When is it okay to publicy call for someones death?

[Noir]

When you're directing it towards Mr. Assange

(taken from an open letter to the Austrailian government.)

We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.
“We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times.

William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?”

“Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg.

“The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site.

Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”.

And so on and so forth.

Such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen the normalisation of extrajudicial measures once unthinkable, from ‘extraordinary rendition’ (kidnapping) to ‘enhanced interrogation’ (torture).

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/41914.html

[NightTrain]

People that play Assange's game of exposing State secrets and playing the dangerous game that he's engaged himself in usually disappear.

I suspect Assange will be no different. He's chosen his course.

[Noir]

People that play Assange's game of exposing State secrets and playing the dangerous game that he's engaged himself in usually disappear.

I suspect Assange will be no different. He's chosen his course.

Indeed, it's not really something you expect from a liberal free democracy, but I've no doubt it goes on.

But the very fact that mainstream news outlets and high profile commentators have no hesitation and fear no repocussions for calling for someones death is quite disturbing IMO.

[NightTrain]

Spies have usually been executed throughout history, Noir.

The only difference here is that Assange gained American secret communications and broadcast it to the world instead of selling it to the Soviets.

[Noir]

Spies have usually been executed throughout history, Noir.

The only difference here is that Assange gained American secret communications and broadcast it to the world instead of selling it to the Soviets.

And that difference is a massive one. He is no more a spy than I am. Or indeed more than anyone who has read and passed on a leaked document.

[PostmodernProphet]

if at some point a leak becomes the proximate cause of someone's death.....and it happens in a jurisdiction which has the death penalty.....then it would logically follow that his execution would be legal.....

[Gaffer]

In answer to the title of this thread I would say, when your a muslim.

I only saw a few death threats for him and those seemed to be an execution following a trial. Most are just calling him a terror supporter. His name is well known now and people are watching, therefore he will stay alive for some time. He's not only giving secrets and embarrassing America. He's doing it to the rest of the world too. His life expectancy is about that of an investigative journalist in russia.

Notice he's releasing things in episodes.Tune in next week for the episode on banking.

He's hiding out in the most politically correct country in the world. He's wanted for sex charges in Sweden? not espionage or anything like that. The whole thing is like a bad sitcom.

[Nukeman]

And that difference is a massive one. He is no more a spy than I am. Or indeed more than anyone who has read and passed on a leaked document.

is it really a MASSIVE difference??? Just because he didn't "sell" the information to enemies of the state, he sure as hell made it ALL available to them.... Which is worse doing something for monetary gain or doing it out of malice....

What purpose does he have for putting this information out there??? I would also add the blackmail/extortion charge to him for his "if i'm arrested I will release all this OTHER information"....

[revelarts]

I don't know his purpose. but it serve the cause of transparency in gov't.
most here complain about the gov't growth an move toward tyranny. One of the classic tools of an tyrannical state is the over use of Classification of documents. there's a nonprofit that track it here in the U.S. and they say that there's been a huge up tick in secret top secret info over the past 15 yrs or so. And problems getting items FOIAed out of the gov't hands.

we've had several other people in the u.s. release items ,
the Pentagon Papers
the Watergate tapes
All of those groups/people who released those confidential items are still alive and well.
There are other sites that leak documents and there are people we call whistle blowers who bring various gov't and corporate corruption and misdeeds to light.
The only people who call for their deaths are those that are guilty of sometime.

So far, what they've done has caused know ones death. And the pentagon admits it.

And dont forget that wikileaks/Assange is the one that released the Climate gate e-mails as well other interesting items.
He seems to be an equal opportunity leaker.

But it is dangerous whenever Powerful people are embarrassed, and exposed.

Congress people and Pundants Calling for his murder is no better than the Muslim leaders calling for a fatwa on someone who offended Muhammad.

If he's committed a crime arrest him and bring him to trail.
But you have to be careful what you do with him becuase, they claim to be a an alternative NEWS site. if you bring wikileaks to trial (or cause them to have an "accident") where does that put all other news agencies and reporters that report on "secret docs".?

[Thunderknuckles]

Indeed, it's not really something you expect from a liberal free democracy, but I've no doubt it goes on.

But the very fact that mainstream news outlets and high profile commentators have no hesitation and fear no repocussions for calling for someones death is quite disturbing IMO.

I'm with you on that Noir. Calling for the death of someone should not be tolerated in the US. However, calling for an ass whoopin' is OK in my book

[revelarts]

You know this is funny, cool and scary. But scary like the 1st time down a rollercoster.
My imagination goes wild a bit here.

