wikileaks

Jack Goldsmith has an excellent piece in the Washington post about why the United States should not try Julian Assange over the leaked State Department cables. As I've said before, Assange has done nothing wrong. Distribution of classified documents through Wikileaks is no different than what the American press (who are most loudly crying foul) do everyday.

All Assange has done is offer a means of distribution through Wikileaks. This is no different than the Associated Press who regularly distributed leaked classified information to news outlets across America. This is no different than MSNBC or Fox News running a story about new information about a war from an anonymous source.

While the charges that Julian Assange turned himself in under were not directly related to WikiLeaks, some people seem to think that locking him up for publishing leaked classified documents, videos, and diplomatic cables would be a good thing. Ironically, these same people say that they support freedom.

The U.S. media is constantly publishing and distributing leaks under the guise of journalism. What Julian Assange does with WikiLeaks is no different (well, except for the technicality that he is not a United States citizen). The same people who criticize WikiLeaks praise the U.S. media when they release the same type of documents.

Just like the U.S. media, WikiLeaks generally does not disclose its sources under any circumstances. People cry out for WikiLeaks to make a full disclosure while praising the U.S. media for refusing the same type of demand.

WikiLeaks posted 90,000 documents relating to the war in Afghanistan earlier today. You can check out the Afghan War Diary here.

You might recall that back in April they released a 17 minute video from an U.S. Army helicopter showing the troops firing into a crowd that had gathered around a Reuters reporter and then attacking the van that had come to rescue the wounded.

Back on April 5th, WikiLeaks posted a rather disturbing 17 minute video taken from one of the U.S. Army's helicopters. It shows the troops repeatedly gunning down allegedly armed men (including two Reuters reporters) and attacking a van that had arrived to rescue the wounded. You be the judge from the video, but to me this looks like the typical gathering around a reporter with a camera that occurs in that area.

After waiting two and a half years for this video, Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger posted in an opinion column, "What I want from the Pentagon -- and from all militaries -- is simple: Acknowledgment, transparency, accountability."

It looks like the Pentagon may be going after WikiLeaks.

A small, cash-strapped website that publishes documents governments want kept secret has caught the attention of the Pentagon, which says the site poses a possible threat to US troops.

A report by the US Army Counterintelligence Center says the whistleblower website WikiLeaks poses a potential danger to safeguarding troops, protecting sensitive information, and "operational security."

This just goes to show that you need to be careful who you blow the whistle on.  At least the Constitution covers this under free speech... for now.