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Ellsberg Calls Assange a Hero
The most famous whistle-blower of the Vietnam era hailed the leading figures behind the WikiLeaks document dump as heroes today, before heading off to chain himself to the White House fence as a protest against efforts to prosecute them.
Daniel Ellsberg being led away from The White House under arrest, December 16, 2010. (Photo/Jon Queally/Common Dreams) On the day WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made bail to win release from the London prison where he has been held on sexual assault charges, Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg defended Assange and his alleged source, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Manning is being held in a military prison at Quantico, Va.
"I see Bradley Manning as a patriot, and I'm sure Julian Assange is an Australian patriot," Ellsberg said in a press conference today. "To call them terrorists is not only mistaken, it's absurd and slanderous. Neither of them are any more terrorists than I am, and I'm not."
Afterwards, the 79-year-old Ellsberg headed to the White House to be chained to its snowy gates as part of a protest organized by Veterans for Peace, which also organized the press conference along with GetUp!, an Australian activist group.
The groups ran full-page advertisements today in the New York Times and Washington Times calling on the administration to protect the civil rights of Assange and Bradley against calls for their heads.
Ellsberg's decision in 1971 to release reams of secret documents, detailing U.S. covert efforts and private doubts about the conflict in Vietnam, helped build public sentiment for the end of the war and led to his indictment. A judge ultimately dimissed all the charges.
He said there were "fundamental similarities" between his actions and Manning's. Ellsberg said that if Manning were to be executed for treason, as some members of Congress have urged, he would be the first put to death for giving information to other Americans since British colonial days. "It would mean the crown had returned to America," Ellsberg said.
Ellsberg called the public's reaction to WikiLeaks' document release "hysterical" and compared it to the outcry after his release of the Pentagon Papers, when he was called a traitor. "I have no doubt if I put out the Pentagon Papers in every detail, same as before, I would now be called a terrorist," Ellsberg said.
He acknowledged the first WikiLeaks release had been insufficiently redacted, but argued that no one's safety was compromised. Subsequent releases have been properly vetted to ensure no lives would be risked, Ellsberg said.
Ellsberg was sharply critical of President Obama, who he said "has a very personal reason to be concerned" about the exposed information. Ellsberg contended that the documents reveal torture and unnecessary fatalities at the hands of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan -- alleged atrocities that Ellsberg says Obama should be investigating.
The Espionage Act may allow some legal room to prosecute Assange, Ellsberg said, but he added that it would be impossible to mount a case without also targeting the New York Times, one of several media outlets around the world that published the leaked documents. The administration, "for political reasons, does not want to take on" one of the nation's leading newspapers, Ellsberg contended.
"Our Justice Department is searching hard for a law that these acts can be said to have violated," said Ellsberg, who asserted that Obama has already prosecuted four leakers, more than all other presidents in history combined, which he called an "ominous trend."
Ellsberg said the coverage of the gossip contained in the leaks did a disservice to the important information the documents contained, including indications that the United States is currently engaged in ground operations in Pakistan, which the Pentagon has denied. Nothing could be more dangerous, Ellsberg argued, because it could destabilize the country, leading to the possibility of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of al-Qaida.
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31 Comments so far
Show AllA great American, a true patriot, what a real leader is all about.....
Could not agree more..
All of this over some low-level, less than top-secret documents leaked by a Private. Most of this information is not really new or surprising at all in the first place.
Imagine what would happen if some above top-secret info was leaked by a higher ranking official.
Even still, the Empire is torturing poor Manning, abusing and breaking the law in order to arrest Assange and arresting Ellsberg.
Why Assange would have stayed in the UK, is a bit strange. If I were him, the UK would be one of the last places I would be. Did he want to get arrested?
Something about this whole affair is strange.
My guess he was surprised by the Interpol red tag alert when he was already in Britain and any travel would have resulted in immediate apprehension by Interpol.
Interpol obviously being a USA stooge since it refuses to accept ( for the first time in history) warrants form Spain for three USA war criminals.
