Julian Paul Assange (born 3 July 1971) is an Australian journalist, publisher and Internet activist. He is best known as the spokesperson and editor in chief for WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Before working with the website, he was a physics and mathematics student as well as a computer programmer. He has lived in several countries and has told reporters he is constantly on the move. He makes irregular public appearances to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative reporting; he has also won three journalism awards for his work with WikiLeaks.
Assange founded the controversial WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. In this capacity, he has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents. He has recently received widespread public attention for the publication of classified material from WikiLeaks documenting details about the involvement of the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing the United States diplomatic cables leak. According to The Guardian, this has placed Assange "at the center of intense media speculation and a hate campaign against him in America".
On 30 November 2010, Interpol placed Assange on its red notice list of wanted persons; concomitantly, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for him. He is wanted for questioning on suspicion of "sex crimes"; it is reported that while having consensual sex his condom broke and he either did not disclose the breakage to his partner or continued after his partner asked him to stop. He has not been formally charged with any crime
Early life
Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland, and spent much of his youth living on Magnetic Island. Assange's parents ran a touring theater company. In 1979, his mother, Christine, remarried; her new husband was a musician who belonged to a controversial New Age group led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne. The couple had a son, but broke up in 1982 and engaged in a custody struggle for Assange's half-brother. His mother then took both children into hiding for the next five years. Assange moved several dozen times during his childhood, attending many schools, sometimes being home schooled, and later attending several universities at various times in Australia.
Hacking
In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax" (derived from a phrase of Horace: "splendide mendax," or "nobly untruthful"). He and two other hackers joined to form a group which they named the International Subversives. Assange wrote down the early rules of the subculture: "Don’t damage computer systems you break into (including crashing them); don’t change the information in those systems (except for altering logs to cover your tracks); and share information".
In response to the hacking, the Australian Federal Police raided his Melbourne home in 1991. He was reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university, the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel, and other organisations, via modem. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to 24 charges of hacking and was released on bond for good conduct after being fined AU$2100. The prosecutor said "there is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers".
Assange later commented, "It's a bit annoying, actually. Because I co-wrote a book about [being a hacker], there are documentaries about that, people talk about that a lot. They can cut and paste. But that was 20 years ago. It's very annoying to see modern day articles calling me a computer hacker. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm quite proud of it. But I understand the reason they suggest I'm a computer hacker now. There's a very specific reason."
Child custody issues
In 1989, Assange started living with his girlfriend and soon they had a son. She separated from him after the 1991 police raid and took their son. They engaged in a lengthy custody struggle, and did not agree on a custody arrangement until 1999.[18] The entire process prompted Assange and his mother to form Parent Inquiry Into Child Protection, an activist group centered on creating a "central data bank" for otherwise inaccessible legal records related to child custody issues in Australia.
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks was founded in 2006. That year, Assange wrote two essays setting out the philosophy behind WikiLeaks: "To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not." In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organisation is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. ... Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance."
Assange sits on Wikileaks's nine-member advisory board, and is a prominent media spokesman on its behalf. While newspapers have described him as a "director" or "founder" of Wikileaks, Assange has said, "I don't call myself a founder"; he does describe himself as the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, and has stated that he has the final decision in the process of vetting documents submitted to the site. Like all others working for the site, Assange is an unpaid volunteer. Assange says that Wikileaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined: "That's not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are – rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It's disgraceful." Assange advocates a "transparent" and "scientific" approach to journalism, saying that "you can't publish a paper on physics without the full experimental data and results; that should be the standard in journalism." In 2006, Counter Punch called him "Australia's most infamous former computer hacker." The Age has called him "one of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter." Assange has called himself "extremely cynical". The Personal Democracy Forum said that as a teenager he was "Australia's most famous ethical computer hacker." He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics, and as thriving on intellectual battle.
WikiLeaks has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, the July 12, 2007 Baghdad air strike video, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents.
WikiLeaks Release 1.0
Insight into vision, motivation and innovation. During the last 12 months WikiLeaks representatives have been talking at numerous conferences, from technology via human rights to media focused, in an effort to introduce WikiLeaks to the world. WikiLeaks has had major document releases that have spawned attention in all major newspapers by now, it has triggered important reform and has established itself as part of the accepted media reality.
Little did we have the chance though to talk about a bigger picture, especially of how we perceive the future and its constraints.
We therefore would like to talk about our vision of the information society, journalism's role in that society, as well as our role in it. Along this vision we will introduce new features for WikiLeaks Release 1.0, that will be no short of changing the world as we all know it.
http://wikileaks.org/
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2009/Fa...
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 1 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 2 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 3 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 4 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 5 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 6 of 7
WikiLeaks Release 1.0 - Part 7 of 7
The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and videos. Founder Julian Assange, who is reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished and what drives him.
Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
AlJazeeraEnglish | December 01, 2010
The legal pressure on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks is mounting. We ask: How long can Julian Assange hide? And under what law can he be prosecuted?
Wikileaks founder speaks to Al Jazeera about new leaked documents on Iraq & Afghan war.
