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Yes, WikiLeaks Is a Terrorist Organization and the Time to Act Is NOW

By K.T. McFarland
FoxNews.com
November 30, 2010

On Monday, Attorney General Holder proudly announced the U.S. government had shut down websites that sold pirated luxury goods or shared videos and songs. But shutting down a website that offers pirated secret government documents and damages United States' security? Not a chance.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange isn’t some well-meaning, anti-war protestor leaking documents in hopes of ending an unpopular war. He’s waging cyberwar on the United States and the global world order.

Mr. Assange and his fellow hackers are terrorists and should be prosecuted as such.

We’ve now seen another dump of thousands of classified documents on WikiLeaks– from the military, the Pentagon and now the State Department – and yet we still haven’t shut it down. We should have done it months ago. Instead our response has been limp. "Phew," we say, "it could have been worse. The leaks aren’t telling us anything new."

But it’s not the contents of the leaked documents that matter, it’s the fact that the U.S. government can no longer keep its secrets. How eager will foreign leaders be now to offer candid assessments of their own countries or comment on their neighbors? How willing will foreign intelligence agencies be to share covert information? For example, Saudi Arabia, one of the countries most compromised by WikiLeaks, is our major source of intelligence on Al Qaeda in Yemen and it’s terror plots. What if they decide they can’t risk their sources and methods will show up on the front page of the New York Times and other publications around the world and they stop sharing what they know?

The answer is obvious. -- The United States should move immediately and aggressively against WikiLeaks. And President Obama should take the following four steps:

1. Declare WikiLeaks a terrorist organization. Move to freeze its assets and have the Pentagon's new Cyber Command shut it down.

2. Shut the site down. The U.S. should urge fellow NATO ally Iceland (which hosts the WikiLeaks website) to shut it down, and suggest that if they do not do so immediately our relations will suffer. Ditto for any other country that steps up to host the website.

3. Get Assange's passport pulled. The president needs to get on the phone with the Australians (who are eagerly awaiting our call) and ask them to pull WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s passport. Once he’s cornered and can no longer travel, they can find him and charge him with espionage. Then the president can ask the country he’s hiding in to extradite him to the United States and try him in a military tribunal.

4. Up the charges against Manning. We’ve had accused WikiLeaks leaker Army Specialist Pvt. Bradley Manning in custody since July. He's been charged with transferring classified data and “delivering national defense information to an unauthorized source." It's time to up the charges. Let's charge him and try him for treason. If he's found guilty, he should be executed.

Finally, if all else fails, every American should to go to WikiLeaks.org, hit the refresh button a couple dozen times and crash their site.

If we don’t deal quickly and decisively with what is a cyberattack on America, we can expect WikiLeaks 2.0 and Pvt. Manning copycats to do this kind of thing over and over again and again. In fact, Mr. Assange has already announced plans to ‘bring down major bank’ by leaking information about its accounts and practices.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/11/30/yes-wikileaks-terrorist-organization-time-act/#ixzz1gkmHuIIq

This kind of raving terrifies me.  Julian Assange a terrorist?  Wikileaks on the same level as Al-Qaeda?  Are the folks over at FOX mad!  Whats next, black listing all competent investigative journalists who dare expose any governmental misdeeds?  And execute Pvt. Manning!?  While I think a dishonorable discharge is certainly in order, his actions may have humiliated the US government but they don't appear to have put American forces in any real danger (unlike a certain FOX reporter who broadcast the American battle plan during the Iraqi invasion).  So much for rational discourse...

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:

  Are the folks over at FOX mad! ....So much for rational discourse...

You sound surprised.....

Posted this in the other room but might as well repost here as it fits the topic:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-worst-fox-news-moments-of-2011

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The 1st think I noticed was the date of this article.  KT McFarland is merely a contributor to Fox News.  Just like Alan Colms, Bob Beckel, Father Francis, Margaret Hoover and others.  (Well...Beckel is a regular now, but he's a funny liberal).

