It is time to move on from the Wikileaks criticism

[noise]

The US government needs to stop rehashing the past for the good of the country. Pursuing Assange is too divisive and distracts from the important legislative agenda.

[Riftaxe]

1. Enforcing laws no matter whether it is the pope or a pauper

is never a bad thing, now reconstructing laws within the framework we have is also a good thing.

[EmilyKent]

2. Assange isn't breaking any laws.

Nor is he American.

[Anakin Skywalker]

6. .

.

[noise]

3. I think a bipartisan commission would be a better remedy

They could study the issue for a few months and release a heavily redacted version of their report to the public. Of course the Washington Post would receive a few leaks along the way which would bolster public support for Internet censorship legislation.

[Riftaxe]

7. So you believe there is not USC statue against

releasing classified information? Phew...Then Private manning is safe...so what is all the fuss about?

[Subdivisions]

4. What law, exactly, is Assange/Wikileaks breaking. Cite it for us. n/t

[Riftaxe]

5. Not a lawyer, just champion caeteris paribus

But if you think the government is going after him unfairly, please cite the law that the Government is violating

[Subdivisions]

8. You didn't answer my question. Which law are they violating? n/t

[Riftaxe]

12. If no law has been violated

they why get all pissy? but i will break it down for you

Not - this means a negative, as in the opposite of a positive
lawyer - This means i do not use statutes of the Government to prey on people

so, putting them together, I do not use the legal system nor have inherent understanding of it to screw over people for profit.

[Subdivisions]

13. You - meaning YOU, are the one who said

"Enforcing laws no matter whether it is the pope or a pauper
is never a bad thing"

Which law is it that needs ENFORCING according to YOUR statement?

And, since you're

Not - this means a negative, as in the opposite of a positive
lawyer - This means i do not use statutes of the Government to prey on people

How do YOU know there's anything to be enforced?

[Riftaxe]

21. As I have stated, it is the justice department

under the current administration and you yourself, having the conniption. I am not a lawyer, which does not necessarily mean i am not a student of national legal systems.

Take it up with Holder and Obama if you want specifics...or if you feel assange is not be targeted, exactly where is your malice coming from?

[Subdivisions]

32. My malice is coming from people who say Assange should be arrested/assasinated

for breaking a law no one can seem to cite! The fact is, he's not an American citizen, he didn't steal the documents himself, and he is providing a level of transparency that used to be the pervue of our own fucking journalistic media! There was a time when the revelations contained in the Wikileaks would be splashed across banner headlines in every reputable newspaper in this country, including somewhere in those headlines the words "SCANDAL!" or "SCANDALOUS!".

The fact is, he has broken no law. He has simply done what journalists will not do.

And, he is making our media look like the goddamned fools and boot-lickers they are.

[Riftaxe]

35. Then he has very little to worry about

then does he?

This country is not a socialist paradise where people are shuffled off to a gulag. If there are no charges, then he need not be worried about a court appearance.

[Subdivisions]

38. "This country is not a socialist paradise where people are shuffled off to a gulag..."

Really?

I guess that extraordinary rendition stuff was all bullshit then? How about torture and Abu Ghraib? Was that all bullshit? Or was that shit perpetrated by the United States of America, sometimes on innocent people? Does http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar">Maher Arar ring any bells?

[Riftaxe]

41. Under the rules of war it is allowable

It is an embarrassment that it is still going on under this administration and the previous one.

Gitmo Redux.

On edit. we are not at war!

[EmilyKent]

9. Violation of other countries sovereignty.

[Subdivisions]

10. Cite the law and, in addition, explain how Assange, a non-American citizen

is guilty of it?

[Riftaxe]

37. I do not believe that he has ever claimed

American citizenship, i think even he is aware of the silliness of attempting that.

[Riftaxe]

39. International Espionage is long settled law though...

it is mentioned quite prolifically in the original Geneva convention, and that section has been amended constantly from '49 to '64

on edit 47 to 49 was thinking hague for some reason.

