Glenn Greenwald: Obama administration is surpassing Bush when it comes to assaults on a free press

[Better Believe It]

Attempts to prosecute WikiLeaks endanger press freedoms
December 14, 2010


During the Bush era, I frequently wrote about escalating attacks by the U.S. Government on press freedoms. The Bush DOJ vowed to prosecute whistleblowers while steadfastly refusing to do the same for the high-level criminals they exposed. Alberto Gonzales openly threatened that the DOJ could prosecute editors and reporters of The New York Times for revealing the illegal NSA spying program. CIA Director Porter Goss vowed to subpoena journalists who publish classified information in order to compel them to disclose their sources or go to prison.

Amazingly, the Obama administration is surpassing its predecessor when it comes to assaults on whistle-blowing and a free press. As Politico's Josh Gerstein reported, "President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has taken a hard line against leakers. . . .'They’re going after this at every opportunity and with unmatched vigor,' said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists." The New York Times similarly documented: "the Obama administration is proving more aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks." The Obama DOJ has launched nothing less than a full-on war against whistleblowers; its magnanimous "Look Forward, Not Backward" decree used to shield high-level Bush criminals from investigations is manifestly tossed to the side when it comes to those who reveal such criminality. And they even revitalized an abandoned Bush-era subpoena issued to The New York Times' James Risen, demanding that he disclose his source for an article in which he revealed an embarrassingly botched attempt to infiltrate and sabotage Iran's nuclear program.

But if current reports are correct -- that the Obama DOJ has now convened a Grand Jury to indict WikiLeaks and Julian Assange -- this will constitute a far greater assault on press freedom than anything George W. Bush managed, or even attempted. Put simply, there is no intellectually coherent way to distinguish what WikiLeaks has done with these diplomatic cables with what newspapers around the world did in this case and what they do constantly: namely, receive and then publish classified information without authorization. And as much justifiable outrage as the Bush DOJ's prosecution of the AIPAC officials provoked, at least the actions there resembled "espionage" far more than anything Assange has done, as those AIPAC officials actually passed U.S. secrets to a foreign government, not published them as WikiLeaks has done.

What's most striking about all of this, as usual, is how the worst and most tyrannical government actions in Washington are equally supported on a fully bipartisan basis. It is, of course, a Democratic President -- elected on a promise of creating the "most transparent administration in history" -- that is leading these attacks on whistle-blowing and press freedoms. And it's leading Democratic Senators like Dianne Feinstein demanding Assange's prosecution under the Espionage Act. And it's Democratic operatives like Bob Beckel -- Walter Mondale's 1984 campaign manager -- calling for Assange to be "illegally" murdered, stating on Fox News: "A dead man can't leak stuff. This guy's a traitor, he's treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I'm not for the death penalty, so...there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch" (note the illiterate-though-standard claim that Assange, an Australian citizen, has committed "treason" against the U.S.).

Read the full article at:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/


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Keeping Secrets WikiSafe
By Scott Shane
December 11, 2010

Had it chosen to do so, WikiLeaks could have posted on the Web all 251,287 confidential diplomatic cables about six months ago, when the group obtained them. Instead, it shared the cables with traditional news organizations and has coordinated the cables’ release with them. As of Friday, fewer than 1 percent of the cables had been released on the Web by the antisecrecy group, The Times and four European publications combined.

“They’ve actually embraced” the mainstream media, “which they used to treat as a cuss word,” Mr. Blanton said. “I’m watching WikiLeaks grow up. What they’re doing with these diplomatic documents so far is very responsible.”

When the newspapers have redacted cables to protect diplomats’ sources, WikiLeaks has generally been careful to follow suit. Its volunteers now accept that not all government secrets are illegitimate; for example, revealing the identities of Chinese dissidents, Russian journalists or Iranian activists who had talked to American diplomats might subject them to prison or worse.

In an op-ed essay for The Australian last week, Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian citizen who is currently being held in Britain on sex charges from Sweden, declared his devotion to some core Western press values. “Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media,” he wrote. “The media helps keep government honest.”

Read the full article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/weekinreview/12shane.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&src=twrhp

[Scurrilous]

1. A huge K & R

:thumbsup:

[Newsjock]

2. We've been had

Pure and simple.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. No getting around it.

[emilyg]

5. Big time.

[Lucky 13]

6. Sick to death of it.

[ThomCat]

10. The Obama administration has become a monster

instead of the Democratic protectors of ideals we voted for. x(

How long will it take us to get a real democratic administration into office, and then how long will it take to undo the damage being done right now? On top of the damage already done by Bush in the last 8 years?

