We all love the United States and Constitution. We revere every word given to us by God.
What is Treason, and is Wikileaks guilty of it?
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
The most important word in that definition is “Only”. This section was added to make it clear that political dissent is not a crime. The only two cases are when an American “Levies War” against the United States OR Gives “Aid and Comfort” to “Enemies” of the United States.
Julian Assange is NOT an American.
The things he is doing are not happening in the United States. The servers he is using are not located inside the United States. He can no more be accused of Treason than we could accuse the President of Iran of Treason. Treason is about being a “traitor” – one who betrays his country. Someone who is not an American cannot be charged with Treason. The soldier who gave him the materials might be – but first you have to answer the question “Which enemy of the United States has declared war on us, and how did he help them?”
I miss the rodeo clown.
I’m definitely open to the idea that the self-hating Obama Administration itself wants the Wikileaks to happen – but you have to start with at least the basic facts correct.
I would go a step further. When Congress fails to do their duty and formally declare war to identify the “enemies of the United States”, there can be no legal basis for prosecuting any American citizen for treason under the above Constitutional clause. There are of course additional secrecy and non-disclosure laws that apply to soldiers and government employees, but that’s not what’s being discussed. This is probably why all these modern treason cases eventually fade away from the public spotlight and the defendants are convicted on lesser charges. The U.S. government never wants to reveal that the emperor has no clothes. But Wikileaks does!
Wikileaks is releasing the stolen documents. That isn’t treason. The treason may be in the person who stole the documents from the government. That act may qualify, or not. Assange is exercising his rights as a journalist or journalist wannabe.
I should probably add some context – Glenn Beck’s TV show started by accusing (“just asking questions”) the Wikileakers of possible “treason”. He should have paid attention to the teachers in high school.
For Wikeleaks, treason it may not be, but for the disloyal snotbrat Bradley Mannin, he is chargeable under at least seven punitive articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including 81, Conspiracy; 92, Failure to obey order or regulation; 94, Mutiny or sedition; 99, Misbehavior before the enemy; 104, Aiding the enemy; 121, Larceny and wrongful appropriation; and, 134. General article. I hope they don’t throw the book at him. Rather, I envision the cramming of the book up certain of his bodily passages. May the little shit rot in a cage.
So who is “the enemy”? People who oppose war?
“People who oppose war?” Are we being a little snarky here Art? ;}
Remember this was written in a different time, when wars were actually declared.
We are at war. The young man who leaked this to Wikileaks is in the military, and as such he cannot release material that is classified “secret” to anyone, even if they are not our foe. Even if the documents don’t have anything to do with the war.
And on the other hand, even if the SOS is humiliated by the releases, and the subject is NOT secret and does damage to us anyway, it is not treasonable if it is not classified “secret”.
Wikileaks here is clean. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if we were to witness a “Three Days of the Condor” re-enacted on the ISP who is hosting this site.
The Wikileaks guy is antiwar, isn’t he?
John Batchelor has mentioned several times that Patrick Moynihan expressed the opinion that way too much information is classified for no reason – distracting security folks from protecting information that really needs to be held secret.
The portability and low cost of data storage means it becomes close to impossible to prevent this. The people who leaked the information had authorized access to the information. In the good old days, the Soviet Union tightly controlled access to xerographic copy machines. With the explosion of wireless Internet (verizon 4G launches this weekend), stealing large amounts of data won’t even require carrying a thumb drive out a gate.
Good analysis of the true traitor here Hesperus!
Ann Coulter had a GREAT column featured in Townhall.com about the relationship between these Wikileaks and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
It is facile to ask then answer a question with another question that implies conclusions by others neither spoken, nor written nor even suggested. But let’s see … enemies: People, including individuals, sects, cults, organizations, nation states, religions, political entities, etc., et alia who hate us and foster harmful designs against us, who engage in antagonistic and deleterious activities against us, including the destruction of our lives, our limbs, our properties, our economy, our liberties and our way of life. They need not be declared but may be known by their thoughts, words and deeds by most sensible people not confused or afloat in denial. Really, Art. Quo Vadis?
And if one American or ally dies because of that sanctimonious little s.o.b’s swan dive into self-declared righteousness, I’ll volunteer to pull the trigger at his firing squad.
So people who hate the leader of “us” should be punished, correct?
I would have to assume “the enemy” consists of the usual suspects – Iran, N. Korea, Libya, Pakistan – and the salacious gossip that was leaked won’t help Hillary Clinton in her job as SOS. Anyone want to speculate that the Obama administration’s apparent inability to stop the leaks is purposeful?
While testing, I heard Michael Savage headed down that path. Others suggest it is to keep Mrs Clinton from runnng in 2012.
I see a closer connection between this and the DHS shutting down domains selling fake rolexes. About two years ago, there was a fight over whether the Interner is an international organization run by an international governing agency or whether the key decisions of the Intenet are ultimately controlled by the United States Government.
First they came for the copyright violaters… Then they came after Wikileaks…. Then they came after companies that were not carbon neutral…. If you push for stopping the Wikileaks, it lays the precedent for shutting down Limbaugh and Fox News.
One curious thing is apparently the White House has been asked about certain diplomatic cables and whether it wants them suppressed. That’s the strongest evidence so far.
See, this is exactly the problem. Pakistan is supposedly our ally and friend in the undeclared “war on terror” (or the new war on “man-made disasters”, take your pick). Citizens who understand history and read the news know that Pakistan is just another in a long line of opportunistic enemies who can be bribed (for a time) with US taxpayer dollars or access to purchase high-tech weapons systems.
When Congress won’t legally declare who the real enemies are supposed to be, all we have left is presidential McCarthyism as accusations fly and the truth is savaged. The enemy of my enemy is …? and the friend of my enemy is …? All this does is lead to a drumbeat call for one world government to restore some semblance of order and diplomacy.
John Bolton (possibly 2012 Presidential candidate) appeared on John Batchelor’s show last night. He (and other guests) reinforce the point that the State Department people understand that the Taliban are a part of the Pakistani military, and no amount of money or coercion is going to cause the Pakistanis to throw the Taliban under the bus.
Mr Bolton generally frames the content of the WikiLeaks as showing how the White House is ignoring reliable information from its State Department and pursuing policies in Afghanistan, Russia and the Middle East that are at odds with reality.
I’m growing to like the idea of a President Bolton. We could do a lot worse. His problem might be though that he’s an international expert. I doubt he is so well versed in the FDA’s food programs and actuarial assumptions of Social Security. This thing called the United States has way too many moving pieces.
My knee-jerk reaction is to agree on Bolton with some reservations. My major reservation is that he is the product of this morally vapid swamp called the Department of State: who view the electorate as imbeciles. But what do I know, I actually believed Bush in the campaign when he said he was a conservative. Part of me is tickled to death by the Wiki Leaks – the established government is anti-citizen, this may be a keystone action to dissolving the bonds of government; our government is destructive to our own pursuit of the certain unalienable Rights mentioned be the late Messrs. Jefferson, Lee, Fraklin and so on……