[Guest]

I'd like to open a discussion about the ongoing story of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, which seems to be getting increasingly interesting.

Earlier this year Wikileaks released apparently classified footage of a Baghdad airstrike killing two Reuters staff and several Iraqis. I will not link to this directly because it is horrifying and I am aware that there are young people on BrainDen. Please, kids, you don't need to see this. But adults really do need to see it.

Now apparently Wikileaks is in possession of footage of a massacre of Afghan civilians. A U.S. Army Intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, is suspected of having leaked this material to Wikileaks, plus around 260,000 diplomatic cables. He has been arrested and shipped to a US military prison in Kuwait. The Editor in Chief of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, appears to be in hiding. The life of a whistleblower is a dangerous one.

I'm trying to do what I can to raise the profile of this story, in case Assange should suddenly decide to "commit suicide", assisted by US special ops, and also because this is a news story you probably won't be seeing on the TV.

All opinions welcome

[Guest]

Agreed. This latest batch of cables is a real mixed bag, and arguably some of it should not be published, but that's not because the government has some kind of right to privacy, it's more a question of weighing where the public interest lies. There seems to be some element of diplomatic private gossip that I'm not sure requires public attention, but it's a matter of opinion. The flip side is that it contributes to a bigger picture which is the truth. Not all of it is unflattering. Is it so bad that people gain a more realistic view of what is going on in the diplomatic world? So far the reaction of the US government and others seems more interesting than the cables themselves. Treating Wikileaks as a criminal or even terrorist organisation, the subsequent complicity of Amazon and Paypal, attacks on the website, calls for Assange's assassination, the ridiculous rape accusations. Classy. I don't want to have a world where governments get to decide what we know or don't know about their internal workings. They should be accountable to the people, and Wikileaks is a necessary part of the equation.

[Izzy]

Hah. Check it: http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html

[peace*out]

on the helicopter attack website, it includes a video with one of the soldiers talking about what happened.

its really sad what they tell them.

.

.

http://www.collateralmurder.com/

[Guest]

It seems to be part of a growing trend in which the people of the USA are given a censored view of the workings of their own state. It's worrying for the rest of the world because where the USA leads, the rest follow. Democracy and freedom are in serious danger. Time after time I see the US government cross lines that should never be crossed. You need to protect yourselves from your own government or pretty soon the only human rights you will have will be those they see fit to grant you. I don't know how progress is achievable, but I'm pretty sure it must involve people getting angry. The only rights a people truly have are those they are willing to fight for.

Of course, they have to know why they are angry and for what they are fighting. The Tea Party in the US is certainly angry, but for the most part, their message is being co-opted and directed by corporate, anti-democratic interests. They see that things aren't working in Washington and they want to change Washington's culture. Unfortunately, the corporate Koch brothers, et al. create a number of "grassroots" organizations (more accurately described as "astroturf" ) to control that discontent for their own ends. Meanwhile, the progressive Left has been mad for a while, but the media (mostly owned by right-leaning groups/individuals) marginalizes them and treats them as unhinged. The double standard is disturbing, though not entirely unexpected.

The primary issue is messaging. The Right has been winning against the Left in America largely because they have a devoted messaging machine in place to control the debate. President Obama has made absolutely no efforts towards gun control; it's not a fight he wants to have right now. And yet, there is a significant portion of the population that believes that he's dead set to take their guns. This is a completely fabricated story created by the Right-wing messaging machine and it is used to direct people's anger at the Obama Administration for issues that aren't issues, so that they won't complain about things that actually are a problem.

WikiLeaks and like organizations can leak all they want, but unless there is an educated, informed electorate ready to comprehend it, they won't effect any sort of significant change (at least not in the right direction). I don't know how, but I imagine that the Right is already using the WikiLeaks stuff to attack the Obama Admin, even if many of the cables are from the Bush Era.

To change the subject a little, I've heard that WikiLeaks announced that it will release a bunch of information about Russia soon and that some of the DDS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks may be from Russian hackers. From what I've heard, the Russians take the idea of WikiLeaks airing their dirty laundry rather seriously.

