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I'll take hacker/journalist Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. Unless he lives a sequestered life, he'll be dead or kidnapped (same thing) within 5 years.

Only rules are no geezers and no chronic illness.

So what kind of tourny was going on at Tacony and did you play?

Barbara

Haven't been to Tacony in over 4 years so i don't know.

If any informants or their family members are killed because of the documents he claims he vetted to protect identities we should FedEx his ass to the faimilies. That piece of shit and the asshole analyst who supplied the information should both be dealt with severely.

Don't you think that it is passing the buck?
Surely, someone who illegally steals documents in the first place put themselves and their families at risk in the first place.
Doesn't that responsibility lie with them?

If they stole documents and weren't smart enough to hide the fact that they are guilty of stealing them, how is that his fault?
No one is twisting their arm to leak the information.

I have no problem with someone exposing truths about situations that would otherwise be kept secret to keep people stupid.

Documents, for the most part, aren't classified or labeled FOUO to keep people stupid. They are classified or categorized to protect assets, methods, or technologies.

The analyst who stole the information had no business doing so. When you join the military, your job will usually wind up resulting in someone's death whether you pull the trigger or not. If you have problems with that, you should not join. If you have a problem with an operation or some other aspect you raise concerns with the IG or use your chain of command. You do not release information/documents.

As for Julian. Yes, he was not forced. But, as a "journalist," and I use that term loosely with him, it is your responsibility to make sure that the release of that information is done so responsibly. By publishing those reports, he bears responsibility for any deaths. He bears a certain amount of responsibility for compromised methods or sources which result in decreased intelligence collection. By publishing that information he bears a certain amount of responsibility in a decreased ability for NATO forces to recruit informants because they will not trsut that their identities will be protected.

I beleive in the 1st ammendment, but people need to be responsible with how they use it. People DO NOT have the right to know certain things.

Well, you've got to admit, the guy's got balls.

Play the video.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/30/afghan ... tml?hpt=T1

I will have to disagree with you about people having the right to know.

People have the right to know what is going on.

When the information being leaked risks the lives of sources or allied troops, compromises sources (technical or human) or methods, the public does NOT have a right or need to know.

I wonder if SUPERSTAR would feel the same if it were his ass on the line?

Most likely, because many of the staunch "right to know" people would say "yes" when asked that question in a rhetorical sense because they need to maintain their "integrity."

I agree with most, Jim, except the part about you being king LOL

When I was over there, the locals were THRILLED to have us there. Because of us, their kids can go to school & folks can commute back & forth to work without fear. Their lives went back to normal. Before we were there, the country was a virtual concentration camp under strict rule & the Taliban was controlling all the resources. They don't hate us. The young adults who were children brought up from birth in a Taliban nation may hate us now because they are confused, but the older generation are dang happy we came. You think they hate us now, just watch what happens if we suddenly pull out & leave them to fend for themselves.

As for people needing to know about the inner workings & intel of our military, it's not so. Nobody needs to know how the military operates. They only need to know that their military is doing everything they can to provide safety & security for those of us at home. If you don't like not knowing, then move to another country ..... any country, and see if they'll allow you access to their secrets & war files. It's absurd & ignorant to feel people have the RIGHT to know everything the military is or does. That guy put his own beliefs above the security of his own nation & that is treason. He needs to be executed. Execution is appropriate punishment for treason in the USA. His commander absolutely has the authority to have him court marshalled & executed. It's not a civilian matter. He was employed & entrusted by our elected government and he committed treason. If you don't like the way our country works, then go vote & become active in lobbying for changes. Otherwise, there's nothing to talk about.

I don't buy into that whole putting people at risk by the documents being released garbage.

Everyone was put at risk by our guys being sent there in the first place, when we didn't need to be there.

Whistleblowers shouldn't be strung up.

It's the politicians that are pulling the strings to further their own agenda and getting our soldiers killed in the process, that should be the ones who get strung up.

I'll take Keith Richards...bad bet I know...for some reason this guy is going to live to be a thousand but he looks like death already. That has to count for something.

Well, i would never ever join the military so that some bureaucrat can use me as they see fit to to obtain some objective that benefits them, that they always twist into a "defending our freedoms/ way of life" issue, which is the biggest bunch of bullshit there is, so that part of the question is tossed out the window.

BUT if i were a top secret informant or a soldier in a war, as far as i am concerned, IT COMES WITH THE JOB.
If soldiers didn't want to get shot at or blown up, they should have thought about that long and hard before they signed their name on the line, and if an informant didn't want to risk getting exposed and possibly killed, they should have kept their mouth shut.

And on that same note, same thing goes for whistle blowing. Someone wants to take that risk, it's on them if they get caught.