McFarland is a very conservative person.  She used to be the deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs at The Pentagon for Ronald Reagan.  So one ought to be able to understand that she is very concerned about the welfare of our troops.    

Like Beckel, Colms and others her views are hers alone.  They dont necessarily represent the viewpoint of FOX news in general.  Just as Alan Colms' liberal views do not represent FOX.

IMO, Assange in NOT a Terrorist.  But I do think he has deliberately tried to smear the image of this country.  I agree with McFarland that Assange has been  waging cyberwar on the United States.  The info he got from Manning must have seemed like an early Christmas present to Assange.  Manning himself, disgruntled and unhappy as a soldier, committed espionage and (imo) treason by leaking secret intel to Assange.  His actions have hurt our diplomatic relations with other foreign diplomats around the world.

McFarland did highlight a very pressing concern...that the US Govt finds itself nearly incapable of keeping secrets. Because of this, she asks "How willing will foreign intelligence agencies be to share covert information?". I think its a good question.

I dont think Manning should be executed and he wont be.  But BOTH have harmed our diplomatic relations and because of this, I think BOTH should stand trial.

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I wasn't aware that the author was not a regular contributor to FOX.  None the less, they still elected to publish the article.

Tell me this, so long as he didn't actively solicit classified information (so far as I've heard, there has been zero evidence for this) then what crime would Assange be guilty of?  Its not illegal for the media to publish stories that embarrass the government.  Moreover, any attempt to make this illegal would be to reintroduce the sedition act (which I, in all sincerity, hope would trigger an uprising)!  As for putting our troops in danger, don't forget that Wikileaks gave the US government the opportunity to review the documents they planned to release and to make argument for why different ones should not be released.  If the government was actually that concerned, they had their opportunity to say 'document xyz should not be released because it would endanger American troops in so-and-so.'

As for the leaks harming our international reputation, he without dark secrets doesn't need to fear their release.  While this gave us a black eye, its a mild punishment considering some of the crimes that were revealed.

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True, they did.  Stuff that gets aired comes from both sides, which is more proof that they are actually fair and balanced.  McFarland is a contributor, but not an every day or every week one.  She doesnt have her own show like say ...Hannity or O'Reilly.  

What crime would Assange be guilty of?  (Aside of **** you mean?)  

Strangely enough , US AG Eric Holder (of all people) is actually considering filing charges that Assange violated the US Espionage Act.  Federal prosecutors have also considered prosecuting Assange for trafficking in stolen government property.  (And the info was stolen by Manning).

It would be very interesting to see what happens if Obama is defeated and we get a new President in place...with a new AG.

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Originally Posted by Dennis Young:
True, they did.  Stuff that gets aired comes from both sides, which is more proof that they are actually fair and balanced.  McFarland is a contributor, but not an every day or every week one.  She doesnt have her own show like say ...Hannity or O'Reilly.  

What crime would Assange be guilty of?  (Aside of **** you mean?)  

Strangely enough , US AG Eric Holder (of all people) is actually considering filing charges that Assange violated the US Espionage Act.  Federal prosecutors have also considered prosecuting Assange for trafficking in stolen government property.  (And the info was stolen by Manning).

It would be very interesting to see what happens if Obama is defeated and we get a new President in place...with a new AG.

Those '****' charges sound rather fishy (in both their timing and the fact that what he is accused of wouldn't even be considered **** in the US).  If he is tried/convicted for espionage, then we loose any trace of freedom of press (although New York Times Co. v. United States would suggest this wouldn't happen).

What would happen under a Republican executive?  I suppose it depends who it is, but I'd expect they'd be looking for justification for life in prison (I know some Repubs want him to face the death penalty, however he won't voluntarily come here and very few countries will extradite if hes facing death).  I wouldn't be surprised if there wasnt an attempt to label him as a terrorist so they could disappear him to GTMO or have him assassinated (Sarah Palin has already called for his extrajudicial killing).