Amy Goodman: ‘Assangination’: From Character Assassination to the Real Thing

[marmar]

from truthdig:



‘Assangination’: From Character Assassination to the Real Thing

Posted on Dec 14, 2010
By Amy Goodman


Despite being granted bail, WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange remains imprisoned in London, awaiting extradition proceedings to answer a prosecutor’s questions in Sweden. He hasn’t been formally charged with any crime. His lawyers have heard that a grand jury in the United States has been secretly empaneled, and that a U.S. federal indictment is most likely forthcoming.

Politicians and commentators, meanwhile, have been repeatedly calling for Assange to be killed.

Take Democratic strategist and commentator Bob Beckel, who said on a Fox Business show: “We’ve got special ops forces. A dead man can’t leak stuff. ... This guy’s a traitor, he’s treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I’m not for the death penalty, so ... there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch.” U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called WikiLeaks a “foreign terrorist organization” and said that the website “posed a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.” He went on: “This is worse even than a physical attack on Americans; it’s worse than a military attack.”

One of Assange’s lawyers in London, Jennifer Robinson, told me, in response to the flood of threats: “Obviously we take these sorts of very public pronouncements incredibly seriously. And people making these statements ought to be reported to the police for incitement to violence.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/assangination_from_character_assassination_to_the_real_thing_20101214/?ln

[Uncle Joe]

1. The American People's best interests are being betrayed, but it's not by Assange or Wikileaks.

This is a politically motivated witch hunt and it has the potential to destroy any possibility of having an honest to God/Goddess free press.

If you don't have an honest free press, the American People are doomed and there will far more lives lost to that nightmare scenario than any concoction by these modern day witch hunters.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.