PREVENTING WAR WITH IRAN 12-14=10
A key test of the leadership of a great power is whether it can reach its foreign policy goals by diplomacy rather than war. An even more test is WHETHER THE GREAT POWER WANTS TO. The Bush Administration failed both tests in Iraq, Afghanistan, and threatening Iran with war. Will the Obama Admin. choose engagement and diplomacy instead of threats of war and war? Obama is being pushed by Israel and an increasingly hawkish anti-Iran US faction to attack Iran (see article by Dreyfuss in The Nation 12-20-10).
What has Iran done wrong? It has a right to develop a nuclear program. That right was established by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed. Iran has the right to enrich uranium on its own soil, as do other signatories. Instead of threatening sanctions and in other ways hardening our policy (which can only harden Iranian leaders including its people), we should be opening doors of cooperation under the Treaty.
Here are some possibilities for peace rather than war: We should return to the Turkish-Brazilian fuel swap proposal and the May 17, 2010 Tehran Declaration that acknowledges Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. We should go beyond the uranium enrichment question to talks on all issues of mutual importance, especially Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the drug trade, to build broad foundations for regional security. A major benefit to Obama of cooperation on such issues will be the blunting of hawk advocacy for armed violence.
Let us speak up for conflict resolution, negotiation, and diplomacy in relations between the US and Iran.
Dick (thanks to The Nation editorial, 12-20-10)
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Soldier Suicides
MENTAL SUFFERINGS AND SUICIDES OF US TROOPS. A sharp increase of soldier suicides has occurred recently, to an all-time high. In one period more suicides than combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Growing evidence of neglect of PTSD soldiers showing suicidal signs. Mark Benjamin’s study on salon.com examines ten cases. For example, Adam Lieberman’s strong symptoms of mental illness following his return from Afghanistan were treated by the Army as non-combat. He turned to alcohol and prescription drugs and killed himself. Benjamin found many cases of depression, violence, self-medication prior to suicide. Interv. Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, 2-20-09.
PTSD, SUICIDES, MILITARY CHOICE OF DRUGS OVER THERAPY
(from Citizen Soldier Reports 2011)
Soldier suicides increasing. 2009 rate highest since Army began keeping records in 1980. “In April 2010, the VA reported that an average of 18 veterans kill themselves each day; that’s 6,500 a year.”
Half of veterans who need treatment seek it, fearing damage to their careers. Only about half of these receive adequate care.
Drugs instead of therapy. The military over-prescribes drugs like Paxil and Zoloft to “treat” PTSD despite warning of the risk of suicide. Prescribing psychiatric medications for soldiers and dependents has increased 42%.
Drugs are preferred at many military clinics because “psychotherapy would make them ineligible for deployment and would be much more costly than drugs.”
Citizen Soldier: www.citizen-soldier.org
PTSD, SUICIDES, MILITARY CHOICE OF DRUGS OVER THERAPY
(from Citizen Soldier Reports 2011)
Soldier suicides increasing. 2009 rate highest since Army began keeping records in 1980. “In April 2010, the VA reported that an average of 18 veterans kill themselves each day; that’s 6,500 a year.”
Half of veterans who need treatment seek it, fearing damage to their careers. Only about half of these receive adequate care.
Drugs instead of therapy. The military over-prescribes drugs like Paxil and Zoloft to “treat” PTSD despite warning of the risk of suicide. Prescribing psychiatric medications for soldiers and dependents has increased 42%.
Drugs are preferred at many military clinics because “psychotherapy would make them ineligible for deployment and would be much more costly than drugs.”
Citizen Soldier: www.citizen-soldier.org
PFC Bradley Manning
WAR CRIMES WHISTLEBLOWER PFC Manning FACES PROSECUTION
Manning faces up to 52 years in prison for releasing a 2007 video showing an Army helicopter firing on an unarmed group of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists, killing twelve of them.