Frost over the World - Julian Assange
AlJazeeraEnglish | July 31, 2010
The Listening Post - Wikileaks and The Media
The Listening Post - The ongoing WikiLeaks saga
The Listening Post - WikiLeaks Cyber warriors
RussiaToday | October 24, 2010
Afghan Bombshell: WikiLeaks 'War Diary' exposes US cover-up
Pentagon's Skeletons: WikiLeaks puts war crimes in spotlight
Wikileaker Locked Up
Wikileaks co-founder speaks to Alyona
WikiLeaks editor on Apache combat video: No excuse for US killing civilians
War on whistleblower: CIA spies on WikiLeaks for 'Pentagon murder cover-up' exposure?
John Pilger on Democracy Now
Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against Militarism & Secrecy
John Pilger: Julian Assange Interview
Part 2 of 2
Julian Assange WikiLeaks Interview - October 25, 2010 CNN
"Pentagon Has About As Much Credibility As North Korea!"
Larry King Interview - Part 1
Larry King Interview - Part 2
Geneva Press Club, Geneva - November 4th 2010 11:30 AM
The full transcript of this Press Conference can be read here:
http://notepad.ch/press/julian-assange
'We've been both expert witness and observer to human rights abuses by the United States government in various areas and a victim of some those abuses ourselves. It should not be the case that a media organisation with a track record now of 4 years exposing Human Rights abuses and the Winner of the 2009 Amnesty International Award for human rights and exposing extra juridical assassinations in Kenya should itself be in a position where it feels threatened because it has been threatened. Some of the information that I will be speaking about today comes from the Pentagon or from internal records of the Pentagon, which have been given to us - we presume - by US military whistleblowers. Geoff Morrell, spokesman of the Pentagon, demanded on August 12 and on noumerous other occations that this organisation destroy it's previous publications relating to the Pentagon, destroy it's upcoming publications relating to the Pentagon and cease to deal with US military wistleblowers. That is an extraordinary demand for restraint of the press. That is a demand that we have choosen not to follow. And the Pentagon stated that if did not follow it's demand in destroying our previous publications and destroying our future publications then we would be compelled to do so. When drawn on to the manner of compelling, the Pentagon refused to answer how. After the release of our Afghan war logs which revealed extraordinary abuses by US forces including over 300 cases of internal reports of detainee abuse in Iraq by coalition forces and over 1200 cases of reports of torture and abuse by Iraqi forces the Pentagon made a similar demand over all the Worlds press that the press not report that material. The manner of that demand was to use key sections of the 1917 espionage act. So it is in fact not merely a statement thrown away at whim, it is designed to to provide the necessary intent in the press to then subsequently prosecute. Those revelations where carried by overseas media and by the New York Times, but where not carried by any cable US network. So in fact those demands may have had an impact. Similarly, an earlier story on taskforce 373 - a US assasination quad in Afghanistan, that we discovered in the Afghan war logs, which is working down its way a queue of some 2000 people, a list has been put together without any edition or oversight review or due process. That story, written by Eric Schmidt, New York Times reporter, was killed and did not appear in the New York Times. It did however appear as the front cover of Der Spiegel and was incorporated into press by the Guardian and other newspapers. So to have an understanding about what we are talking about on a human level with these reports in Iraq, let me read you an excerpt from some of them. One sentence per report. There was also evidence of bruises on the face and on the body, he was beaten from the third day to the seventh day of his capture, he was beaten with cables and water pipes, large amounts of blood where found on the cell floor, wire used for electric shocks and a rubber hose. The detainees body showed extensive bruising around the arms, shoulders and lower extremities, the detainees back shows what appears to be a boot print outlined in bruised tissue, reasonable suspicion of abuse. Outcome.
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 1 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 2 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 3 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 4 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 1 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 2 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 3 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 4 of 4
Julian Assange is a spokesman and advisory board member of WikiLeaks, a transparency website whose mission is to "open governments" and expose human rights abuses. It has a core focus on protecting dissidents, whistleblowers, investigative journalists, and bloggers who face state threats, and it largely operates by publishing leaks of sensitive documents. Winners of Amnesty International's 2009 Media Award for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya, Assange and WikiLeaks have recently launched www.collateralmurder.com, a website that hosts a leaked video of U.S. military forces in Iraq apparently slaying over a dozen people indiscriminately. In his speech, Assange chooses to focus specifically on WikiLeaks's work against censorship and human rights abuses committed by Western governments. Paraphrasing Orwell, Assange explains that he who controls today's internet servers controls the intellectual record of mankind. He warns us that Western governments, large corporations, and certain wealthy individuals are increasingly able and increasingly trying to remove material permanently from the historical record using sophisticated methods. Assange reviews WikiLeaks's work in uncovering human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and Guantanamo, and discusses the dangerous irony in the U.S. military's conduct as it decorates its detention centers with "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom" signs. If the West doesn't reverse its course of increased censorship and rights abuses, Assange warns, it will lose all of the ideals that it once stood for.
Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 1 of 2)
Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 2 of 2)
Source from: Swedish Wire
Published Sunday, 20 June 2010 10:55 | Author: AFP / The Swedish Wire
Wikileaks: 'Iceland safe haven for press freedom'
Iceland's parliament, the Altingi, voted Tuesday to task government with finding ways to increase information freedom and to provide stronger protections for media sources and whistleblowers to make Iceland a leader in freedom of expression.
