Christopher. Do not know how to write you on this platform. Why would you believe that I was not a former Air Force flight surgeon, then internal medicine for 35 yrs after? Just curious
Difficult to navigate this platform for some reason. Except as as a reply. Yes, crazy, uh? Guess I just believe in truth, and if Julian espouses that, as Russell Brand has eloquently, in his own way pointed out, I will support it. Curious now to see haw a “financier “ can present the same. Have a good one. Larry (former Major, USAF)
Platform is indeed bizarre in its lack of user-friendliness. Anyway, I remember the first days of WikiLeaks and this Assange twerp. Massive amounts of electronic ink have been spilled over this in the interim; I have not changed my opinion from day one: he compromised the safety of our military personnel by his egotistically juvenile antics. Julian so far as I can tell espouses his own narcissism above all else, and wouldn't know "truth" if it smacked him in the face. Which I hope it eventually does in a US courtroom.
Perhaps you are aware that he notified the State Dept of his actions and help in redacting names at risk--among various news outlets also. Virtually all refusing his requests to protect sensitive people identities. He did try. Be that as it may, he exposed ugly truths behind our own government, and the RIGHT to do do that needs to be protected at all costs. I can speak from personal experience as a Vietnam era flight surgeon---only to learn the ugly horrible truth the government foisted on me years later as the truth came out esp under L Johnson. Former president Kennedy had begun to develop plans to leave Nam....assignation....Johnson massively builds up troops....56000plus boys lives lost.....and no war won. If you can perhaps you have a financial answer.
So, perhaps this may help you in some way see my side of the story--as the late Paul Harvey always said.
I do, I do indeed understand where you're coming from. McNamara should never have written that damned book without committing seppuku at the press conference announcing his book.
There is no "financial answer" to right and wrong.
I am willing to entertain some points from veterans when it comes to Assange's actions; I am not entirely sure what he divulged was worth divulging - there are myriad ugly truths in running a government, and especially in running a war. That does not necessarily mean anything positive is accomplished by a foreign hacker breaching national security and spraying non-contextual information to the world.
As someone who survived 11 September 2001, there are very few things I would not gleefully do to any member of Al Qaeda. I wrote a book review of a few years back for The Cipher Brief of Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World by Philip Mudd, former Deputy Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center and FBI National Security Branch. https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/book-review/the-cias-role-in-the-post-9-11-world In that book, the people involved took every decision I would have, given the sights and sounds of that day which will never leave me and given the likely foreshortening of my lifespan from living downwind of the smoking heap of the Towers for months. The abandonment of those committed patriots by a subsequent President who erroneously said to the world, "We tortured some folks" was about as large a betrayal as I can recall in the annals of pusillanimous President poor behavior.
I am always willing to debate the relative merits and demerits of revealing secrets, but one thing I despise about both Assange and Snowden is their cowardice in refusing to accept the consequences of their actions.
...yes, in accepting the consequences of one’s actions, eg, Hilary Clinton’s abandonment of several state dept personnel, who were murdered and the state dept ambassador’s naked body dragged through the streets from an enemy vehicle.... is that the type of “security” event that should be classified and hidden. I immediately discovered the hidden and ugly other side of Clinton. That needs exposure from then going forward always. And yes, as one who had a top secret security clearance I’m aware of what needs to be transparent and not for the sake of TRUE national security... and that I would protect. As YOU pointed out the things Assange pointed out were NOT that severe, albeit ugly....hence transparency, I feel was necessary. But again, he gave the Dept of State honest and fair warning and asked for help--not forthcoming. So where do we really place blame. He exercised a first amendment RIGHT--supposedly granted by our creator. Sorry, Chris, this story is just too long and complex for a post, and there are two sides to a story. At what point do we preclude first amendment rights for the sake of a corrupt government? I really don’t know the answer. In war, I believe, ethical standards are just put to the side.....imho, sorta crazy.
