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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Fires Back at 'Idiot' Critics

1 year ago
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From his house arrest in a British mansion, beleaguered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is firing away at his critics, including the unlikely trio of Vice President Joe Biden, Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. All have taken shots at Assange as he fights extradition to Sweden where authorities want to question him about sexual misconduct complaints.

In an interview with MSNBC Wednesday, Assange said he wondered whether the United States was descending into a "state of anarchy" after the withering criticism of him by those outraged over WikiLeaks' publication of classified war and diplomatic documents. Assange called them idiots, "trying to make a name for themselves."

Biden has likened him to a "high-tech terrorist." Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, said he should be pursued with the "same urgency" the U.S. exerts going after al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. And Huckabee, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, said "whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty."

WikiLeaks found Julian AssangeSome critics, Assange said, have even "called for my assassination." If "we are to have a civil society," he told MSNBC, "you cannot have senior people making calls on national TV to go around the judiciary and murder people. That is an incitement to commit murder." Is the legal tradition of due process "just thrown to the wind whenever some shock jock can use it to make a name?" he asked.

In an interview with the Times of London, Assange compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr. When he was locked up briefly in London's Wadsworth prison, he said a black guard handed him a note that read: "I have two heroes in the world, Dr. King and you." That sentiment, Assange said in a New York Times account, "is representative of 50 percent of people." He also referenced the "persecution" of Jews in America in the 1950s, saying there was a common thread between them and WikiLeaks' supporters as "people who believe in freedom of speech."

Even in semi-detention, Assange is waging what the New York Times calls a media offensive. He asserts that he is a victim of a smear campaign led by the United States because his whistleblower website is posting tens of thousands of classified State Department cables. Though the Justice Department is considering a criminal case, officials deny the U.S. government is part of any organized publicity campaign against Assange, a 39-year-old Australian.

Assange again said he did not know whether Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is under arrest on suspicion of involvement in an earlier leak, is the source for the State Department documents given to WikiLeaks.

Assange is at a 650-acre estate just outside of London where he is required to wear an electronic tag on his ankle and report daily to a police station to sign a register. In Sweden, two woman have accused Assange of forced, unprotected sex over a four-day period last summer. He has denied the allegations and is resisting extradition.

Watch the MSNBC interview below:



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148 Comments

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liz

Which of the leaked documents have gotten people killed? Do you think that would be secret information too? Are the majority of people posting here even reading them? They are online. If so, then I can't understand why you would want what I have read to be hidden from you. It's wonderful that you have so much faith in the government that you only want to know what it wants you to know, but democracy under those conditions is really just an illusion.

December 24 2010 at 1:19 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
CHARLES

Gov Mike Huckabee said ...

"If we want to keep our nation's secrets 'SECRET' store them where President Obama stores his college transcripts and birth certificate."

December 24 2010 at 11:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to CHARLES's comment
d17527

@CHARLES11:52 AM Dec 24, 2010 Gov Mike Huckabee said ... "If we want to keep our nation's secrets 'SECRET' store them where President Obama stores his college transcripts and birth certificate."

This would be funny, if I didn't know that Bill Clinton prior to campaigning for his presidency had Hillary's Methodist college(begins with a W) renowned as a school for women -- put a lock on it when it came to her thesis which he felt might be embarrassing to his ambitions.

December 24 2010 at 8:04 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
d17527

I hadn't quite finished with @ Charles 11:52 AM Dec 24, 2010.

You can tell Gov. Huckabee, for me that Obama's birth certificate is just where it ought to be in the Medical Records department of Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children, in Honolulu,Hawaii where his mother was going to school at the time when her parents were already retired and living in Hawaii. I wouldn't bother writing. The other governor already received a letter from the head of the department asking that she please put a stop to it because they can't get any work done with the letters coming in that pile up with requests for a photo-copy or what ever. The governor obliged and complied with the request to put an end to it once and for all. Medical services are more important than a bunch of TeaParty persons tripping over one of the many rumors that their compatriots started, way back when before Obama had actually even decided to run.