We can help him in many ways, including our strong affirmation of his defense based on international legal principles: The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals established that soldiers have a legal duty to report war crimes to their commanders. Manning can argue that he cannot be court-martialled solely for disclosing evidence of war crimes by Army units.
Read up on this and contact our representatives and the President.
http://www.bradleymanning.org
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/846/1
http://www.standwithbrad.org
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4310
--
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming:
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Manning faces up to 52 years in prison for releasing a 2007 video showing an Army helicopter firing on an unarmed group of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists, killing twelve of them.
We can help him in many ways, including our strong affirmation of his defense based on international legal principles: The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals established that soldiers have a legal duty to report war crimes to their commanders. Manning can argue that he cannot be court-martialled solely for disclosing evidence of war crimes by Army units.
Read up on this and contact our representatives and the President.
http://www.bradleymanning.org
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/846/1
http://www.standwithbrad.org
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4310
--
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming:
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Why Are Our Officials Silent about the Wars?
DICK’S LETTER TO WARD 3 COUNCILMEN JUSTIN TENNANT (Justin@tennantforcouncil.com) and BOBBY FERRELL (ward3__pos2@ci.fayetteville.ar.us) AND TO MAYOR JORDAN
Dear
I write to you as a resident of Ward 3 to express my curiosity regarding the way our mayor and other city officials handled their recent ward meetings. Their presentations were excellent, clear and factual—very professional. Importantly, they confronted the shortage of funds to carry out all of the needs of our community.
But they did not explain it, and that made me curious. Why were they silent about the major cause of our budget shortfalls—the cost of the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq of $4 to 6 billion (est. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in their The Three Trillion Dollars War). We borrow $2 billion a day from China to pay for those wars.
Here’s a small example of those costs: one type of drone aircraft, the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance plane, costs the taxpayers $11.1 billion for 77 planes, the per-aircraft procurement cost having increased 11 percent to $100.8 million since the project began in 2000. (ADG 9-16-10).
A democracy depends upon informed citizens. How can we make budgetary decisions, when our own officials keep causes of financial shortages secret? Or are they uninformed? Or is there some other explanation?
Please ask our officials why they are silent about these immense expenditures for wars, wars that are illegal, based upon lies, and have killed so many innocent women and children and our own soldiers, when that money could do so much good for Arkansas and for Fayetteville. Think of it: Arkansas taxpayers have so far paid $4.9 billion for the Iraq war alone, and Fayetteville $147,367,209, and for the war in Afghanistan $73,190,500. How can our officials remain silent? And you our Council members?
Thank you,
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming:
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Dear
I write to you as a resident of Ward 3 to express my curiosity regarding the way our mayor and other city officials handled their recent ward meetings. Their presentations were excellent, clear and factual—very professional. Importantly, they confronted the shortage of funds to carry out all of the needs of our community.
But they did not explain it, and that made me curious. Why were they silent about the major cause of our budget shortfalls—the cost of the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq of $4 to 6 billion (est. by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in their The Three Trillion Dollars War). We borrow $2 billion a day from China to pay for those wars.
Here’s a small example of those costs: one type of drone aircraft, the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance plane, costs the taxpayers $11.1 billion for 77 planes, the per-aircraft procurement cost having increased 11 percent to $100.8 million since the project began in 2000. (ADG 9-16-10).
A democracy depends upon informed citizens. How can we make budgetary decisions, when our own officials keep causes of financial shortages secret? Or are they uninformed? Or is there some other explanation?
Please ask our officials why they are silent about these immense expenditures for wars, wars that are illegal, based upon lies, and have killed so many innocent women and children and our own soldiers, when that money could do so much good for Arkansas and for Fayetteville. Think of it: Arkansas taxpayers have so far paid $4.9 billion for the Iraq war alone, and Fayetteville $147,367,209, and for the war in Afghanistan $73,190,500. How can our officials remain silent? And you our Council members?
