Julian Assange: WikiLeaks faces 'very aggressive' investigation by US

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Peter Walker
Friday December 17 2010 13.50 GMT

WikiLeaks faces a "very aggressive" and secretive investigation by US authorities stung by a perceived loss of face following the release of thousands of secret American diplomatic cables, the organisation's founder, Julian Assange, said today.

Speaking to reporters outside Ellingham Hall, the Norfolk house at which he is staying on bail following his release from prison, Assange said WikiLeaks faced "what appears to be an illegal investigation ... certain people who are alleged to be affiliated to us have been detained, followed around, had their computers seized and so on".

He said he believed it was "80% likely" that the US authorities were seeking to prepare an attempt to have him extradited there to face charges of espionage. He added that he was reliant on public opinion to rein in "a superpower that does not appear to be following the rule of law".

"I would say that there is a very aggressive investigation, that a lot of face has been lost by some people, and some people have careers to make by pursuing famous cases, but that is actually something that needs monitoring," he said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-investigation

---

Video of interview here: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201009115857122


Julian Assange talks to reporters at Ellingham Hall, the home of
Frontline Club founder Vaughan Smith, at Bungay

[bemildred]

1. "a lot of face has been lost by some people, and some people have careers to make"

Exactly.

[Downwinder]

2. The Government is a construct of the Law. If there is no rule of

law, there is no Government. There is anarchy.

[bemildred]

5. Tyranny. nt

[Downwinder]

6. Honduras

[bemildred]

13. Indeed. nt

[Downwinder]

14. Might be why they had to get rid of ACORN.

[bemildred]

20. Well, true grass roots organizations of all sorts are anathema, that is true.

Given the nominally democratic systems that most countries have these days, effective grass-roots organizations are a real threat to government and political party control, hence the ubiquitious negative interest in such organizations, especially the successful non-violent ones. I first became aware of that back in the VietNam war days. One of the most interesting aspects (to me) of the tea-party movement is that it has been so actively encouraged by TPTB, a dangerous move on their part. (Although it is quite true, as somebody will no doubt point out, that the tea party is partly astroturf.)

[MH1]

3. Well duh. He received classified documents from a traitor, and published those.

Of course he is going to be heavily investigated, and I don't see how that necessarily would be not following the rule of law.

Of course we know that there are many cases where the US has not followed the rule of law, so his supposition is not all that far out. There isn't anything special about the US in that regard, however.

[EFerrari]

8. I wonder what else they are doing . Sounds like search and siezure.

I don't see how Assange's detention in England was legal. He was held without charge. He's wearing a monitor now, still uncharged.

The United States has obviously been leaning on the UK and Sweden, just as they leaned on Amazon, Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. None of this is likely legal. There are no charges against Assange. But he is being treated as if he is a terrorist, i.e., by pressuring these entities to cut off his money.

[Turborama]

9. I have a feeling that the real issue isn't extradition to the US. They want him on mainland Europe

Much easier to abduct him there and whisk him off to a 'black site' in Eastern Europe where he can be 'disappeared'.

Extradition to the US from any European country is impossible if there is any suggestion whatsoever of an execution. And, as Assange said himself later in the article:

Assange said he was worried about the prospect of being sent to the US, adding: "There have been many calls by senior political figures in the United States, including elected ones in the Senate, for my execution, the kidnapping of my staff, the execution of the young soldier Bradley Manning ... that's a very, very serious business.

"The United States has shown recently that its institutions seem to be failing to follow the rule of law. And dealing with a superpower that does not appear to be following the rule of law is a serious business."

I remember our chat a while ago when I was suggesting maybe he should just try and clear his name, but the motives of certain forces have become clearer since then.

[RZM]

18. That's just not gong to happen

Count on it. He's way too public. 'Black sites' are controversial even when used to house cold-blooded killers. Someone like Assange will never end up off the radar in US custody, period. I doubt he'll end up in US hands at all and on the off chance he does, they'll keep him visible precisely so they don't arouse suspicion about what you predict.

[Turborama]

19. That's your opinion and prediction.

You can't state that for a fact, unless you're involved with deciding what's going to happen to him.

