Julain Assange is Now a Target

I awoke this morning to charges that Julian Assange (terrific profile from the BBC) was wanted for rape in Sweden. Considering the outright furor of the Americans over the leaking of 70,000 documents relating to the war in Afghanistan and the promised release of 15,000 more, I had my doubts as to the veracity of the complaints.

The Pentagon has recently demanded WikiLeaks immediately erase the huge cache of secret US military files about the Afghan war it has posted online and hand over another 15,000 classified records in its possession. The defence department has no power to enforce its demands, but the increasingly threatening language is seen as a bid to deter WikiLeaks from releasing the 15,000 Afghan war records it has not published as well as an encrypted file recently added to the site entitled "insurance".

So two hours after reading that Julian was being charged I read the warrant for his arrest  has been rescinded. I know, shocking! So if it wasn't obvious before it sure is now, Assange is a target for people who don't like whistle-blowers. We need people like Julian in this not so brave new century. If you feel inclined to help him and his WikiLeaks organization go here.



Cross-posted at NMPCanada