In early December, a web site entitled “Wikileaks” published 251,287 cables from more than 250 US embassies around the world, causing a great of embarrassment to the diplomatic community. Many of these cables do not paint our diplomats in a very good light. This includes Secretary of State, my girl, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Was this an example of good, old investigative journalism or espionage at its worst?
Apparently, it depends on who you ask—and, surprisingly, many tried and true liberals are agreeing with (gasp) Fox News on this one. Vice-President Joe Biden is one of those that insists that Wikileaks has “endangered lives and damaged U.S. diplomacy.” Others argue that Wikileaks is only doing its job as the “fourth branch of government” and using journalism to keep American politicians honest.
So—should a flaming liberal who also happens to dabble in journalism respect Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as a true journalist or call for his arrest because of the damage he caused to this Democratic administration? I’m afraid I have no clear answer to that question. Joe Biden—a good “lib” if I ever saw one--recently called Assange a “high tech terrorist” on “Meet the Press”—strangely echoing a statement from Sarah Palin. I guess politics do make for strange bedfellows.
The liberal website “The Progressive Reader” recently asked the question: “Is Julian Assange a courageous freedom fighter battling to buttress democracy through his dedication to government transparency, or a craven, shameless brat?” After conducting my research, I think perhaps the answer is both—Assange is a huge jerk who truly sees his website as doing a necessary and honorable service to the world.
There are some out there that says there has been no punishment at all for this huge leak of information. This simply isn’t true. The U.S.Army private that gave Assange the highly classified documents is currently paying some severe consequences. Bradley Manning has been in solitary confinement at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico for five months now and the end is nowhere in site. His activities are severely restricted. He is not allowed to exercise and he has been denied a pillow and bed sheets. Before being sent to Quantico, he spent two months in a military jail in Kuwait. Manning could even be executed for his crime.
Assange’s punishment is a little bit trickier because his is an AUSTRALIAN citizen who lives in England. He can’t be a “traitor,” as some on Fox news have suggested, because he isn’t an American. The U.S. Justice Department is pulling no punches as it tries to punish Assange and get him in an American courtroom. They are currently seeking to have him extradited from England—and by the time you read this they very may well have succeeded. Most people seem to think they had a hand in his arrest in London on sex charges last month. The timing of arrest in a country with which the United States has a “special” relationship does seem more than a tad coincidental.
In addition to the problem of prosecuting someone in an American court who is not an American and who does not even live in America, many people around the world seem to idolize the pasty-faced computer hacker. Italy’s “Rolling Stone” magazine recently named him Rock Star of the Year. This makes the politics of extradition even trickier.
In conclusion, this liberal (for once) falls somewhere in the middle of this particular controversy. Obviously, it is appropriate to punish the private who initially gave the information to Wikileaks, although I would like him to be punished in a humane way. He stole documents from his workplace and that is a punishable offense. I am anti-death penalty in all cases, so I obviously don’t think a firing squad is in order.
As for Assange, I think the U.S. should stop pushing for his prosecution on what appears to be bogus rape charges and continue to look for legal ways to get him before an American judge and jury. And—the diplomatic corps needs to realize that in the 21st century there is no thing as “top secret” and they’d better be darn careful saying or writing anything they don’t want the world know.
Look for a column in upcoming weeks on one issue on which I DO have an opinion: the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule in the military—and one issue on which I am still undecided: the new gun laws that went into effect in Iowa January 1. In the meantime, anyone with an opinion on either of these hot topics, drop me a line and give me some things to think about. Gotta do something to keep my mind from rotting during these cold Iowa winters!
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