Julian Assange Doesn't like America. So What?

by Ed Ballard
New Statesman
December 3, 2010

That WikiLeaks itself would come under attack is no surprise. It's happened before, and if the website survives it will happen again. Those who speak truth to power will eventually find power telling them to shut up.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks' figurehead Julian Assange -- now apparently being hunted by British police -- has become the target of an extraordinary hate campaign from the right.

"Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders," wonders Sarah Palin, adding that he should be hunted down with "cyber-tools" (if you don't know what these are, think Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver).

"I think Assange should be assassinated actually," declares political science professor Tom Flanagan. " I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone, or something."

Jonah Goldberg of the National Review asks: "Why wasn't Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago?"

For a discussion of what these comments reveal about the attitude towards democracy shown by Palin, Goldberg and co., read Dan Gardner's lacerating column in the Ottawa Post. But in their eagerness to find a scapegoat, these commentators also make the error of mistaking the man for the ball.

Writing in the Telegraph this morning, George Grant of the Henry Jackson Society accuses Julian Assange of releasing the United States' diplomatic files because he hates America, and thinks the world's greatest power is a corrupt regime in need of cleaning up. The idea that Assange is motivated by "anti-Americanism" is the gist of much of the bile levelled at him. But Grant, unlike some of Assange's other critics, isn't foaming at the mouth -- so it's worth looking at his article closely.

Read the rest here.

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Comment: I like that Sarah Palin wants Assange to be hunted down.  Then what?

Well lock him up in Guantanamo or any one of those Black Sites the US runs across the globe.

That will learn him about justice, American style.

A Canadian professor of political science at the University of Calgary, Tom Flanagan, is one step ahead of Palin (must be the cold up in the north).  He thinks it would be a good idea to "put out a contract" or "use a drone" on Assange.

The University of Calgary should fire Flanagan.  He is a disgrace to the academy.

Onward!