Wikieaks, a Fatwah on truth?

[123everton]

http://www.opendemocr...201210&utm_campaign=0
With high ranking mainstream politicians from several supposedly liberal, egalitarian, civilised western countries, in conjunction with many other nations calling for Julian Assange's assassination, are we now witnessing the crucifixion of investigative journalism and freedom of speech.
Are the people who make such calls really no better than the Imams who called for Salman Rushdie's head?

[bibblebub]

PayPal have now shut down WikiLeaks' accounts too.

[mollykins]

I don't think that a democratic society can function without freedom of speach and i think it's a bit extreme what these politicians are doing, especially as they aren't telling their people the truth about what goes on behind closed doors.

[mollykins]

And if the US government were so against the website and were saying it was treason, couldn't they have just closed it down, rather than worrying about what was going to be posted next?

[boxtops]

molly, do you appreciate that these documents being released are leaked - and leaked means STOLEN? Many are interesting to others but many (IMO) give real cause for concern about international security. I am staggered at the number of people in the US who had access to this material, given how potentially damaging the information being released could be.

[123everton]

Politicians are happy to use leaked documents to embarrass their opononents, Cameron did it, Blair did it, Brown did it, Nixon practiced it and Woodward and Bernstein reported it.
If Obama got hold of a stolen document saying that North Korea or Iran were about to launch an attack on another country, would he not publish it publicly?

[DrFilth]

they are trying very hard to shut wiki up even trumped up sex charges
a smear campaign, anything to stop the leaks.

[naomi24]

//Are the people who make such calls really no better than the Imams who called for Salman Rushdie's head? //

Not that I agree with calls for his execution, but since he has created an issue of international security and the other is a gentle writer who happened to pen something that extremist Islamists objected to, the two bear no comparison, so it's a silly question.

[boxtops]

Agree Naomi, SR caused issues but never offered a threat to world security.

[R1Geezer]

a classic case of shooting the messanger.

[mollykins]

And like you say everton, politicians used leaked stuff . . . .

[anotheoldgit]

I could not believe why this person and his gossiping web site got so much support on Answerbank, until I listened to George Galloway's radio show, and then I realised this is a far-left/anti British/anti American issue.

He too came up with conspiracy stories, that the rape charges against Julian Assange are trumped up charges.

Among other things this man is a traitor and should receive the same punishment of all rapists and traitors ie, a very long term in prison..

I would ask this to all those that state "the public have every right to know, nothing should be secret"

How far should this go, "Everything" ? if not how much should we know? Who should make that decision?

Galloway seemed to know, nothing that could cause disharmony on racial or religious grounds, umh, interesting.

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/3ykcfgg

This sums up the implications, much better than I.

[Gromit]

Who is calling for his assassination? Do you have link?

Is this thread based on a spurious assertion?

[anotheoldgit]

Did you read everton's link, Gromit?

/// “Obama should put out a contract [to have Assange assassinated] and maybe use a drone or something,” said Professor Tom Flanagan, a former advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.///

[Zeuhl]

<<Among other things this man is a traitor >>

What harm has assange done to australia? what australian laws has he broken?

<<conspiracy stories, that the rape charges against Julian Assange are trumped up charges. >>

well he was in sweden for several weeks this year and asked to be interviewed by prosecutors on this matter and they refused to meet with him. Now the accusations have re emerged after the us documents went online. Concidence i suppose.

<<would ask this to all those that state "the public have every right to know, nothing should be secret" >>

who exactly is stating that?

The info leaked is low grade. Most of it was already accessable by over 7 million us government employees - that includes the gut who stamps your passport at the airport.

No one's security is at risk. All this has done is embarass some politicians - well good! they deserve to be embarassed.
.

[Zeuhl]

And the guy who stamps your passport at the airport.

lol

[Gromit]

// Professor Tom Flanagan attempted to retract his statments by saying "I never seriously intended to advocate or propose the assassination of Mr. Assange. But I do think that what he's doing is very malicious and harmful to diplomacy and endangering people's lives, and I think it should be stopped." Assange has called for Flanagan to be charged with incitement to commit murder. //

[123everton]

It's not a silly question, people with government connections are calling for the death of a journalist for publishing information he recieved.
Just like every other journalist in the free world.
If he releases a document to show that Bush and Blair knowingly lied to the world, would he be doing the civilised world a disservice?
America talked about the threat posed to the world by Chinese internet attacks, and lo they keep trying to shut down Wikileaks and read Ban Ki Moon's e-mails, why?

[Gromit]

//...people with government connections are calling for the death of a journalist. //

Someone we have never heard of who advises the Prime Minister of Canada, who retracted the statement saying it was a joke. Hardly of any real concern.