IN DEFENSE OF MR. ASSANGE

WHAT WOULD THOMSAS JEFFERSON THINK?

"The most effectual means of preventing the [the perversion of power into tyranny are] to illuminate as far as practicable the minds of the people at large and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits ..to know ambition under all its shapes (that) they may be enabled....to defeat its purposes (tyrannny)." Thomas Jefferson 1779, Diffusion of Knowledge Bill, FE 2:221, Papers 2:526 <br/>

The main-stream media have been awash with the big question of the day.."Did the Russians hack into the Democratic National Committee, and did the release of the information effect the outcome of the 2016 election?" The Democrats, as well as their allies within the establishment, the government, the intelligence agencies, and even some elements of the GOP are adamant that the "Russians did it". Others see this as a clear example of the politicization of intelligence analysis, and an obvious and clear attempt to delegitimize the presidency of Mr. Trump. These latter elements are skeptical and rightly so.

The controversy has engulfed the editor of Wikileaks, Mr. Julian Assange who was responsible for publishing the leaked emails. He suffered at the hands of the mainstream media--being cast as a criminal, terrorists and spy. Assange is a native of Australia, a computer programmer, publisher, journalist, and editor-n-chief of Wikileaks. He is the recipient of several prestigious journalism awards. Wikileaks was founded in 2006 but became prominent in 2010 when it published the Chelsea Manning "Collateral Murder" videotapes, and subsequently the "Afghanistan War Logs", "Iraq War Logs", and "Cable Gate". All were embarrassing to the USA and revealed the unpalatable nature of our war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most recently, Wikileaks published leaks of the DNC emails, and John Podesta emails which brought Wikileaks and Assange into conflict with the Democrats and the powerful Clinton organization. The Clintons and Democrats have attempted to explain their disastrous, unexpected, (say shocking) loss to novice candidate Trump as a result of leaked information which they attribute to Russian sources. (One bit of evidence of a Russian source is that the data may have been typed on a computer using the Cyrillic alphabet--used by Russian and at least ten other nations as well. Though I suspect this should point the finger elsewhere. Would the Russians be stupid enough to actually leave such evidence behind? More likely a false flag operation.)

Mr. Assange's bad press initiated soon after Mr. Trump quoted him in a tweet (January 4, 2016). The President elect noted that Assange's statement cleared the Russians did not supply him (Mr. Assange) with the hacked emails. These are those from Mr. John. Podesta, manager of the Hillary Clinton campaign. These revelations are universally thought to have helped to elucidate the electorate regarding some of the corrupt, unethical and biased practices used by the Clinton presidential campaign, and may have had an effect on the outcome of the 2016 election.

Mr. Assange has been a target of the US government since 2010, when the Chelsea Manning tapes were released. A key element of his troubles have been a sexual assault allegation, arising after a visit by Assange to Sweden. The incident was adjudicated and dismissed by the Swedish government in August 2010, and Assange left that nation without incident. However, after the release of the Manning tapes by Wikileaks, in January 2010 Sweden, at the behest of the USA, re-opened the case and empowered a special prosecutor to "question Assange over two counts of sexual molestation". Assange who was at the time in the UK, agreed to an interview in London. But the prosecutor required Assange to return to Sweden for this purpose. Assange, fearful of being turned over to the Americans in Sweden resisted. A warrant for his arrest was issued and he was incarcerated in London and held in isolation for several days. Released on bail in that city and fearing a return to Sweden would result in his being extradited to the USA where he was facing charges of espionage and 45 years in prison, he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy and has remained there ever since. Meanwhile the statute of limitations on the Swedish criminal allegations expired in August of 2015 and those on the second charge will end in 2020. The case is a classic of what happens to a whistleblower when they make enemies of a powerful and vengeful government, that is determined to prevent further revelations of its secret and perhaps illegal actions to the public which it serves.

The media, a central part of the Washington group think scheme is well-versed in undermining the legitimacy, honesty and integrity of any whistleblower. They went at it with gusto in attacking Mr. Assange who has after all only been a conduit of information which has educated the citizenry concerning the behavior of its government. Assange's legal case has been misrepresented, he has been charged with "stealing" information, and has been indicted for espionage. In point of fact he has done nothing different than what the Washington Post did when they published the Deep Throat papers which exposed the Watergate scandal and brought down President Nixon. Whistleblower Mark Felt was the source of the information, the Washington Post revealed it to the public as a service to our nation. The Post and their writers were awarded a Nobel Prize for their efforts. Assange on the other hand has been in virtual prison for six years and will probably have to remain there until 2020 when the UK will no longer have a reason to extradite him to Sweden---to face trumped up charges.

One of our most illustrious founding fathers, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and our Third President, understood the need, indeed the requirement for the education of the electorate. Today in defense of the release of the Wikileaks documents Jefferson may have stated that : An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. Julian Assange was instrumental in advancing those very goals.

There are numerous quotes of Jefferson's thinking on this matter. I pass on the following to my readers:: "The most effectual means of preventing the [the perversion of power into tyranny are] to illuminate as far as practicable the minds of the people at large and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits ..to know ambition under all its shapes (that) they may be enabled....to defeat its purposes." Thomas Jefferson 1779, Diffusion of Knowledge Bill, FE 2:221, Papers 2:526

What after all did Assange do but help to "illuminate" the people to give them knowledge to be able to exercise oversight? Mr. Assange is only the conduit of that information.