Thank you,
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming:
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Defend WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and Democracy
ASSANGE AND MANNING
Contents
Petition in Defense of Assange
Arrest Warrant for Assange
WikiLeaks and Advancing Democracy
action@truevote.us
Dear Democracy Leader:
I am writing to you as a fellow American who is concerned about the state of democracy in the United States.
You have been active on the issue of electronic voting and election integrity, and I believe that the WikiLeaks phenomena is a significant advance FOR democracy.
The world is being rocked by the slow dripping of documents released by WikiLeaks showing that a small non-profit media organization and a few honest whistleblowers - perhaps 22 year old Maryland solider Bradley Manning - can bring a superpower to its knees.
In fact, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange have thrown themselves into the gears of the Empire on behalf of us all.
In response, the US government is fighting back by bringing its full force to bear.
We must stand up in their defense, and for a culture of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We offer this petition in defense of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks at WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org. Numerous prominent figures have stepped forward and signed on such as Daniel Ellsberg, Naomi Wolf, Noam Chomsky, Ret. Colonel Anne Wright, Juston Raimondo, Cindy Sheehan, and Tariq Ali.
If we let them criminalize an innocent man in the person of Assange, who will stand when they come for us?
If we let them silence Assange, we are all silenced.
Here's the text of the petition.
"We, the undersigned, stand in defense of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and their actions to safeguard and advance democracy, transparency and government accountability, as protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Wikileaks performs an invaluable service to the broad U.S. and global public with a commitment to the protection of human rights and the rule of law. Government representatives have issued serious and unjustified threats against Mr. Assange and his non-profit media organization which serve only to maintain a cloak of secrecy around high crimes and violations of international law, including torture, tampering with democratically elected governments, illegal bombings and wars, surveillance, mass slaughter of innocent civilians and more.
We call on all governments, organizations, and individuals of conscience forcefully to condemn and reject all U.S. efforts to fraudulently criminalize the legitimate journalism of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and related efforts to expose an increasingly lawless U.S. government to the indispensable democratic requirement of public scrutiny. True or false, any charges which the Swedish government may pursue are irrelevant to the primacy of an independent free press.
Journalists should not be made into criminals for publishing materials critical of the government. Therefore, we reject any efforts to extradite Julian Assange to the United States or allied client states in relation to these matters. We condemn and reject every incitement to murder, incarcerate or in any way harm Mr. Assange. We encourage all those with information on corruption and violations of law to take courage from the example of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks by acting to expose all such information into the light of public and judicial review."
Please consider signing the petition and forwarding it widely. We plan to organize some prominent signers to make a joint statement to the press soon to amplify the power of this effort. More steps will follow.
http://www.wikileaksisdemocracy.org/
Thanks for your leadership,
Linda Schade
TrueVote.US
ASSANGE THREATENED BY ARREST
International Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange By John F. Burns, The New York Times 18 November 10
An international arrest warrant via Interpol stemming from an allegation of failing to perform coitus interruptus is extraordinary under any circumstances. The countercharge that the Swedish prosecutors have been influenced by US Government pressure to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in light of WikiLeaks release of thousands of documents detailing US war crimes is, on it's face, more plausible. -- ma/RSN
London - The Swedish prosecutor's office said Thursday that a Stockholm court had approved its request for an arrest warrant to be issued for Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blower's Web site, for questioning on months-old charges of rape and other offenses.
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said in a statement in English that the court had decided to issue the warrant "in the absence" of Mr. Assange over suspicions of his involvement in "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion."
She added that "the next step for the prosecutor is to issue an international arrest warrant." She gave no indication when that would be done.
Mr. Assange's lawyer in Britain, Mark Stephens, said the allegations were "false and without basis."
Marianne Ny, director of the Stockholm prosecutor's office, said in a telephone interview that the court had approved two warrants, one European and the other usable by Interpol, should Mr. Assange leave the European Union. Lawyers said he could take court action to resist extradition to Sweden in either case, including arguing that the case against him has been prejudiced by political considerations.
