Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Michael Moore Pledges to Post Wikileaks' Assange's Bail

On his website, Michael Moore has posted a legal statement promising to post Julian Assange’s $20,000 bail to get him out of a UK jail, where he is being held on sexually-related charges originating in Sweden.  Julian Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks, the internet site that purportedly received enormous amounts of highly classified material from Army Private Bradley Manning and proceeded to post these highly damaging releases on the public internet via the WikiLeaks site. 

Some of the information released has or may potentially cause severe damage to our national security and will almost assuredly endanger key allies and sources of information in our battle against terrorists.

Moore's thoughts to these actions is that we owe the Wikileaks founder a “debt of gratitude” for his acts.
Moore's goes on to acclaim Assange as a "journalist" who has worked tirelessly to expose "the follies" of the United States government and has even gone so far as to calling Assange’s actions “an act of patriotism.”

The statement notes that while Moore is out out of the country, he has already deposited the money into a specific account for Assange's bail.  A key excerpt of the statement reads as follows:
I support Julian, whom I see as a pioneer of free speech, transparent government and the digital revolution in journalism. His commitment to exposing the follies of government and business offers the greater society a chance to protect itself from these follies. Some aren’t just follies. Some are crimes. What do we do with someone who informs the authorities — and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the “authorities” — that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism. He should be thanked and honored, not abused and jailed. It dishonours this court to be used in this way, holding this man without bail. Julian has made the world, and my country in particular, a safer place. His actions with WikiLeaks have put on notice those who would take us to war based on lies that any future attempts to do so will be met by the fierce bright light provided by WikiLeaks and intended to expose those who commit their war crimes. His actions will make them think twice next time — and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude.
Ironically in all of the classified information leaked to Julian Assange, nothing has been posted thus far that gives any credence to Moore's assertion that the Iraq war was based on lies by the Bush administration.  Further, does giving up essential data of identities and whereabouts of informants that have helped us against our terrorist enemies rise to the level of patriotism?  I would strongly argue that it certainly does NOT make our country safer. 

Assange is not a whistle-blower that brought egregious actions on the behalf of our government to light.  He is an anti-American blow-hard that is hell bent on harming our nation and its interests if possible, and embarrassing us at least if not.  He is a clear and present danger to our nation and should be treated as an enemy accordingly.

As for Private Bradley Manning, if he is indeed found guilty of his crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, I hope he is convicted and punished for the treason he has committed.  Of course, the city of Berkeley, California has proposed a resolution out of the city's "Peace and Justice Commission" to honor and support him as well. 

I am all for free speech, even such nonsense as has been spouted by Michael Moore and the city of Berkeley, but it is a dangerous thing indeed to call evil, good and to call good, evil.  What Manning and Assange have done has endangered and will likely end up costing friends of America their lives.  These are not heroes.  The former is a traitor and both are an enemies of our great nation.  Michael Moore is once again sorely misguided in finding honor in such people.

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