Regarding this wikileaks outrage.. Perhaps I've missed it, so correct me if I'm wrong, but amongst the LOADS of topics and posts about people calling for Assange to be tarred and feathered, tortured, assassinated, having his severed head displayed in public as a warning etc. I have yet to read ANY outrage for the people who actually did "leak" the information, that is U.S. soldiers and U.S. personnel, who gave away their classified information against their own contractual orders and insodoing committed treason. Yes Assange divulged the information, which is what ANYONE who gave the information to him would have expected him to do. It's like a father feeds his baby to the lions at the zoo.. And everyone is OUTRAGED at the evil lions for eating the baby, yet nobody opens their mouth or has anything bad to say about the father who fed the baby to the hungry lions knowing how hungry those lions were.
No one would dare say a word about that young, misguided, gay, unhappy soldier who decided to spill the beans because he wasn't given the respect he felt he deserved.
Thats crap, I think he should do some very hard time for the rest of his life. If he gave out some very serious information that is yet to be leaked then he should be executed as, I believe, is in accordance to U.S. laws on the issue.
Jonathan Pollard got life for putting the lives of Tens of millions of Americans at real risk. Brad Manning, if found guilty, handed out cocktail party chat. I'd give him a six month suspended sentence and a dishonourable discharge.
That analogy fails because lions are not sentient...they have no control over their instincts, and so are not responsible for their actions. The Father is. Both the Soldiers and Assange knew what they were doing. The penalty for both should be heavy. Not necessarily execution, but something along the lines of decades in prison at the least. What they did was analogous to treason IMO.
Manning knowing divulged secret information. Regardless of his motivations, he knew the consequenses, and should face the full penalties under the law. Assange? I don't defend him but I am not sure what U.S. laws he broke exactly- he is not a U.S. citizen, wasn't in the U.S., I am just not sure what the basis would be so for to prosecute Assange.
Assange isn't even a US citizen. He has no allegiance to US. He is not a spy. He is an international journalist who has done his job. US has no jurisdiction over him or any other journalist.
the relationship between Assange and Manning is still under investigation. if it can be proved that Manning was in any way recruited, trained or paid for his betrayal, Assange will be treated no different that any other person w/o diplomatic immunity.
So what? Gitmo is full of people who are not US citizens. Not being a citizen doesnt mean you can do whatever the hell you want to us without consequences. Case in point...being a journalist does not mean you get to blab about classified information at will.
Reporting is the job of civilian journalists. If people don't support these journalists enough for the information to become mainstream, or don't have the will to find out what is really going on, that is their sin. Leaking military information is treason, execution is in order. As for Assange, he is civilian, he can do what he wants.
What in the world? Why did the options jump from "light sentence" to execution? Where's the "hard labor in an Alaskan gulag" option?
Um, actually... you can. You're protected - Remember the Pentagon papers - Times v. United States? There's a precedent for this. Unless you wish to amend your constitution for the sole purpose of charging Assange.
You realize that the soldier broke a law, right? Or do you think that nothing on earth should be secret?
I think traitors like Bush, Cheney, Obama, the Clintons, Kissinger, McNamara, and Johnson should spend (or have spent) the rest of their lives in jail for war crimes.
the one who actually obtained the information, regardless of content should be charged and sentenced appropriately to the fullest extent of the laws he breached. Assanges crime is simply the way he handled of the information. nothing more. he is not a journalist but he should have vetted the information correctly and reported on them correctly as per journalistic standards. this he should be charged for. but more or less it would simply be a slap on the wrist for this type of thing. but he should take responsibility for what he has posted not try justify it the way he has been attempting to.
It does if they are not in the country with the law. The USA is a COUNTRY, not GOD! USA law is not world law. For example, people daily post information on this board some countries would consider illegal and secret. In your view, the operators of this web site, if American should be arrested by America at the offended country's request, and handed over to he aggrieved country for execution! So Iran, China, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, or Canada, can all take us away when we break THEIR laws while at home in the USA.