In recent weeks, Mr. Assange has made several public appearances in London, after spending several weeks in Sweden and flying first to Berlin, then to London, in early October. Mr. Stephens said Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, remained in London as of Thursday morning.
A statement by Ms. Ny issued before the Stockholm ruling said that prosecutors had been "unable to interrogate" Mr. Assange in nearly 13 weeks, since the allegations against him by two Swedish women became public.
But this was flatly denied by Mr. Stephens, who said in a statement that "over the last three months, despite numerous demands, neither Mr. Assange, nor his legal counsel, has received a single word in writing from the Swedish authorities relating to the allegations."
Mr. Stephens added that the prosecutor's "behavior is not a prosecution, but a persecution."
"Our client has always maintained his innocence," he said. "The allegations against him are false and without basis. As a result of these false allegations and bizarre legal interpretations, our client now has his name and reputation besmirched."
"My client is now in the extraordinary position that, despite his innocence, and despite never having been charged, and despite never receiving a single piece of paper about the allegations against him, one in 10 Internet references to the word ‘rape' also include his name," Mr. Stephens said. "Every day that this flawed investigation continues, the damages to his reputation are compounded."
Mr. Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 as a forum for publishing secret and confidential documents of political, military and economic significance passed to the organization by whistle-blowers who have obtained them from governments, corporations and other sources.
This summer, WikiLeaks posted a cache of 77,000 secret Pentagon documents on the war in Afghanistan, and it followed that last month by posting nearly 400,000 Pentagon documents, also secret, on the Iraq war.
On both occasions, the documents were provided in advance to The New York Times, the Guardian of Britain and Der Spiegel magazine in Germany, all of which ran extensive articles focusing on the insights the documents gave into the United States' conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Obama administration condemned both leaks, and demanded that WikiLeaks "return" all secret American documents and undertake not to publish any more in the future.
The Pentagon and the Justice Department have established a task force to probe all aspects of the affair, and officials have said that prosecution of Mr. Assange and his associates under the 1917 Espionage Act was one step under consideration.
The allegations of rape and sexual molestation against Mr. Assange arose shortly after he arrived in Sweden in late August on a journey that he described at the time as aimed at establishing a secure base for himself and WikiLeaks under Sweden's broad press freedom laws.
The two women who accused him were volunteers who had offered to assist WikiLeaks and met him in his first days in Sweden.
According to accounts the women gave to the police and friends, Swedish officials have said, they had consensual sexual encounters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensual. One woman said that Mr. Assange had ignored her appeals to stop after a condom broke. The other woman said that she and Mr. Assange had begun a sexual encounter using a condom, but that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in use.
Mr. Assange has questioned the veracity of those accounts.
The Stockholm prosecutor's office first issued a warrant for Mr. Assange's arrest, then withdrew it, and later announced that it was still investigating the rape and sexual molestation charges.
Mr. Assange responded at the time by saying that he was a victim of "dirty tricks." Subsequently, in London, he spoke of a "smear campaign" against him and WikiLeaks, and complained about the Swedish prosecutor's delay in disposing of the case. In an interview in London with The New York Times on Oct. 17, he said that 50 days had passed since the Swedish allegations were made public.
The action by the prosecutor's office on Thursday came more than 12 weeks after it said it wanted to interview Mr. Assange in the office's first statement on the investigation.
Thursday's statement implied that no interview had ever taken place. Mr. Assange has spoken on a number of occasions in recent weeks of his growing anxiety about his personal security.
He suggested at a news conference in London on Oct. 23 that he might have to move to Moscow or Havana, Cuba, in his search for a secure base.
In recent days, WikiLeaks supporters have made moves to establish a legal base for WikiLeaks in Iceland, where Mr. Assange spent several weeks this year.
Daniel Ellsberg, the 79-year-old American military analyst who provided The New York Times and other publications with copies of the secret Pentagon documents on the Vietnam War that became known as the Pentagon Papers in 1971, flew to London from California to support Mr. Assange at the mid-October news conference held in conjunction with the publication of the secret Iraq war documents on the WikiLeaks site.
