Originally posted by PsychoPawn
I don't know about the CIA or about the prosecutor, but it is odd that these charges were being brought back coincidentally after he released information that is embarrassing to the US and a lot of other countries.
I came across a comment to an article published by the Independent that appears to sum things up quite neatly:
"It seems a lot of people are drawing the wrong conclusions from this business. A lot of the commentary is about one man up against the might of three governments plus the corporate-owned press smear machine. Well, maybe.
But consider; in a really efficient totalitarianism, Assange would simply have been declared an “enemy of the State”, and been vanished. In a slightly less powerful version, he would have been fitted up on some really ugly charge; say kiddy-fiddling; and there would have been copious documents, witnesses and photographs to back it up, utterly regardless of what the truth was.
So let’s look at what has really happened. First the Swedes don’t seem able to decide what to charge him with, if indeed they can charge him with anything. Believe it, if there was a clear-cut case to answer, documents would have been prepared and copies sent to Assange’s defence lawyers by now, and the juicier bits of the charges would already have hit the media. As it is, they seem pretty confused. The case was taken up, then dropped, then taken up again after a politician got in on the act (that’s not supposed to happen, by the way, it’s called political interference in the judiciary and it’s a big no-no). It’s not at all clear, in terms of specific detail, exactly what the case consists of. It is both inconclusive and tainted by evidence that the women colluded and were out to get him. (That’s called "being a hostile witness”, and it’s another big no-no).
The USA seems equally confused. The Espionage Act 1917 doesn’t fit the case. Retroactive legislation would certainly be challenged at law. “Tailor-made” legislation would very probably be challenged similarly. The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has said there probably aren’t grounds for extradition. Rendition would lead to a nightmare scenario in which all the cables go public on non-redacted samizdat versions immediately. It’s not at all clear what their best option is. Perhaps it is to play for time, smear Assange, hope people lose interest in the story, and try to foment dissension and splits within Wikileaks, not all of whose leadership agree with Assange’s decision to “grandstand”.
The UK government is not in a much better position. Some people have said a European Arrest Warrant is okay to use even if there are no charges pending, and it’s just a matter of questioning. But Lady Ludford, the Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman, (i.e. a government spokeswoman) said it was “not a legitimate purpose for an EAW to be used to conduct an investigation to see whether that person should be prosecuted”. In other words, this is an abuse of the procedure. It’s also not at all clear if what Assange did is an offence under Swedish law. It’s pretty clear it would be no offence under UK law. So this, again, offers grounds to resist extradition.
Vaughan Smith has actually done the government an enormous favour by offering to house Assange on his Norfolk estate. If Assange had been kept in solitary in Wandsworth on such flimsy grounds very much longer, the cries of “Political Prisoner” would have got loud enough to become extremely embarrassing. Of course, it helps that Vaughan Smith has immaculate establishment credentials; ex-Grenadier Guards and a member of the landed gentry. If some left-wing activist scruff had offered Assange bed and board I doubt if the courts would have been so sympathetic. That’s how things are done in Britain.
But what this all shows is that the Powers That Be are not all-powerful. They do have very substantial powers, true, but these powers have limits. At the moment they seem to be in a bit of a flap as to how to proceed. That is really very encouraging indeed.
Remember, their powers have limits. Never forget this. They can be confused, nonplussed, even occasionally beaten. Never lose sight of this. Because if we do lose sight of it, we’ll give up, and then all really is lost. The Lords of Creation will lord it over us and abuse and exploit us without limit forever.
Remember, none of our rights and freedoms were given to us by gracious and generous masters. They were fought for and taken in struggle. The struggle is never-ending, because of course our masters are always trying to take our liberties back.
As for Assange and Wikileaks, if our masters continue to play for time, they can hope people will lose interest in the story. But that doesn’t seem to be happening. Even the comments from the Daily Mail’s readership are overwhelmingly pro-Assange. People know governments have been lying to us for decades, and are very very sick of it. This case could become a very important turning point. It is one of the most important things that is going on at the moment. Remember, They can be beaten."
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-pilger-swedes-are-smearing-him-and-encouraging-the-us-2164320.html
20 Dec '10 14:35
Julian Assange: hypocrite wuss
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