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Rep. King Calls For Wikileaks To Be Declared Terrorist Organization And For Assange To Be Prosecuted As Spy

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has called for WikiLeaks to be officially designated as a terrorist organization. This would, of course, allow the same designation for The New York Times and other organizations to be declared terrorists for publishing leaked stories on torture, secret prisons, or the Pentagon Papers.

King has asked for the Administration “determine whether WikiLeaks could be designated a foreign terrorist organization.” He noted “WikiLeaks appears to meet the legal criteria . . . WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.” King also demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder “criminally charge WikiLeaks activist Julian Assange under the Espionage Act” for conspiracy to disclose classified information.

I previously testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing where members pushed for new laws to criminalize publishing classified material by journalists. King appears intent on restarting that effort. With Democrats like Claire McCaskill calling for prosecutions, we could be entering a very dangerous period for press freedom in our country. Democrats are still smarting over the leaking of embarrassing stories showing that their leadership knew about the torture program and other abuses during the Bush Administration. As noted by Sen. Rockefeller, many members long for the period when the public had less coverage and were not so critical of their conduct in office.

The Bush Administration showed that Congress failed miserably in its oversight of intelligence programs. It was the media (and whistleblowers) who told the public of crimes committed by our government and revealed violations of international and domestic laws. Members in Congress have an obvious interest in chilling such disclosures and asserting their own control of information going to the public.

According to the Senator Graham, any disclosures of national security material must be prosecuted as a threat to national security “at a time of war.” The use of espionage and terrorism laws in such cases would move us squarely in the same camp as such countries as China, which routinely use such prosecutions to punish people for embarrassing stories.

As the incoming Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, one cannot dismiss these statements are coming from the fringe of American politics despite King’s past controversial statements (here, here).

Source: CNET

62 thoughts on “Rep. King Calls For Wikileaks To Be Declared Terrorist Organization And For Assange To Be Prosecuted As Spy”

  1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/how-us-embassy-cables-leaked

    How 250,000 US embassy cables were leaked from a fake Lady Gaga CD to a thumb drive that is a pocket-sized bombshell – the biggest intelligence leak in history

    David Leigh
    guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 November 2010 18.14 GMT

    “It was childishly easy, according to the published chatlog of a conversation Manning had with a fellow-hacker. “I would come in with music on a CD-RW labelled with something like ‘Lady Gaga’ … erase the music … then write a compressed split file. No one suspected a thing … [I] listened and lip-synched to Lady Gaga’s Telephone while exfiltrating possibly the largest data spillage in American history.” He said that he “had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months”.”

    Great Lady G. quote, eniobob.

  3. I heard a report that the soldier who supposedly downloaded this information told his fellow soldiers that he was listening to “Lady Gaga”if so I would imagine he was dwelling on one of her qoutes.

    “”Peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no trouble, noise, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”
    — Lady Gaga”

  4. I guess I am cynical to the nth degree, but I believe that the machinations of our government are truly Byzantine. It seems fortuitous that all the Arab countries around Iran think the US should attack her according to these leaks. It reminds me of the drumbeat for the Gulf War in the nineties when there was a huge international consensus for invading Iraq. How fortunate for the US and Israel that the Muslims are in agreement with attacking another Muslim country. Incidentally, if you look at a current map of the region, Iran is surrounded with countries hosting US bases with the exception of Turkmenistan and Georgia. If Georgia joins NATO, she will host US troops also.

    What I can’t figure out is the release of the bit of information that, as we all suspected, Saudi Arabia is the biggest sponsor of Al Quaeda. Why on earth are we such good friends with THEM?

  5. When fascist speak, fools listen.

    definition of fascist:
    a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

    Since when does the government of the people have the right to pull the wool over the eyes of the people and the people are criminalized for repeating the truth.

  6. Otteray Scribe,

    Thanks for the Twain “Judas” quote. That was a new one for me (or I’d forgotten it). Got to love ol’ Samuel. He was as sharp as he was funny.