"Choose Havana," Mr. Ellsberg said, after Mr. Assange spoke of his possible destinations, prompting laughter from him and many of his supporters.
In his statement on Thursday, Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, said Mr. Assange had "repeatedly offered to be interviewed, first in Sweden, and then in Britain (including at the Swedish Embassy), either in person or by telephone, videoconferencing or e-mail, and he has also offered to make a sworn statement on affidavit."
"Before leaving Sweden, Mr. Assange asked to be interviewed by the prosecution on several occasions in relation to the allegations, staying over a month in Stockholm, at considerable expense and despite many engagements elsewhere, in order to clear his name," Mr. Stephens said. "Eventually the prosecution told his Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig that he was free to leave the country, without interview, which he did."
Mr. Stephens has worked for The Times on libel cases, the most recent of which ended earlier this year.
Contents
Petition in Defense of Assange
Arrest Warrant for Assange
WikiLeaks and Advancing Democracy
action@truevote.us
Dear Democracy Leader:
I am writing to you as a fellow American who is concerned about the state of democracy in the United States.
You have been active on the issue of electronic voting and election integrity, and I believe that the WikiLeaks phenomena is a significant advance FOR democracy.
The world is being rocked by the slow dripping of documents released by WikiLeaks showing that a small non-profit media organization and a few honest whistleblowers - perhaps 22 year old Maryland solider Bradley Manning - can bring a superpower to its knees.
In fact, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange have thrown themselves into the gears of the Empire on behalf of us all.
In response, the US government is fighting back by bringing its full force to bear.
We must stand up in their defense, and for a culture of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We offer this petition in defense of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks at WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org. Numerous prominent figures have stepped forward and signed on such as Daniel Ellsberg, Naomi Wolf, Noam Chomsky, Ret. Colonel Anne Wright, Juston Raimondo, Cindy Sheehan, and Tariq Ali.
If we let them criminalize an innocent man in the person of Assange, who will stand when they come for us?
If we let them silence Assange, we are all silenced.
Here's the text of the petition.
"We, the undersigned, stand in defense of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and their actions to safeguard and advance democracy, transparency and government accountability, as protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Wikileaks performs an invaluable service to the broad U.S. and global public with a commitment to the protection of human rights and the rule of law. Government representatives have issued serious and unjustified threats against Mr. Assange and his non-profit media organization which serve only to maintain a cloak of secrecy around high crimes and violations of international law, including torture, tampering with democratically elected governments, illegal bombings and wars, surveillance, mass slaughter of innocent civilians and more.
We call on all governments, organizations, and individuals of conscience forcefully to condemn and reject all U.S. efforts to fraudulently criminalize the legitimate journalism of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and related efforts to expose an increasingly lawless U.S. government to the indispensable democratic requirement of public scrutiny. True or false, any charges which the Swedish government may pursue are irrelevant to the primacy of an independent free press.
Journalists should not be made into criminals for publishing materials critical of the government. Therefore, we reject any efforts to extradite Julian Assange to the United States or allied client states in relation to these matters. We condemn and reject every incitement to murder, incarcerate or in any way harm Mr. Assange. We encourage all those with information on corruption and violations of law to take courage from the example of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks by acting to expose all such information into the light of public and judicial review."
Please consider signing the petition and forwarding it widely. We plan to organize some prominent signers to make a joint statement to the press soon to amplify the power of this effort. More steps will follow.
http://www.wikileaksisdemocracy.org/
Thanks for your leadership,
Linda Schade
TrueVote.US
ASSANGE THREATENED BY ARREST
International Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange By John F. Burns, The New York Times 18 November 10
An international arrest warrant via Interpol stemming from an allegation of failing to perform coitus interruptus is extraordinary under any circumstances. The countercharge that the Swedish prosecutors have been influenced by US Government pressure to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in light of WikiLeaks release of thousands of documents detailing US war crimes is, on it's face, more plausible. -- ma/RSN
London - The Swedish prosecutor's office said Thursday that a Stockholm court had approved its request for an arrest warrant to be issued for Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blower's Web site, for questioning on months-old charges of rape and other offenses.
