The CIA Should Kill Julian Assange

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The CIA Should Kill Julian Assange

Written By : John Hawkins

Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks and as you have probably heard, he’s publicly posting a large number of uncensored intelligence documents he’s received. Happily, most of them haven’t done a lot of damage. However, the same can’t be said for the information he’s released about Afghan informants:

THE Australian founder of WikiLeaks has been forced to defend his decision to publish tens of thousands of uncensored intelligence documents as condemnation grew over the exposure of Afghan informants.

The names, villages, relatives’ names and even precise GPS locations of Afghans co-operating with NATO forces could be accessed easily from files released by WikiLeaks, The Times revealed this week.

Human rights groups criticised the website and a US politician said the security breaches amounted to a ready-made Taliban hit list.

…He claimed many informers in Afghanistan were “acting in a criminal way” by sharing false information with NATO authorities and said the White House knew informants’ names could be exposed but did nothing to help WikiLeaks vet the data.

Mr Assange insisted any risk to informants’ lives was outweighed by the overall importance of publishing the information.

…Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said: “Real people die when sources and methods are revealed. Clearly people who are co-operating with us are now at risk. That is precisely one of the reasons we’ve been so concerned about this leak.

“The whole campaign is about convincing Afghans that it’s worth taking the risk to come and work with us to take a stand against the repression and brutality of the Taliban.” A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai predicted the leak would cause “a big disaster in the future”. Siamak Heraway said: “We worry about this. We will see informants being assassinated by the Taliban; we will see a massacre.”

George W. Bush never took leaks of sensitive classified material seriously and Obama is following in his footsteps, but the reality is that these leaks can lead to big body counts. When we alert the enemy to techniques we use to get information out of them, track them, or our sources — people can die as a result.

That’s why, at a minimum, government employees who leak this sort of information to the press should spend the rest of their lives breaking big rocks into smaller rocks in a federal penitentiary. In a case like this, where informants who risked their lives to help us may be killed along with their families, the people responsible for leaking the information deserve to be hung for treason.

In Assange’s case, he’s not an American and so he has no constitutional protection. Moreover, he’s going to get a lot of people killed. Can we do anything legally about someone from another country leaking this information? Maybe not. Can we have a CIA agent with a sniper rifle rattle a bullet around his skull the next time he appears in public as a warning? You bet we can — and we should. If that’s too garish for people, then the CIA can kill him and make it look like an accident.

Either way, Julian Assange deserves to die for what he’s done and he should be killed to send a message loud enough to convince other people not to publish documents like this in the future.

-12

StanW

“Mr Assange insisted any risk to informants' lives was outweighed by the overall importance of publishing the information.“

In other words, “I will get the glory of having published this information, while other people are brutally murdered.”

This man is scum.

Mahatma

Stop translating other peoples words. You suck at it.

StanW

He said he didn't care what happened to those other people, so long as he published the documents. He is willing to allow other people AND THEIR FAMILIES to die brutally, so that he can be a hero to the Left.

By taking up for him, you are no better than he is Martha. But then again, I already thought you were scum!

anwatkins

Stan, the operative phrase in your reply?

“other people”

Assange has no stake in this and is only doing it for the supposed glory he thinks he will get. Maybe if HIS GPS coordinates were in there he might have done this differently.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ELCWV5ANDUEJ5D5PB35FL2LZ6Y Bildo

Does your mom know you're on her computer again?

Mahatma

My mother passed 17 years ago. But thanks for asking.

Mediumheadboy

Probably died of shame when she realized what a prick her son turned out to be.

sabiticus

I agree we should kill him, but not for any sense of “he deserves it.” He has proven himself our enemy who has done damage to us, ergo, we should kill him. That's all the justification I need.

Mahatma

Wow. Sounds like something a member of Ai-Qauida would say.

StanW

Actually, it sounds like something the Obama Administration HAS said!
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ELCWV5ANDUEJ5D5PB35FL2LZ6Y Bildo

You should know since you seem to agree with them on pretty much everything.
sabiticus

Well, sure it is, if you ignore a little thing called “context.” Which you do. I'm sure an al Qaeda man has also said that they like sunnny skies. I know I have. Does that also make us ideologically identical? See, in this case it comes down to how you define what an enemy is. I stated my definition already. So has al Qaeda. Can you tell the difference between my definition of what an enemy is, and al Qaeda's?

So yes, if you omit that glaring detail, the two do sound alike.

No, at this point the real question for me becomes, “Why am I responding to you at all?” You're a long standing troll who has yet to offer anything of value to any discussion I have ever you seen take part in.

Mahatma

I see both of you thinking an enemy is someone who is different than you, who beliefs are different than yours, and you want to kill each other. Does that sum it up?

Toastrider

You left out the bit about 'blatantly leaking classified information'.