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, or IMMI "aims to create an offshore safe haven for information, to add to transparency," said Kristinn Hrafnsson, an investigative journalist with public broadcaster RUV, who has co-operated with Wikileaks.
Even before the passing of the initiative, which was in part drafted by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, work on the project had created a secure environment for revealing sensitive information, he told AFP.
A controversial WikiLeaks video released in April of a US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed two employees of the Reuters news agency and a number of other people had, for instance, been edited in Reykjavik, he pointed out.
"At the time, Iceland seemed to be the safest place to prepare for the release of the video and do the necessary fact checks," said Hrafnsson, who took part in the process.
WikiLeaks has only said it obtained the video "from a number of military whistleblowers," but the US military last week said it had arrested 22-year-old specialist Bradley Manning for allegedly being the source of the leak.
The release of the video was vital to "showing the gruesome reality behind statistics of what the US army calls 'collateral damage'," Hrafnsson said.
"It is the most important visual evidence coming out of Iraq since the exposure of the photographs from Abu Ghraib," a jail that has become synonymous with abuse in Iraqi prisons.
Manning reportedly also may have leaked other material to WikiLeaks, including separate video of a 2009 air strike in Afghanistan in which many civilians were killed.
Wikileaks has not confirmed that Manning is the source of the Baghdad Apache attack video, but Hrafnsson acknowledged the website was preparing the release of the Afghanistan air strike video.
Wikileaks makes the nightly television news in Iceland
Source from: Enigma Foundry
TheAlexJonesChannel | April 01, 2010
Alex welcomes back to the show Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author and columnist Wayne Madsen. Mr. Madsen is a former government consultant on contracts for the National Security Agency and worked for the Navy's Naval Data Automation Command as a civilian employee before taking up investigative journalism.
Wikileaks Story & Police State News - Part 1 of 3
Wikileaks Story & Police State News - Part 2 of 3
Wikileaks Story & Police State News - Part 3 of 3
Alex Jones Discusses Wikileaks Release Of Pentagon Snuff Video
The acts of these individual soldiers undermine the dignity and honor with which the others have served. Still further, it is yet another layer clouding the "mission" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other locations of engagement across the globe. Who are the good guys when these types of acts continue to occur? Why are we fighting in these places? How can we justify over 1 million dead Iraqis? Why are the wars expanding when President Obama campaigned on ending the wars?
Wikileaks
Wiki-Whacked - UK
Watch on: youtube
A Film By ABC Australia (October 2011)
Distributed By Journeyman Pictures
Since Julian Assange's trial began his organisation has fallen apart. This report uncovers the shocking truth behind Wikileaks' dramatic and chaotic descent into crisis. Is this the end for the whistleblower?
"It was abusive to work in that environment", Assange's former close friend and Wikileaks collaborator Birgitta Jonsdottir tells us. She paints a picture of an intense, fraught workplace overseen by an increasingly megalomaniac leader. "He became very paranoid", Daniel Domscheit-Berg says. He was Assange's partner but also fell foul of the assertion that he couldn't be trusted. Wikileaks has also fallen out with The Guardian and the New York Times, who collaborated on his biggest releases. As a result an extraordinary security breach occurred. Two journalists who worked with Assange published the confidential password for the master copy of the diplomatic cables. It led many to accuse Wikileaks of not having the ability to handle the information it has correctly. Holed up in his Norfolk bolthole awaiting the result of his appeal against extradition to Sweden, Assange sees it only as a lesson about trust: "Where there may be genuine criticism levelled at me is that actually we trusted The Guardian". As Assange's trial rumbles on and he becomes increasingly isolated, the question is, where now for Wikileaks?
What is Tel Aviv to do now that it's known Israelis and pro-Israelis 'fixed' the intelligence that induced the U.S. to war in Iraq?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Con me consistently for six decades and the relationship is over, as is Israel's credibility as a legitimate nation state. Tel Aviv knows this. But what can the Zionist state do about it? Answer: Wikileaks.
Why now? Misdirection. Shine the spotlight on Washington to take it off Tel Aviv. That's good old-fashioned psy-ops. And challenge the credibility of the U.S. That's Wikileaks.
Any credible forensics would start by asking: to whose benefit? Then look to means, motive and opportunity plus the presence of stable nation-state intelligence inside the U.S.
Other than Israel, who else is a credible candidate? Notice how quickly Israel's role in the peace process vanished from the news. Now it's Iran, Iran and more Iran. To whose benefit?
Tel Aviv knows that the phony intelligence on Iraq leads to those skilled at waging war "by way of deception"-the motto of the Israeli Mossad. Wikileaks are noteworthy for what's missing: the absence of any material damaging to Israeli goals.
But still Tel Aviv faces an unprecedented peril: transparency. Americans know they were duped. And Israel rightly fears that Americans will soon realize by whom.
Tepid Support will not Suffice
Obama has behaved as anticipated by those who produced his presidency. Anyone surprised at the lack of change in U.S. policy in the Middle East fails to grasp the power of the Israel lobby.
Did he hesitate to support their latest Israeli strategy for scuttling peace negotiations? Absent peace, the U.S. will continue to be the target of those outraged at America's unflinching support for Israel's thuggish behavior in pursuit of its expansionist goals.
