Comment

Wikileaks and War; Context and Common Cause

17
Barrett Brown12/09/2010 3:22:42 pm PST

re: #13 Charles

Charles, I appreciate your take, but I have to take issue with the “doomsday file” thing as “extortion.” He has a file which will be released upon any stint of incarceration or assassination. I was covering Wikileaks long before the “legitimate” media figured out that there was something worth covering and remember quite well when Assange was first harassed by U.S. intelligence officials a few weeks before the release of the Afghan tape - which, though presented wrongly, as I noted, was a necessary glimpse into the reality of what we are doing long after the degenerate “American public” decided that they were tired of thinking about the conflicts they’d started and now wanted to focus on the economy and mega mosques. I mean, obviously the video didn’t do much in terms of changing policy, nor will the Shell revelations prompt the public at large to take any action whatsoever. The revelations from a few weeks back that Rumsfeld et al were planning the Iraq War not long after 9/11 and were actually jotting down various justifications that could be intentionally brought about in order to set such a war in motion. Incredibly, there has been more “serious discussion” about arresting Anons and assassinating Julian Assange than there has been in regards to trying Bush administration officials such as Dick Cheney with crimes. If the rule of law is applied selectively and in such a way as to allow Shell partial control of the Nigerian state and thus further prevent that state from catering to the needs of its people, and in such a way as that the powerful may commit any number of crimes in the course of launching a poorly-executed war and not only stay out of court but also go on to speak to corporate audiences in exchange for huge fees - whereas meanwhile a 16-year-old kid in The Netherlands is snatched up in 24 hours for DDOSing a corporate web site - then those who consider the world’s governments to be a legitimate arbiters of justice will have to accept that some of us do not agree.

Either the U.S. government is the client of its people and corporate citizens and acts in accordance to their will - in which case it is those people and corporate citizens who are responsible for the crimes of that government, and thus ought not to act so surprised when a couple of their websites are being disrupted - or it is not, in which case an attack on a couple of corporate websites are the least of their worries (which is not to say that they wouldn’t put those at the top of their list anyway and perhaps get around to the government thing during a commercial break).

At any rate, that is where I am in my life after having seen what I’ve seen.