Wikileaks

[beej]

You mean to tell me that everything that comes out of DC isn't fully compliant with their own pontificated, bloviated, often ambiguous and unintelligible guidance??

Shocking!!!

Yeah, I recall the Drake case. Pretty much thought there was something beneath the surface we weren't privy to.

[beej]

Originally Posted by Boreas

The overthrow of the Mosaddeq government

The overthrow of the Allende government

The repeated assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, some of them utilizing the Mafia

The assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

Abu Graib


John (my name, not a classified operation)

Regrettably (or perhaps not), John (if that's your real name) none of that ever crossed my desk.

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by JJIII

At least Bin Laden didn't have to eat British take-out food!

Coming from the land of the zillion calorie burger................... Need I say more?

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by Boreas

The assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

If my memory serves me right, I believe he did not want to go with a certain new program.

[finnbow]

Something I just heard on TeeVee and just researched on the Google Machine was that none of Wiki's leaks were Top Secret. In fact, the stuff we're most pissed about (State Department cable leaks) were classified "Confidential," the third level from the top. US publications routinely publish leaks classified at this level. I think we should be much more concerned about the State Dept's ability to maintain its secrets, rather than someone who demonstrated the ease of accessing them.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Something I just heard on TeeVee and just researched on the Google Machine was that none of Wiki's leaks were Top Secret. In fact, the stuff we're most pissed about (State Department cable leaks) were classified "Confidential," the third level from the top. US publications routinely publish leaks classified at this level. I think we should be much more concerned about the State Dept's ability to maintain its secrets, rather than someone who demonstrated the ease of accessing them.

I came to the same conclusion. The ability of a sovereign state, us, to reach out and pluck a citizen of another nation from his activities and compel him to answer to our notion of national security ls wrong. The leak needed to be stopped at the source and not villify the publisher after the fact. I think what the U.S. is doing casts quite a shadow over our beief in transparency and the idea of a free press. In fact, hiding information from the citizens ought be particularly diificult with onerous justification requirements for the government.

[beej]

My principal issue with Julian Assange, apart from his self-appointed aribiter status as to what should and what should not be in the public domain, is his suborning of Bradley Manning to treason.

As a separate matter, I must say that I've re-read all of this thread and I cannot accept the notion that simply because some of us view the classification of an action or a process or an idea as an attempted cover up means that that is what it was. Has this happened? Of course. Does that view apply here? Yet to demonstrated in my opinion.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by beej

My principal issue with Julian Assange, apart from his self-appointed aribiter status as to what should and what should not be in the public domain, is his suborning of Bradley Manning to treason.

As a separate matter, I must say that I've re-read all of this thread and I cannot accept the notion that simply because some of us view the classification of an action or a process or an idea as an attempted cover up means that that is what it was. Has this happened? Of course. Does that view apply here? Yet to demonstrated in my opinion.

To your first point, that's what the press does on a regular basis (self-appointed arbiters).

To the second point, no one here suggested that the Manning's leaks were solely material that should not have been classified. The point being made was that a significant portion of all classified material is over-classified and subsequently available on a routine basis to too many without a need to know (e.g., Bradley Manning).

[Dondilion]

The puzzle to me is why the Swede govt cannot guarantee no extradition. Has such govt moved so far to right/closer to USA compared to previous govts.

[merrylander]

If the US wants him and only plans on a jail sentence the would extradit him, it is only if they were to go for the death sentence that Sweden would not extradit him.