I do like your comment re seppuku (sp?) ie, Hari Kari….I would now consider MacNamara a ronin. (A recent Hollywood movie with Keanu Reeves) although he really did not live the rest of his life in horrible humiliation as the ronin did.
Fair enough. For those of us who have known how horrible Hillary Clinton is since the 1990s, this was no surprise at all.
As for Assange, this "he gave the State Department warning" is weak tea served with thin gruel. He opened the floodgates to these releases with the mentally ill Edward Manning by hacking US government computers. It's like a coyote trafficking women between 18-21 into sex slavery in the US calling Border Control on a competitor, saying "Oh, gosh, these guys are really bad. They're smuggling 12-17 year olds and I'm just morally appalled at THAT!"
There are usually 50 sides to a story; that is why I try to stay focused on the core tenets at the heart of a metastasizing set of usually superfluous details.
He hacked American secrets and posted them to the world.
That is not covered by the First Amendment, in my opinion.
He endangered American and allied lives by so doing; if in fact he "tried to anonymize" any of the details in those cables, that is irrelevant, since no one could ever know what a hostile analyst could do with the information that remained. A good cryptologist can find names, places and dates in redacted cables using basic tools of word/letter frequency analysis and the like.
So Julian could not ever have been 100% sure his release would not put people in direct harm's way.
For that - again, in my opinion - he should face a military trial.
Well, as I look through my own posts, I can see where one may say I have loose associations, one diagnostic tenet of schizophrenia. Well, in defense too much to bring up in one post , and much more to be said, which I just cannot keep up with now in my elder days.....I am sane, just old,disabled, and in want of an age appropriate female, for coffee, or tamales.
Woohooo!!! Look at you go!
Mad fan base in Croatia! I knew I was doing something right!
Christopher. Do not know how to write you on this platform. Why would you believe that I was not a former Air Force flight surgeon, then internal medicine for 35 yrs after? Just curious
Just saw your reply.
Larry
Larry, I find it impossible to believe a US Air Force officer would write positively about Julian Assange.
Do not understand what you mean about how I write on this platform. Just curious.
Difficult to navigate this platform for some reason. Except as as a reply. Yes, crazy, uh? Guess I just believe in truth, and if Julian espouses that, as Russell Brand has eloquently, in his own way pointed out, I will support it. Curious now to see haw a “financier “ can present the same. Have a good one. Larry (former Major, USAF)
Platform is indeed bizarre in its lack of user-friendliness. Anyway, I remember the first days of WikiLeaks and this Assange twerp. Massive amounts of electronic ink have been spilled over this in the interim; I have not changed my opinion from day one: he compromised the safety of our military personnel by his egotistically juvenile antics. Julian so far as I can tell espouses his own narcissism above all else, and wouldn't know "truth" if it smacked him in the face. Which I hope it eventually does in a US courtroom.
Thank you for your service.
Perhaps you are aware that he notified the State Dept of his actions and help in redacting names at risk--among various news outlets also. Virtually all refusing his requests to protect sensitive people identities. He did try. Be that as it may, he exposed ugly truths behind our own government, and the RIGHT to do do that needs to be protected at all costs. I can speak from personal experience as a Vietnam era flight surgeon---only to learn the ugly horrible truth the government foisted on me years later as the truth came out esp under L Johnson. Former president Kennedy had begun to develop plans to leave Nam....assignation....Johnson massively builds up troops....56000plus boys lives lost.....and no war won. If you can perhaps you have a financial answer.
So, perhaps this may help you in some way see my side of the story--as the late Paul Harvey always said.
I do, I do indeed understand where you're coming from. McNamara should never have written that damned book without committing seppuku at the press conference announcing his book.
There is no "financial answer" to right and wrong.
I am willing to entertain some points from veterans when it comes to Assange's actions; I am not entirely sure what he divulged was worth divulging - there are myriad ugly truths in running a government, and especially in running a war. That does not necessarily mean anything positive is accomplished by a foreign hacker breaching national security and spraying non-contextual information to the world.