Have you no shame, sir? Have you no dignity? No compassion for those Afghanis who want to move into the 21st century, who have chosen to try and build a brighter future, whose lives and the lives of their families are now at risk because some fool is looking for bragging rights?

No, of course not. After all, better they remain chained to a dark-ages era society.
sabiticus

That isn't a summation, it's a gross over-simplification. You can't just ignore the details and write off both parties involved as the same because they want to kill each other. This is a central fallacy of the Left, that “at the end of the day” and “all things being equal” thinking that ignores the details. It is this sort of thinking that leads to a top down “ends justify the means” policy, and millions of dead.
Rickvid in Seattle

Such a twit. What a patently dim witted statement…

UFKA_Smithwick

I bet afghans will be super-psyched to work with the US knowing that their names will be released and they will be tortured and killed along with their families.

Journalists who are at least ambivalent to the US (I'm not going to go with supportive, that's asking too much) would be a nice change of pace from the overtly hostile ones we have now.
Mahatma

I hope this eventually evolves into a neo-Pentagon Papers (Daniel Ellsberg) which led to the eventual withdrawal from Vietnam and save who knows how many lives.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ELCWV5ANDUEJ5D5PB35FL2LZ6Y Bildo

Try telling it to the hundreds of thousands of S Vietnamese that were murdered, imprisoned, and “re-educated” how many lives were saved as a result of that withdrawal.

You take ignorant douchebag to a level that hasn't been seen before.

Hotspur1

Apparently innocent people murdered by Communists doesn't faze him at all. Furthermore, I don't think Mahatma cares about saving any American lives. To him, Americans are probably cheap.

Toastrider

Not just Vietnam. Cambodia as well. Great fun, forcing everyone out of the cities into the jungles, putting them on starvation diets, shooting anyone who might have had the least association with 'intellectual'.

Lee

When those on the list are killed, wouldn't that make him an accessary to murder? Perhaps he can be captured and given to the Afghan people for justice. “This is the man who caused (list of names) to be killed. Since he has committed this action against the Afghan people, we leave to the Afghans to determine the course of action.”
Mahatma

This whole adventure in Afghanistan smacks of Vietnam. No real goal, innocent lives lost, lost cause.

This is where empires go to die.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ELCWV5ANDUEJ5D5PB35FL2LZ6Y Bildo

Your brain is where logic and reason go to die.
D-Vega

Even if Afghan is the biggest mistake in U.S. history, these tactics have no place in the free press and actually end up hurting innocent people rather than changing policy. If anything, it makes the U.S. gov't and military keep even a tighter reign on information released.

Mahatma

If I'm not mistaken, part of what is being released shows innocent people are already being hurt. The tighter the reign on information, the more important it is we get the information out.

Christopher_Taylor

Nothing in the leaks showed anything new about innocent people being hurt. its a war. Innocent people always get hurt in wars, particularly when one of the sides is a pathetic craven pack of wretches that hide among civilians.

It did, however, name names of people helping the coalition fight the Taliban, and put them in ghastly danger. And you think that's just fine. Thanks for coming down on the side of the enemy, it helps us identify you easier.
TheDickNixon

Sounds like the way the Administration has handled the press in the GUlf Oil Leak.

No condemnation from you Nixon notices.
D-Vega

Not gonna happen. The people who release this information to the press are doing something they know full well is highly illegal. And nothing in these documents even implies that anything that is being done in Afghan is illegal. Look at how the public saw this information. As simply confirmation of what we figured was going on there. Not shock.

Compare that to Abu Grahib or the Black Sites or the Pentagon Papers.

This kind of stuff will only hurt innocent people and not change policy in Afghan or anywhere else.

UFKA_Smithwick

Maybe Jane Fonda can go and nail a couple of Taliban guys (and later pose for propaganda photos if they haven't already chopped her head off).

BTW: you missed your latest talking point. The war is a good thing now, Obama is in charge. If Bush were still in charge, or if Obama loses in 2012 then it would be an evil war. But you really aren't supposed to protest wars democrats are supporting (we've always been at war with eastasia dammit!).

Stray from the herd too much and there won't be room for you in that big tent.

blkdragon

Since the founder is an Australian I agree he falls into CIA jurisdiction. As for the Private that is reported to be the source of the leak. He should be charged with Treason and Aiding the Enemy in time of War under the UCMJ and publicly hung.

Bill Fabrizio

Additional charges of treason should be made against any member(s) of the administration (including the president) who were offered the documents in advance of their release but who failed to act on having them suppressed!

anwatkins

While I could not agree more with your sentiments about what the US Army private allegedly did (innocent unless proven guilty, though it looks pretty convincing now), unfortunately treason is the ONE criminal offense directly described in the constitution in Article 3, Section 3.

