U.S. May Have Designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks An “Enemy of the State”

Amy Goodman
Democracy Now! / Video Interview
Published: Thursday 27 September 2012
“We speak to attorney Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a legal advisor to Assange and WikiLeaks.”

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have been designated an "enemy of the state" by the United States. U.S. Air Force counter-intelligence documents show military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or its supporters may be at risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy" — a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death. We speak to attorney Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a legal advisor to Assange and WikiLeaks.



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ABOUT Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of "Breaking the Sound Barrier," recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.

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3 comments on "U.S. May Have Designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks An “Enemy of the State”"

chvietvet

October 01, 2012 5:43pm

As a whistleblower in a mortal battle with the crooks running the U.S. Government for 14 years, I know that our politicians have only one real war going on. That is the War on Truth. Our one political party gives us two choices at election. One is a really evil candidate, and the other one is even worse. We rush to the polls to vote against the one we perceive to be most evil, but both candidates can be expected to do exactly the same thing after they are elected. I see this from the perspective of someone who fought against the murderous Communist empire in Vietnam. The Soviet Union wanted the best warm-water port in Southeast Asia at Cam Ranh Bay, and they got it. We abandoned our Southeast Asian allies, of whom well over 4,000,000 were murdered in the first two years after the "peace" of 1975. China finally put the Vietnamese Communists in their place in 1978, forcing them to withdraw their 235,000 troops from the Thai-Cambodian border. Our spineless government also abandoned as many as 500 American pilots held prisoner in Laos and North Vietnam. Finally, to save the money it owed Vietnam War veterans by law, it began a Stalin-style death campaign against those veterans. The final solution to the veteran problem led to hundreds of thousands of veterans living homeless in the streets throughout the United States. Dead veterans collect no benefits, so the U.S. Department of Labor decreed that no job paying more than $25,000 per year is "suitable for a veteran." That meant that the least qualified veterans might join the working poor, while better qualified veterans got no jobs at all. As best as I can calculate, at least 500,000 veterans were murdered by the government they served through delays in approval of medical treatment or a slow death in destitution on the streets. This was done with the knowledge and approval of Congress. The money saved has been used for other wars, whose veterans are now receiving the same treatment as the Vietnam vets. Most of these wars were started by presidents who dodged the draft themselves in despicable ways during the Vietnam War. How can the crooks possibly let anyone blow the whistle on what is going on? Then the people would see them as gangsters with sovereign immunity. They must keep the public thinking that they are acting for the good of the country, when actually, they are only stuffing the wealth of the nation into their own pockets.

jncurotto

September 28, 2012 9:08am

What an 'Alice in Wonderland' civilization this is, where the true heros and patriots like Assange and Manning are the 'enemies of the State' instead of the traitors and killers in the State Dept. and spook agencies.

57girl

September 27, 2012 11:29am

Just think, now with the NDAA available, and ready to enforce, Hunting season is open.

I guess anyone that dares reveal the truth about our Government is an 'enemy of the State'. To my knowledge, the only thing Julian Assange leaked, to date, are sad truths about some of our corrupt leaders and their corrupt actions. Of course, whoever might nail them to the cross, will become their enemy. Mr. Assange is not only revealing the corruption of our American Government, he is leaking 'travesties' from all over the world, about people that work in the shadows. If we had true transparency in our Governments, instead of all of the 'behind' the curtain shenanigans, we wouldn't need whistle-blowers.

It's funny, if you whistle-blow FOR the Government, they reward you nicely. Just look at how well the IRS pays.