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said in a statement in English that the court had decided to issue the warrant "in the absence" of Mr. Assange over suspicions of his involvement in "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion."
She added that "the next step for the prosecutor is to issue an international arrest warrant." She gave no indication when that would be done.
Mr. Assange's lawyer in Britain, Mark Stephens, said the allegations were "false and without basis."
Marianne Ny, director of the Stockholm prosecutor's office, said in a telephone interview that the court had approved two warrants, one European and the other usable by Interpol, should Mr. Assange leave the European Union. Lawyers said he could take court action to resist extradition to Sweden in either case, including arguing that the case against him has been prejudiced by political considerations.
In recent weeks, Mr. Assange has made several public appearances in London, after spending several weeks in Sweden and flying first to Berlin, then to London, in early October. Mr. Stephens said Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, remained in London as of Thursday morning.
A statement by Ms. Ny issued before the Stockholm ruling said that prosecutors had been "unable to interrogate" Mr. Assange in nearly 13 weeks, since the allegations against him by two Swedish women became public.
But this was flatly denied by Mr. Stephens, who said in a statement that "over the last three months, despite numerous demands, neither Mr. Assange, nor his legal counsel, has received a single word in writing from the Swedish authorities relating to the allegations."
Mr. Stephens added that the prosecutor's "behavior is not a prosecution, but a persecution."
"Our client has always maintained his innocence," he said. "The allegations against him are false and without basis. As a result of these false allegations and bizarre legal interpretations, our client now has his name and reputation besmirched."
"My client is now in the extraordinary position that, despite his innocence, and despite never having been charged, and despite never receiving a single piece of paper about the allegations against him, one in 10 Internet references to the word ‘rape' also include his name," Mr. Stephens said. "Every day that this flawed investigation continues, the damages to his reputation are compounded."
Mr. Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 as a forum for publishing secret and confidential documents of political, military and economic significance passed to the organization by whistle-blowers who have obtained them from governments, corporations and other sources.
This summer, WikiLeaks posted a cache of 77,000 secret Pentagon documents on the war in Afghanistan, and it followed that last month by posting nearly 400,000 Pentagon documents, also secret, on the Iraq war.
On both occasions, the documents were provided in advance to The New York Times, the Guardian of Britain and Der Spiegel magazine in Germany, all of which ran extensive articles focusing on the insights the documents gave into the United States' conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Obama administration condemned both leaks, and demanded that WikiLeaks "return" all secret American documents and undertake not to publish any more in the future.
The Pentagon and the Justice Department have established a task force to probe all aspects of the affair, and officials have said that prosecution of Mr. Assange and his associates under the 1917 Espionage Act was one step under consideration.
The allegations of rape and sexual molestation against Mr. Assange arose shortly after he arrived in Sweden in late August on a journey that he described at the time as aimed at establishing a secure base for himself and WikiLeaks under Sweden's broad press freedom laws.
The two women who accused him were volunteers who had offered to assist WikiLeaks and met him in his first days in Sweden.
According to accounts the women gave to the police and friends, Swedish officials have said, they had consensual sexual encounters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensual. One woman said that Mr. Assange had ignored her appeals to stop after a condom broke. The other woman said that she and Mr. Assange had begun a sexual encounter using a condom, but that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in use.
Mr. Assange has questioned the veracity of those accounts.
The Stockholm prosecutor's office first issued a warrant for Mr. Assange's arrest, then withdrew it, and later announced that it was still investigating the rape and sexual molestation charges.
Mr. Assange responded at the time by saying that he was a victim of "dirty tricks." Subsequently, in London, he spoke of a "smear campaign" against him and WikiLeaks, and complained about the Swedish prosecutor's delay in disposing of the case. In an interview in London with The New York Times on Oct. 17, he said that 50 days had passed since the Swedish allegations were made public.
