|
Simple as that. He could have avoided all this by just going back to Sweden and answering their questions and not have fled the country in the first place. If that one prosecutor in Sweden hadn't fucked up by not bothering to talk to him when he was in custody after having been arrested this would likely all have been overwith last August. Sweden CAN'T charge him with anything until their investigation is complete, which they can't do because that one idiot prosecutor, Eva Finn, never bothered to talk to him and just dropped the warrant and let him go knowing he was a flight risk and before she had made up her mind on whether or not there should be any other sex crime charges other than rape. Sweden is OBLIGATED to complete their investigation, and since they can't do that without having questioned him, and he wouldn't go back for questioning voluntarily they didn't have any other choice but to go through with extradition. With the epic fuck ups in how the case was handled by Finn, is it any wonder that the chief prosecutor had to review what happened and take over? Sweden got a lot of egg on their face for all this.
Anyone that actually bothers to look into what happened at the time it was happening can pretty easily see that there is no invisible hand of US that has anything to do with this... it's a classic epic fuck up by people in the prosecution authority and with the Swedish press all over it like white on rice since the very day he was arrested they looked like idiots and are trying to redeem their own reputation within their own country.
Despite the fuck ups which also included having the case filed as a harassment issue in error from the beginning (which causes an entirely different mode of investigation) the case was never closed, no prosecutor ever dropped all the warrant charges, and Assange is still obligated to cooperate with Swedish authorities. I totally understand his being dismayed and pissed off in how they fucked up the initial handling of the case, but he got off lucky that he was never questioned and released so he could leave the country before the investigation was complete and before all the warrant charges were dropped.
That's how the situation came to be what it is now - no need for any US "dirty tricks" which Assange ran to the press with the very moment he was released in Sweden - less than 24 hours after his arrest. And no wonder he's so fond of the "smear campaign" MO - it WORKS. His attorneys would like everyone to believe that he hung out in Sweden for weeks wanting to talk to authorities concerning the case who inexplicably ignored him (while they were looking for him!), but information from the time that all this was actually happening he fled the country the moment he was released from custody on the 21st of August and went straight to the press from his "undisclosed location". Come on, does anyone actually believe that while he's screaming "smear campaign" and "they're out to get me" all over the press while still having charges hanging over his head he'd actually stick around in Sweden and NOT leave the country when there's nothing stopping him from doing so? Hell, that's exactly what I would have done, and of course I would have if I was innocent and actually believed that anyone was out to get me. Yet now his attorneys expect people to believe that he hung around for weeks wanting to talk to authorities? That they inexplicably ignored him WHILE they were trying to find him and looking like ding-a-lings for not ever talking to him while they had him in custody and letting him go with pending charges knowing he was going to flee the country that their own press was lambasting them over? Yeah, sure.
I gotta hand it to him for being this good at working his own PR. Of course, he's too obvious about it and can't get rid of what information there was available at the time for anyone that really bothers to look dig for it. And I have to admit that I do rather like how he's managed to make Wikileaks look with this MO. What I don't like is that it's looking more and more like it's going to backfire on him and do it hard dragging down Wikileaks with him.
If the US, Sweden and Britain are talking now about extradition to the US he really has no one to blame but himself. He let it get to this point. Had he just not fled the country and cooperated back in August it's pretty likely that this would have all been over and done with back then and never have gotten anywhere near this point. Sweden gets him first, and I don't see any way the US is going to get around that especially since they don't even have any reason for him to be extradited to the US. And Sweden wants him. The prosecution authority got major egg on their faces with how badly the whole case was handled from the beginning and they're looking to redeem themselves especially after how they got trashed in their press over it. And naturally, they'll do it the same way any other legal system would - cracking the whip and being all "tough on crime". Sweden has first dibs even if the US can come up with any kind of reason to have him extradited to the US that anyone will agree with, and that's just the way it is.
For the record, I'm not seeing any legitimate reason for the US to charge him with anything concerning the documents even though they were stolen. I think it's obvious they're just pissed off they're being leaked, and they look stupid in gunning for him while not doing the same for anyone connected with Wikileaks and anyone connected with any other outlet that's leaked them as well. If they went after everyone, they might have a point, but only going after him and for no legal reason I can see (and they can't see either at this point) they just look like angry crybabies that DON'T have any legal reason for doing so, which is classic illegitimate persecution.
However, I'm also not all that happy with how Wikileaks has handled the leaks themselves. So far, most of what they've put out has no redeeming reason to have been and isn't covered under any whistleblower definition. You can only be a whistleblower if you're exposing information that shows some kind of illegality or corruption and most of these docs so far don't, and there wasn't any need for the public to know what they contained. This is not something I've ever seen Wikileaks do before, and it's disturbing. Any time before that I've seen they only leaked that information that DID show some sort of illegality or corruption and WAS in the public interest to know. Even the most free of presses always have to balance what it is they print against the risk of printing it along with the public's level of need to know. The list of vital infrastructure really disturbs be because it's not only too risky to have out in the public but because there is no reason for the public at large to know it - the public doesn't gain anything in knowing it and the risk of it being used against not only the US but other countries of the world is far too dangerous.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
