By way of disclosure, I'm a conservative. I'm right of Fox News. Rush is a liberal in comparison. But, this is just stupid.
First, Assange is not a US citizen, so he cannot be charged with treason for making public top secret material. Federal law states
"whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States." US Code Title 18, part1, chapter 115 paragraph 238
While some may suggest a charge of espionage, he cannot be guilty of treason.
Second, If we, as a nation, put Mr. Assange in jail, we need to do the same to every newspaper and television reporters who has reported "anonymous sources tells us." In fact, many newspapers have published material which came from Wikileaks!
Third, this isn't new. Have you ever heard of "deep throat" of Watergate fame? How about the Pentagon Papers? The Downing Street Memo? Or remember the thousands of pages of internal documents from a climate laboratory? Leaking of secrets is not a new phenomenon.
Lastly, Wikileaks DIDN'T LEAK ANYTHING. Yes, you read that right. Wikileaks is nothing more than a clearinghouse for whistle blowers, politically disaffected policy wonks, disillusioned ideologues, and troublemakers.
Let me reiterate the point: Wikileaks does not actually leak anything, but rather, simply provide a safe place where others can do so.
I have no problems with punishing the guilty (e.g. those who actually stole the classified material) to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including execution. But I think the treatment of Wikileaks in general and Assange in specific is both wrong and stupid. It is only being singled out for two reasons. First, they've been successful in landing rather large leaks. Two, they are new media. Would Wikileaks have received this treatment if they were a newspaper?
If we, as a nation, are going to target the channels of distribution of the leaked information, we need to do so across the board. This means going after cable news channels, Newspapers, and magazines, and not just target new media because it's new and unfamiliar.