Confirming the lobby's influence, Netanyahu announced he would not agree to halt settlements on Palestinian land until Obama reduced to writing a $3 billion bribe.
In return for a proposed 90-day freeze, what form of bribe will America provide? Twenty F-35 jets at $150 million each plus parts, maintenance, training and armaments.
That's $231 million per week or $1,373,626 per hour. What will the U.S. receive in return? A temporary partial freeze on settlements. How many more times can this ruse work?
Israel has evaded a peace agreement since it drove Palestinians from their land in 1948 and seized more land in 1967 to shape today's geopolitics.
Should Israel reach an agreement with the Palestinians, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposes a "comprehensive security agreement." At what cost no one knows. The U.S. Congress has already budgeted $30 billion for Israel over 10 years. This latest $3 billion is on top of that.
That doesn't include the cost to American credibility posed by an offer to veto U.N. recognition of Palestine as a state. And a pledge Never Again to pressure Israel on settlements. Plus the freeze omits East Jerusalem where Tel Aviv insists on moving ahead with new housing starts.
Timing Is Everything
By scheduling its latest incursion into Gaza between Christmas 2008 and the January 2009 Obama inaugural, Tel Aviv ensured only muted opposition during political down time in the U.S. Thus it came as no surprise to see an agent provocateur operation on Thanksgiving Day 2010 as Israel demolished a West Bank Mosque and a Palestinian village.
After seven hours of nonstop talks, Hillary Clinton praised Netanyahu as a "peacemaker." In return, he agreed only to "continue the process." Meanwhile, U.S. elections marked a major victory for Israel when incoming Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Jewish Zionist, announced that the new majority would "serve as a check on the Obama administration."
The Israel lobby has good reason to gloat. Confirming ongoing duplicity, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proclaimed: "a permanent agreement is impossible."
Wikileaks' release of confidential diplomatic cables provides Israel an opportunity to undermine U.S. relations worldwide while also inflicting lasting damage on U.S. interests in the Middle East. After this, what nation would trust the U.S. to maintain a confidence?
In October, Turkey asked that the U.S. not share intelligence with Israel. Now who dares share intelligence with the U.S.?
This may signal the beginning of the end for the Obama presidency his domestic policy failures are eclipsed by his failures in foreign policy.
This may also signal pre-staging for the 2012 presidential primary with a weakened Obama forced to name Clinton as his running mate or stepping aside so she can lead the ballot.
Her 2008 presidential campaign promised recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state" and promised an "undivided Jerusalem as the capital." Tel Aviv was elated. A second Clinton presidency would ensure another victory for Israel-and no peace.
Israeli psy-ops typically serve multiple purposes. Wikileaks is no exception.
Jeff Gates is author of Guilt By Association-How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War. See www.criminalstate.com
AlJazeeraEnglish | December 22, 2010
The WikiLeaks founder talks about secrets, leaks and why he will not go back to Sweden.
The WikiLeaks founder talks about secrets, leaks and why he will not go back to Sweden.
Frost over the World - Julian Assange
AlJazeeraEnglish | July 31, 2010
On this week's show: A look at the commotion caused by the latest WikiLeaks leak and how this leak differs from the rest. Plus, will Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge for Times online content pay off?
The Listening Post - Wikileaks and The Media
AlJazeeraEnglish | August 07, 2010
The truth is out there, but what does it all mean? On this episode of The Listening Post, we turn our attention to figures involved in the WikiLeaks Afghan war logs and the debate over what the US government should do about it. Plus, we take a look at the dark side of online video gaming.
The truth is out there, but what does it all mean? On this episode of The Listening Post, we turn our attention to figures involved in the WikiLeaks Afghan war logs and the debate over what the US government should do about it. Plus, we take a look at the dark side of online video gaming.
The Listening Post - The ongoing WikiLeaks saga
This week, we stay with the WikiLeaks story - the battle taking place online, the cyber warriors and the tug of war over freedom of information. Then a retrospective look at 2009 through a series of photographs.
RussiaToday | October 24, 2010
The shocking WikiLeaks release, which has revealed thousands of unreported civilian casualties in Iraq, is the most accurate picture of war ever made, and it is food for thought, says the website's editor-in-chief. The report, condemned by the Pentagon, claims that US commanders in Iraq ignored evidence of torture and the murder of civilians. "This material has revealed 15,000 previously unreported, undocumented civilian casualties. That's an extraordinary number of people who have never been spoken about before," Julian Assange said. "We also see that the cover up of torture by coalition forces well after Abu Ghraib was a concrete policy, a secret policy: to not intervene with torture conducted by the fledgling Iraqi government," he added. "This is the most accurate description of a war that has ever been released into the historic record. There is nothing comparable. It is the details of the deaths of 109,000 people, the wounding of 170,000 people, the detaining of nearly 200,000 people during a course of six years. Of course, that is only about a half the military action that went on during that period, because it is only the US view on things, but even so we see that there is nearly no street corner in Baghdad that did not have a body found that had been killed through violence in one form or another," he said. "We should start imagining it or stop supporting it. It is not good to support things that you do not understand," he pointed out. "We need to understand what the reality of war is, if we are going to choose to engage in it." Assange said that WikiLeaks was now expecting some kind of response from the Pentagon, a counter-attack that follows each of the website's releases. "Last time it was names appearing in the material, which the Pentagon managed to successfully fool the press into believing was going to be a great big assassination list for the Taliban. But in fact, nearly all of those names were right to appear; they were the names of governors who were taking bribes by the US military, or the names of the radio stations that were taking bribes to put on propaganda content... As recently as last week, NATO officials in Kabul said they could not find a single person that needed protecting or moving... And a letter has come out that was originally written on August 16th by Defense Secretary Gates stating that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods were revealed in that material, but of course, this was not the public line," he said.