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.”

I think these actions would suffice to be charged with treason (giving Aid and Comfort), but unless two witnesses saw this or he confesses in an open court to the treason, I am not sure what can be done.

I am not a lawyer though, so I cannot really comment on the difficulty in doing this. However, a quick look at Wikipedia shows that it is difficult to do in the United States as only 17 people have ever been convicted of it.

Still, if he did it, I would hope that he has a nice place in Hell reserved for him after spending the rest of his life making small rocks out of big rocks.

StanW

People in this country stopped caring about Treason long ago. There is not reason that Jane Fonda, John Kerry, or Jim McDerrmot should be walking free, or even still be citizens of this nation for their treasonous behavour. Today, you would be in more trouble for supporting the KKK than you would be for giving aid and comfort to our enemies.

Chantal

You are a follower & an idiot!

http://conservativebootcamp.com Martin Hale

State sanctioned assassination? He may deserve it, but that's hardly the way for us to settle the score with Mr. Assange. I certainly wouldn't mind if he joined his buddy Bradley in gaol for the rest of his days, however. Which, in the right gaol, might be quite numbered. Given that his crimes currently are against a bunch of Afghan nationals, I think a life sentence to the prison in either Kabul or Qandahar would be fitting. Though I suspect that a life sentence there would end up being a might short stay, indeed.

Speaking of Bradley, all the news services have the same undated picture of Mr. Manning blankly smiling at the camera and looking for all the world like a real-life Alfred E. Neuman – check out the two links below and do your own comparison:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/29/natio…

http://www.leconcombre.com/concpost/us/postcard…

I wonder if he'll be smiling as broadly if and when he lands in a long-term military prison for his actions? As far as I know, whistleblower laws under which he might claim protection don't extend to the release of secret documents, especially if they lead to the deaths of informants, which I'm relatively sure these will.
D-Vega

While I wouldn't go as far as state-sanctioned execution, I would have to agree with you on other points.

Releasing informants' information is not newsworthy, or begs the public's right-to-know.

Publishing information that shows the situation is worse or what-we-believed is one thing, it's in our interest to know these things, and it makes us think about it, whereas we kept not paying attention to things in AfPak.

But this does a lot more than that. It reveal specific details that no one, except those who would kill these informants, would want to know.

It's those specifics that will end up getting someone killed, and it doesn't offer any “overall importance” to solving the AfPak problem or educating us as to what's really going on.

So if U.S. troops were raping women in order to extract information, I would want to know that even if it were classified. This other stuff has no bearing.

It's shameful of him to act to irresponsibly, and it's illegal. We should at least try to bring this man up on charges.

And the other focus should really be on the people are providing him with this information. They know full well what laws they are breaking.

gfchicago

OMG hell must have frozen over. For once we agree on something.

D-Vega

Seems pretty logical. Its not really a liberal vs. conservative issue.

Put the Army intel guy in prison for 20 years, you'll see how quickly this stuff will greatly be reduced.

Christopher_Taylor

That was one of the most frustrating things about the Bush administration: they just would not go after the intel leaks. Those need to be stomped on with both feet, wearing cleats. You cannot let that kind of thing happen, ever. If it does, you have to punish it as savagely as the law allows. People should be terrified to leak classified information.

Guest

You noticed that about the administration and Scooter Libby… I thought I was alone.
gfchicago

Give me a break about Scooter Libby. Dick Armatage said that he was the source of the leak end of story.

Not only that how in the hell could you out someone that was pictured in the society pages everyday on end and going to Langley everyday to work. You can't very well say that she was a covert spy.

billdalasio

Honestly, I'm not 100% sure. He claimed to have actually asked the White House to vet the story to see what needed to be omitted, but they never got back to him. If true, this puts a pretty disturbing context on the story, if not a justification.
TheDickNixon

If the Taliban or AQ kill anyone mentioned in those documents released by Wikileaks, then this person should be eliminated. Nixon would have no problem with that.
Mazen Abdallah

That's really mature. If people expose your bullshit, call for their death. Hey, how about chanting 'death to Assange!' in the streets like some savage Arab?

Anyhoo, the information was not damaging because it wasn't really secret, it was stuff they were too embarrassed to reveal. You can't withhold information from the public on the grounds that it constitutes a security violation. This is the war of Americans, American tax dollars pay for it so Americans have a right to know just how badly that money is being spent.If some school is losing an arts program so they can dump money in this sinkhole, Americans need to know. You can't weakly argue that there are 'implications to the data'. What implications? If America cares enough about these informants, simply protect them and no one has to die. Maybe if they do that the next leak file won't contain so many fuck-ups

TheDickNixon

You are just upset that the Taliban and Saddam are no longer in power. Grow up, they aren't.