Some people have mentioned
REVOLUTION
and
SECESSION
as possible ways to get the gov't in check. but on some IT sites I've read I wonder if the people with the power to get the gov'ts and fat cat corporations in line aren't the Hackers and IT managers.

Here some hackers are cutting off PayPAL and the swiss Banks that have hassled WIKILEAKS,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11935539

BBC
7 December 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET

Wikileaks defended by Anonymous hacktivists

Internet hacktivists have fired the latest salvo in the Wikileaks infowar.

A group called Anonymous has hit sites that have refused to do business with the controversial whistle-blowing site with a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks.

It mirrors similar attacks aimed at the Wikileaks site.

Targets include the Swiss bank that froze founder Julian Assange's assets and PayPal which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks.

Anonymous is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.
Increased traffic

A member of Anonymous who calls himself Coldblood told the BBC that "multiple things are being done".

"Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets," he said.

"As an organization we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means."

"We feel that Wikileaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people vs. the government," he said.

So far the denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many requests that it becomes overwhelmed, have failed to take any sites offline although that is not the point of the attack, according to Coldblood.

"The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call," he said. "Companies will notice the increase in traffic and an increase in traffic means increase in costs associated with running a website."

DDoS attacks are illegal in many countries, including the UK.

Coldblood admitted that such attacks "may hurt people trying to get to these sites" but said it was "the only effective way to tell these companies that us, the people, are displeased".

Anonymous is also helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for Wikileaks, after its US domain name provider withdrew its services.....

Will hackers FREE the world or will thugs and assassins feed buy big gov't and big corps hunt them down to keep control of the money and the people.
sounds like a movie trailer.

Cooool

[Noir]

if at some point a leak becomes the proximate cause of someone's death.....and it happens in a jurisdiction which has the death penalty.....then it would logically follow that his execution would be legal.....

Well good luck on proving 'proximate cause' beyond reasonable doubt.

In any case, those in the OP don't seem to want a trail, they just want him dead, or think he should be dead already.

is it really a MASSIVE difference??? Just because he didn't "sell" the information to enemies of the state, he sure as hell made it ALL available to them.... Which is worse doing something for monetary gain or doing it out of malice....

There is a huge difference, because if you consider him a spy you also consider myself and countless millions of other people as spys. Do you?

What purpose does he have for putting this information out there??? I would also add the blackmail/extortion charge to him for his "if i'm arrested I will release all this OTHER information"....

I'd say there is great public interest to be had, for example the fact that Seria has been buying medium range missiles from North Korea and Iraq was is similar discussions to acquire such weapons not long before we invaded is important to know, no?

As for the blackmail rubbish. Be under not illusions, Assange is not wikileaks, it is much bigger than him, should he be shot dead tomorrow the steady stream of leaks will continue to be published. Infact Assange has been denied bale (for political reasons) so he likey won't be free until the 14th December. Wikileaks issued a statement immediately saying tinights leaks would continue as normal.

[NightTrain]

There is a huge difference, because if you consider him a spy you also consider myself and countless millions of other people as spys. Do you?

You're saying you've received secret American communications and have broadcast them to the world?

I'd say there is great public interest to be had, for example the fact that Seria has been buying medium range missiles from North Korea and Iraq was is similar discussions to acquire such weapons not long before we invaded is important to know, no?

Since when does the general public have the right to know the particulars of matters of national security? Did Churchill seek public comment when intel was coming in about Hitler's atomic program? Did Truman take an international poll to see what the general consensus was before nuking Nagasaki & Hiroshima?

How about Kennedy? Did he seek public input when facing down the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the world teetered on the edge of nuclear war?

This notion some of you have thinking that you have a right to any & all secret government information is silly. Not just American information, you don't have a right to secret British information, either.

If you really think you should be in the loop as to secret information, then you should begin the process of joining your respective country's Intelligence Services. Or join the military. Once you do that, you'll understand why there is information that is withheld from general public knowledge.

[SassyLady]

i
What purpose does he have for putting this information out there???

Maybe he didn't sell it to the soviets but each time someone clicks on his website isn't that, in effect, selling it?

He's even more dangerous than a spy selling secrets ... he's indiscriminate and doesn't care ... he has no consciousness ... he's a narcissist.

[Pagan]

Government continually violates the law with Bullshit like Naked Body Scanners, Warrantless Wiretaps, Rendition, etc. So with Government having no respect for the rule of law nor anyone's privacy there is no reason to respect their privacy.

Until Government follows the rule of law "Fuckem", they reap what they sow