We're screwed. :(

[Enthusiast]

22. Pluuuus one! nt

[Richard Steele]

43. Snookered, hook line and sinker. K&R

[defendandprotect]

4. K&R ....

as the fascism builds --

[McCamy Taylor]

7. Bush was the not only president who uses the Bill of Rights as toilet paper.

Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, the right to jury trial, protection against cruel and unusual punishment----all of them have been trashed.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

17. I wouldn't follow Issa anywhere. He's as corrupt as they come. n/t

[bertman]

8. The fascists protect themselves in any way they can. Now that they own the

government, they don't even try to hide their assault on our constitutional rights.

REC.

[northamericancitizen]

11. K & R

[somone]

12. The regime strives to disappoint, disgust, and repulse

This is a must-read.

[defendandprotect]

20. k

[Dr.Phool]

13. 100 kicks and recs.

[cheapdate]

14. Many deep disappointments indeed

but I believe that the claim of "surpassing the Bush administration" is an overstatement.

[pscot]

30. How about, "no worse"

than the Bush administration. not qite what I thought I was voting for.

[cheapdate]

35. Maybe "only a little better than"

To be honest, I don't really know. I firmly support Assange and hope he remains free and doing what he does. But I can't imagine that any president would not take seriously such an enormous breach breach of security regarding diplomatic communications that were not meant to be public without. As far as the Times reporter who reported on an attempt to infiltrate and sabotage Iran's nuclear program, I don't know any of the facts.

I haven't heard about "free speech zones" since Obama was in office, which was one of the more galling practices of BushCo. Early in office Obama declassified a huge slew of documents. Many of Obama's appointees are much more reasonable individuals than Bush's. Obama seems to hold some public events without nearly the level of pre-screening that BushCo used. He holds more press conferences (I think Bush held only 1 in his first 2 years in office)

Just on the face of it, it seems like a pretty unbelievable claim; i.e. "surpassing Bush."

[pscot]

37. You're quite right

about the free speech zones. We haven't seen any of the worst Bush practices. But everyone's feeling surly and disenchanted right now. Because of the election debacle we're playing pin the tail on the donkey. Hopefully we'll get past this soon, but the Prez most definitely has a credibility problem.

[ProudDad]

39. And you haven't seen any demonstrations

against his expansion of the Permanent War Economy(tm) either...

He's much more "subtle", like justifying war while picking up a "Peace Prize" :sarcasm:

[sirthomas66]

36. In terms of capabilities, I agree with you (but not strongly). In terms

of quantity of lies Obama has that contest sewed up. In terms of quality of lies (people getting killed for either's lies), it's a push. Who is the worse president (both little p presidents), I am no longer certain.

[mmonk]

15. Recommended (even though it was negated by an unrec).

[bbgrunt]

16. who wouldve thunk it. we're down the rabbit hole.

[inna]

18. not just that.

[laughingliberal]

19. K & R nt

[Laelth]

21. k&r for the truth, however depressing. n/t

-Laelth

[caseymoz]

23. He played not just on our hopes but on our desperation. nt

[Celtic Raven]

24. K&R

I wrote the WH again this morning. Good thing it was before reading these links because I don't think my tone would have been civil.

:argh:

[femrap]

25. Change....

for the worse.

[ProSense]

26. Greenwald is a clown

Wikileaks is not the press.

[librechik]

29. Ha ha--you just made me laugh

that someone with Greenwald's accomplishments can be criticized by such as you. What a world we live in!

Wikileaks is the best journalism we have at the moment. You display poor judgment indeed.

Also, thanks for being on Karl Rove's side:
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-karl-rove-driving-effort-to.html

[Kaleko]

41. WikiLeaks is the envy of what once called itself the free press everywhere around the world.

Watch this Swedish TV documentary to understand what WikiLeaks has accomplished and the role it plays as a platform for whistleblowers presently. It's a real eye-opener for those who haven't studied the WL phenomenon thoroughly.

WikiRebels - the documentary

http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/12/12/wikirebels-the-documentary/

[Gravel Democrat]

27. Fußtritt und empfohlen

[Uncle Joe]

28. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[DirkGently]

31. Indictments for responsibly revealing government lies, but not for warcriminals? Jesus.

[libmom74]

32. this is a question

for all of people who defen this administration no matter what odious actions it commits, how much is the DLC paying you guys? because i seriously can't imagine anyone being in favor of all things Obama no matter how much the policies match Bush's policies (and in some cases are like Bush on steroids).

[MNBrewer]

33. yay! the Obama administration has surpassed the Bush administration

:sarcasm:

[saras]

44. Misplaced smiley

Yay! the Obama administration has surpassed the Bush administration.

There. Fixed it for you.

[avaistheone1]

34. If Obama keeps out Bushing Bush

things don't look too good for Obama in 2012.

[TBF]

38. Meet the new AG -

Brings to mind one of the past AG's -


Alexander Mitchell Palmer

[ProudDad]

40. Not to mention this one...

Harry J Anslinger...

(looks more like Capone or Mussolini)

http://www.reefermadness.org/propaganda/essay2.html

[TexasObserver]

42. recommend

[kgnu_fan]

45. kick

[AzDar]

46. K & R

:kick: