What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
Speaking to a local radio station on Monday, Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan offered one argument. To Rogers, Bradley Manning, the army private who leaked tens of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, should be executed.
According to Fox News (via The Daily Caller), Rogers said:
We know for a fact that people will likely be killed because of this information being disclosed...That's pretty serious. If they don't charge him with treason, they ought to charge him with murder...I argue the death penalty clearly should be considered here...He clearly aided the enemy to what may result in the death of U.S. soldiers . . . If that is not a capital offense, I don't know what is.
And in a column at Townhall today, Tony Blankley thinks that WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange should be "prosecuted and possibly executed by the U.S. government for wartime espionage."
These remarks come on the heels of what Liz Cheney said a few days ago on Fox News Sunday--that Assange should be prosecuted for aiding and abetting al Qaeda. She added that Obama should move aggressively to shut down Wikileaks, with or without Iceland's cooperation.
Cheney said:
I would really like to see President Obama to move to ask the government of Iceland to shut that website down. I would like to see him move to shut it down ourselves if Iceland won't do it. I would like to see them move aggressively to prosecute Mr. Assange and certainly ensure that he never again gets a visa to enter the United States...What he's done is very clearly aiding and abetting al Qaeda. And as I said, he may very well be responsible for the deaths of American soldiers Afghanistan.
This past June, Assange worked closely with Iceland's government to pass legislation protecting investigative journalists, their sources, and sites like WikiLeaks, turning Iceland into a journalism haven. Allegedly, Assange has leaked documents onto WikiLeaks out of Iceland. Supporting Iceland's free speech legislation, he said:
In my role as WikiLeaks editor, I've been involved in fighting off more than 100 legal attacks over the past three years. To do that, and keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions.
We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to make such extraordinary efforts. Large newspapers, including the Guardian, are forced to remove or water down investigative stories rather than risk legal costs. Even internet-only publishers writing about corruption find themselves disconnected by their ISPs after legal threats. Should these publications not relent, they are hounded, like the Turks & Caicos Islands Journal, from one jurisdiction to other. There's a new type of refugee – "publishers" – and a new type of internet business developing, "refugee hosting". Malaysia Today is no longer published in Malaysia. Even the American Homeowners Association has moved its servers to Stockholm after relentless legal attacks in the United States.
Rogers, Blankley, and Cheney's remarks raise a host of questions:
Do Rogers, Blankley, and Cheney have a strong legal case? Can Pvt. Manning be charged for murder? Can Assange be tried for aiding and abetting a foreign enemy and espionage? And even if they can, should they be?
What should be done about WikiLeaks? Can it be shut down? Censored? Left alone? Should it be? Would following Cheney's advice about Assange and WikiLeaks deal a blow to investigative journalism?
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
It's odd. If he took the documents and handed them to an al-Qaeda go-between, then he's clearly involved in espionage, but if he "hands them" to the entire World, over the internet, he's a "journalist."
May '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
Making an example of Assange so that he can not come to the USA without being imprisioned, nor go to a country that permits extradition to the USA, would serve a useful purpose. It would also be a reduced justice; not enough to compensate for the lives lost by his actions but enough to give pause when contemplating something similar.
Aug '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
If a person chooses to act as an outlaw and to objectively aid a war enemy, he should be treated as such.
Jul '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
I think we should conduct a campaign to discover and leak the identities of Assange's sources. You want full transparency, huh? You'll get it.
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
What do you all think of media shield laws?
Jun '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice doesn't leave a whole lot of wiggle room for PFC Manning's defense. There really aren't that many punitive articles in the military justice system, and a majority of those deal with infractions that have no civilian equivalent. Article 104 of the UCMJ, Aiding the Enemy, will be the primary charge: "Any person who—
(1) aids, or attempts to aid, the enemy with arms, ammunition, supplies, money, or other things; or
(2) without proper authority, knowingly harbors or protects or gives intelligence to or communicates or corresponds with or holds any intercourse with the enemy, either directly or indirectly; shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial or military commission may direct.”
The government's case will rest on Element 4 of the Article, Giving Intelligence to the Enemy:
"(a) That the accused, without proper authority, knowingly gave intelligence information to the enemy; and
(b) That the intelligence information was true, or implied the truth, at least in part."
Manning can at least take consolation in the fact that we haven't executed anyone in the military justice system since 1961.
May '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
A side story on the whole issue. Canada's national, publicly funded broadcaster, the CBC, has posted a searchable database of all the wikiliki Significant Incident reports involving the Canadian military. It is encouraging readers to search the database and report any interesting finds....
Although the CBC didn't release these documents to the world, it has made them easy available, and searchable. Essentially then, Canadian tax payers money is funding a giant, beautifully archived after action report for the enemy.....
What a strange world it is....I personally wrote some of these Sig Act reports during my time in Khandahar. Talking about these details amongst ourselves, in the mess, in the gym, was a big no no. Bringing it back to Canada and sharing it with friends, just as bad. And now it's released to the world. Detailed reports on specific incidents, reporting how we act, and react. Which Afghani's were friendly. How many we lost in specific incidents. What forces we have available, our reaction times, etc. A goldmine for the enemy.
Good analyis of the Canuck side here:
http://cjunk.blogspot.com/2010/08/anatomy-of-cowardice.html
Jul '10
Re: What to do About WikiLeaks and its Sources?
The government needs the appropriate power to maintain state secrets.
The government already has this power.
The government failed.
Do not give more power to the government because it failed to use its existing power effectively.