  8. I am waiting on the Southern Poverty Law Center to declare the Republican Party a hate group. Come to think of it, they can lump Congress into that as well if this movement to punish the press goes through.

    Mark Twain once said, “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”

    He also said, “I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper. To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.”

  9. What’s the big deal? If the government isn’t doing anything wrong, it should have nothing to fear.

    Is that what the government always tells us?

  11. I have a crisp, never-circulated $2 bill of REAL American currency that I’ll bet on Rep. King pr Rep. Pete Hoekstra being THE LEAKERS of internal State Department materials.. Wikileaks is just the conduit… there is NO guilt on their part…NONE..

  12. This same question is being asked on MSNBC:

    “Should WikiLeaks be designated a ‘terrorist’ organization?”

    So far…

    Yes: 64.8% (11,986 votes)
    No: 31.7% ( 5,868 votes)
    Not Sure: 3.5% (657 votes)

    Its truly scary how knee jerk the American population is.

  13. When I first read Munro Leaf’s “The Story of Ferdinand” (The Viking Press, New York, 1936), I was, as best I remember, four years of age, and my family lived on Ferdinand Street, in Seattle, Washington, about a block and a half east of Rainier Avenue.

    World War II was “raging,” and searchlights scanned the Seattle sky at night, supposedly to identify any Japanese airplanes which got to Seattle.

    It bothered me that I was supposed to “grow up” to be a good soldier and want to kill people to save people. I could not understand, at age four, how killing people would save people, and I could not understand why some people needed to be killed so other people could live. More than 65 years later, my understanding is unimproved.

    Perhaps Eric Berne, M.D., described war as well as anyone ever will. It is a transactional game, “Let’s you and him fight.”\

    Nein, danke. Es tut mir leid. Sieg nicht heil.

    I suppose that my objections to child abuse, in any and every form, define me inextricably and ineluctably as a terrorist by default?

    Mein Gott nicht in Himmel?

    Ich spreche und Ich schreibe kein Deutsch. Sehr schade?

    Some poetry simply cannot be translated meaningfully.

    I am a terrorist because I abhor terrorism?

    Mea ultima culpa?

    There are no words, not even these.

  14. I hate to see this type of grandstanding over security since our public are operating out of fear anyway, but you can’t get a politician to act as a statesman and care about the general welfare of the people, but you can always find them playing on man’s lowest common frailties. Well done again to Mr. King…never surprised by how low they will go.

  15. Rep King,
    You are the terrorist because you are claiming to be fighting for a higher cause in your efforts to stop freedom of speech under the almighty pretext of protecting national security. What would you, Rep. King, have done if these “cables” had been leaked to Fox News? Would you be calling for Fox News to be labeled a terrorist organization? How about going after China who has hijacked our entire internet traffic on at least one occasion and according to the leaked cables has failed to stop North Korea from sending missiles to Iran? I know that following the law and actually honoring the Constitution is a lot to ask of you. Give it a try. Doing the right thing may be hard, but it feels good after awhile. You might enjoy the experience.
    By the way, Amen to what Buddha and Anon and Gyges said!

  17. Rep. King,

    We the undersigned wish to let you know that words have meanings. These meanings are especially important when discussing legal terms. If you’re unsure of the meaning of a word, it’s perfectly o.k. to ask your parents, teacher or other trusted adults.

    Signed,
    Justice, The English Language

  18. And to be crystal clear: There are state-sponsored domestic operations, in progress, that present “a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.”

  19. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY):

    “WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. I strongly urge you to work within the Administration to use every offensive capability of the U.S. government to prevent further damaging releases by WikiLeaks.”

    ===================

    Domestic operations, in progress, present “a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.”

  20. Since Congress is aiding and abetting torturers by refusing to do their Constitutional duty, they are aiding and abetting treason.

    Perhaps Congress should be declared a terrorist organization.

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