[ExI] Manning and Assange

[Kelly Anderson]

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 1:48 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Manning and Assange
>>...OK, so I have a question. It's a real question.
>
>>...Because of the stuff Manning has released, has any one of the alleged
> "war criminals" shown acting in these videos/documents been brought up on
> charges that they would not have otherwise faced in any case? -Kelly
> _______________________________________________

After searching around on Google for a bit, the answer SEEMS to be no.
I can't find any arrests related to Wikileaks other than that of
Manning. If there were charges, it would be easier to make the
argument that Manning did right. Maybe that's why there haven't been
any... the potential conspiracy theories make me dizzy..

> Ja, and the next questions: if they were trying to keep that under wraps,
> why was it on a system that could be easily compromised with a disk burner?
> What happened to the people who posted it to that system?  If that video was
> classified, why isn't it properly marked?

Perhaps the entire system was classified such that individual videos
in the system did not need to be marked as such, but this is only a
guess.

> Note to Kelly: if the video was on an unsecured network, Manning didn't
> release it.  He only forwarded it to WikiLeaks, who forwarded it to the
> world.  If it isn't specifically marked as classified, it isn't classified.
> If it is specifically marked classified, I don't understand how the markings
> were removed and how it got onto an unsecured system and why whoever put it
> there isn't in the brig too.
>
> Note to self: there are so many unexplainables here, I need to stop posting
> on the subject until I hear something that sounds understandable.

Another question is whether Wikileaks has had any real effect. Tunisia
was the first domino in the Arab Spring, and at least one reporter
thinks there is a connection.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/africa/wikileaks/8571/tunisia-wikileaks-had-part-ben-ali%E2%80%99s-downfall

If Wikileaks contributed to the Arab Spring, and we all know that that
continued on to Egypt, and I suspect that will all end VERY badly for
the people of the Middle East, and most probably us as well... then
can we lay at least part of the blame at the feet of Assange?

The world is full of unforeseen and unforeseeable side effects.
Assange monkeying around with the world's secrets will undoubtedly
have a large effect with both positive and negative side effects. It's
a lot of responsibility for one person to stand up and take, no matter
how narcissistic his personality is.

On a side note, I don't think any president in the last 100 years has
NOT been a narcissist. It's almost required to do the job. Or at least
to asking for it. Think about the narcissism in the statement, "I want
to be your next president"... geez. What normal person could say that?

-Kelly