Joe Liebermann: 'Investigate the NYT'! First they came for Wikileaks!

[sabrina 1]

Could anyone be more stupid? He just made the case AGAINST prosecuting Julian Assange, Wikileaks publisher and author, recipient of awards for 'New Media' at a time when the Government is desperately struggling to find a crime that does not involve the freedom of the press, to charge Assange with?

Did he not know that this is the reason why they have not prosecuted him already, because it is clear to most sentient human beings that if you charge Assange with 'espionage', you MUST charge every news organization that publishes material from sources who may have stolen it from governments, iow Whistle-blowers.



Joe Lieberman and George Bush

Is he so out of it that he does not know that this is the very argument that has been made to oppose the prosecution of Assange? 'If you prosecute him for espionage, you must prosecute the NYT and The Guardian and Der Spiegel and every other news organization that has published the Wikileaks Cables'?

In fact it was pointed out by Julian Assange himself in his recent OP ED for the Australian:

Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths

WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the US embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.

And to further educate Joe as to why the DOJ is having such a difficult time finding a crime to charge Assange with, Julian Assange, citizen of Australia, who appears to know more about U.S. law and history than the always embarrassing U.S. SENATOR, Joe Lieberman, provides the ultimate reason why the DOJ cannot prosecute the press on charges of espionage. Because, Joe, the matter was already settled in the Pentagon Papers case when the Government tried to prosecute the NYT for ..... wait for it Joe, PUBLISHING CLASSIFIED MATERIAL IT RCEIVED FROM A WHISTLE BLOWER:

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.

Julian Assange is the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

You would think a U.S. Senator would understand the meaning of freedom of the press, have some idea of the history of the battles to preserve it in this country.

How difficult if not impossible it is to win a case that involves the 1st Amendment and the Press.

How it protects even the most vile speech because without a free press we have no democracy, the reason why the Founding Fathers felt it was important enough to include it in our Constitution.

A Constitution Joe took an oath to defend.

Nearly every legal expert has stated that to prosecute Assange for esionage would be 'almost impossible' and as some have said 'very dangerous' because it would mean that they would also have to prosecute THE NYT!

And the hapless Joe Lieberman, as he often does 'steps in where angels fear to thread' and proves them right!


Lieberman Suggests Prosecution of New York Times, Too

Sen. Joe Lieberman thinks the New York Times (and presumably others) "committed at least an act of bad citizenship" in publishing the WikiLeaks cables. Whether they committed a crime, he thinks, "bears very intensive inquiry by the Justice Department."

The persecution of Julian Assange and Wikileaks must be opposed if we are to protect what is left of this democracy.

Even those who have had disagreements with Wikileaks in the past, are stepping forward to defend Wilileaks now, chilled by the implications of the calls for prosecution of an editor and publisher of a news organization, the strong-arming of other countries and of Paypal, Visa and other businesses to stop doing business with Wikileaks based on false charges of 'criminal activity'. That activity being the publishing of material provided by a whistle blower, material also published by many other news organizations.

This is a pivotal moment for this democracy. We have known our media has been censored and we have done nothing about it except to complain. This is not just about Julian Assange or about Wikileaks anymore. It is about an idea that is a cornerstone of democracy.

It is an opportunity to fight for what we lost quite some ago. Around the world people are stepping forward to join the fight. If we let this moment pass, this opportunity to maybe get back what has been lost, what made the Iraq War possible, when will such an opportunity present itself again, and if they do shut down Wikileaks, who will be next? Us maybe?

Joe Lieberman just demonstrated clearly what others have been warning about, how dangerous to OUR democracy the persecution of any news organization is. I thought it would take a bit longer before any of our elected officials would be so foolish as to prove that our fears were not unfounded.

Thank you Joe Lieberman. Julian Assange thanks you for your, granted unwitting, demonstration of why the U.S. government must drop the notion of prosecuting the editor and publisher of a news organization.



Sen. John McCain with Sen. Joe Lieberman ~ the man who is a real threat to this democracy!