The Morning Bell, “Just Another WikiLeak On An Already Sinking Ship”:
The President should […] make it a publicly top priority to hunt down any American connected with these leaks and prosecute them. This is not the first WikiLeak. This is, in fact, the third time that WikiLeaks has undermined our nation’s national security, and the Obama Department of Justice has been silent each time. Nobody gets more cooperation than a winner. The Obama Administration can begin to right its foreign policy ship by stopping and successfully prosecuting the WikiLeakers.
With all due respect, this administration’s Justice Department can’t successfully prosecute actual terrorists. Think of how they’ll handle a leaker who, under other circumstances — say, like, when the target of exposure is a Republican administration — they’d be secretly cheering on.
I don’t know precisely when it was when we stopped treating treason as treason, but it’s about time we reconsidered our softening on that stance. Perhaps if the threat of real consequences — other than, say, international celebrity, and perpetual darling/hero status on the left — obtained to such actions, we’d see fewer instances of the kind of behavior that has no other real function than to destabilize the security of sovereign nations, and put the lives of soldiers, diplomats, and covert operatives at risk.
So yes. Read between the lines. Because I am indeed saying it.
It seems to me that the threat of embarrassment to FROTUS is much more of a catalyst than, say, danger to soldiers. That’s why he’s speaking today. If you close your eyes, you might be transported back to “Fat Albert and Friends”.
These people don’t die after the fact. But we’ll never know how many such incidents have been prevented by deploying specially-trained teams of attack bats.
My reckoning is shortly after the polity fell into schism over the ends to which the whole enterprise is directed. Surely the inability to meaningfully distinguish is associated to the confusion of purpose generated therein, no?
When did treason become fashionable? Like everything else that’s trended hard Left, the late ’60 and early ’70’s. e.g.
I’m probably alone in thinking this, but: While this is an embarrassment to The US, we shouldn’t forget that the last election was us against THE WORLD. Obama was the global candidate. And there’s a growing albeit ludicrous sentiment on the international left that, because of our power and influence, it’s unfair that only US citizens have a voice – a vote even – in who the President is. So even though I’d like to see these leakerfuckers strung by their testicles and eaten alive by Grizzlies, there’s another part of me that sees this as a great big “fuck you” to the world for taking the side of a jug-eared left wing pussy. I’m all for him looking stupid in the eyes of the world if it makes them look stupid as well. Nobel Prize!!!
When it was publicly committed by Henry Fonda’s daughter and applauded by the “elite”. Couldn’t very well execute a celebrity’s daughter for what the “elite” wished it could do, could we?
And for some fun, compare the NYT’s breathless demands for prosecution of the “treason” of outing Plame with their total blackout on the actual treason of Code Pink (committed with the assistance of Pelosi, Waxman, and other Democrats). They were demanding the prosecution of Rove and Libby when they knew it was Armitage all along.
Even the Rosenbergs were executed for mere “espionage.” their act was certainly treason, but the Constitution’s precisely laid-out requirements for prosecuting treason as such force most such acts to be treated as something else.
Things being as they are in domestic politics I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing, but it would be nice if treasonous acts incurred some penalty.
Oh, and I don’t think the US should quietly assassinate Assmange.
I think it should be done as messily as possible, with as many of his enablers and funders and ass-kissers as possible caught in the blast. We should aim for a response that leaves future “leak publishers” wetting themselves with fear.
McGehee — we don’t even exert ourselves over acts that fit the Constitutional definition to the letter, largely because no federal prosecutor wants his career ended by taking on the Democrat establishment.
The United States isn’t alone in enmity toward Julian Assange, is it? Surely other nations whose leaders candid thoughts have been exposed — such as Saudi Arabia for instance — can’t be pleased to have this Assange fellow running about freely, poised to embarrass them again, whether through US leaks or leaks acquired elsewhere (as copycat leakers will no doubt be coming forward to strike a blow against the powers that be)? Should something untoward happen to Mr Assange there will be a long long long list of possible assailants with motive aplenty.
One silver lining: the embarrassing things that Obama has said about other world leaders may serve to break the spell that the last hangers-on are under, especially in the Europress.
So, there’s that.
It’s always been the case that weak nations want the stronger nations to stop being so strong and so authoritative. The U.S. played that game too, when Brittania ruled the waves. I think it’s past time we cowboyed up a bit and starting taking ourselves seriously again as a superpower. That also means we need to protect our secrets from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Other nations will complain in public, but in private they will breathe a sigh of relief. The vast majority of western nations want a strong U.S., because it makes their lives a bit easier. Prosecuting these acts would be a good start.
