Bizarre, Congress, Criminal law, Politics, Society

McCaskill and Graham Call For Prosecution in Wikileaks Case

While the world is reacting to leaks indicating that Saudi Arabia is funding Al Qaeda and Clinton ordered diplomats to engage in espionage, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called for the prosecution of those responsible for the leaks.


The leaks also show the Saudis pressuring the United States to attack Iran — once again having the United States do the dirty work for regional interests. Then there is the revelation that Iran smuggled weapons in ambulances to Hezbollah.

Graham insists that the matter is clear “we’re at war . . . If you can prosecute them, let’s try.” McCaskill agreed, stressing “I hope we can find out where this is coming from and go after them with the force of law.”

As with the disclosures of the torture program, some of these disclosures are likely not new information for Senators. Members of the intelligence committees have often been criticized for knowledge of abuses or even crimes in our government without making them public or taking significant action. Thus far, there has not been a single suggestion of public hearings on these allegations — only a demand to prosecute the person responsible for making them public. The problem is that some of this information shows that the public has been given false or misleading information on major policies. I guess this is an example of what Senator Rockefeller said was the harm of media coverage denying the public of its sense of happiness and contentment in their government.

I am a firm believer in the need to maintain secrecy in areas of national security, but some of these leaks raise (again) a growing lack of confidence in Congress in serving as a true check and balance on abuses.

171 thoughts on “McCaskill and Graham Call For Prosecution in Wikileaks Case”

  2. Jill wrote:

    “Yes, this is about the destruction of the rule of law. No citizen can be for this and care about our nation. Full on peaceful resistance to this corrupt govt. is the only solution. MLK called it Soul Force. We need that badly! We need people to be honest, courageous and stand against wrongdoing, no matter who is doing it. As yet, not enough of our citizens are willing to keep faith with the Constitution and fellow citizens, going to the mat for our nation. We cannot turn away from reality, intentionally or unintentionally. The very life of our nation is at stake.”

    This is the crux of it, given my view of this crazy world. As Jill says, “The very life of our nation is at stake.”

    It will be interesting to see the “line up” when everything’s said and done. Who will be the heroes/heroines — who will be the villains. “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”, as we know…

    But, again, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that “the very life of our nation is at stake.” It’s the truth.

  4. Swarthmore mom wrote:

    “Brzezinski thinks it is a possibility that interested intelligence agencies could be manipulating wikileaks.”

    Interesting. Very little surprises me anymore… Our “intelligence” agencies need a whole lot more oversight, IMO, which isn’t likely… Who knows what the truth really is.

  5. Swarthmore mom,

    Didn’t you at one time suggest she (Clinton) might replace Biden in 2012 … I remember that because I really liked the idea

  7. bdaman: Hillary wasn’t going to run in any case. I think unless Obama steps aside or the Bush’s can find someone besides Romney to take on Palin, it will be Obama-Palin.

  9. I think Hillary can forget about any chances for 2012

    Should Hillary Clinton resign as secretary of state due to the WikiLeaks revelations? My friend Jack Shafer at Slate makes a good case. His reason: Clinton, like predecessor Condoleezza Rice, signed orders instructing U.S. foreign service officers to spy on the diplomats of other nations. Cables went out under her name telling State Department officials overseas to collect the fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans of African leaders, to obtain passwords, credit card numbers, and frequent flyer accounts used by foreign diplomats, and to gather private information on United Nations officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

    http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/11/30/wikileaks-fallout-should-hillary-clinton-resign/

  11. JUJ,

    Maybe you’ve had one too many… You’ve wandered (or staggered?) off-thread.

    Careful. You’ll be cited for PUI by the i-police…

  12. To access the Cable gate, go to http://cablegate.wikileaks.org

    I just accessed both the primary site, as well as the one referenced above.

    In the end, it may be the internet that saves us… by allowing for the widespread dissemination of the truth, and bringing good people together.

    (Not necessarily what DARPA intended, but that’s just a guess…)

  13. And exactly what is the problem with legalized Prostitution. I have paid for it many, many times. If two or three consenting adults wish to engage in consensual sex, what is it to you.

    If you are on a date and you are bought dinner and liquor and you sleep with that person, regardless of gender, does that mean you too are a prostitute?

    What is the difference in direct remuneration and dinner?

    The point is you pay for it one way or the other don’t you see?

  14. NEW YORK (CBS/AP) – The WikiLeaks website says it’s under a forceful Internet-based attack, and the site is inaccessible to users in U.S. and Europe.

    The site, which just distributed a trove of U.S. diplomatic documents, said in a Twitter message on Tuesday morning that it’s under a “distributed denial of service attack,” a method commonly used by hackers to slow down or bring down sites.

    “We are currently under a DDOS attack,” according to one tweet early Tuesday. Shortly after 9 a.m., another tweet was sent, saying, “DDOS attack now exceeding 10 Gigabits a second.”

    http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/11/30/wikileaks-hit-by-powerful-cyber-attack/

  15. A.N.

    Yes, this is about the destruction of the rule of law. No citizen can be for this and care about our nation. Full on peaceful resistance to this corrupt govt. is the only solution. MLK called it Soul Force. We need that badly! We need people to be honest, courageous and stand against wrongdoing, no matter who is doing it. As yet, not enough of our citizens are willing to keep faith with the Constitution and fellow citizens, going to the mat for our nation. We cannot turn away from reality, intentionally or unintentionally. The very life of our nation is at stake.

  18. Hey, Jill. Miscommunication on my part… The Erik Erikson/tea-party comment on my part wasn’t directed at you… I always appreciate your comments and insights… Sometimes, I think that the misdirection is unintentional… Having said this, the personal attacks aren’t good, and we should all refrain… Thanks for the reminder.

    You wrote: “This is a comment which concerns the lack of rule of law under Obama. This lack of rule of law has no bearing on the tea party. It is the hypocrisy of the Obama administration at work. It is dangerous for citizens to be in denial about their own govt. because each citizen who refuses to deal with the reality of the govt. will be complicit in the harm that administration visits on society.”

    Well said.

    There are some wicked, ugly things going on… a lot of it is taking place “beneath the radar” of many/most. The rule of law is pretty much non-existent from where I’m sitting…

  19. Jill: I was only recalling your statements in the past that were favorable to the tea party. Those statements changed my view of your opinions. As far as Holder goes he is still investigating the wikileaks. He has not called them to be acts of treason as the republicans have.

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