World Watch
December 3, 2010 10:03 AM

Julian Assange Talks About UFOs, Pride, Death

By
Joshua Norman
Topics
In The News ,
World Watch

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a press conference at Park Plaza Hotel Oct. 23, 2010, in London. It is one of his last public appearances.

(Credit: Getty Images)
Julian Assange, a man on the run, sat down for a few minutes Friday morning to answer questions from the public via the website of The Guardian, one of the five news organizations who helped Wikileaks leak confidential U.S. diplomatic cables.

In the chat, Assange revealed himself to be bitter over the governmental reaction to the leaks, proud of the work he is doing and the organization he created, and wary of UFO conspiracy theorists. He also claims he deliberately set up Amazon.com to prove their alleged lack of real support for free speech.

CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks

Here are some of Assange's responses to questions:

In the event of his or Wikileaks' untimely demise

"The Cable Gate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the US and other countries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. If something happens to us, the key parts will be released automatically. Further, the Cable Gate archives is in the hands of multiple news organisations. History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place. Will we survive? That depends on you."

His vision for Wikileaks

"I always believed that WikiLeaks as a concept would perform a global role and to some degree it was clear that is was doing that as far back as 2007 when it changed the result of the Kenyan general election. I thought it would take two years instead of four to be recognised by others as having this important role, so we are still a little behind schedule and have much more work to do."

Leaks about UFOs

"Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules. However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs."

Alleged threats to his life

"The threats against our lives are a matter of public record, however, we are taking the appropriate precautions to the degree that we are able when dealing with a super power."

The source of the leaks

"If indeed it is the case, as alleged by the Pentagon, that the young soldier - Bradley Manning - is behind some of our recent disclosures, then he is without doubt an unparalleled hero."

Amazon.com dumping Wikileaks from its servers

"Since 2007 we have been deliberately placing some of our servers in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit inorder to separate rhetoric from reality. Amazon was one of these cases."

On Australia, his country of birth and citizenship

"I am an Australian citizen and I miss my country a great deal. However, during the last weeks the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the attorney general, Robert McClelland, have made it clear that not only is my return is impossible but that they are actively working to assist the United States government in its attacks on myself and our people. This brings into question what does it mean to be an Australian citizen - does that mean anything at all? Or are we all to be treated like David Hicks at the first possible opportunity merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties."

Being the face of Wikileaks, which has many anonymous members

"I originally tried hard for the organization to have no face, because I wanted egos to play no part in our activities. However this quickly led to tremendous distracting curiosity about who and random individuals claiming to represent us. In the end, someone must be responsible to the public and only a leadership that is willing to be publicly courageous can genuinely suggest that sources take risks for the greater good. In that process, I have become the lightening rod. I get undue attacks on every aspect of my life, but then I also get undue credit as some kind of balancing force."

More on WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks' Backup Plan
WikiLeaks: CIA Asked State Dept. for U.N. Info
Who is Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange?
WikiLeaks' Assange Being Persecuted, Lawyer Says
U.S. Domain Name Provider Drops WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks: Putin Likely Knew of Spy Murder Plot
Next WikiLeak Could Turn Assange into Robin Hood
After WikiLeaks, Whistle-Blower Bill Gains Steam
Clinton: WikiLeaks Won't Hurt U.S. Diplomacy

  • Joshua Norman

    Joshua Norman is an associate editor at CBSNews.com.

Add a Comment See all 28 Comments
by BilllRallis December 5, 2010 8:15 PM EST
Oh yes ProsperityBeginsIn2012 I am sure everyone thanks you for such an insightful post. You are a national treasure and we are all so happy to hear every lovely well constructed thought that comes out your creative mind. I am wondering why you don't run for president in 2012 as it would be an honor to vote for such an upstanding citizen such as yourself. I just know that that you will win a Pulitzer from reading your work here in this thread. Please show us all how you would enlighten and reform our country with your next glorious and heartfelt posts. Keep up the great job we are all so impressed!
Reply to this comment
by ProsperityBeginsIn2012 December 7, 2010 12:11 AM EST
BilllRallis, was the sarcasm too much for you? If barack can win a Nobel then there's no reason why I can't get the Pulitzer.
I'm qualified to become president but there's no way my wife would allow the low life to take pot shots at our family so........
A good start in reforming our country is to send obama packing in 2012. barack has weaken our country with his naive ridiculous idealogy.
Like it or not, we are the world leader and the world is better off with us as a strong super power. We are not flawless but imagine if China and/or the Soviet Union ruling the world? A lot of simpletons can't see the harm in that.
You think ASSange would be happy if his medical, criminal, financial and computer record are available for all to see?
by BilllRallis December 5, 2010 8:11 PM EST
Oh yes ProsperityBeginsIn2012 I am sure everyone thanks you for such an insightful post. You are a national treasure and we are all so happy to hear every lovely well constructed thought that comes out your creative mind. I am wondering why you don't run for president in 2012 as it would be an honor to vote for such an upstanding citizen such as yourself. I just know that that you will win a Pulitzer from reading your work here in this thread. Please show us all how you would enlighten and reform our country with your next glorious and heartfelt posts. Keep up the great job we are all so impressed!
Reply to this comment
by gypsylady7 December 5, 2010 7:22 AM EST
And still no one knows who killed John F. Kennedy, or even Martin Luther King Jr.
Reply to this comment
by Raamman December 5, 2010 10:06 AM EST
what do you mean "no one knows "? We've known the assassins for decades, whether or not you accept you choose to accept the evidence from the court system or instead to choose from the namby-pamby theories floated by mostly uneducated street-bums is your choice- but don't say "no one knows" just because you choose to listen to the latter and deny reality.
by YrWrongAgain December 4, 2010 1:50 PM EST
Lenin was wrong. Some of you may be useful, but the rest are just idiots.
Reply to this comment
by ejlorge December 4, 2010 8:57 AM EST
Assange is the Robin Hood of this information age of imposters and posers He is the real deal...Willing to die for showing us that indeed, the emperor wears no clothes.

