Excerpt: "Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents reveal that military personnel contacting WikiLeaks may face execution for 'communicating with the enemy.'"
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures after his statement to the media and supporters on a balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London Aug. 19, 2012. (photo: AP)
US Brands Julian Assange and WikiLeaks 'Enemies of the State'
27 September 12
ulian Assange and WikiLeaks have been declared enemies of the United States. Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents reveal that military personnel contacting WikiLeaks may face execution for "communicating with the enemy."
The documents, which have been released under American Freedom of Information laws and published by WikiLeaks, were originally classified as secret and not releasable to non-US nationals.
Julian Assange said that the documents have been released just recently because of their sensitivity for some of the people involved in the investigation.
With these documents the "unusual position" and "difficulty" Assange and his organization face turn completely absurd.
"For example, that the US military should designate me and all of WikiLeaks as the enemy in its formal investigation, an investigation that carries a death-penalty offense into a person who was alleged to have come to my extradition hearing," he said. "And in the same document it speaks about the victim being that of society, when there is no allegation that any documents have been released or published by us."
The report exemplified the "absurdist, neo-McCarthyist fervor that exists within some of the government departments in the US," Assange said.
Enormous wheels have been set in motion, with over a dozen different US intelligence and investigative organizations turning through this, Assange said. "Everyone sees that it is completely absurd and counter to the values the United States should be trying to present to the world," he said, urging everyone to read the files.
The files covered a counter-intelligence investigation into a UK-based cyber systems analyst who allegedly supported WikiLeaks. The probe was trying to determine whether the analyst had disclosed any classified data to an "anti-US and/or anti-military group." She was suspected of breaching article 104-D of the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, which outlaws military personnel "holding intercourse with the enemy."
The probe, however, was closed as the investigators failed to prove the analyst had leaked any information.
But US Army Private Bradley Manning was not so lucky, as he could face execution - though prosecutors have said they won't seek it - to be decided by a military tribunal, as officials allege that he aided al-Qaeda by releasing classified documents through WikiLeaks.
And the fact that WikiLeaks was treated as an enemy of state would have serious implications in case Assange is extradited to the US, as he is likely to face military detention.
"It appears that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are the 'enemy,'" Michael Ratner, Assange's US attorney, said. "An enemy is dealt with under the laws of war, which could include killing, capturing, detaining without trial, etc."
Assange was once labeled a "high-tech terrorist" by American Vice President Joe Biden in December 2010, and a number of top US officials have openly called on the authorities to hunt the whistleblower down.
The diplomatic cables released over the past months reveal the true scale of the US Justice Department investigation targeting both Assange and WikiLeaks. Assange himself called the investigation "unprecedented."
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation ... now has, according to court testimony earlier this year, produced a file of 42,135 pages into WikiLeaks, of which less than 8,000 concern Bradley Manning," Assange said in an address to a panel of UN delegates.
See Also: Assange to UN: 'It Is Time for the US to Cease Its Persecution of WikiLeaks'
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Comments
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are actually going to vote for this deeply criminal, murderous president!!!
illegal war not only murders innocents abroad, but it betrays u.s.troops.
are we not morally and legally constrained from voting for the two major parties?
I agree that, if there were a real difference in the parties, BHO would have stopped both of these conflicts and worked to repeal the "patriot" Act. Instead he has extended all of them.
Now there is an alternate theory, one previously, don't know about now, espoused by the Communist Party. That is to support the most ruthless fascist element under the assumption this will bring the whole rotten house of cards down more quickly Tommy Rimes
The preliminary selections were held before he was even inaugurated. There is something very odd about that.
That would be beautifully ironic. The problem is, he would have to go to Sweden to claim it.
When all is considered, BHO hasn't changed much or even tried to do so. Still, he hasn't done anything colossally stupid like Bush. I'll have to accept that as an improvement, given little else to choose from.
I object to two things you just said, jlstiles. First, I know quite a few "sheepish liberals" who have decided to vote for either a third party or an independent for POTUS. I do admit, though, plenty of liberals i've spoken to have not even HEARD about NDAA 2012 or Obama's extrajudicial murders by drones, etc. And I also admit that many of my liberal friends, when they do learn, make excuses for Obama, like "there are things we cannot know". Balderdash; I know-and they should know-that attacking our precious Bill of Rights, and/or murdering people renders anyone, any presidential candidate, as totally unqualified for anything but prison.
My second objection is your calling Obama "Barry". This statement, to me at least, means that you are one of the wackos. Are you, or are you not, a 'birther"?
Don't vote for a monster who is a front man for the MIC and the surveillance state apparatus. Don't give him money or excuse him from responsibility for the evil that he does or intends to do. Forget about left or right, liberal or conservative, sure winners vs. sure losers. Use your vote as an ethical statement. Any other use is an utter waste or worse.
But the REAL problem isn't with the Presidency; it is with Congress. We MUST remove every US Representative and replace every incumbent with his/her opponent. Ditto for the 1/3 of the Senate that is coming up for election.
The President is just a rubber stamp. He does what he is told. We thought Obama would be different. He is not. Perhaps his family has been threatened - I'd like to believe he didn't lie to us last time but there is NO question that he has betrayed us and the principles upon which this country was founded.
Perhaps to be President AND principled is a death sentence, for the President and his family. "They" might get away with that but if we elect a brand, new House of Reps, "They" cannot kill them all. Vote out the 1/3 of the Senate that is coming up for re-election.
Vote out the incumbents, regardless of party unless they voted against NDAA and or the Wall Street/bank bailouts.
It is now as Thoreau had it: One cannot be associated at all with the U.S. government without complete disgrace.
but obama's demeanor, his strut,
he loves being president.
that's all he cares about.
it would be interesting to question him about his crimes.
Some years ago the american citizen
and former worldchampion Bobby Fischer
was detained in Japan waiting to be
extradited to US - because he had been
playing and winning a chessmatch (and
thereby earning money) in former
Jugoslavia, when there was an embargo
on the country.
Iceland gave him citizenship and a
passport and he could no longer be
extradited to US and spent the rest
of his years safe in Iceland.
Could something similar be done with
Julian Assange ?
Can we please have a list of enemies of the state, so we can know who not to associate with, Or maybe they are afraid we will want to associate with them. Another reason to keep it secret, just like the No Fly List, which was also used as a form of punishment. You could ask Sen. Ted Kennedy about that, if he were still alive. Tommy Rimes
Almost takes one back to the days when those designated thus by the English Monarchy were hung, drawn and quartered publicly.
So yet more of rogue state appears from behind the shades of faux-democracy. We'll be seeing a Freisler-style blood-judge emerge any time now from the current crop of thugs in robes at the top of the judiciary to deal summarily with anyone who blows a whistle on the criminal doings of the military-indust rial Mafia.
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