As someone who survived 11 September 2001, there are very few things I would not gleefully do to any member of Al Qaeda. I wrote a book review of a few years back for The Cipher Brief of Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World by Philip Mudd, former Deputy Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center and FBI National Security Branch. https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/book-review/the-cias-role-in-the-post-9-11-world In that book, the people involved took every decision I would have, given the sights and sounds of that day which will never leave me and given the likely foreshortening of my lifespan from living downwind of the smoking heap of the Towers for months. The abandonment of those committed patriots by a subsequent President who erroneously said to the world, "We tortured some folks" was about as large a betrayal as I can recall in the annals of pusillanimous President poor behavior.
I am always willing to debate the relative merits and demerits of revealing secrets, but one thing I despise about both Assange and Snowden is their cowardice in refusing to accept the consequences of their actions.
Sorry, no way to correct typos on this platform, at least still learning
Technical note: the three dots near your comment allow you to Edit.
...yes, in accepting the consequences of one’s actions, eg, Hilary Clinton’s abandonment of several state dept personnel, who were murdered and the state dept ambassador’s naked body dragged through the streets from an enemy vehicle.... is that the type of “security” event that should be classified and hidden. I immediately discovered the hidden and ugly other side of Clinton. That needs exposure from then going forward always. And yes, as one who had a top secret security clearance I’m aware of what needs to be transparent and not for the sake of TRUE national security... and that I would protect. As YOU pointed out the things Assange pointed out were NOT that severe, albeit ugly....hence transparency, I feel was necessary. But again, he gave the Dept of State honest and fair warning and asked for help--not forthcoming. So where do we really place blame. He exercised a first amendment RIGHT--supposedly granted by our creator. Sorry, Chris, this story is just too long and complex for a post, and there are two sides to a story. At what point do we preclude first amendment rights for the sake of a corrupt government? I really don’t know the answer. In war, I believe, ethical standards are just put to the side.....imho, sorta crazy.
I do like your comment re seppuku (sp?) ie, Hari Kari….I would now consider MacNamara a ronin. (A recent Hollywood movie with Keanu Reeves) although he really did not live the rest of his life in horrible humiliation as the ronin did.
Fair enough. For those of us who have known how horrible Hillary Clinton is since the 1990s, this was no surprise at all.
As for Assange, this "he gave the State Department warning" is weak tea served with thin gruel. He opened the floodgates to these releases with the mentally ill Edward Manning by hacking US government computers. It's like a coyote trafficking women between 18-21 into sex slavery in the US calling Border Control on a competitor, saying "Oh, gosh, these guys are really bad. They're smuggling 12-17 year olds and I'm just morally appalled at THAT!"
There are usually 50 sides to a story; that is why I try to stay focused on the core tenets at the heart of a metastasizing set of usually superfluous details.
He hacked American secrets and posted them to the world.
That is not covered by the First Amendment, in my opinion.
He endangered American and allied lives by so doing; if in fact he "tried to anonymize" any of the details in those cables, that is irrelevant, since no one could ever know what a hostile analyst could do with the information that remained. A good cryptologist can find names, places and dates in redacted cables using basic tools of word/letter frequency analysis and the like.
So Julian could not ever have been 100% sure his release would not put people in direct harm's way.
For that - again, in my opinion - he should face a military trial.
Well, as I look through my own posts, I can see where one may say I have loose associations, one diagnostic tenet of schizophrenia. Well, in defense too much to bring up in one post , and much more to be said, which I just cannot keep up with now in my elder days.....I am sane, just old,disabled, and in want of an age appropriate female, for coffee, or tamales.
Larry, I find it hard to believe a US Air Force officer - current or former - thinks positively of Julian Assange.
Do not know what you mean about how I write on this platform. Just curious.