I have been following this WikiLeaks thing pretty close. I have been perplexed as to why so many are focused on the actions of Julian Assange and not the behavior of our elected representatives. Regardless, what ever spins out of all of this is very likely to impact our privacy right… If there is no talk of a need for “more security” as a result of this WikiLeaks event, I am off to Hell to make a snowman.

You can read the entire transcript and watch the video over at the article I found at The Huffington Post. He closed with some very appropriate questions:

  1. Do the American People deserve know the truth regarding the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen?
  2. Could a larger question be how can an army private access so much secret information?
  3. Why is the hostility mostly directed at Assange, the publisher, and not at our government’s failure to protect classified information?
  4. Are we getting our money’s worth of the 80 Billion dollars per year spent on intelligence gathering?
  5. Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into war or WikiLeaks’ revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?
  6. If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and the independence of the Internet?
  7. Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on WikiLeaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?
  8. Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death, and corruption?
  9. Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it is wrong?

Thomas Jefferson had it right when he advised ‘Let the eyes of vigilance never be closed.’ I yield back the balance of my time.

I think those are some appropriate questions. We seem pretty determined to hold Assange accountable but what about our representatives and government? Personally, I think if our government wants us to sacrifice privacy and anonymousness in the name of security, I think they should lead by setting the example.

The reason there is an issue with the leaked documents, is because they bring to light despicable behavior, lies and examples of our government having blatant disregard for our countries values, beliefs and principles. Should we be more upset that there never were any weapons of mass destruction or the fact that the knowledge of that fact was leaked?

Open your myopic eyes America, put on some vigilant glasses and reconsider who the criminals are here. We seem to be focusing on the exposer and not the exposed.

I also like the fact that he closed with a rather good quote. Read on for the full video an my closing quote.

“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.” – Abraham Lincoln