Julian Assange to RT: WikiLeaks gives 'most accurate picture of war'
'WikiLeaks exposed US, British govt lies about Iraq casualties'
Julian Assange to RT: WikiLeaks gives 'most accurate picture of war'
RussiaToday | October 23, 2010
U.S. commanders in Iraq ignored evidence of torture and often failed to investigate the killing of civilians. These are the major findings from the leak of 400,000 secret American military files from the whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks. The data describes widespread brutal torture of detainees by Iraqi troops - with some documents showing American authorities often turned a blind eye. The files also reveal that 66,000 civilians were killed in Iraq since the U.S. invaded - even though Washington had denied it kept any such record. The Pentagon's condemned what is the largest-ever leak of classified documents - saying it will only serve to help America's enemies.
U.S. commanders in Iraq ignored evidence of torture and often failed to investigate the killing of civilians. These are the major findings from the leak of 400,000 secret American military files from the whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks. The data describes widespread brutal torture of detainees by Iraqi troops - with some documents showing American authorities often turned a blind eye. The files also reveal that 66,000 civilians were killed in Iraq since the U.S. invaded - even though Washington had denied it kept any such record. The Pentagon's condemned what is the largest-ever leak of classified documents - saying it will only serve to help America's enemies.
WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Torture, civilian death toll revealed in latest leak
RussiaToday | October 23, 2010
U.S. commanders in Iraq ignored evidence of torture and often failed to investigate the killing of civilians. These are the major findings from the leak of 400,000 secret American military files from the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. For more insight, RT talks to Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who's alleged his country's complicity in human rights abuse.
RussiaToday | October 23, 2010
U.S. commanders in Iraq ignored evidence of torture and often failed to investigate the killing of civilians. These are the major findings from the leak of 400,000 secret American military files from the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. For more insight, RT talks to Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who's alleged his country's complicity in human rights abuse.
RussiaToday | August 01, 2010
RT spoke in London to Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.org, responsible for the leakage of the documents on Afghan war, the biggest in US military history.
WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange talks to RTRT spoke in London to Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.org, responsible for the leakage of the documents on Afghan war, the biggest in US military history.
RussiaToday | July 26, 2010
One of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history has exposed several cover-ups over the war in Afghanistan, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians. The whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks, handed over 90-thousand classified documents to British, American and German newspapers. They also include information on increased Taliban attacks, as well as NATO fears that Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency. The White House says the leaked Pentagon files and field reports were no surprise, but that they threaten national security.
One of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history has exposed several cover-ups over the war in Afghanistan, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians. The whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks, handed over 90-thousand classified documents to British, American and German newspapers. They also include information on increased Taliban attacks, as well as NATO fears that Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency. The White House says the leaked Pentagon files and field reports were no surprise, but that they threaten national security.
Afghan Bombshell: WikiLeaks 'War Diary' exposes US cover-up
RussiaToday | July 27, 2010
The U.S. military is desperately trying to close-in on the sources behind the biggest leak in its history. Pentagon chiefs admit it will take weeks to assess the damage to U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan after the revelations, which include the killing of innocent citizens. Meanwhile, the Wikileaks website is promising that further revelations are on the way. The online whistleblower is now checking into reports dealing with American conduct in Iraq. It's thought they could expose similar findings to the thousands of documents already posted on the web.
The U.S. military is desperately trying to close-in on the sources behind the biggest leak in its history. Pentagon chiefs admit it will take weeks to assess the damage to U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan after the revelations, which include the killing of innocent citizens. Meanwhile, the Wikileaks website is promising that further revelations are on the way. The online whistleblower is now checking into reports dealing with American conduct in Iraq. It's thought they could expose similar findings to the thousands of documents already posted on the web.
Pentagon's Skeletons: WikiLeaks puts war crimes in spotlight
TheAlyonaShow | June 07, 2010
The whistleblower site gained international notoriety earlier this year when they released the Collateral Damage video of a helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 where civilians and two Reuters journalists were killed. You may remember, we interviewed Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange on the day the video was released. Today, news comes out that federal officials have arrested an army intelligence analyst, 22 year old specialist Bradley Manning, who bragged about leaking classified videos and documents to an ex-hacker online, after which the hacker turned him in to the FBI. Manning, who apparently was arrested two weeks ago at a base in Iraq, and according to family is being held in Kuwait, without any formal charges filed at this time. Alyona talks with Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks in our studio to get his take on this debacle.