At Volokh.
I guess I’m just stunned that anyone actually really believed any of that bullshit to begin with.
I was certain everyone knew it was all a show.
The comments there (Volokh) are an exhibit of the schism that sdferr mentioned in #3.
The current economic woes will look like a Golden Age if the US stops policing the seas — the cost of trade will skyrocket as every two-bit jihadi and Marxist decides to go into piracy.
This administration (read: its masters) won’t authorize the elimination of these two tools because they are doing its bidding.
Oh and to whomever stole my nick: bite me.
Talk of treason and penalties for treason aside for a moment, if ever there was an Administration to publicly vet, this is the one.
I’ll go a step further: Having no love for Bush’s globalist foreign policy and obvious connections such as the Sauds, light shed on the mess in the mideast and especially US involvement there isn’t all a bad thing. The words conflict of interest keeping coming to mind.
Not least because such crap indirectly but eventually blurs the line about treason, making these improper revelations as much a commentary on years of bad politics operated outside the voter’s interest as they are on those who illegally break silence.
When was treason mitigated? Probably roughly when we recognized the enemy was (among) us.
The circumstantial evidence simply never lets up, does it?
HOPE!
A Jack attack?
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/11/your-morning-too-good-not-to-be-true.html
I was certain everyone knew it was all a show.
Some people don’t care that it is, figuring that everything’s a show, so we might as well go with the show that puts us in power.
And some people can’t tell the difference between a show and a traffic cam.
geoffb, I half expect Mr Ledeen to get back to us in a couple of days with the information that these two scientists were suspected by the Iranian regime to have been cooperating with US intelligence agents, which then seized the main chance to kill four birds with one stone so to speak.
I will hold my breath until demands for a frogmarching are issued.
Not.
So yes. Read between the lines. Because I am indeed saying it.
Death threat – cool. I’m with you there, Jeff.
Is it even physically possible to “frogmarch” Oliver Willis?
Serial “arsonist” Julian Assange strikes again.
(Euphemistically speaking, for all you legal beagles out there.)
[…] November 2010 in Topical Much ado about Assange, Manning & Co. today. Jeff Goldstein: I don’t know precisely when it was when we stopped treating treason as treason, but it’s about […]
ledeen
link
Geoffb – it would take a medium sized Caterpillar and a forklift to frogmarch Oliver “the lord of lard” Willis.
Hey, is that any way to speak of the world’s biggest blogger?
Oh, wait…
Crawford,
Does anyone know if Richard Armitage is even mentioned in the new over-the-top Sean Penn melodrama, Fair Game?
Who knows? No one’s gone to see it.
“It will no doubt annoy the Israel haters no end to discover that Arab leaders seem to be even more concerned about Iran than the crowd in Jerusalem, for example.”
That’s actually been talked about publicly for years. The “Gulf states” as we know them were not-so-secretly rooting for both sides to lose during the Iran-Iraq war during the ’80s.
Dunno about a mention, but here’s the full cast and crew and he ain’t in there in portrayal.
I’m just envisioning how this will show up in campaign commercials and emails.
On a more serious note – yes, this is espionage and treason, and should be dealt with as such. And if that happens, watch the MSM turn on Obama (at least on this one issue) because the MSM loves them some leaked documents. So it will be interesting to see if Obama has the balls to do what’s obviously the right thing and prosecute this. He’s a politician and politician = coward, so I’m not betting on it.
Darn only the first word was to be orange.
Jen Rubin at Contentions (can’t get the url to post, so’s ya gotta finds it yerself):
“Why?” she asks?
*Ali Abunimeh*
Gesundheit.
Link
Got to love the Arabs – tell us through back channel “please, please, please, take out Iran!!!” while preparing to publicly denounce us and organize street protests if we do. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it to? The one silver lining in the leaks is the light it shines on all those snakes – Iran included.
You sound so provincial, Alex. Arab doublespeak is hardly a new phenomenon, nor is the relish with which they play useful lefties who are wedded to emotion-based narratives.
It’s almost as though you’ve worked yourself into a position where you can’t distinguish one thing from another for lumping all members of whatever class (politicians as in politician = coward, the Arabs by which I take you to mean weak Arab states) together as indistinguishable isn’t it Alex? It’s an imposition of dumb, if you ask me.
Dear, dear ignorant Alex, so typical.
Is the minefield Arab leaders have to tapdance through in their relationship with the religious authorities and their hold on the populace really new information for you?
Regards,
Ric
Good news, everyone!
