Okay, but why does Assange need a bullet to the head, too?
I guess, though for the most part (arguably the whole part) they have nowhere to go but up.
For what, exactly? What law has he broken? Or why you think an Australian is bound by secrecy Acts in a foreign country?
Can strict Islam countries prosecute American civilians for violating their laws against public behavior while while eating at, say, a restaurant in Paris?
Assange has done nothing wrong. He has broken no law. Indeed, he is not subject to US law.
You mean like him?
Bankers “in our name”? Bankers presumably acted in their private function or in the function of their employer not in the name of all the citizens of the US or whatever other nation. In addition if secrets come to light not only shall Americans know it but so shall the enemies of America.
Well, the solution is easy - get every man, woman and child in the U.S. to pinky-swear to keep secrets, cross their hearts, hope to die, stick a needle in their eye.
The revolt in Tunisia was caused in part by revelation of corruption in Tunisia. In addition these revolts have brought more instablity to the region which along with Sub-Saharan government need it least and hurt our efforts on the War on Terror. The way I see it dictatorships usually crumble on its own peacefully once the country is sufficiently developed and bourgeized and transition to stable democracies-look at the Republic of Korea, Chile, Spain, Portugal-while if a revolution occurs when the country is not developed enough it usually degenrates into dictatorship.
I’m pretty sure the Tunisians already knew their government was corrupt.
That not what you claimed originally, though, which was that Assange caused the revolts by publishing the diplomatic traffic, which strikes me as tenuous as best. Before you can blame Assange for the results, you’d have to establish Assange was the cause.
So, if Tunisia turns into a weak but promising democracy, will you publicly credit and praise Assange?
His rape accusations seem awfully timely - a bullet is so messy and old-fashioned.
As Cluricaun said, a private company that takes billions of government money forfeits a lot of privacy.
I think the bottom line for me in all this is the idea that if you don’t do things that you have to lie about, you don’t have to worry about people knowing your secrets. Why should governments have a different method of operating than regular citizens?
Enemies of America?. Who is a worse threat to the country than some greedy bankers who destroyed the economy and trashed the security of the nation? Who is doing damage, a whistleblower or the guy who causes political unrest in a sovereign country? Is it the guy who pays billions of tax payer dollars to a dictator while stabilizing his criminal enterprise of a nation?
Our national security is threatened by the deeds these guys have done. It is not by someone who lets us know what they did? We deserve to know what they do?
I agree with this. I made this point earlier. However, that does not justify what Assange does. The change should come from our government itself. If we want a more transparent government, we can put one in office.
Because he is not someone we can bring to justice under our system. He needs to be stopped, and made an example of, by any means necessary. I’d prefer trying him and locking him up. He wants to take that off the table, fine.
Don’t see the need for an either-or scenario.
Killing Assange won’t accomplish “justice”. Your suggested solution is entirely moot in an age where data can be transmitted to and then hosted on a server anywhere in the world. What are you going to do - take out the hundred people who will take Assange’s place? The thousand that will take their place? You have an absurdly overconfident opinion of the strength of your “example”.
Anyway, here I am posting under my own, real name. If Assange gets taken out, I’ll seriously consider contributing some time and effort to keep Wikileaks or whatever follows it going (I’d be more definite, but I honestly don’t know what running the project entails - I figure a cash donation will be a good start). Got a problem with that? Come and get me.
magellan01, stop advocating murder.
Bryan Ekers, stop trying to make this personal or trying to goad magellan01 into making a personal threat.
[ /Moderating ]
Your post shows is that of a traitor to very ideals America was founded for. Your words spite on everything any police officer, soldier, activist, or other form of patriot died to defend. Your post, if sincere, shows you care nothing for freedom or liberty, only suppression and tyranny.
I think he is sincere.
We should declare hi an enemy of the people…
So in other words, you think the government’s embarrassment can and should be reason for them to violate the terms of the 1st Amendment (freedom of the press, baby) and to convict and execute a foreign journalist who may not even have broken any American laws (remember, one of the opinions in the Pentagon Papers case asserted that it’s not a crime for journalists to publish classified documents, and the only people who can be charged are those who broke the secrecy of said documents originally).
As opposed to taking the most useful path (namely, fix our damn document-classification system to actually be secure) and/or taking the high ground (telling Assange he’s doing a great service to humanity, then adjusting the business of our government so that we don’t do embarrassing things and leave the evidence out where any goddamn idiot can funnel it to wikileaks.)
No. I think government embarrassment is a very minor problem. I’m concerned with the degree to leaks may be harmful to the U.S., it’s allies, and peace around the world. And what in the world makes you think that I don’t advocate fixing our document classification system? Of course we should.
I find it exceptionally amusing how mountains are so often built from molehills on this board. 
Alternately, you and others who prefer opacity are free to ignore Wikileaks and leave your heads buried reassuringly in the sand. Nobody’s stopping you from continuing to play ‘let’s pretend’ when it comes to the actions and policies of the U.S. government, if you so desire. Really, it’s OK; knowledge and truth aren’t for everyone.