The whistleblower site gained international notoriety earlier this year when they released the Collateral Damage video of a helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 where civilians and two Reuters journalists were killed. You may remember, we interviewed Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange on the day the video was released. Today, news comes out that federal officials have arrested an army intelligence analyst, 22 year old specialist Bradley Manning, who bragged about leaking classified videos and documents to an ex-hacker online, after which the hacker turned him in to the FBI. Manning, who apparently was arrested two weeks ago at a base in Iraq, and according to family is being held in Kuwait, without any formal charges filed at this time. Alyona talks with Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks in our studio to get his take on this debacle.
Wikileaker Locked Up
TheAlyonaShow | April 05, 2010
They promised to unveil damning video of U.S. forces killing innocent people in Iraq. Today, Wikileaks made good on that promise at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The video includes footage of an American military helicopter engaging and killing a number of people in an Iraqi Square, including two Reuters journalists. Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks joins Alyona in this exclusive interview.
They promised to unveil damning video of U.S. forces killing innocent people in Iraq. Today, Wikileaks made good on that promise at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The video includes footage of an American military helicopter engaging and killing a number of people in an Iraqi Square, including two Reuters journalists. Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks joins Alyona in this exclusive interview.
Wikileaks co-founder speaks to Alyona
RussiaToday | April 06, 2010
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Julian Assange, editor and co-founder of WikiLeaks, the website which leaked the footage of Baghdad killing, says there's a general problem of bringing U.S. military personnel to account for crimes carried out by the armed forces.
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Julian Assange, editor and co-founder of WikiLeaks, the website which leaked the footage of Baghdad killing, says there's a general problem of bringing U.S. military personnel to account for crimes carried out by the armed forces.
WikiLeaks editor on Apache combat video: No excuse for US killing civilians
RussiaToday | March 26, 2010
The Pentagon has been accused of spying on a whistleblower website that specialises in leaking top secret documents. The US Army has already labeled the website as a security threat. Now Wikileaks - which won Amnesty Internationals news media award last year - has issued a statement claiming its editors are being investigated: WikiLeaks is currently under an aggressive US and Icelandic surveillance operation, - the claim published on Tweeter said.
The Pentagon has been accused of spying on a whistleblower website that specialises in leaking top secret documents. The US Army has already labeled the website as a security threat. Now Wikileaks - which won Amnesty Internationals news media award last year - has issued a statement claiming its editors are being investigated: WikiLeaks is currently under an aggressive US and Icelandic surveillance operation, - the claim published on Tweeter said.
War on whistleblower: CIA spies on WikiLeaks for 'Pentagon murder cover-up' exposure?
John Pilger on Democracy Now
Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against Militarism & Secrecy
John Pilger: Julian Assange Interview
MOXNEWSd0tCOM | July 27, 2010
Enjoy Exposing People Who Abuse The Power & The Innocent! Julian Assange WikiLeaks
Part 1of 2
Enjoy Exposing People Who Abuse The Power & The Innocent! Julian Assange WikiLeaks
Part 1of 2
Part 2 of 2
Julian Assange WikiLeaks Interview - October 25, 2010 CNN
"Pentagon Has About As Much Credibility As North Korea!"
Larry King Interview - Part 1
Larry King Interview - Part 2
Geneva Press Club, Geneva - November 4th 2010 11:30 AM
The full transcript of this Press Conference can be read here:
http://notepad.ch/press/julian-assange
'We've been both expert witness and observer to human rights abuses by the United States government in various areas and a victim of some those abuses ourselves. It should not be the case that a media organisation with a track record now of 4 years exposing Human Rights abuses and the Winner of the 2009 Amnesty International Award for human rights and exposing extra juridical assassinations in Kenya should itself be in a position where it feels threatened because it has been threatened. Some of the information that I will be speaking about today comes from the Pentagon or from internal records of the Pentagon, which have been given to us - we presume - by US military whistleblowers. Geoff Morrell, spokesman of the Pentagon, demanded on August 12 and on noumerous other occations that this organisation destroy it's previous publications relating to the Pentagon, destroy it's upcoming publications relating to the Pentagon and cease to deal with US military wistleblowers. That is an extraordinary demand for restraint of the press. That is a demand that we have choosen not to follow. And the Pentagon stated that if did not follow it's demand in destroying our previous publications and destroying our future publications then we would be compelled to do so. When drawn on to the manner of compelling, the Pentagon refused to answer how. After the release of our Afghan war logs which revealed extraordinary abuses by US forces including over 300 cases of internal reports of detainee abuse in Iraq by coalition forces and over 1200 cases of reports of torture and abuse by Iraqi forces the Pentagon made a similar demand over all the Worlds press that the press not report that material. The manner of that demand was to use key sections of the 1917 espionage act. So it is in fact not merely a statement thrown away at whim, it is designed to to provide the necessary intent in the press to then subsequently prosecute. Those revelations where carried by overseas media and by the New York Times, but where not carried by any cable US network. So in fact those demands may have had an impact. Similarly, an earlier story on taskforce 373 - a US assasination quad in Afghanistan, that we discovered in the Afghan war logs, which is working down its way a queue of some 2000 people, a list has been put together without any edition or oversight review or due process. That story, written by Eric Schmidt, New York Times reporter, was killed and did not appear in the New York Times. It did however appear as the front cover of Der Spiegel and was incorporated into press by the Guardian and other newspapers. So to have an understanding about what we are talking about on a human level with these reports in Iraq, let me read you an excerpt from some of them. One sentence per report. There was also evidence of bruises on the face and on the body, he was beaten from the third day to the seventh day of his capture, he was beaten with cables and water pipes, large amounts of blood where found on the cell floor, wire used for electric shocks and a rubber hose. The detainees body showed extensive bruising around the arms, shoulders and lower extremities, the detainees back shows what appears to be a boot print outlined in bruised tissue, reasonable suspicion of abuse. Outcome.