And Britain has a relatively strong anti extradition tradition( especially as compared to Sweden).
I believe that Assange's passport had been taken away--he could not leave the UK.
What is strange about this incident is how feminists have become so indignant about what Assange has supposedly done despite the fact, as Naomi Wolf [who has worked with genuine rape victims for over 20 years] has cogently pointed out in a recent article, that Interpol is going after a person because his condom broke even though this organization has rarely, if ever, done this before in the past. Or even pulled out all the steps over a woman who was raped.
What we have is the "international community" suddenly jumping on a bandwagon to freeze the personal finances, cut off legal assistance, swear out arrest warrants, and act quickly on those warrants-all over accusations that were already dropped once for lack of evidence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/jaccuse-sweden-britain-an_b_795899.html
Being skeptical myself, I'll throw in another weird thing.
So, you're Assange setting up a website that will be used as a vehicle by which people will leak secret information about governments - especially the U.S.
You are or should be very aware that A LOT of people would want your ass dead or silenced.
Also, you're a hacker in a community that has an enhanced ability to dig up information on most anyone you want.
Yet, with all the acumen/awareness and caution one would think that a person in Assange's position would possess - he decides to have a threesome with women who have published ties to nasty anti-Castro groups funded by the US and supported by the CIA.
Huh?
Sure, I know men think with their dicks - unbelievably so, hello Eliot Spitzer - but it amazes me that he would have even put himself in this position.
As some have conjectured, he may just be terribly naive.
I don't know.
Before I get hammered by other posters, I just wanted to state the above by no means is an indictment of anything Assange has done or who he is.
Just that such a lapse in awareness is quite startling from someone I believe is highly intelligent and who is - or should have been- attuned to the evil machinations of world governments.
Flame on.
Sex has been used to entrap more than one man and maybe even a few women. It's a classic ploy to neutralize someone who is making trouble for you. Elliot Spitzer is a good example. He was about to bring charges against some Wall Street bankers. They had to do something to stop him and it worked.
If you haven't read John Perkins' "Confessions of An Economic Hitman", you should. In it he describes how sex and money were used to convince him to become a hitman for powerful interests. The same techniques were used and worse on others who were deemed a threat to the powers that be.
There is a new film out called "Client Nine" which examines the Spitzer case. It is by Alex Gibney, and the reports I heard talk about the unusual prosecution effort against Spitzer and their motivations.
Is it the United States of Amnesia that causes commenters to pussy-foot around the parallels between Mr. Clinton's indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky and Mr. Assange's indiscretion with Anna Arden and Sofia Wilen?
The central goal of WikiLeaks is to prevent the world's most powerful factions--including the sprawling, imperial U.S. Government--from continuing to operate in the dark and without restraints. Most of the institutions which are supposed to perform that function—beginning with the U.S. Congress and the American media—not only fail to do so, but are active participants in maintaining the veil of secrecy.
Mr. Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America's Supermax prisons, all without so much as having been convicted of anything.
Foolishness on the part of a young man to take on the giants? Or belief in the notion that one person can change the world? David? Beowulf? Thoreau? Gandhi? King? Muste? Ellsberg?
Just because the "neocons" have decided to deep six these people doesn't ultimately lessen their influence in the world. The substitution of such names as Ken Starr/Beck/Palin/Hannity/Limbaugh/Dobbs/O'Reilly/McConnell/Sessions/Boehner does not mean that this latter group will dominate the consciousness of the 6.7 billion of the rest of us.
Mr. Murdoch's media does not hypnotize everyone. And it's central goal seems to be character assassination or ad hominem attacks on people with courage enough to speak truth to power.
Stop the Machiavellian machinations! Don't allow them to keep secrets. Make their dealings be done in the disinfecting light of Sunshine Law.
My shock doesn't come from the fact that honeytraps exist but rather that people like Assange and Spitzer - people who are taking on very powerful interests - would allow themselves to get caught in them.
I mean, if you're gonna combat TPTB maybe it's time for some sacrifice in the lifestyle department?