The action by the prosecutor's office on Thursday came more than 12 weeks after it said it wanted to interview Mr. Assange in the office's first statement on the investigation.
Thursday's statement implied that no interview had ever taken place. Mr. Assange has spoken on a number of occasions in recent weeks of his growing anxiety about his personal security.
He suggested at a news conference in London on Oct. 23 that he might have to move to Moscow or Havana, Cuba, in his search for a secure base.
In recent days, WikiLeaks supporters have made moves to establish a legal base for WikiLeaks in Iceland, where Mr. Assange spent several weeks this year.
Daniel Ellsberg, the 79-year-old American military analyst who provided The New York Times and other publications with copies of the secret Pentagon documents on the Vietnam War that became known as the Pentagon Papers in 1971, flew to London from California to support Mr. Assange at the mid-October news conference held in conjunction with the publication of the secret Iraq war documents on the WikiLeaks site.
"Choose Havana," Mr. Ellsberg said, after Mr. Assange spoke of his possible destinations, prompting laughter from him and many of his supporters.
In his statement on Thursday, Mr. Stephens, the lawyer, said Mr. Assange had "repeatedly offered to be interviewed, first in Sweden, and then in Britain (including at the Swedish Embassy), either in person or by telephone, videoconferencing or e-mail, and he has also offered to make a sworn statement on affidavit."
"Before leaving Sweden, Mr. Assange asked to be interviewed by the prosecution on several occasions in relation to the allegations, staying over a month in Stockholm, at considerable expense and despite many engagements elsewhere, in order to clear his name," Mr. Stephens said. "Eventually the prosecution told his Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig that he was free to leave the country, without interview, which he did."
Mr. Stephens has worked for The Times on libel cases, the most recent of which ended earlier this year.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Historians Against the War: WikiLeaks, Julian Assange
STATEMENT FROM HISTORIANS AGAINST THE WAR 12-9-10
Over the last few weeks Wikileaks has released numerous classified U.S. government cables that have revealed what U.S. diplomats are saying to each other on a range of topics, from the war in Iraq to heads of state. The documents unveil disturbing facts about these wars, including secret CIA paramilitaries, unaccountable military task forces, and the widespread killing of civilians. The release represents a contribution to the right of the public to know, both in the United States and around the world, what the U.S. government really thinks and does, as opposed to the fictions that often pass for official statements.
In response, members of the U.S. government and public, from both parties, have unleashed a firestorm of verbal abuse, physical threats, legal maneuvers, and economic pressure to try and silence Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, and to prevent the publication of any more U.S. government documents.*
We call on all HAW members to oppose these attacks and to stand up for freedom of the press and the free distribution of information. Several petitions are circulating on the web -- for example, at https://sites.google.com/site/wilibeaks (Voters for Peace) and http://www.credoaction.com/campaign/wikileaks/index2.html?rc=homepage (Credo). We ask you to sign them and to ask your friends and colleagues to do so as well.
* For recent background articles on these attacks, see, e.g.:
Glenn Greenwald, “Joe Lieberman Emulates Chinese Dictators”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/01/lieberman
Tom Hayden, “The Lynch Mob Moment”
http://tomhayden.com/home/the-lynch-mob-moment.html
Robert Scheer, “From Jefferson to Assange”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/from_jefferson_to_assange_20101207
Editors of The Nation, “First They Came for Wikileaks Then . . .
http://www.thenation.com/article/157017/first-they-came-wikileaks-then
Historians Against the War (HAW) Steering Committee (SC)
Note: You are receiving this email because you signed a Historians Against the War statement (see http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/) or asked to be including in HAW's informational mailings. If you no longer wish to receive these occasional messages about HAW's work, send an email to haw-info-request@stopthewars.org?subject=unsubscribe.
