Wikileaks case echoes Pentagon Papers

[mhgaffney]

Wikileak Case Echoes Pentagon Papers

By Coleen Rowley and Robert Parry
June 15, 2010

Almost four decades after Defense Department insider Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers – thus exposing the lies that led the United States into the Vietnam War – another courageous “national security leaker” has stepped forward and now is facing retaliation similar to what the U.S. government tried to inflict on Ellsberg.

for the complete article go to:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/061510.html

[mhgaffney]

40 years ago the NY Times and Washington Post published the leaked Pentagon Papers.

Today the Times and Post are part of the problem -- not part of the solution. This shift of the so called liberal media is an accurate barometer of how things have deteriorated in the US.

Today the corporate media is comparable to the Soviet press under Stalin. We have to go abroad and to the Internet just to decipher what is happening.

Thank heaven for the Internet.

MHG

[mhgaffney]

BTW don't miss the new film:

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
June 15th, 2010

Nominated for an academy award:

http://www.mostdangerousman.org/

[mhgaffney]

Let's hear it for Iceland!

hip hip hooray!

A Safe Haven For Investigative Journalists Everywhere
WikiLeaks Inspired "New Media Haven" Proposal Passes In Icelandic Parliament

Reykjavik, Iceland; 4:00 UTC, June 16th 2010.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25743.htm

The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international "new media haven" in Iceland, with the world's strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a "Nobel" prize for Freedom of Expression, has unanimously passed the Icelandic Parliament.

50 votes were cast in favor, zero against, one abstained. Twelve members of parliament were not present. Vote results are available at http://www.althingi.is/dba-bin/atkvgr.pl?nnafnak=43014

One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009 gagging of of Iceland's national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland's then largest bank, Kaupthing:

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Financial_collapse:_Confidential_exposure_analysis _of_205_companies_each_owing_above_EUR45M_to_Icela ndic_bank_Kaupthing,_26_Sep_2008

Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per the opinion of the parliament's general affairs committee [http://www.althingi.is/altext/138/s/1329.html ]. The first of these
altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to the list of tasks for the government:

- That the government should perform a detailed analysis, especially with respect to operational security, for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.

- That the government should organize an international conference in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state
of the Internet.

Video footage from the proposal's vote will be available at:
http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033127&horfa=1

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033306&horfa=1

For details of the proposal and press contacts, please see http://www.immi.is

[W*GS]

Thank heaven for the Internet.

Otherwise you and your fellow loonies would stay isolated and couldn't jerk each off.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Smoking Gun

The release by Wikileaks of some 400,000 pages of official Iraq war documents has ripped the lid finally and forever off what must surely become known as one of the largest lawless actions by a presidential administration in all of American history. The documents prove, beyond all doubt, that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Rice and the rest of them deliberately led this nation down a nearly-unprecedented path of infamy. The only comparable criminal act was the grindhouse of Vietnam, which spanned five presidencies, left millions dead and enshrined the so-called "defense" industry as the biggest money players in the American political game. What was done in and to Iraq has not yet risen to the level of what happened in Southeast Asia, but it is right up there, and the Wikileaks documents hammer this fact home with no remorse and no room left for doubt.

They knew the WMD threat was false. They knew that al Qaeda was nowhere in Iraq (http://english.aljazeera.net/secretiraqfiles/2010/10/20101024185141883364.html) until more than a year after the invasion had taken place, and that it was the invasion which gave al Qaeda the opportunity to kill Americans without having to board an airplane. They knew that torture and murder were widespread and unpunished. They knew civilians were being butchered wholesale. They knew the "independent contractor" mercenaries were completely out of control. They knew that Iran became the principal beneficiary of our "war for freedom." Hell, Rumsfeld's best chum, Ahmed Chalabi, became a paid player for Iran years ago, even as the Bush administration allowed him to burrow into the Iraqi government.

They knew this and more, and beyond all doubt, now we know, too.

It is not fashionable within the circle of Washington "elites," both in the media and in government, to take part in anything that resembles "looking backward" or "re-litigating the past," or whatever euphemism currently passes for seeking accountability. There was plenty of evidence before Wikileaks came along to undertake a comprehensive prosecution of any and all who were involved in the murderous fraud that was and is the war in Iraq, but it was never done. With the arrival of these 400,000 new pages, however, a new urgency must be injected into the argument.

They knew, and now we have the proof (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-shaming-of-america-2115111.html). They lied, they stole, they murdered by the tens and tens of thousands, and if there is no accountability for crimes of such scope and breadth, then ours is a doomed and eternally discredited nation. Mr. Obama's Department of Justice has officially run out of excuses for not pursuing criminal action against the previous administration and all the players involved. The criminal acts were documented, in meticulous detail, and those facts are now in the public eye for all to see.

They can't deny it anymore. They can't hide behind ramped-up rhetoric or media malingering. They knew, and now we know, and if prosecutions are not undertaken, then justice has no meaning, and Mr. Obama's administration has no honor.

http://www.truth-out.org/now-we-know64540

[mhgaffney]

LABF,

Thanx for posting. Yeah I've been following how they've tried to smear WikiLeaks- -- esp its founder.

It won't work, however. The cat is out of the bag.

The wars are illegal and immoral -- a repudiation of what America supposedly stands for.

Where is the anti war sentiment?

You get the feeling that most people have tuned out. (i.e., flipped channel).

Don't like reality? Flip to something else. Amerikkka the beautiful.

Graveyard of rainbows.
MHG

[Jay3]

I'm a huge fan of the history of the Ellsberg episode; I've read just about every book I could get my hand on about it.

One of my favorite parts of the story is repeating itself -- Ellsberg had the hardest time getting anybody to print the Pentagon Papers, because they were so long and boring. You had to read all 12,000 pages to really get the gist of it. They weren't as susceptible to quoting small passages. So he's shopping them around and these reporters are like "yeah man, groovy -- can you give me a taste of it, sort of a quote sample?" And Ellsberg keeps getting frustrated because they are underwhelmed by what he's trying to show them. (He could have quoted some things, but he didn't seem interested in emphasizing the salacious parts).

So anyway, I see history repeating itself with these Wikileaks documents (the 400,000 pages). The attention span of reporters will be overtaxed, they are probably way more boring than we are imagining, and we won't have a good idea of what they say until years from now.

[mhgaffney]

Yes, Jay, it repeats.

We have learned nothing from history. You can also see it in this election cycle.

I fear we will go from the frying pan into the flames.