January 30, 2011 5:00 PM
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, speaks to Steve Kroft about the U.S. attempt to indict him on criminal charges and the torrent of criticism aimed at him for publishing classified documents.
Julian Assange, The Man Behind WikiLeaks
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See all 54 CommentsWorse is Kroft's laziness in repeatedly claiming that, "some people think/feel/say/believe" or "most reporters prefer/think/blahblah" ... I used to respect 60 Minutes but this interview is a disappointment and would seem ++to me++ to indicate that CBS just doesn't "get it" w/ respect to Wikileaks, and is pandering to a base of anti-Wikileaks agitators who really only exist in the upper echelons of US gov't.
It doesn't matter if Assange is narcissistic, a megalomaniac, or even if he's a furfer. Wikileaks is now established as a legitimate publishing and journalistic entity and Assange is too high-profile to be rendered, murdered, tortured or tried, despite the wishes of US elites. And if my government tries to imprison him, I will take to the streets, banging a pot or a pan, and encourage all of my non-radical friends and neighbors to do the same.
it's because of what they have done to the justice system and how that relates to assange that i am writing.
whether you think assange is a hero or villain is irrelevent. he will be extradited to the usa to face charges. he's entitled to a fair trial, but he will not get one. our trials are no longer fair. when someone, like assange, is considered a 'security threat' all their legal rights are taken away under SAMs laws. this has happened repeatedly when we try 'terrorists'. they dont get a fair trial. they often dont even get tried, just held in brutal isolation for years-like a living death. assange isnt like any of the other cases, but he will follow the same path. because he is called a risk to nationl security, he will be held in complete isolation. he will be in a cell for 23 hours a day and get 1 hour of exercise alone[if they feel like allowing it]. he will have no contact with anyone on the outside nor contact with other prisoners. only the guards may speak to him and i dont imagine they will be pleasant. he will have no tv and only month old, censored newspapers. there is no lawyer-client privelege and all their conversations are monitored. the lawyer is restricted on what they can discuss with him and gagged from discussing most everything with the media-so we wont know much about his condition. he'll get 3 pieces of paper to write on a week. any mail is censored. if they allow any phone calls, they are monitered. visits from family are allowed only in theory, not practice. the total isolation and lack of stimulation makes people's minds deteriorate after a month or 2. they progress to hallucinations, irrational rage, suicide attempts, panic attacks, and catatonic states. people have been held like this for years. they cant think coherently or concentrate. by the time they get to court, they cant defend themselves. they confess to whatever the gov wants them to. then the gov sentences the 'convicted' 'terrorist back to solitary to serve their term. even if it is not a life sentence, it is really an execution. it is like being buried alive. i dont think anything assange did deserves that. all he did was show us gov documents.
i had a problem with him not redacting names. he said he contacted the us gov for help with redacting beore he released the afghanistan stuff. the DoD continues to maintain that he did not. yet there is proof that he did contact the us gov. there are emails, witnesses, and published conversations. the DoD is lying again [and so was the NY times.] apparently the gov didnt give a damn about those lives that they said assange was risking. [i think there is an article about it at a site called salon which has links to other sites with evidence, like cbs.]
well, what do we do? we have a gov that lies to us and commits atocities in our name, and no justice, and a population of people who blindly trust this gov in the name of being patriotic. and the only one who will go to jail is the one who tried to tell us. i dont care if assange was motivated by a desire to hurt the us gov. it needs to be 'hurt'. who knows what his motivations were? i think he wanted to expose the gov because it is corrupt and killing people and creating fears so we will continue these endless, unjustifiable wars. the us gov needs to go. we need leaks because our gov wont tell us the truth.
and its amazing how brainwashed out military personnel is. when the gov tells them to coverr up a murder, they do-see the 3 'suicides' at gitmo. they were hideous murders. and aafia siddiqui's case was another military lie.
i was patriotic. i used to care abt america. now i hate it.
Another concern I have is the naivete that any one individual possesses when they present facts. Especially facts that seem so clear cut, but are potentially larger than life. The world of politics especially is a very very large & powerful entity & should not be handled anymore carelessly than it already is, especially where the Might is concerned. Politics, especially foreign politics is a very nasty and ugly business...unfortunately. The main reason is that some people really are truly evil. (Yes, I think many evil actions have come from our side). I am a naive person. I know this. I would love nothing more than to think that if you catch someone doing something bad on film or tape, that they should fold & that should be the end of the bad behavior. In this world of foreign diplomacy, it's not that black & white. Before anyone accuses me of condoning the killing & slaughter of innocent people in places that these horrendous crimes have been committed over the years, & we all know that barbaric things have occurred since man grew a conscience, I will be the first to say I do NOT. I personally wish everything were black & white when it comes to political & military strategies. Nothing makes me more sick than knowing innocent people are killed everyday in the struggle for power & control. What is worse is those that are killed deliberately! SO, yes, in a very ideal world I agree w/the sort of publications Assange ascribes to, but I'd be more than willing to bet we have the first amendment right because, worse case scenario, things not so pretty had to been done to bad people to get the right. On a more (or less) worse case scenario, bargains had to made w/not-so-nice people in order to attain this right. That is where I think what Assange is dabbling in things, that, in SOME cases, need to investigated further before being brought before public scrutiny. This point inherently leads back to my original point: the process of validating the source of the information being exposed to begin with.
I know it sounds like I do not side w/Assange. I do in many ways. It's the big fat gray area I am having trouble accepting. It's a dangerous one. I don't think many of us would like to know what the cost was to get much of what we have in the western world. Maybe he has very good methods for verifying the facts before publishing the findings. I just don't know how deeply the stories are validated.
Some video subjects speak for themselves. Those are not the areas I have a problem with. It's the sensitive, nothing-is-always-what-it-appears-to-be covert stuff I fear not understanding completely.
Finally, I find it a little ironic that Assange attacks w/such zeal. Here again, I don't blame him for doing so, but I think he's being naive. Very smart, but idealistic. Like I said before, I am wickedly in favor of busting all the lying, cheating, obtusely blatant behavior of individuals or organizations that abuse their power. However, that very same scrutiny could be used against him, & just maybe the truth it appears to reveal may not be true.
Personally, I don't think Assange is an enemy & I don't think he should put in prison or deemed a traitor or spy. I admire his determination, his intellect & his gumption. Perhaps this thing of his a first BIG step in absolutely true direction we need to be heading w/the press. That is, unless some greedy, unscrupulous money machine or individual finds a way to worm in & corrupt it.
http://wikileaks.ch/Support.html
Let's show Julian Assange and his team our support for their conviction and courage.......
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