Also, I never mentioned anything about him being in US custody, that would only happen if he was in the US. I used the word "abduct" for a reason.

Dr. David Kelly was very high profile, too.

[RZM]

21. Of course it's an opnion

I never meant to imply otherwise. Though it's possible that Assange will be disappeared, I find that very, very unlikely. As I stated, my guess is the Obama administration would shy away from that course on PR grounds alone. Why bring up David Kelly though, especially after chastising me for not having inside info? Do you have inside info on his death?

[Turborama]

23. It read like you were stating facts.

I brought up Dr Kelly because he was a high profile figure who died under very suspicious circumstances. I'm not saying he was or wasn't killed, just saying that high profile people can die during times of controversy. Princess Diana is another high profile person who died during a time of controversy.

Being high profile is no guarantee to life.

BTW that wasn't chastisement.

[RZM]

27. It certainly isn't a guarantee of life

But it's a decent guarantee of not being 'disappeared,' which is why I'm so confident that won't happen. LOL, in the the 1682 Strel'tsy revolt in Russia, the rebels made sure to show off the 10 year old Peter the Great to the crowds just so everybody would know they hadn't killed him. And that was before the 24-7 news cycle :) That's all I'm saying -- that it would be an enormous PR error. While a Republican administration would probably be more aggressive about prosecuting him, even they might think twice about doing it dirty.

[EFerrari]

35. It's awful watching the Obama administration stalk this man.

Someone down thread says Assange's celebrity will protect him from kidnap. I think that's right. So that leaves extradition and Holder is banking on draping the solemnity of US national security to prosecute and convict Assange in any way possible.

I think this is a huge mistake for the Obama administration. It makes them all look like bullies. They would have been better off, from the start, to treat this as a breach in security and to promote the idea that they were going to fix that. This international persecution of Assange is very ugly and re-enforces the idea that America is a scofflaw.

:(

[Turborama]

37. I hope you're both right

About his celebrity being enough to stop him "vanishing". But we have to look at the options TPTB have. As I said above, extradition to the US from any European country is impossible if there is any suggestion whatsoever of an execution. Also, if there is any possibility of him being treated in treated in an inhumane or degrading way.

Although a totally different case, the failed attempts by the US to extradite Abu Hamza is an example of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hamza_al-Masri#Extradition_to_US

Maybe a "vanishing" could be off the table, but "accidents" do happen.


I've been having a similar conversation with Sabrina http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x26162#27205">in GD.

[ladjf]

4. Very aggressive investigating WikiLeaks, total cover up of

possible criminal activities of the Bush/Cheney administration. nt

[JJW]

7. Two legal systems

1) For the Government and anyone of great wealth or power.... complete immunity. For example if UN was fair, the US would be sanctioned like Iraq for invading another nation and having WMDs.

2) Second legal system, allows the US to arrest, kidnap, torture and detain, without trial, anyone forever. It also always preemptive strike based on false evidence that there is a threat.

And this means there really is no legal system, just a rogue nation with the most weapons in the world.

[bongbong]

12. Just a matter of time

There is only thing stopping the rogue actions of the USA. Curiously, it has almost nothing directly to do with the USA. That factor is:

*) the ability of China's citizens and other markets to absorb the industrial output of China

Once that occurs, look for 1 Yuan to go to 1, 2 or even more dollars (currently 15 cents). Then all bets are off. There won't even be the subterfuge of "liberating countries" anymore. The new rhetoric will be:

"Hey Country X, you have something we want, and we have nukes. Do you mind if we take it? Thanks!"

[BenzoDia]

10. "Certain" people were detained? Who?

Are we about transparency or not? If we are, don't give half the story...

[Raschel]

11. It's amazing that he is out. The power of people to provide transparency and the truth throught the

internet is amazing.

Assange would be locked away forever right now on trumped-up charges or dead if not for the sharing of info online, and Anonymous (or us).

I'm sure that our government and global powers are brainstorming to find a way to combat this problem. And like most, I fear their solution to putting a lid on this will be an attempt at controlling online communication.

