Wikileaks: Courage is Contagious
Nicholas Warren
Undergraduate/Biochemistry & Moleccular Biology
Over Easter weekend Wikileaks started publishing their latest trove of documents from the US government. This batch reveals the extent to which our government directly and indirectly participated in torture and detaining innocent people at the illegal prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is a shame that I have to bring attention to this issue in this manner instead of our media covering this horrific story. The main stream media thinks President Obama’s birth status, the Royal Wedding and Charlie Sheen are all more important than proof of our government’s flagrant violations of basic human rights and the United States Constitution. If our media was more like Al Jazeera or the majority of the European news sources, I would feel that the general public would have a satisfactory understanding about the organization Wikileaks and what it has done for democracy.
Instead of discussing the revelations that the information Wikileaks provides, I largely see the main stream media and our government arguing whether we should actually know it or just flat out giving death threats to Julian Assange (yes, the creepy albino guy). Right after Wikileaks published the Iraq War Dairies, Congress issued an investigation into Wikileaks almost immediately, but they took far longer to start an investigation into the murders of thousands of civilians.1 Furthermore, the government prohibited workers for the departments of State, Defense and a few others were BANNED from READING news articles about the war dairies.1 I would like somebody to tell me how the constitution allows our government to ban people from reading a certain item.
The main reason that the government gives for their hatred of these releases is that the information is classified. First off, there are around 300,000 people with security clearances of “secret” and “classified” (the classifications of the majority of the files released).1 The number of people able to access the information is enormous anyway. Secondly, many of the documents that Wikileaks has released are from a number of years ago and contain little information that could be harmful to the United States. The Diplomatic Cable release is the best example of this. The diplomatic cables have not caused any harm to anything, however, they have caused a few governments major embarrassments.1 These embarrassments led the people in the Middle East to think differently of their leaders and rise against them.
Even in regard to the War Dairies, the Associated Press received an internal memo from the Pentagon stating that no intervals were placed in peril.2 Wikileaks strives to keep their sources and subjects safe. They cooperate with media organizations to remove personal information about innocent people. Wikileaks even tried to have the US government help them with this, but the Pentagon refused.1 The Pentagon’s refusal shows that they actually do not think that harm will come from this publication or they are too stubborn to think that the publication will actually go through…freedom of press is a great thing to have. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’d rather have newspapers and no government than government and no newspapers.”3 The founding father considered the press the fourth branch of government. If we did not have free press, then the voters are not informed and thus can not truly and freely elect a government of the people.
Now that we have proof of crimes committed by our government with our tax dollars, the people responsible need to be brought to justice. However, the war criminals in our government should be given all of the rights that they have deprived of the poor people sitting in Guantanamo Bay, just because they wore a Cassio watch on the streets of Afghanistan.4 Our country was founded on the principle of law. Nobody is above the law and nobody should have their rights taken away. Yes the government does need to have some secrecy in order to keep us safe, however, injustices and misuse of our tax dollars should be reported. The Executive Branch of our government has become enormously powerful and needs to be brought in check by the remaining two branches. If those fail, then the people must create change, like the Tunisians, Egyptians and so many other people living in tyrannical societies.
I am sure you are curious about all of the information I have just touched on. To see in-depth coverage of the Guantanamo Files go to www.guardian.co.uk. I also strongly encourage you to actually watch/read and interview with Julian Assange himself, he is a very good speaker and writer and it is apparent that he is not out to hurt the American people. Several interviews can be viewed at www.democracyow.org. I love this country and the people in it; that is why I want to make it better.
Undergraduate/Biochemistry & Moleccular Biology
Over Easter weekend Wikileaks started publishing their latest trove of documents from the US government. This batch reveals the extent to which our government directly and indirectly participated in torture and detaining innocent people at the illegal prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is a shame that I have to bring attention to this issue in this manner instead of our media covering this horrific story. The main stream media thinks President Obama’s birth status, the Royal Wedding and Charlie Sheen are all more important than proof of our government’s flagrant violations of basic human rights and the United States Constitution. If our media was more like Al Jazeera or the majority of the European news sources, I would feel that the general public would have a satisfactory understanding about the organization Wikileaks and what it has done for democracy.
Instead of discussing the revelations that the information Wikileaks provides, I largely see the main stream media and our government arguing whether we should actually know it or just flat out giving death threats to Julian Assange (yes, the creepy albino guy). Right after Wikileaks published the Iraq War Dairies, Congress issued an investigation into Wikileaks almost immediately, but they took far longer to start an investigation into the murders of thousands of civilians.1 Furthermore, the government prohibited workers for the departments of State, Defense and a few others were BANNED from READING news articles about the war dairies.1 I would like somebody to tell me how the constitution allows our government to ban people from reading a certain item.
The main reason that the government gives for their hatred of these releases is that the information is classified. First off, there are around 300,000 people with security clearances of “secret” and “classified” (the classifications of the majority of the files released).1 The number of people able to access the information is enormous anyway. Secondly, many of the documents that Wikileaks has released are from a number of years ago and contain little information that could be harmful to the United States. The Diplomatic Cable release is the best example of this. The diplomatic cables have not caused any harm to anything, however, they have caused a few governments major embarrassments.1 These embarrassments led the people in the Middle East to think differently of their leaders and rise against them.
Even in regard to the War Dairies, the Associated Press received an internal memo from the Pentagon stating that no intervals were placed in peril.2 Wikileaks strives to keep their sources and subjects safe. They cooperate with media organizations to remove personal information about innocent people. Wikileaks even tried to have the US government help them with this, but the Pentagon refused.1 The Pentagon’s refusal shows that they actually do not think that harm will come from this publication or they are too stubborn to think that the publication will actually go through…freedom of press is a great thing to have. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’d rather have newspapers and no government than government and no newspapers.”3 The founding father considered the press the fourth branch of government. If we did not have free press, then the voters are not informed and thus can not truly and freely elect a government of the people.
Now that we have proof of crimes committed by our government with our tax dollars, the people responsible need to be brought to justice. However, the war criminals in our government should be given all of the rights that they have deprived of the poor people sitting in Guantanamo Bay, just because they wore a Cassio watch on the streets of Afghanistan.4 Our country was founded on the principle of law. Nobody is above the law and nobody should have their rights taken away. Yes the government does need to have some secrecy in order to keep us safe, however, injustices and misuse of our tax dollars should be reported. The Executive Branch of our government has become enormously powerful and needs to be brought in check by the remaining two branches. If those fail, then the people must create change, like the Tunisians, Egyptians and so many other people living in tyrannical societies.
I am sure you are curious about all of the information I have just touched on. To see in-depth coverage of the Guantanamo Files go to www.guardian.co.uk. I also strongly encourage you to actually watch/read and interview with Julian Assange himself, he is a very good speaker and writer and it is apparent that he is not out to hurt the American people. Several interviews can be viewed at www.democracyow.org. I love this country and the people in it; that is why I want to make it better.