[Guest]

Here's an article I came across about Julian Assange's rationale for creating WikiLeaks. Perhaps it will help to shed light on his thought process...

[Molly Mae]

Manning has made my life hell this year.

Regardless of whether the people are entitled to the information, he has aged me by several years in the course of a few months.

[gvg]

And... Assange has been arrested in England on sexual assault charges (two seperate accounts I think).

[peace*out]

And... Assange has been arrested in England on sexual assault charges (two seperate accounts I think).

were they jsut trying to find an excuse, or did he accually do it?

[gvg]

Well, I dunno. the charges were dropped (something I read, dunno if it's true) at an earlier time, and then right after the big release, they came up again when the USA complained.

So, I dunno. Anybody actually know?

[Guest]

were they jsut trying to find an excuse, or did he accually do it?

He's only wanted for questioning in Sweden right now. But he doesn't want to be extradited to Sweden from the UK because Sweden might in turn extradite him to the US. He's claiming that his interactions with the two women were consensual, while they are claiming that he went beyond consent. Those seem like very hard allegations to disprove. He turned himself in to Scotland Yard and he is being held without bail (I would guess as a flight risk, maybe? ).

He recently wrote in opinion-editorial (op-ed) for an Australian newspaper. He's basically saying that we shouldn't be attacking him and WikiLeaks because they're just the messenger. He claims that no one has found any evidence that someone was harmed as a result of any of the leaks they have posted. He was also a little critical of the Australian government for sucking up to the US so much.

I don't know all that much, but here's a link to an AP article posted in Talking Points Memo (TPM). That's where it says he's just wanted for questioning and that the Swedish government has no intent to hold him once he's answered questions.

[gvg]

I almost feel like I want to seem him in court, just to see what these insurance files are all about.

If it's questioning, and those are the claims, he'll be fine.

Don't kill the messenger, people =)

[Molly Mae]

Note: I had to remove a paragraph. Further, I've X'd out significant name and numbers.

Important Information from OASD(NII)/DoD CIO

Department of Defense (DoD) military, civilian and contractor personnel should not access the WikiLeaks website to view or download the publicized classified information. Doing so could introduce potentially classified information on unclassified networks. There has been rumor that the information is no longer classified since it resides in the public domain. This is NOT true. The subject information was not "declassified" by an appropriate authority and requires continued classification or reclassification.

If someone else asks you about the WikiLeaks material or the validity of this suspect information, remember that you can never confirm or deny the validity of leaked Government information. Any comment by you could be treated as an official confirmation by a Government spokesperson.

S/F

LtCol XXXXX, XXXXXX PSD & HQ Sqdn CO

XXX-XXX-XXXX (DSN XXX)

-----Original Message-----

From: XXXXXXXXXXX

Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:35

To: XXXXXXX

Subject: IMPORTANT: OSD NOTIFICATION: WIKILEAKS GUIDANCE

ALCON

Per direction, please ensure that the email below and the information at the link under "Requested Actions" in the bottom email are read by EVERYONE in your command.

---------------- OSD NOTIFICATION: WikiLeaks Guidance-----------------------------

SENT

29 November 2010

AUDIENCE

OSD All

SUMMARY

The recent WikiLeaks publicity has spawned many questions related to WikiLeaks and the accessibility to the information. WikiLeaks information is potentially classified and DoD has directed that military, civilian, and contractor personnel should not access the WikiLeaks website.

The WikiLeaks website is not blocked by OSD and attempts to the WikiLeaks site are being monitored by the OSD Computer Network Defense Service

Provider (CNDSP).

REQUESTED ACTIONS

1. Visit the Information Assurance Support Environment website and read the DoD WikiLeaks guidance, https://powhatan.iiie.disa.mil/webteam/content_pages/guidance.html

2. Do not attempt to access the WikiLeaks website or access WikiLeaks information using search capabilities.

3. Inform other DoD military, civilians, and contractor personnel of the DoD

WikiLeak guidance.

DURATION

Indefinite

[gvg]

Edit*

Nevermind, i typed it in wrong

Edited December 8, 2010 by gvg