Welle reports Thursday December 2, 2010 — The United States government “is mulling how to take legal action against [WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange].” Interpol went public on Wednesday with an alert calling for the arrest of Assange “in connection with allegations of sex offenses in Sweden” and 188 member states of the international police organization have issued “wanted” alerts for Assange.

People in high places and an angry array of idiots have again resorted to their over-worn epithet, “terrorist,” followed by calls to kill the messenger — this nation has a nature of violence.

What is the virulent backlash to release of U.S. documents about really?  It is about entrenched power resisting the unveiling of its real face to a public that has a constitutional right to see that face. 

“Terrorist”
A lot of venom is being directed toward WikiLeaks and toward Assange, personally, said a law professor and director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University (New York), William C. Banks, “but the institutional makeup of [WikiLeaks] simply does not fit the profile of those designated by the United States as “‘foreign terrorists organizations.’”

U.S.Government-unaccredited  “Spy”
Seton Hall University (Newark) law professor Jonathan Hafetz agrees and suggests that the U.S. government is more likely to attempt prosecution of Assange under a “so-called Espionage Act of 1917.” However, under this Act, the United States “would have to prove: (1) that [Assange] had unauthorized possession of information related to national security; (2) that [Assange] could bring harm to the United States or aid an enemy; and (3) that [Assange] had willfully kept that information after the United States demanded that he return it.”

U.S.Government-unapproved Free Speech
Moreover, Hafetz said, “there are some real first amendment and freedom of speech consequences and problems trying to prosecute WikiLeaks for publishing information.… It is hard to draw the line — why would they then not prosecute the New York Times or the other newspapers?”

“At the end of the day, even if WikiLeaks is prosecuted, it does not stop another organization from potentially publishing other documents.”

News source
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6288739,00.html


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