Glenn Beck has found multiple financial ties between WikiLeaks, Assange, and the military dood what supplied the material.
Let’s knock everyone over with a feather!
Glenn also points out that so far, none of the things leaked are all that surprising, but they DO verify that the gubmint has been lying to us.
And the leaks also produce an outcry from all corners, saying “Can’t you stop these people?” Which could be a manufactured crisis to give the Oministration an excuse to clamp down on the Internet.
Not on Assange and his collaborators, but on the INTERNET.
You don’t put it past them either.
Powerline pimpslaps the NYT with this pull quote:
Treasonous hypocritical bastards.
Far be it from me to defend alex_, but it seems to me you’re less likely to go wrong by assuming any random politician is a coward than you are to go broke underestimating the intelligence of a community organizer with a Harvard law degree.
From the AP article on the leaks:
The leaks disclosed bluntly candid impressions from both diplomats and other world leaders about America’s allies and foes.
It was, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, the “Sept. 11 of world diplomacy.”
There you have it: Assange = Bin Laden. Italy’s Foreign Minister said so.
I expect to see the Predators spinning up shortly.
Related:
Related, the second:
link
Bingo. If a some deviant Australian can get his hands on this, imagine what the Chinese have been able to read.
A lot of great comment here.
Let me be the inept white Washington General here amongst the Globetrotters.
I make my living, for the most part, getting what I should not get and am not otherwise permitted to see, from all manner of people and institutions. Such is the life of a reporter. I can’t argue with what Ledeen wrote, not at all, but people like me getting things I/we shouldnt ultimately serves important ends. Maybe a better way of saying this is the best way to keep the bastards with power checked is sunlight, usually something has to be pried open from their cold, cruel hands via reporting.
I do it with numbers on my website going after scammy companies, others do it with FOIA, or being well-sourced.
But I wont kid myself. This stuff hurts the American enterprise and that’s bad.
Good on ya, Roddy. You might be one of the only journalist types that I have ever seen admit that. I was about to unload on you for your offhand comment that the Times (I am paraphrasing) was being careful with what they disclosed, but then you go and get kind of reasonable.
Hey,
Let’s give Alex a shot. He appears reasonable enough, if not fully congruent with the mainstream around here.
Certainly he caught me being sloppy the other day and wasn’t an ass about it.
My two cents.
Speaking of, where has mcgruder been? He is another honest journalist. So is Bradley Fikes. A distinct minority to be sure, but they do exist.
Roddy=mcgruder, JD.
alot of it blows holes in the proggs world view
Speaking of which, clever headline on the latest Harbin Electric piece, Roddy.
Hey, you’ve been known to own some stock from time to time, JD, you might enjoy his blog.
like
Thanks JD and BH.
All those years at the NY Post pay off….
Oh yeah, you’ve probably already heard about this, Roddy, but you might be interested in the Forbes interview.
BoA?
How did I miss that mcgruder and Roddy were the same? I am dummerer than a bag of Yelvertons sometimes.
I bookmarked that blog, bh. I dabble. The way I figure, by the time the info is out there, it is too late to catch the big wave, no?
I just skimmed the Harbin articles, and that is some seriously good stuff, mcgruder.
No idea, JD. My first thought was Wachovia (bought by Wells Fargo) but that’s almost a pure guess.
It has to be BoA. Nobody else is more in bed with the government.
BH–you know I had been wondering that same thing just last night. Its either going to be very good or utterly pointless, 911,000 pages of synopsis on soul-crushing initiative roll-outs….or it will be BoA talking about how they are dumber than a bag of Yelverton’s talking about taking over Countrywide and Merrill…..
something like that.
JD-ha. thanks
guessing BAC myself.
Basket case situation.
C, Citi, would be the obvious second guess
I’m just hoping Assange and friends can’t resist the temptation to short them.
that’s soros’ job
What is the big deal? This stuff is minor-league; maybe even a government feed. Why not see these foreign assholes revealed as the morons that they are? Well played, America.
From that Assange Forbes interview bh links above
Security for me, not for thee. Why shouldn’t Wikileaks be thoroughly transparent? That’s what they’re shooting for externally, why not internally?
So you’re a Bradley Manning fan then, cynn?
Who would that be?
Bradley Manning is probably not the brother of Peyton Manning, and he was arrested for some crime or other. I don’t think there’s a crime here; information is free.
asshats who undermine amerikkka suck
No, asshats who subsist on amerikkka fear suck.
Any word on that TrollHammer rewrite?
