http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article222235.ece
By TARIQ A. AL-MAEENA | ARAB NEWS Fatwas coming from men dressed in suits Daily snippets of information often revealing highly embarrassing analysis or the like by US Embassy staff on their host countries and leaders through WikiLeaks have become the central topic of many a social gathering and are attracting a major following across the region. What is becoming obvious as well is the duplicity of US interpretation of democracy and freedom of information, and the alarming reaction by some of the representatives of a government long associated with wanting to spread democracy in this region. Legal scholars claim WikiLeaks has broken no laws by its disclosures by publishing information provided by a whistleblower. Partnering with some of the world's better-known newspapers such as The Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel, WikiLeaks has been steadily releasing vetted cables without compromising safety as they claim. In early January of this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, "Information has never been so free. Even in authoritarian countries information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable." Very brave words indeed from an individual whose government is doing everything in its power to suppress our right to know. And writing in the Foreign Policy Journal Clinton wrote: "On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress. But the United States does. We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognize that the world's information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it. This challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic. The words of the First Amendment to the Constitution (guaranteeing freedom of speech) are carved in 50 tons of Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every generation of Americans has worked to protect the values etched in that stone." It must have been a red-faced moment for her when top-secret cables disclosed that Clinton had ordered American officials to spy on high-ranking UN diplomats, including key US allies. The secretary of state further ordered diplomats to obtain DNA data including iris scans and fingerprints as well as credit card details and frequent flier numbers. No permanent member of the Security Council - Russia, China, France and the UK - was spared by the secret spying mission, including UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon who was also under similar surveillance. The spies were to focus on Ban ki-Moon's "management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat." Washington also demanded their scheduled whereabouts, e-mail addresses, fax and mobile numbers in this spying mission. The disclosures have prompted many US politicians to brand WikiLeaks as a terrorist group and come under massive government and corporate attack including MasterCard. Some US politicians have gone on record to urge the assassination of its staff. The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican Congressman Peter King, announced that he was "calling on the attorney general and supporting his efforts to fully prosecute WikiLeaks and its founder for violating the Espionage Act." Writing to Hillary Clinton to ask if the group could be classed as a terrorist organization, King also stated that the leaks have "put American lives at risk all over the world. This is worse even than a physical attack on Americans, it's worse than a military attack." Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said, "Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty." Another potential Republican nominee Sarah Palin had already called for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be "hunted down." Writing on Facebook, she stated, "He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taleban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue Al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders?" And it is not just the Americans who are demanding death. Tom Flanagan, a senior adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper while speaking on the Canadian TV station CBC had this to say: "I think Assange should be assassinated, actually. I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something. I wouldn't feel unhappy if Assange does disappear." Blatant fatwas calling for or condoning murder by Western politicians dressed not in turbans but in suits - fatwas that have somehow managed to escape much attention from the Western press. (talmae...@aol.com) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: proletar-dig...@yahoogroups.com proletar-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: proletar-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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