Somalina Posted December 30, 2010 WRITTEN BY ALEX NEWMAN THURSDAY, 30 DECEMBER 2010 American proponents of government secrecy are calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be assassinated or imprisoned, even if it means creating a new law to do it. And that is exactly what anti-WikiLeaks activists in the federal government are working on right now. People calling for the prosecution of Assange and WikiLeaks — mostly Western officials, government apologists, and media talking heads — have generally advocated indictments for conspiracy and even espionage. A few, who may not have realized Assange was an Australian national, actually called for charges of treason. Former House Speaker and establishment Republican Newt Gingrich wants him classified as an “enemy combatant.” Others called for outright extrajudicial murder. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been intentionally vague about what is going on within the Justice Department in terms of charging WikiLeaks. But he did say "there's a predicate for us to believe that crimes have been committed here and we are in the process of investigating those crimes." Holder acknowledged several weeks ago that an investigation was ongoing and that he had "authorized significant steps" in the leak probe, but he did not offer any details. Analysts are unsure of what U.S. charges would or even could be aimed at Assange. The most likely candidate right now would appear to be “conspiracy,” especially if accused whistle-blower Pfc. Bradley Manning can be prodded into fingering Assange as a co-conspirator. Manning is currently being held in solitary confinement, as the United Nations and human rights groups around the world continue to express concern over the conditions of his detention. And experts suspect the allegedly harsh treatment could be leading to a mental breakdown, making it easier to coerce him into helping bring charges against Assange. Another option for the prosecution that has received a lot of publicity recently is the Espionage Act of 1917. Under that statute, individuals can be prosecuted for publishing or even “willfully” keeping information related to national defense or anything that could be "used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation." Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein is one legislator who was calling loudly for an espionage prosecution. She took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal, calling Assange an “agitator intent on damaging our government” and saying that, because Assange “intentionally harmed the U.S. government,” he should be “vigorously prosecuted for espionage.” She also wrote that she thought such a prosecution would be successful. But there are a few problems with that. First of all, the Espionage Act is normally applied to spies working for foreign governments or leakers within the U.S regime — not journalists exposing secret wars, climate espionage and bribery, and war crimes, such as the use of illegal cluster bombs by U.S. forces in Yemen. And that is one reason legal experts have consistently dismissed calls for charges of espionage, even during recent congressional hearings on the matter. But legislators are already moving to modify the 1917 statute to make it easier to prosecute Assange and others like him. Earlier this month, neoconservative Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) introduced a bill to amend the Espionage Act. The proposal would purport to criminalize the disclosure of any information “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government.” Naturally, all of the Senators responsible for the bill thought it was a great idea. “Julian Assange and his cronies, in their effort to hinder our war efforts, are creating a hit list for our enemies,” fumed Senator Ensign in a statement. “Let me be very clear, WikiLeaks is not a whistleblower website and Assange is not a journalist.” Read the rest at http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/5700-wikileaks-leads-to-calls-for-new-infringements-on-speech-press Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
