Daniel Ellsberg: WikiLeaks Founder’s Life Is In Danger
June 12th, 2010All states use their embassies and consulates to run intelligence operations. The U.S. Government is likely concerned that some of these activities, that are happening under official cover, could be compromised. Public exposure would represent a gigantic pain in the ass for the U.S. because of the Kabuki theater act that’s mandated to follow such revelations.
So, is Julian Assange’s life actually in danger? Very possibly, if the government believes that WikiLeaks will publish information related to active military or covert operations.
Now, would assassinating Assange accomplish anything, in terms of preventing WikiLeaks from publishing the information in question?
Almost certainly, no.
Assange isn’t a fool. The information would have been distributed through his network in a manner that would ensure that it would survive, even if he didn’t. Assange has been on the scene for a very long time and he doubtlessly has a long list people that he works with. The very real problem for the U.S. Government is that Assange himself doesn’t know who some of his associates are. (See: No Secrets: Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency.) In other words, torturing him wouldn’t work either. Some of his associates may be intelligence personnel that states have infiltrated into the WikiLeaks organization. But in other cases… Who knows?
Via: Fire Dog Lake:
Daniel Ellsberg, the former US military analyst who released the pentagon papers in 1971, appeared on MSNBC today with Dylan Ratigan. He said he fears for the safety of Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, who is reportedly on the verge of leaking secret State Department cables. The Daily Beast reports that Assange is currently being sought by the Pentagon, and Ellsberg advises him not to reveal his whereabouts.
“We have after all for the first time, that I ever perhaps in any democratic country, we have a president who has announced that he feels he has the right to use special operations operatives against anyone abroad, that he thinks is associated with terrorism,” says Ellsberg. “Now as I look at Assange’s case, they’re worried that he will reveal current threats. I would have to say puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now. And I say that with anguish. I think it’s astonishing that an American president should have put out that policy and he’s not getting these resistance from it, from Congress, the press, the courts or anything. It’s an amazing development that I think Assange would do well to keep his whereabouts unknown.”