Mazen Abdallah

I think you need to grow up and learn how to read instead of predicting what people who disagree with you will say. You don't actually answer anything I've said. Look, it's a taxpayer-funded war, unless God was in Bush's dreams AND his wallet. If you people bitch about spending money on sick people, I can bitch about my government pissing money on friendly fire in a failed military intervention.

TheDickNixon

Then why aren't you addressing Obama's failure to bring the troops home. Oh wait, he's a liberal Democrat, just as you are.

You fucking hypocrite.
Christopher_Taylor

Yeah Iraq was such a failure. I understand you get your news from Muslim sources. I understand you're an American hating radical living elsewhere. Just don't lie about such easily disputed topics and expect to be taken seriously. Your idiotic posts about the floatilla were bad enough.

UFKA_Smithwick

I think the concern was more over the people he was going to get killed for his own self-aggrandizement.

Mazen Abdallah

I'm quite taken aback by the US government response. 'Daah, we think someone might try to kill them now. Daah, whadda we do, whadda we do.'
No one is endangered if the Americans are actually protecting covert informants. Oh and he happened to reveal that the Pakistanis could be funding al Qaeda. You don't feel there are some lives at stake there, either?

Mediumheadboy

We don't “feel” anything about this. We think. You ought to try it sometime.

Christopher_Taylor

Should be finding out where he's getting his intel and stomping on them instead. Clearly there's a mole in the CIA, and he's using the press instead of sending the stuff he learns to a country.
Lymphoma89

Couldn't agree more and I consider my views conservative (if you want to go by generic labels). This is just blatant treason and it's not tolerated in most democratic countries and I don't see why it should be here either.
Byebyewikileaks

Julian Assange is interesting in a freaky way, but obviously has failed on many levels to accomplish anything. Let's not forget, at the core, he is just a computer hacker. As we know, in that discipline, the best are creating impressive software and networking solutions, and those that don't have the skills, well they become like Julian. Interesting to watch some astute, real reporters and hosts ask him questions. He talks in circles, and dreams up reasons why what he is doing has any value. His bitterness about his own personal failures show quickly. He is limited in value, and obviously time. Freaks are interesting at first, then we move on to things that are more productive.
http://www.facebook.com/jayhoffer Justin Hoffer

OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
Blondidita

If you read the papers you will find hundreds and thousands of civilian deaths caused by US troops. Including children. But then you guys say: Oh this is a war, you know, and there are always casualties in wars, including children. Yes it is possible that some informants (i.e. traitors) will be punished for collaborating with the occupation. In that case I recommend the US military to protect them better, perhaps to offer them asylum in the USA, which after all, is the perpetrator country.

StanW

So you are both ignorant about war and about informants. “Well, why doesn't the US Military protect them? Waaa Waaa Waaaa”.

This man is deliberately releasing documents that will cause people to die. This is no different that me releasing the name, address, and phone number of all single women living alone in my city.

I'll not how interesting it is that the people in Afghanistan that are helping Americans get rid of the murdering terrorists of the Taliban are called traitors by you. Good to know what side you are on!

Mediumheadboy

“So you are both ignorant about war and about informants.”

Again, not ignorant. Stupid. Big difference.

http://www.patriotpost.com bthewolf

Except that then they have lost their families, their culture, and their usefulness as informants. All because some anti-war asswipe, like you, literally gave their locations to the enemy. That then means no one else will be to voulnteer information for fear of ending in the same situation. Which makes the war that much harder to fight.

Oh and in case you forget, child, it was the Taliban's support of Al-Quida and refusal to surrender them after 9-11 that caused the US to invade. They brought this on themselves, the US would never have invaded if the Taliban had turned OBL and a few dozen Al-Quida over to US custody. But that doesn't fit your America=bad meme, does it?

Guest

The CIA should kill you.

Christopher_Taylor

Is that you, Juian Assange? Make some jazz hands so we can tell for sure.

GeorgeB_Maine

We are at WAR! Why could Israelis against all odds pluck Eichmann out of Argentina? Is CIA a bunch of impotent jellyfish (as Obama probably wants them to be)? Does anybody out there have any guts to kill the stupid snotty masturbating manchild? He is the enemy of the United States in the WAR TIME!!

gfchicago

Careful George, I wouldn't advocate assassinating the **cough,cough” president of the United States. You know that Obambi and his administration are advocating that they take complete control over the internet.

Tennwriter

It might be a good idea for the NSA to hack Wikileaks to take it down, and send a virus to A) whoever tries to restart it. B)possibly whoever goes to the site.
asdf

fuck you asshole…
Lib

You’re an idiot.

You know what else causing a “big body count”? War. How many Iraq civilians have we killed so far 100,000? 200,000? 300,000?

You rightwing fuckwits are a bunch fascist thugs.
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