Just up on the LA Times website, Richard Serrano and David Savage are reporting from DC:
Angry over the bombardment of leaks of classified material, top Obama administration officials are considering filing an extradition request to have WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange face criminal charges, possibly for espionage.
Any such proceedings would set up a test of whether the 1st Amendment's protection for a free press extends to a website with a worldwide audience.
http://www.latimes.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
According to the State Department sources quoted in the article, the prosecution effort goes beyond espionage charges and transparently seeks to limit further releases of sensitive documents and information.
Its no wonder that the Wikileaks founder fought so hard in Britain to avoid arrest. The writing is on the wall.
Assange today penned an opinion piece in The Australian in which he claimed that Wikileaks represents a new phase in journalism:
"We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?
Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption."
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com....
Assange was denied bail by a British magistrate this afternoon and has been remanded to Scotland Yard pending extradition to Sweden on a sex-crimes charge, however, he's surely contemplating the effects of an extradition attempt for treasonous actions against the US. I'm sure that the Bush-era Enemy Combatant laws can be marshalled against Assange in some fashion by an eager State and Justice Department.
Perhaps Julian shouldn't have threatened our Lord and Master BOA after all.