Hopefully people like Anon. will always be able to stay one step ahead.

[ronnie624]

25. Just this morning, on one of the cable 'news' networks,

the 'news' reader was quoting a congressman as saying that an example MUST be made of Assange, as a deterrent to publishing U.S. government secrets in the future.

It's also amazing, witnessing the mental gymnastics required to rationalize the acceptance of and even the preference for the U.S. foreign policy status quo: conspiracy, spying, covert political war within sovereign states, imperialism, aggressive war and so on. Particularly specious, is the claim that revealing our government's secret machinations puts lives at risk, as if the purpose of the secrets -- the maintenance of empire and the pursuit of global hegemony -- doesn't risk anything.

In fact, in my opinion, U.S. foreign policy is the root cause of all international terrorism directed at the United States. The CIA termed the violent reaction to U.S. meddling in the domestic affairs of other countries (terrorism), 'blowback'.

[valerief]

15. If only Bush and Cheney could get such an investigation, too, for their actual illegal activities.

[IScreamSundays]

16. I love the comments after the article...

Where are these people when they do their so-called "polls"?? You can see that the mass majority applaud the efforts of Wikileaks. Telling.

[IScreamSundays]

17. Off topic....

But not really.

Where is Pavulon?? Surely he would like to chime in.

[Bragi]

22. Maybe I can fill in temporarily for Pavulon

Pavulon would write:

"Assange is totally guilty of whatever charges are brought against him, and so is Manning, and they will both end up in U.S prisons and die horrible deaths, which everyone should applaud, because they are spies engaged in terrible espionage that is causing thousands of deaths."

I know, it makes no sense, and is a tad ghoulish, but complain to Pavulon, not me.

[kgnu_fan]

26. Are you guys friends?

[Bragi]

32. Just in same CIA sleeper cell /nt

[kgnu_fan]

33. I see...

[Turborama]

24. He's busy in GD

Will probably be around soon, though.

[kgnu_fan]

28. I wonder what project name this is under?

[Turborama]

30. There are a lot of OPs about Manning in GD. n/t

[kgnu_fan]

34. for some reason, I can not find them in GD...????

[slackmaster]

29. The Soft Cushions?

[Dogmudgeon]

31. Nothing will happen to Assange

Once the brouhaha dies down, there will be no further action on JA.

Bradley Manning will probably face a court-martial. One or more strict, new laws may be passed, only to be struck down by a Circuit Court or the Supreme Court within a few years.

There will be improved security measures taken with governmental computers. No more passwords like "12345" or "password".

And no mass arrests of people who write hot-tempered posts for DU, dKos, FDL, etc.

--d!

[EFerrari]

36. Something has already happened to Assange.

He's been stalked all over Europe. His finances are tied up and although he's charged with no crime, he's wearing an electronic monitor.

[Matilda]

38. The monitor and the extremely tough bail conditions, plus the bail amount,

are all indications that there's something dark going on behind the scenes.

And when you think about it, no damage has yet been done to anything
except the pride of some highly-placed people. Embarrassment, yes, but
nobody has yet died because of Wikileaks, and no major state secrets
have been revealed. Much of what we're reading are things many suspected
anyway; it's just interesting to have them confirmed.

[Pavulon]

39. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes..(nt)

[Lars77]

40. Julian Assange: WikiLeaks faces 'very aggressive' investigation by US

Source: The Guardian

WikiLeaks faces a "very aggressive" and secretive investigation by US authorities stung by a perceived loss of face following the release of thousands of secret American diplomatic cables, the organisation's founder, Julian Assange, said today.

Speaking to reporters outside Ellingham Hall, the Norfolk house at which he is staying on bail following his release from prison, Assange said WikiLeaks faced "what appears to be an illegal investigation ... certain people who are alleged to be affiliated to us have been detained, followed around, had their computers seized and so on".

He said he believed it was "80% likely" that the US authorities were seeking to prepare an attempt to have him extradited there to face charges of espionage.

He added that he was reliant on public opinion to rein in "a superpower that does not appear to be following the rule of law".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-investigation