How do I know, well I've worked in various departments since my father, a surgeon, trained me in keeping the records necessary for him to locate quickly when preparing his class in anatomy for the interns and surgical residents of hospitals where we lived. My niece, following in the tradition like many of my mother's nieces who became nurses because of her example, mentioned to me in the last several months that she has been working in the dental department at Kap'iolani; which as you know is attached to the university. My niece was raised in Hawaii( and still lives there )while her father traveled for Northwest Orient as an air-marshal. So, I don't think there has ever been any secret about where and when President Obama was born.

December 24 2010 at 8:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chuck

In response to KDavisdds: I probably should have not implied it was wrong what Assange did. It would seem to me that wishing Merry Christmas is more than than dumping garbage on one another. Obviously,it is OK if it is us that is being dumped on. Reporters that do not reveal their sources is a trend of acceptance to many that do not, or are not concerned about implications and consequences. I suppose I should thank you too, for correcting my indigence. You see, I am a Viet-Nam era vet that still cannot understand people like you. It is my opinion that if you do not serve your country, you should not be allowed to vote - much less - run for office. So,KDavisdds ;What have you done for your country? I mean,other than run people down that support it.

December 24 2010 at 11:01 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
John Vilvens

I keep reading stories about Assange. I do not read stories about the person or people who leaked the material. I do not see any stories about what Obama thinks about this problem. I do not like what Assange has done, but the people or person who leaked these papers, if military are traitors and Obama and the DOJ should let the people know what is going to happen to these people. Assange they are not going to do anything about. To much of thier liberal base would turn on them

December 24 2010 at 8:54 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to John Vilvens's comment
gregpettijohn@mail.com

Actually John, for Obama to comment would only feed Assange's already arrogant overinflated ego. They have been holding (i believe he is) a private in military custody since June, under suspicion of leaking sensitive secret documents to the wikileaks people.

December 25 2010 at 3:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex

Anyone who fails to see the actions of Julian Assange as anything less than treason simply does not 'get it'. I fully concur with his so-called 'harshest' critics -- anything short of execution is too good for this self-rigteous bastard who jeopardized the lives of countless others and who harmed political stabiliby around the world. I just have one question. Is 'ange' French for 'hole'? It should be.

December 24 2010 at 7:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Giraffe

I totally agree with Julian Assange's comment that using violence or the threat of violence as a way to control people is wrong. In many ways the way he goes about it is not always the best way to get his point across, as people do not listen to what he is really saying. He need's to temper his word's people respond more to understanding the fact that they being asked, rather then told they are wrong.

December 24 2010 at 7:11 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
amavel

The truth is only dangerous to the morally corrupt. I want my government to be accountable. What news source can I rely on for that?
Wikileaks has risen to the top of true journalism as a result of spineless, cowardly journalism by contemporary media.
Let freedom ring. They have places where this kind of truth is forbidden. The call it China, Russia, North Korea, Myanmar...

December 24 2010 at 7:01 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
monroelaw

We might be willing to listen to Assange whine about due process if he would just agree to to return to Sweden to face the charges pending against him. It is amazing that this narcisistic little twit can't find the time to hire himself an internal continuity editor...

December 24 2010 at 6:48 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Patrick

So now the left has a new hero. Yay. He has loads of courage exposing American military secrets, but would he be brave enough to expose military secrets from China, North Korea, or Russia? Yeah, right.

December 24 2010 at 6:40 AM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
gsports97

I see the right wing terrorist party is sending its legends of uneducated to the web to slam this man. A world wide hero exposing the criminals in our government and others. I am sure the news media like Fox Nazi news is playing this along with Gestapo members Palin, Huckabee, Beck and Rush and the rest of the storm troopers they plander to.

December 24 2010 at 6:30 AM Report abuse -3 rate up rate down Reply

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