This is what Disclosure looks like.
Reply to this comment
by ouchitatom December 4, 2010 8:43 AM EST
This man and the soldier who stole the classified information may have changed the minds of the world and americans on what really goes on . These two have made a place for themselves in the history of our wars but they also let the world know that our world leaders in all thier infamous dealings act like vengeful teenagers when they think no one is listening.On one hand I applaud him on the other hand they both should be shot .
Reply to this comment
by wyodutch December 4, 2010 8:20 AM EST
There are historical precedents to the release of documents which serve to educate the public as to the deceit of their own government.

By April of 1965, less than 400 American boys had been slaughtered in Viet-Nam.
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On April 17 of that year, then-President Johnson issued his call to arms.
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"Tonight Americans and Asians are dying for a world where each people may choose its own path to change.... This is the principle for which our ancestors fought in the valleys of Pennsylvania. It is the principle for which our sons fight tonight in the jungles of Viet-Nam.... . Let no one think for a moment that retreat from Viet-Nam would bring an end to conflict. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another. The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next."
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And so America went to war in Viet-Nam.
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The human cost of the Viet-Nam war was staggering... 58,267 American dead... ARVN dead totaled 266,000... "Enemy" dead were over a million.
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Today... December, 2010, we see how important that war really was. INTEL builds factories in Ho Chi Minh City. The American navy rolls out the red carpet for visiting VietNamese military dignitaries.
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Many thousands of American boys are alive today because of the actions of one man - Daniel Ellsberg. The "Pentagon Papers" (as they came to be called, revealed that the U.S. had deliberately expanded its war with bombing of Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks, none of which had been reported by media in the US. The most damaging revelations in the papers revealed that four administrations, from Truman to Johnson, had misled the public regarding their intentions. For example, the John F. Kennedy administration had planned to overthrow South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem before his death in a November 1963 coup. President Johnson had decided to expand the war while promising "we seek no wider war" during his 1964 presidential campaign, including plans to bomb North Vietnam well before the 1964 Election. President Johnson had been outspoken against doing so during the election and claimed that his opponent Barry Goldwater was the one that wanted to bomb North Vietnam.
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by zmonster December 4, 2010 12:20 AM EST
The citizens of the world finally have a tool to hold government accountable. Wiki Leaks time has come. If you hit their page on Facebook you'll see 600,000 people (and counting) from all over the world, desparate for the truth, and looking forward to the end of corruption as we know it. Thank God for the Internet and Wiki Leaks. The people finally have a voice.
Reply to this comment
by Raamman December 5, 2010 10:07 AM EST
half a million of a world of billions is not that many
by cbs_usa December 4, 2010 12:20 AM EST
Every act is already decided by the universe, you are born for a particular cause, some are regulated by UFO's some by Astral Beings(some by their disciples like Charaji of Pranahuti in Madras who gets commands from Lord Krishna and in turn sends commands to President).

Some other explanation is: in Gulf war the Spirit after death takes revenge(here revenge is a act of deed to run the cycle) by rebirth, for eg the two presidents spirits takes birth in future some times in opposite countries like Saddam taking birth again in USA and counter president taking birth in Middle east etc etc, there can be slight variation but the goal is same.

Other Weird explanation:: Sometimes each earths country humans belong to different alien Species, thats why the war etc etc....
Reply to this comment
by ToolMangler1 December 3, 2010 10:25 PM EST
"I originally tried hard for the organization to have no face, because I wanted egos to play no part in our activities"


Too bad yours got in the way. Telling the truth is fine until that truth hurts the innocent. Reading your own words shows me that you should have abdicated the throne you set your self on. Playing God isn't all it's cracked up to be, "Real things happen to real people as a result". Since 'you' are not 'Omnipotent' you will find your name being mentioned in the same breath as Hitler, Mengele, Stalin, Typhoid Mary, Judas and Charles Manson.

I know that in your 'Walter Mitty' mind you feel that you should be regarded more like Jesus, Michel de Nostredame, Diogenes, Da Vinci and other true beneficiaries of mankind. (It ain't gonna happin) The harm you have caused has and will continue to out-weigh any good you've done.
I know that you are a legend in your own mind, but I continue to hope that you may get your meds right and cease your interference in the National concerns of the worlds peoples. You keep wanting America to 'butt out', well why don't you??? There is no real difference in what America does and what you are doing. (Minding the worlds business)
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