I take it I should be trollhammered. Sounds like a Nordic thing.
hi cynn how are you I hope you had a nice thanksgiving
I made tasty sammins from a recipe I got from Mr. daleyrocks. And I watched about Mr. Scott Pilgrim and his travails what he had.
So this Roddy guy says it’s cruel to be kind. In the right measure.
Bradley Manning is currently looking at 52 years, and I don’t suppose we’re quite done with him yet. Despite my lack of love for Peyton, he puts his team on his back and does his best to win. Bradley just wanted to fuck it in the ass.
It’s a very good sign.
52 years is many
Indeed it is. Some folks are arguing that he shouldn’t get 52 years. Their reasons vary.
Hard to say, 52 is either very long compared to muzzle velocity/ target distance or very short compared to being dead forever and ever, amen.
(Muzzle velocity divided by target distance, the slash might have been confusing.)
You see what I’m saying, yes?
Oh, I see what you’re saying, Pablo. In fact, you beat me to the point, which I find to be a terrible habit that you share with your quick fingers.
My comment was towards the idea of 52 years being long rather than towards your similar snark.
I can’t get too upset about it really there’s lots of people what have fucked our little country in the ass way more viciously than little Bradley for example the president bumblefuck and the Nancy Pelosi
Yeah, I’m saying it too, bh. We are several.
I wonder what Bumblefuck and Pelosi think about the whole thing. Holder is making some appropriate noises, for what that’s worth.
Obama and Pelosi don’t have to do it that way. They were duly elected.
Which, yeah, that’s mind-numbingly worse.
9 mm to the head is fast
More Bumblefucking.
our president is a whore
that’s not a good feeling
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
– Sir John Harrington
Mike, you keep rising on the list of someone I’d like to take a course from.
What the heck are you people so hysterical about? Oh. My. God.
To be unfortunately serious, instead of answering your question ironically, cynn, I’d ask you why you seek this form of attention.
You could just join the conversation straight up without the constant mindless provocation. Why not give it a try?
With all respect, I think you’re the attention-seeker. So answer the question.
here is the song about the giving away the secrets
Thanks, bh. Coming from one of the best commenters at pw, that is indeed high praise.
Cynn,
I love Nick Lowe (and Dave Edmunds.)
They don’t love each other, but that is a different story.
Me, I’m tallking my book–literally–and my beliefs.
Discount it to hell and back or not.
I think the sun rises in the east tommorow.
FWIW, the big news in all this is that the Arabs are PRAYING either we–the Great Satan–or the Israelis hit Iran.
Of course, all this negates the true news: Wille Nelson, busted for reefer.
The republic hangs in the balance.
Jeff, Darleen, Im talking to you guys….
I got your back on that sun thing
There is no hysteria here, cynn. Think of it as more like an old Italian grandmother casually snapping a bunny’s neck before skinning it for dinner. It’s the reality of the situation. Traitors should die. Then maybe put in a pot and boiled for to make soup.
Haven’t I seen you as a legitimate economic advisor on another website, Abe? A commenter, maybe? It was a surprise, to say the least.
You think because I have a phony Jewish internet name that I’m all about money, cynn? You miserable anti-fakesemite.
You are right, I’m pretty damn awesome, Mike. I think we can all agree on that.
(You all better be nodding along in agreement.)
Cynn, why you gotta be this way?
1980 Republican National Convention
Yep, you are, bh! And so is Abe Froman, whom Cynn doesn’t seem to realize is the Sausage King of Chicago.
the truth is nobody knows where Jack Bauer is
nobody here anyway
And I get 15% of awesome which makes me the C- guy in the back row throwing spitballs at the front row. Thwaaap….
Ah, Jack Bauer’s gone Hollywood.
The article geoffb linked up there under “More Bumblefucking” reveals perhaps the most profoundly interlocking set of stupidities in the history of the conduct of US foreign policy. It’s so dumb it gets to be extremely difficult to account for the intentionalites at work in the decision making process. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine any serious decision making process at work at all.
#99
National security? You know. One of those icky constitutional things that the government is obligated to do.
Now crawl back in your box.
Couple of things.
sdferr,
To me it appears as if our “Ship of State” is now being crewed by clones of the character “Zap” at the beginning of “La Femme Nikita”. Their only goal is to “Zap-it”.
Also another side event that event be occurring with the Wikileaks is for other parties to throw out their own mis/dis-information into the vast expanse of the Wikileaks papers as being from the original source.
Also another side event that appears to be occurring…
I keep forgetting that we have preview now.
With any luck Cynn has finished her googling, and is now at Netflix ordering up a copy of Ferris Beuller’s Day Off.