[Subdivisions]

40. He hasn't engaged in espionage. n/t

[Riftaxe]

42. That line is so grey

I cannot concede or argue it, i think you have me cornered :)

[DearAbby]

43. Habeas Corpus?

I don't play lawyer on DU, I am just play an old broad with a big white purse.

[thunder rising]

11. What laws would those be? The ones that keep the keep the banks rich?

[Riftaxe]

15. If no laws have been broken, and the holy

USC code has not been broken then what are you worried about?

Maybe this is more about your mistrust of President Obama's administration, since i am not the one pursuing assange?

Like it or not, our judicial system has more then just the side that prosecutes, it allows defense, which will be public.

Or perhaps transparency should only apply in *some* things...

[Riftaxe]

22. Then time we get off our asses and

rewrite laws that protect financial intuitions instead of paying them off?

[laconicsax]

14. Unless it's war crimes, right? n/t

[Riftaxe]

16. War crimes tend to fall out side of a national

legal system...but i am sure you knew that. I have no problem with prosecuting the current and past president for the hoax of Iraq and Afghanistan.

[laconicsax]

25. 18 USC § 2340, 2340A, and 2441

We have laws under which people can be prosecuted for war crimes in this country; they're not outside of our legal system.

[Riftaxe]

27. Excellent, as i have said i have no problem

with enforcing existing laws, or changing the statutes if they need remedy.

[laconicsax]

30. Just thought you'd like to know the statutes exist. n/t

[Riftaxe]

34. For a reason i suspect

Although I believe we should overhaul a lot of laws. But for some reason our lawmakers like the more glamorous activity of making new laws...not revising or updating ones

[krabigirl]

17. even if the laws are immoral?

[Riftaxe]

18. It is us who write the laws

so it is up to us to amend them, if we fail to do so, it is our failing.

There are many laws that i feel are immoral, but society has chosen to keep around =(

Such as many but not all targeting the current war on drugs.

[AlabamaLibrul]

20. So prosecute Bush since he's the American citizen in this whole situation

of course the Obama Administration has no intentions to do so, and will fight to make sure a trial never happens.

[Riftaxe]

23. I have no problem with that or prosecuting

President Obama for his unmanned drone atrocities in Pakistan. There is a reason that it takes an act of congress to declare a war.

[Riftaxe]

24. Our legal system recognizes

suspension of basic rights under war. We are not at war, we are at politics and playing with peoples lives.

[midnight]

19. k&R...

[MiniMe]

26. The fact that Assange is calling for Obama and Hillary's resignations

makes me wonder about his agenda. Where are the calls for prosecution of Bush and Cheney?

[EFerrari]

28. Assange was responding to direct questions by journalists.

If someone bothered to ask him if Bush, Cheney should be prosecuted, he'd respond to that as well. It's really more a matter of the presstitutes' agenda than Assange's.

[Riftaxe]

29. I admit, i admire the transparency of what

he has released, but i also recognize that there might be a price to pay.

It makes me a bit nervous that his prime pursuit is publicity though, because there are a myriad of ways he could have released the information with no one knowing a thing about who, what or where....

[Lucinda]

31. He addressed that in a video clip I saw last night

If I can find it again I'll post the link. Part of it had to do with preventing people from falsely claiming they were Wikileaks and subverting the message.

[Abq_Sarah]

33. Subverting what message?

America is the source of all evil in the world, message?


Assange has embarrassed himself and his organization with his latest data dump. He's like a little boy who found his sister's diary and decided to take it to school for everyone else to read.

[Riftaxe]

36. The information stands for itself

no one is disputing that i think, although context of a diplomatic communique' might be missing. Although i cannot dispute that he is a narcissist of the highest order.

on edit, i am not a psychiatrist either, but sociopathy, narcissism are things that are commonly recognized by even laymen.

[Forkboy]

44. "Although i cannot dispute that he is a narcissist of the highest order."

i am not a psychiatrist either, but sociopathy, narcissism are things that are commonly recognized by even laymen.

These two lines in order crack me up! :rofl: