Assange: Obama looks to ‘put a chill across all investigative journalism’

Source: Raw Story
By Stephen C. Webster

If the Obama administration's prosecutions of Pfc. Bradley Manning and a high tide of other journalists and whistleblowers are successful, the result will be "a chill across all investigative journalism," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told reporters Wednesday.

Speaking on a press call, Assange was joined by Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst who leaked the famed Pentagon Papers, which provided an impetus for the U.S. to end the Vietnam War. The two hailed Manning as a "hero" who may face a military court that is already convinced of his guilt.

Ellsberg and others specifically pointed to a recent statement by President Barack Obama, in which the commander-in-chief appeared to pronounce the soldier's guilt.

"He broke the law," Obama said in April.

"It was obviously grossly improper for the commander-in-chief to be saying that," Ellsberg said.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/25/assange-obama-looks-to-put-a-chill-across-all-investigative-journalism/

...remember the Harvard Prof and the cop issue? He should have kept quiet on that one too...

The UK absolutely loves this guy.

Sad that you chose to go the bitter Obama hating route.

ZOMG i rest my case!

Seriously, the only thing you left out was a reference to President Palin.

you would have a much better chance if you didn't choose to make an enemy of such a complete badass.

Uh-huh. You aren't very good at this.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Welcome...I hope you stick around, things are gonna get mighty interesting if all you do is wave your pom poms...

I made the observation that there have been occasions when it would have been better for him to have remained silent on a topic...and the fact that my fellow countrymen appear to have gone mental for him has absolutely sweet fuck-all to do with my post..

You'll be fine. ;-)

Welcome!

Who is muzzling whom? :wtf:

you're about two posts away from being accused of being rascist.

A-mazing....:wtf:

what due process is.

'absolutely loves the guy' (you don't know much about them obviously) we should just forget that this country fought a Revolution against that same Empire to establish a democratic state where all people have the same rights.

The British have a long and brutal, criminal history of oppressing other nations and stealing their resources with which they built their own Empire. Not exactly a proud history.

Excuse me if I am not impressed by Empires. I like Democracies.

Amazing comment frankly. The issue isn't whether some foreign nation's royalty likes our politicians or not, the issue is about OUR Civil Liberties and one of the most important elements of a democracy, A Free Press. So important the FFs included it in the Constitution.

Assange is absolutely correct. It is very disturbing to see what is happening to whistle-blowers under this administration.

with his handling of whistle blowers and especially his comments about Manning but I disagree with you about the Gates issue. Perhaps it would have been better he not say anything but I agreed with Obama in regards to how the cop acted.

was criminal.

but what the fuck does daniel ellsberg know? it's not like he's a constitutional scholar.

right?

and though you have your argument, i have mine. the man is criminal. he is not a whistleblower going after a specific crime. he downloaded hundreds of thousands of cables looking for a gotcha.

why do facts not matter to you?

You say this over and over again but I've seen nothing in any of the chat logs or in any interview with anyone who was close to him that his motive was juvenile.

If he was the leaker, then he is clear about his motiviation...

http://wlcentral.org/node/1808

"According to his dialogue with Lamo, he had been instructed to watch fifteen detainees held by the Iraqi federal police for printing "anti-Iraqi literature." Manning says he found out "they had printed a scholarly critique" against Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, "a benign political critique titled, 'Where did the money go?'... following the corruption trail within the PM's cabinet." But, when Manning "*ran* with this information to a senior officer to explain, "he didn't want to hear any of it...he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees.

After that, he said, "I saw things differently. I had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth... but that was the point where I was a *part* of something... i was actively involved in something that i was completely against..." Manning, it appears, knew he might be on a quixotic mission, but despite his military oath, he felt an allegiance to something higher. "Its important that it gets out... I feel, for some bizarre reason it might actually change something," he wrote Lamo. "God knows what happens now...."

of thousands of capables to find SOMETHING criminal. that is looking for gotcha. that is criminal. that is not a whistleblower. that is pulling down everything to find something.

saw in the cables or didn't see.

handed over to another person, to find a crime.

that is fact.

there is no if and buts, maybe, kinda, sorta

read none of them and thus, saw no evidence of immoral or criminal behavior.

on

if a person reads three and sees no crime or even sees a crime and hands off hundreds of thousands of other cables he is clueless what is on them... he has committed treason. a crime. he is irresponsible.

Again, you have no clue as to how many cables were read before being downloaded.

but like the dks rapist.... we like to quibble what is is.

since almost all that has been exposed is not crime and is stuff that is already known, i would say that alone says he didnt know what the fuck they had and it is a fuckin game that he had no right to play nor assange....

Geez, where's he been? Our press only prints what it's told to anyway, and anyone outside the US isn't going to give a rat's ass... they'll just shake their heads at us a little harder.

He's too fucking lazy. He puts scads of stolen documents on a website and calls that 'journalism?'

Please.

but if you don't get that by now, you never will. by choice, i'm certain.

Sorry.

Because it is a fact.

Link us to one article written by Assange based on a document provided to wikileaks. If he's a journalist, surely he has written numerous articles right?

My Google must be broken, because I can find many, many articles ABOUT Julian Assange, but I can't find any BY Julian Assange.

FYI, Assange is the Editor-in-Chief. Most of the articles were by-lined with "Wikileaks Staff". Though, Wikileaks states that he wrote most of the summaries that introduce the leak documents.

But here are some articles that Wikileaks has produced.

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/The_looting_of_Kenya_under_President_Moi

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_email_hack_2008

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks.org_under_injunction

http://mirror.wikileaks.info/wiki/Serious_nuclear_accident_may_lay_behind_Iranian_nuke_chief%27s_mystery_resignation/

More info on the process on the Wikileaks site:
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:About#How_does_WikiLeaks_test_document_authenticity.3F

*their* corrupt banksters were busted.

Unless, of course, you can show me something Assange has actually written.

I hope you have good medical insurance. :)

and that would be pathetic.

Assange explains Wikileaks journalistic process here:

http://newsflavor.com/world/usa-canada/wikileaks-journalisms-rise-from-the-sepulcher/



This information about their process has been known for years and has been reported here and elsewhere.

Nah - not when there's tail to be chased.

Department of Justice Subpoenas a New York Times Reporter
By John Hudson May 24, 2011

A New York Times reporter was served a subpoena Monday in an effort to force his disclosure of a source who gave him information about the CIA's plot to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. The reporter, James Risen, is going to resist the order, he tells the Times. “I am going to fight this subpoena,” Risen said. “I will always protect my sources, and I think this is a fight about the First Amendment and the freedom of the press.” Risen is being ordered to testify at the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling who's been charged with leaking information to the press, reports the Times. The work that Risen's coming under questioning for is a chapter in his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Sterling allegedly told Risen about a CIA operation in 2000 designed to break Iran's nuclear program by having an undercover Russian scientist sell the Iranians a faulty nuclear triggering device designed to disrupt the system. Risen described the operation as a botched plan.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/05/department-justice-subpoenas-new-york-times-reporter/38093/

Even if the President thinks someone is guilty, that does not mean the body that conducts the trial has to come to the same conclusion after considering the evidence.

Julian is attention seeking again. He's admitting Manning did what he did, finally? He admits Manning is guilty himself.

Here is a better article (and collaborated by other articles I've read via google search..,

""I don't know whether it (the source) was Bradley Manning or not, but he is only person behind bars on that allegation," Assange said in explaining why he's been so dogged in defending Manning. "

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/25/6717046-assange-ellsberg-manning-prosecution-an-assault-on-journalism

in all banana republics.

Now we know who Obama has been getting legal advice from.