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 1 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 2 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 3 of 4
Press Conference, Geneva, Switzerland - Part 4 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 1 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 2 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 3 of 4
60 Minutes Interviews Julian Assange - Part 4 of 4
Julian Assange is a spokesman and advisory board member of WikiLeaks, a transparency website whose mission is to "open governments" and expose human rights abuses. It has a core focus on protecting dissidents, whistleblowers, investigative journalists, and bloggers who face state threats, and it largely operates by publishing leaks of sensitive documents. Winners of Amnesty International's 2009 Media Award for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya, Assange and WikiLeaks have recently launched www.collateralmurder.com, a website that hosts a leaked video of U.S. military forces in Iraq apparently slaying over a dozen people indiscriminately. In his speech, Assange chooses to focus specifically on WikiLeaks's work against censorship and human rights abuses committed by Western governments. Paraphrasing Orwell, Assange explains that he who controls today's internet servers controls the intellectual record of mankind. He warns us that Western governments, large corporations, and certain wealthy individuals are increasingly able and increasingly trying to remove material permanently from the historical record using sophisticated methods. Assange reviews WikiLeaks's work in uncovering human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and Guantanamo, and discusses the dangerous irony in the U.S. military's conduct as it decorates its detention centers with "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom" signs. If the West doesn't reverse its course of increased censorship and rights abuses, Assange warns, it will lose all of the ideals that it once stood for.
Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 1 of 2)
Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 2 of 2)
Source from: Swedish Wire
Published Sunday, 20 June 2010 10:55 | Author: AFP / The Swedish Wire
Wikileaks: 'Iceland safe haven for press freedom'
Iceland's parliament, the Altingi, voted Tuesday to task government with finding ways to increase information freedom and to provide stronger protections for media sources and whistleblowers to make Iceland a leader in freedom of expression.
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, or IMMI "aims to create an offshore safe haven for information, to add to transparency," said Kristinn Hrafnsson, an investigative journalist with public broadcaster RUV, who has co-operated with Wikileaks.
Even before the passing of the initiative, which was in part drafted by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, work on the project had created a secure environment for revealing sensitive information, he told AFP.
A controversial WikiLeaks video released in April of a US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed two employees of the Reuters news agency and a number of other people had, for instance, been edited in Reykjavik, he pointed out.
"At the time, Iceland seemed to be the safest place to prepare for the release of the video and do the necessary fact checks," said Hrafnsson, who took part in the process.
WikiLeaks has only said it obtained the video "from a number of military whistleblowers," but the US military last week said it had arrested 22-year-old specialist Bradley Manning for allegedly being the source of the leak.
The release of the video was vital to "showing the gruesome reality behind statistics of what the US army calls 'collateral damage'," Hrafnsson said.
"It is the most important visual evidence coming out of Iraq since the exposure of the photographs from Abu Ghraib," a jail that has become synonymous with abuse in Iraqi prisons.
Manning reportedly also may have leaked other material to WikiLeaks, including separate video of a 2009 air strike in Afghanistan in which many civilians were killed.
Wikileaks has not confirmed that Manning is the source of the Baghdad Apache attack video, but Hrafnsson acknowledged the website was preparing the release of the Afghanistan air strike video.
Wikileaks makes the nightly television news in Iceland
Source from: Enigma Foundry
TheAlexJonesChannel | April 01, 2010
Alex welcomes back to the show Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author and columnist Wayne Madsen. Mr. Madsen is a former government consultant on contracts for the National Security Agency and worked for the Navy's Naval Data Automation Command as a civilian employee before taking up investigative journalism.
Wikileaks Story & Police State News - Part 2 of 3
Wikileaks Story & Police State News - Part 3 of 3
Alex Jones Discusses Wikileaks Release Of Pentagon Snuff Video
The acts of these individual soldiers undermine the dignity and honor with which the others have served. Still further, it is yet another layer clouding the "mission" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other locations of engagement across the globe. Who are the good guys when these types of acts continue to occur? Why are we fighting in these places? How can we justify over 1 million dead Iraqis? Why are the wars expanding when President Obama campaigned on ending the wars?
Wikileaks
Wiki-Whacked - UK
Watch on: youtube
A Film By ABC Australia (October 2011)
Distributed By Journeyman Pictures
Since Julian Assange's trial began his organisation has fallen apart. This report uncovers the shocking truth behind Wikileaks' dramatic and chaotic descent into crisis. Is this the end for the whistleblower?
