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‘Stop Julian Assange!’ The pressure mounts
Amnesty says Wikileaks founder risked Afghan lives; White House wants allies to help curtail his travels
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was under fire from two quite separate quarters today - human rights groups who claim he has put Afghan lives at risk, and the Obama administration who believe his actions threaten US national security.
Amnesty International and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) are among five human rights groups who believe that by posting leaked US military files on Wikileaks without removing the names of Afghan informants, Assange has set them up for reprisal by the Taliban.
"We fear the names could create new targets," AIHRC president Nader Nadery said. "We have noticed a sharp rise of assassinations by the Taliban against tribal leaders, religious leaders (in recent months)."
In late July, Wikileaks released some 76,900 military files relating to the war in Afghanistan. So far the site has held back another 15,000 more documents which it says contain information that might endanger innocent people.
But Taliban representatives have said publicly that they are already searching the published documents and plan to punish those who have helped US and Nato forces.
In a letter to Assange, seen by the Wall Street Journal, the rights groups ask Wikileaks to "strongly urge your volunteers and staff to analyse all documents to ensure that those containing identifying information are taken down or redacted.
"We have seen the negative, sometimes deadly ramifications for those Afghans identified as working for or sympathising with international forces."
In response, Assange reportedly asked the groups what they were doing to examine the classified documents, and whether they would be willing to help with the redaction process.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Assange told the human rights groups in a conference call that he was "very busy. [I] have no time to deal with people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses".
As The First Post reported last week, Assange has remained defiant in the face of pressure from the US military to return the documents.
Now the pressure is becoming more intense. According to a report on the Daily Beast website, the Obama administration has asked its allies – Britain, Germany and Australia among others – to consider bringing criminal charges against Assange and to help limit Assange's travels across international borders.
Sources say that the administration's efforts reflect a growing opinion in Washington circles that Wikileaks threatens the United States' national security.
There is also a belief that foreign governments and organisations that might once have been sympathetic to Assange's anti-censorship cause have been put off by the posting of the secret military files.
As an unnamed US Defence Department official told the Daily Beast, "It's amazing how Assange has overplayed his hand. Now he's alienating the sort of people who you'd normally think would be his biggest supporters." ·
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I accept that Assange has something to answer for in not ensuring that individual names were excised from those documents before publication on Wikileaks but I will still maintain that his action will not be anywhere near as heinous as those of the lizards in leadership positions who have sent young men to die in Afghanistan for an ignoble cause. The collateral casualties that may eventually be laid at Assange's door will be negligible by comparison with those caused by military miscalculation or from sheer stupidity or callousness. It happened in Korea. It happened in Viet Nam. It happened in Iraq. It is still happening because those in command have a stunted sense of what it means to be human. They have no conscience. Plus ca change since Galileo was hauled before the Inquisition. It took 300 years before the successors of his inquisitors acknowledged their error. I don't believe we have that amount of time to learn from and accept the truths that Assange is trying to teach us.
Make sure the citizens' attention is anywhere other than where it should be.
Boy, am I glad I stopped my AI contribution a while ago. In fact the money I used to give to AI ever year will now go to Wikileaks.
Assange is a real hero.
Imagine the Nazi German reaction if the British or Americans had published a list of French or Dutch collaborators. It would have been similar.
Julian Assange is an unfortunately typical product of US and W.European parenting and education. Our society continually throws up these examples of restricted moral development caused by infinitely extended adolescence. The finacial services sector is another of their playgrounds.
If there is one death caused by this mans actions then he should be brought to trial. Whilst I admire him in some respects he cannot wash his hands of responsibilty. Publish the stuff, that's fine but don't be cheap and not protect peoples lives because to do so means paying someone or asking for volunteers to go through the documents.
Why are we still paying Pakistan for the terrorists? I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA
The only people risking Afghan lives are the US, the British and the Taliban... releasing official reports of military actions, which by their nature relate to events of the past, has no bearing on future casualties if the active combatants choose to see their mistakes and seek to avoid them. To claim these revelations are a risk is only true if the US, UK and Taliban do not alter their tactics and fail to aim to avoid civilian casualties. Don't be daft Amnesty! Look at who's doing all the killing. Would you prefer that the information had remained suppressed? We have a right to know if our/their fighters are acting responsibly or irresponsibly. The leaked documents ought to lead to a template for change in any case, now that they are in the public domain, perhaps they may.
About 400 Afghanis have died this month in Afghanistan from Allied agression. 1200 is the total figure including Taliban hits by official sources. With horrific numbers like that about, there is a need to find someone to blame, cause a distraction and generally keep the focus off the 90,000 blunders that have already been made.