_______________________________________________
haw-info mailing list
haw-info@stopthewars.org
http://stopthewars.org/mailman/listinfo/haw
Over the last few weeks Wikileaks has released numerous classified U.S. government cables that have revealed what U.S. diplomats are saying to each other on a range of topics, from the war in Iraq to heads of state. The documents unveil disturbing facts about these wars, including secret CIA paramilitaries, unaccountable military task forces, and the widespread killing of civilians. The release represents a contribution to the right of the public to know, both in the United States and around the world, what the U.S. government really thinks and does, as opposed to the fictions that often pass for official statements.
In response, members of the U.S. government and public, from both parties, have unleashed a firestorm of verbal abuse, physical threats, legal maneuvers, and economic pressure to try and silence Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, and to prevent the publication of any more U.S. government documents.*
We call on all HAW members to oppose these attacks and to stand up for freedom of the press and the free distribution of information. Several petitions are circulating on the web -- for example, at https://sites.google.com/site/wilibeaks (Voters for Peace) and http://www.credoaction.com/campaign/wikileaks/index2.html?rc=homepage (Credo). We ask you to sign them and to ask your friends and colleagues to do so as well.
* For recent background articles on these attacks, see, e.g.:
Glenn Greenwald, “Joe Lieberman Emulates Chinese Dictators”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/01/lieberman
Tom Hayden, “The Lynch Mob Moment”
http://tomhayden.com/home/the-lynch-mob-moment.html
Robert Scheer, “From Jefferson to Assange”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/from_jefferson_to_assange_20101207
Editors of The Nation, “First They Came for Wikileaks Then . . .
http://www.thenation.com/article/157017/first-they-came-wikileaks-then
Historians Against the War (HAW) Steering Committee (SC)
Note: You are receiving this email because you signed a Historians Against the War statement (see http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/) or asked to be including in HAW's informational mailings. If you no longer wish to receive these occasional messages about HAW's work, send an email to haw-info-request@stopthewars.org?subject=unsubscribe.
_______________________________________________
haw-info mailing list
haw-info@stopthewars.org
http://stopthewars.org/mailman/listinfo/haw
OMNI/CCTF'S NEWSLETTER ON CLIMATE CHANGE: 350 PPM edited by Dr. Robert McAfee
Here are the topics in the latest number. For the full articles go to
http://www.omnicenter.org/350-ppm-home/
1. Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world. Global warming is now such a serious threat to mankind that climate change experts are calling for Second World War-style rationing in rich countries to bring down carbon emissions.
2. The decision by the British government to allow exploration wells to be drilled in deep waters to the west of the Shetland islands raises an increasingly insistent question:. Why are we prospecting for new oil anyway?
3. Climate change will cost a billion people their homes. A special report released at the start of climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, revealed that up to a billion people face losing their homes in the next 90 years because of failures to agree to curbs on carbon emissions.
4. White House Science Czar seeks to 'de-develop the United States' using 'free market'. Controversial White House Office of Science and Technology Director John P. Holdren told CNS News earlier this week he would use "free market" principles to implement what he called a "massive campaign" to "de-develop the United States"
--
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Here are the topics in the latest number. For the full articles go to
http://www.omnicenter.org/350-ppm-home/
1. Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world. Global warming is now such a serious threat to mankind that climate change experts are calling for Second World War-style rationing in rich countries to bring down carbon emissions.
2. The decision by the British government to allow exploration wells to be drilled in deep waters to the west of the Shetland islands raises an increasingly insistent question:. Why are we prospecting for new oil anyway?
3. Climate change will cost a billion people their homes. A special report released at the start of climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, revealed that up to a billion people face losing their homes in the next 90 years because of failures to agree to curbs on carbon emissions.
4. White House Science Czar seeks to 'de-develop the United States' using 'free market'. Controversial White House Office of Science and Technology Director John P. Holdren told CNS News earlier this week he would use "free market" principles to implement what he called a "massive campaign" to "de-develop the United States"
--
Dick Bennett
STOP Wars and Warming
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)