Like maybe stop seeing that prostitute?
Or maybe checking out who this person is who is clamoring for a threesome?
"All of this over some low-level, less than top-secret documents leaked by a Private. Most of this information is not really new or surprising at all in the first place."
By golly! I'm glad to see there is someone with a realistic perspective around here.
"Something about this whole affair is strange."
Frankly I agree...but what ids really going on? I can't see anything.
The Pakistani military is huge and fierce I doubt any weapons would be obtained by Al Queda without Pakistani cooperation.
More likely a faction of the Pakistani military would get fed up enough with the USA to let off a big one on a USA base.
Will the US cooperate with Interpol to extradite convicted CIA operatives to Italy? Will the US media cover the story of the increased sentences they received for their good work by the Italian courts?
True heroes in the long struggle with the murderous US corporate/military empire: Daniel Ellsberg, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning. The loud bellowing attacks from the political right and the numerous liberal supporters of empire further confirm that these are brave men truly deserving of any true patriot's support.
Thank you, Daniel Ellsberg, and all the others who are willing to take a stand for truth, transparency and accountability.
The times are calling for more of us to do the same.
Workers of the World ARE Arising Up!
If this effort dies on the vine, all of us who did not show up in support, if even in a less confrontational manner, will get the government we deserve. It is Doubtful that this will get much attention in the MSM.
This is absolutely crucial:
"Ellsberg said the coverage of the gossip contained in the leaks did a disservice to the important information the documents contained, including indications that the United States is currently engaged in ground operations in Pakistan, which the Pentagon has denied."
Thank you, Daniel Ellsberg, for exposing the diversionary nature of the media's coverage of the contents of the leaks.
You are a fine and courageous man, of whom we can be proud.
"On the day WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made bail to win release" is an incorrect statement. Assange made bail a couple days ago, but even having made bail was not released at that time.
That is very true, I never heard of making bail, and staying in jail. I wonder how he feels about his organazation turning on him, and forming a new group.
Ellsberg and Assange are indeed heros--and the leakers such as Bradley Manning too!
Manning and Ellsberg--true Americans.
"To call them terrorists is not only mistaken, it's absurd and slanderous."
Slander is an offense that opens up the possibility of a lawsuit by Manning and Assange against detractors. A great opportunity for a brilliant, competent, creative attorney, or group of attorneys.
Don't hold your breath.
Calling Assange and Manning terrorists cheapens the meaning of terrorism. We deserve to know the truth. They helped us get it.
I don't see how espionage can even be a consideration. Assange, and Wikileaks is a news org. and they got thier hands on "News", and then after carefully going over each word, so they wouldn't endanger innocent people, they released the News ! What the Hell is wrong with that ! If the Goverment Worker, did nothing wrong, or the Soldier stayed within the limits of the Geneva Convention etc. then they have nothing to worry about. If your guilty of a crime or telling lies, then screw you, if not ...no worries !
The U.S. goverment is so corrupt, we must remove 60% or more,of the creeps, to even start to take our country back. How the Hell do we do that ?
AmeriKKKa are the real criminals
Anybody who is seriously angry at Assange or very interested in the release of the content of the "insurance.aes256" file now has a chance to act!
That's because one of the conditions for Assange's bail is that he should report to a police station in Bungay, Suffolk, every day at 6pm. Unless that condition was changed, who knows what might happen, one of these days, in Bungay, at around 6pm?
My question is, what were the men thinking, who set the conditions for this bail?
Ah! The _terrorists_ might attack the police station and kidnap Julian and take him to Osama's cave?
Or might it be the PATRIOTS from the USA who attack Julian and "take him out", as they say, with a sniper shot?
Maybe just an ambassador or an insurance CEO will do the attacking?
Or maybe a gang of liberals?
The fantasies of paranoia know no bounds.
Fear is the problem. Get a handle on it!
It's just like children being afraid of the dark.
Bush lied, illegally invaded a small country, million died , why isn't he considered a terrorist???
he was a paid participant ? Q