Throw the Book at Assange
In 1971, The New York Times began releasing information that showed that the federal government of the United States had been systematically lying to the American people about the causes, actions, and results of American involvement in the Vietnam War. The Pentagon Papers would change the nation forever. Not only would our war in Vietnam be cast in an appallingly different hue, but generations have viewed government propaganda through an increasingly cynical lens ever since. Reasonable people disagree about the appropriateness of the release of the classified documents, but no one doubts their power to engender suspicion about “trust us” politicians and bureaucrats to whom the keys of government have been given.
Contrastingly, in 2010 the oily WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange finds some kleptocratic toady with security clearance and hurls onto the internet helter skelter anything sensitive that is remotely relevant to American foreign policy.
One is left to wonder what possible motivation he had beyond the desire to see America suffer. Those chiefly responsible for the Pentagon Papers were convinced that the war in Vietnam was unjust, and an unjust government had lied to conceal its many malfeasances while officials told the American public a far different story. Assange’s release of data is shockingly uncoupled with any justifications, much less any colorable ones.
Why, for instance, should the world know the names of America’s informants in Iran? Is Iran a country with an excellent track record of human rights, democracy, and freedom while the rapacious Americans (like that horrible unilateralist warmonger, Barack Obama) want to destroy Iran?
Meanwhile, the same New York Times that fought all the way to the Supreme Court (even at risk of personal criminal prosecution of reporters and editors) to have its First Amendment rights vindicated in the Pentagon Papers case now blithely passes along much hard-earned intelligence because
the cables tell the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money. They shed light on the motivations — and, in some cases, duplicity — of allies on the receiving end of American courtship and foreign aid. They illuminate the diplomacy surrounding two current wars and several countries, like Pakistan and Yemen, where American military involvement is growing.
Really? No sense that maybe governments have to keep certain things secret to actually function? No sense that Americans already know that most of our allies aren’t angels? No sense that Americans already know that we are spending lives and people in two wars? Why give a damn if people die or money is wasted when Americans need to know the ends and outs of everything the government collects at all times.
Journalism is sacred in American life. When you find a government report that admits it was lying, great, let us hear about it.
But this whole thing is nothing more than a disgusting bit of self-righteous, irresponsible nihilism. I hope they catch Assange and lock him up for good. And I hope The New York Times falls into financial ruin and sees its once-vaunted reputation in shreds.
Oops. Too late for that last bit.