"It was abusive to work in that environment", Assange's former close friend and Wikileaks collaborator Birgitta Jonsdottir tells us. She paints a picture of an intense, fraught workplace overseen by an increasingly megalomaniac leader. "He became very paranoid", Daniel Domscheit-Berg says. He was Assange's partner but also fell foul of the assertion that he couldn't be trusted. Wikileaks has also fallen out with The Guardian and the New York Times, who collaborated on his biggest releases. As a result an extraordinary security breach occurred. Two journalists who worked with Assange published the confidential password for the master copy of the diplomatic cables. It led many to accuse Wikileaks of not having the ability to handle the information it has correctly. Holed up in his Norfolk bolthole awaiting the result of his appeal against extradition to Sweden, Assange sees it only as a lesson about trust: "Where there may be genuine criticism levelled at me is that actually we trusted The Guardian". As Assange's trial rumbles on and he becomes increasingly isolated, the question is, where now for Wikileaks?
What is Tel Aviv to do now that it's known Israelis and pro-Israelis 'fixed' the intelligence that induced the U.S. to war in Iraq?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Con me consistently for six decades and the relationship is over, as is Israel's credibility as a legitimate nation state. Tel Aviv knows this. But what can the Zionist state do about it? Answer: Wikileaks.
Why now? Misdirection. Shine the spotlight on Washington to take it off Tel Aviv. That's good old-fashioned psy-ops. And challenge the credibility of the U.S. That's Wikileaks.
Any credible forensics would start by asking: to whose benefit? Then look to means, motive and opportunity plus the presence of stable nation-state intelligence inside the U.S.
Other than Israel, who else is a credible candidate? Notice how quickly Israel's role in the peace process vanished from the news. Now it's Iran, Iran and more Iran. To whose benefit?
Tel Aviv knows that the phony intelligence on Iraq leads to those skilled at waging war "by way of deception"-the motto of the Israeli Mossad. Wikileaks are noteworthy for what's missing: the absence of any material damaging to Israeli goals.
But still Tel Aviv faces an unprecedented peril: transparency. Americans know they were duped. And Israel rightly fears that Americans will soon realize by whom.
Tepid Support will not Suffice
Obama has behaved as anticipated by those who produced his presidency. Anyone surprised at the lack of change in U.S. policy in the Middle East fails to grasp the power of the Israel lobby.
Did he hesitate to support their latest Israeli strategy for scuttling peace negotiations? Absent peace, the U.S. will continue to be the target of those outraged at America's unflinching support for Israel's thuggish behavior in pursuit of its expansionist goals.
Confirming the lobby's influence, Netanyahu announced he would not agree to halt settlements on Palestinian land until Obama reduced to writing a $3 billion bribe.
In return for a proposed 90-day freeze, what form of bribe will America provide? Twenty F-35 jets at $150 million each plus parts, maintenance, training and armaments.
That's $231 million per week or $1,373,626 per hour. What will the U.S. receive in return? A temporary partial freeze on settlements. How many more times can this ruse work?
Israel has evaded a peace agreement since it drove Palestinians from their land in 1948 and seized more land in 1967 to shape today's geopolitics.
Should Israel reach an agreement with the Palestinians, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposes a "comprehensive security agreement." At what cost no one knows. The U.S. Congress has already budgeted $30 billion for Israel over 10 years. This latest $3 billion is on top of that.
That doesn't include the cost to American credibility posed by an offer to veto U.N. recognition of Palestine as a state. And a pledge Never Again to pressure Israel on settlements. Plus the freeze omits East Jerusalem where Tel Aviv insists on moving ahead with new housing starts.
Timing Is Everything
By scheduling its latest incursion into Gaza between Christmas 2008 and the January 2009 Obama inaugural, Tel Aviv ensured only muted opposition during political down time in the U.S. Thus it came as no surprise to see an agent provocateur operation on Thanksgiving Day 2010 as Israel demolished a West Bank Mosque and a Palestinian village.
After seven hours of nonstop talks, Hillary Clinton praised Netanyahu as a "peacemaker." In return, he agreed only to "continue the process." Meanwhile, U.S. elections marked a major victory for Israel when incoming Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Jewish Zionist, announced that the new majority would "serve as a check on the Obama administration."
The Israel lobby has good reason to gloat. Confirming ongoing duplicity, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proclaimed: "a permanent agreement is impossible."
Wikileaks' release of confidential diplomatic cables provides Israel an opportunity to undermine U.S. relations worldwide while also inflicting lasting damage on U.S. interests in the Middle East. After this, what nation would trust the U.S. to maintain a confidence?
In October, Turkey asked that the U.S. not share intelligence with Israel. Now who dares share intelligence with the U.S.?
This may signal the beginning of the end for the Obama presidency his domestic policy failures are eclipsed by his failures in foreign policy.
This may also signal pre-staging for the 2012 presidential primary with a weakened Obama forced to name Clinton as his running mate or stepping aside so she can lead the ballot.
Her 2008 presidential campaign promised recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state" and promised an "undivided Jerusalem as the capital." Tel Aviv was elated. A second Clinton presidency would ensure another victory for Israel-and no peace.
Israeli psy-ops typically serve multiple purposes. Wikileaks is no exception.
Jeff Gates is author of Guilt By Association-How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War. See www.criminalstate.com
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