War Criminal Julian Assange
As the Taliban announces with relish their intent to hunt down and neutralize Afghan informants to international military forces, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is treading on splintering black ice. Contributing Writer Terry Glavin covers the controversy (This article was originally published in Chronicles and Dissent).
It's too bloody late, of course, but still.
In the matter of Amnesty International, the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, the Open Society Institute, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Kabul office of the International Crisis Group Versus the WikiLeaks "hero" Julian Assange:
We have seen the negative, sometimes deadly ramifications for those Afghans identified as working for or sympathizing with international forces. We strongly urge your volunteers and staff to analyze all documents to ensure that those containing identifying information are taken down or redacted.
Here's how the foppish, arrogant bastard responded: I'm very busy and have no time to deal with people who prefer to do nothing but cover their asses. If Amnesty does nothing I shall issue a press release highlighting its refusal.
The cheek of it. Recklessly endanger the lives of scores of the most brave and innocent of our Afghan comrades, all for the juvenile purpose of sticking it to the man, and then demand Amnesty International help clean up the damage he's caused by his own unpardonable negligence and narcissism. Refuse, the toff warns, and "I shall issue a press release."
Julian Assange may well be a hero to the bourgeois left in the rich countries of the world, but he is a vile enemy of the people. He deserves no mercy for what he has done. He has exposed the bravest and most vulnerable of forward-thinking Afghans to retributive assassination by the Taliban and other counter-revolutionary elements in Afghanistan.
The UN today reports a near doubling of the Taliban's use of assassinations to terrorize Afghans who would work for their own government or cooperate with the institutions of the international community in their country. Assassinations averaged 3.6 a week last year. In May and June this year assassinations skyrocketed to an average 18 a week. Teachers, doctors, tribal elders, community leaders, provincial and district officials have all been targeted.
No excuses for Assange. He is an accessory to the terror that persists in oppressing the Afghan people and in preventing the workers of Afghanistan, by the most savage means imaginable, from the lawful exercise of their most fundamental rights. He is a willing accomplice in the subjugation and brutalization of the people. He is guilty.
No more yesbuttery. No more indulgence. No tolerance, no clemency, no mercy.
