cancel2 2022
Canceled
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ANDREW NEIL: Julian Assange is reckless, stupid and a narcissist but he exposed the truth and should NOT rot in an American jail.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has signed an order to extradite Julian Assange to America, where he is wanted on 18 charges of espionage and could be imprisoned for life. If it were his character and behaviour that were up for trial, we’d probably say good riddance. The founder of WikiLeaks is not a person deserving of much sympathy.
But the stakes are far higher than that — no less than the future of a free Press and, above all, its ability to undertake investigative journalism that embarrasses or shames the powers that be. Patel’s decision hovers like a stake over the heart of these freedoms, which are essential to any proper democracy. Those who cherish them must hope the British courts force her to think again.
In several devastating dumps of data WikiLeaks had obtained from a disaffected U.S. intelligence officer called Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning, we learned of the ruthless, illegal and even barbaric steps America was prepared to take in its post-9/11 war against terror.
War crimes covered up. Torture. Brutality. The rendition and incarceration of suspects without due process. The corruption of inquiries trying to hold it to account. The bribery of foreign officials to look the other way when America did bad things.
All this by the self-styled greatest democracy in the world.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/...eckless-stupid-narcissist-not-extradited.html
ANDREW NEIL: Julian Assange is reckless, stupid and a narcissist but he exposed the truth and should NOT rot in an American jail.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has signed an order to extradite Julian Assange to America, where he is wanted on 18 charges of espionage and could be imprisoned for life. If it were his character and behaviour that were up for trial, we’d probably say good riddance. The founder of WikiLeaks is not a person deserving of much sympathy.
But the stakes are far higher than that — no less than the future of a free Press and, above all, its ability to undertake investigative journalism that embarrasses or shames the powers that be. Patel’s decision hovers like a stake over the heart of these freedoms, which are essential to any proper democracy. Those who cherish them must hope the British courts force her to think again.
In several devastating dumps of data WikiLeaks had obtained from a disaffected U.S. intelligence officer called Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning, we learned of the ruthless, illegal and even barbaric steps America was prepared to take in its post-9/11 war against terror.
War crimes covered up. Torture. Brutality. The rendition and incarceration of suspects without due process. The corruption of inquiries trying to hold it to account. The bribery of foreign officials to look the other way when America did bad things.
All this by the self-styled greatest democracy in the world.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/...eckless-stupid-narcissist-not-extradited.html
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