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“Reality is an aspect of property. It must be seized. And investigative journalism is the noble art of seizing reality back from the powerful.”
― Julian Assange – The Unauthorised Autobiography
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A series of crimes and misdemeanors were conducted during the Iraq and Afghan wars by members of the United States military were revealed to the general public. Official documents and video footage showed that it happened. It was indisputable. [1][2]
In the face of this evidence, U.S. officials sprang into action, but not so much to get to the bottom of these horrendous outrages. To date, of the people responsible for gunning down to death 18 civilians during the 2007 Collateral Murder incident revealed in April 2010, not a single one has been held responsible. No, the object of the U.S. government’s fury was the man who founded the non-profit organization that published it. His name is Julian Assange. [3]
Assange has been dogged by the American government for 11 years. He has been dodging an allegation of sexual assault in Sweden which was eventually withdrawn. He declared political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy and stayed there for seven years. He was targeted by an indictment manufactured with the assistance of accusations from former Wikileaks volunteer Sigurdur Thordarson who finally admitted he lied earlier this year. He had been dealing with the CIA spying on him, his lawyers thanks to the Spanish security firm ‘protecting’ his Ecuador abode.
Now he is struggling with a prison sentence at Belmarsh Prison, described by a local group Prison Phone as “Britain’s toughest prison.” He has spent two and a half years there, and may be facing many more. He has been through an extradition hearing in the fall of last year, and just recently faced an appeal of the bloc of extradition.
All this because he published the information of a whistle-blower. Something we would expect any journalistic media organization to do.
The only difference is that the ease with which entire documents can be uploaded constitutes a major threat to government’s ability to conceal information. Something that won’t be tolerated in the era when so much is being concealed in the new era of waging a Global War on Terrorism.
This week’s episode of the Global Research News Hour is entitled Journalism in the Cross-Hairs: The Julian Assange Case. It explores the unique characteristics of both Julian Assange the man and Wikileaks the technology in nailing the U.S. military (criminal) apparatus in a weak spot. Over the course of 60 minutes, we will be joined by several individuals who have devoted significant attention to his cause and to the quest for his release.
Stella Moris is a South African lawyer who met Julian Assange when she joined the legal team. She eventually became his partner and fiancée and had two sons with him.
John Shipton if the father of Julian Assange, and has traveled abroad to promote his son’s release.
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He blew the whistle on the CIA’s use of torture and ended up serving 23 months in prison.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and has been a correspondent for the Boston Globe, The Sunday Times of London, and the Wall Street Journal among other publications.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. He has written a scholarly paper on Wikileaks and ran for the Wikileaks Party alongside Assange during the 2013 Australian Senate elections.
Megan Sherman is an English musician, poet and activist deeply inspired by John Lennon. She has a bachelors degree in Modern History and Politics. Julian Assange profoundly influenced her in a good way. She is also a contributor to Global Research.
John Pilger is a world-renowned journalist and filmmaker. The author of several books and maker of over 60 documentaries (the latest being The Coming War on China and The Dirty War on the NHS), Pilger has won dozens of prestigious awards and has been honored by several universities.
(Global Research News Hour Episode 331)
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The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM out of the University of Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .
Other stations airing the show:
CIXX 106.9 FM, broadcasting from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. It airs Sundays at 6am.
WZBC 90.3 FM in Newton Massachusetts is Boston College Radio and broadcasts to the greater Boston area. The Global Research News Hour airs during Truth and Justice Radio which starts Sunday at 6am.
Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 7pm.
CJMP 90.1 FM, Powell River Community Radio, airs the Global Research News Hour every Saturday at 8am.
Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday afternoon from 3-4pm.
Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 9am pacific time.
Notes:
- Anorak News (October 23, 2010), ‘Julian Assange’s Wikileaks Press Conference: Full Text Of Speech On Iraq Civilian Dead‘
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-military-leaks
- Yost, Pete (November 29, 2010). “Holder says WikiLeaks under criminal investigation”. Boston Globe. Associated Press.
