WikiLeaks Plans To Release All War Documents

So someone is standing up to the Pentagon! There must be a great deal of potential damage in those documents for them to be so upset. I rather feel that WikiLeaks themselves are taking quite a chance by publishing them. If someone gets killed and it can be proven that the leaks contributed, then wouldn't they be found criminally at fault? This article gives more detail.


. . . June


WikiLeaks says it won't be threatened by Pentagon
By KEITH MOORE, Associated Press Sat Aug 14, 11:40 am ET

WikiLeaks will publish its remaining 15,000 Afghan war documents within a month, despite warnings from the U.S. government, the organization's founder said Saturday.

The Pentagon has said that secret information will be even more damaging to security and risk more lives than WikiLeaks' initial release of some 76,000 war documents.

"This organization will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group," Julian Assange told reporters in Stockholm. "We proceed cautiously and safely with this material."

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that if U.S. defense officials want to be seen as promoting democracy then they "must protect what the United States' founders considered to be their central value, which is freedom of the press."

"For the Pentagon to be making threatening demands for censorship of a press organization is a cause for concern, not just for the press but for the Pentagon itself," the Australian added.

He said WikiLeaks was about halfway though a "line-by-line review" of the 15,000 documents and that "innocent parties who are under reasonable threat" would be redacted from the material.

"It should be approximately two weeks before that process is complete," Assange told AP. "There will then be a journalistic review, so you're talking two weeks to a month."

Wikileaks would be working with media partners in releasing the remaining documents, he said, but declined to name them.

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What do you think?  Is the Pentagon correct in trying to muzzle WikiLeaks? Or are the WikiLeaks people right in insisting on their right to publish the documents?  Leave a comment


. . . June

Bradley Manning - Whistle-Blower Or Traitor!

This is the other side of the story. Bradley Manning is a young man who apparently thought he was doing the right thing, and decided to expose some "War Crimes". Unfortunately he never thought about the possible effects of his actions on his fellow soldiers or his country. The article below is from the Bradley Manning Support Network and takes a sympathetic view..
June



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Please Don’t Shoot the Messenger
Charlotte from The Bradley Manning Support Network  Toronto — August 4, 2010

I do not know Private First Class Bradley Manning, so I have no idea what motivated him to join the U.S. military in the first place. His youth, perhaps. Or maybe the sense of adventure promoted in the military marketing material. His reported sense of isolation may also have had something to I do with his enlisting. I suspect, however, that Superman’s “Truth, Justice and the American Way” also played a role.

Deep within each of us, I think we all want to wear that red cape and be a hero. We all want to do something selfless and brave. Ironically, it may be Bradley’s final act as a member of the military that will prove to be his most courageous.

Charged with leaking the video of an Apache helicopter attack in which 11 Iraqis died and 2 children were gravely injured, Bradley Manning faces charges that would put him behind bars for five decades. It is critical, then, that people within the United States and around the world weigh the supposed crime of whistle-blowing against the crime of the wars themselves. Then decide who really deserves to be punished.

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What do you think should happen to him? Some will hail him as a whistle-blower and say he did the right thing. Others call him a traitor. Which side are you on?


June

Wikileaks Whistleblower In Trouble

The Wikileaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning is in big trouble. He faces four charges related to accusations that he leaked a classified video from 2007 showing an American helicopter gunning down civilians. What should happen to this young man? Should he be classified a traitor? Here's a story from blastmagazine.com on the subject.

June


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U.S. Congressman Calls For Execution Of Wikileaks Whistleblower
by Nicholas Deleon on August 3, 2010


What should happen to PFC Bradley Manning, the young man now charged with the unauthorized access of and subsequently leaking of classified military information, namely the video that Wikileaks released under the title “Collateral Murder”? Should the United States government execute him? If your name is Congressman Mike Rogers, then you believe that yes, the young man should be put to death.

The congressman, appearing on a local radio station in Michigan, said that Manning’s actions (still alleged at this point—he hasn’t been convicted yet) qualify as treason in a time of war, and thus should be considered capital crimes. That is, crimes punishable under pain of death.

You ought to listen to the entire interview (it’s available online, and it only 17 minutes long) before forming any opinion on what the congressman said. I’m not a fan of taking a few words here and there, presenting them out of context, then claiming that the sky is green.

One odd thing: Rogers seems to be working under the assumption that Manning, who has sizable support online, was also responsible for the Afghanistan war logs. To my knowledge Manning is only in custody over the leak of the “Collateral Murder” video, and not the war logs. Not yet, at least.

The congressman, who represents Michigan’s 8th district and who sits on the House Intelligence Comittee, said that if Manning isn’t charged with treason then he should be charged with murder.

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Which side are you on? Would you have leaked a video which you considered against your principles, even though you were in the U.S. military? Or do you consider this an act of treason. Leave a comment.

June