The role of Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi has fascinated me for years. The corporate press used him as a key source over Iraq’s alleged WMDs. Oops. Wikileaks delivers a little more: For Iraq-watchers, a tiny but enticing tidbit surfaced in a WikiLeaks cable from February 2004, 11 months after the U.S.-led invasion. It involved Ahmad…
Wikileaks
Wikileaks is one of the biggest and most important stories in the world, challenging governments and journalists alike. I’ve been writing extensively about the group since 2006, featured an exclusive interview in 2008 with founder Julian Assange and examined the myriad of issues around the website. Assange himself asked me in the early days whether I wanted to be on the group’s board to vet incoming leaks and determine their veracity before publishing. I agreed but unfortunately this never eventuated.
We support Wikileaks
I was asked by US-based Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting to sign this important petition about defending the right of Wikileaks to exist and publish: As journalists, activists, artists, scholars and citizens, we condemn the array of threats and attacks on the journalist organization WikiLeaks. After the website’s decision, in collaboration with several international media…
Dud US view confirms Britain is equally blind
If the US thinks, according to the Wikileaks cables, that Britain has done a terrible job connecting with Muslims after the 7/7 attacks, how the hell is Washington viewed by the world when occupying Muslim lands and killing civilians on a daily basis? Seriously, our world is run by clueless clowns who think war will…
Michael Moore knows who the heroes are
Bravo: Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail. Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers,…
Defending Wikileaks faces Oprah-obsessed police force
Today’s rally for Wikileaks in Sydney was a success, apart from the excessively brutal police force seemingly determined to not allow citizens the right to protest in the streets. Before the event itself, the Sydney Morning Herald reported under the misleading headline, “We’ll march anyway; Wikileaks protesters to defy police” – suggesting the police were…
Assange speaks from British jail
The fight continues: The founder of WikiLeaks has issued a plea from jail for his supporters to keep fighting, accusing Visa, Mastercard and Paypal of being instruments of US foreign policy. In a world exclusive statement provided to the Sunshine Coast Daily via his Australian mother, Julian Assange said he was determined to fight for…
Assange and Manning are loved by the public
The people have spoken: The controversial founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has won an online vote to be TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. The annual online vote asks readers to choose the most influential person, people or things from the previous year. Readers voted a total of 1,249,425 times, and the favorite was clear,…
No, the Arab world doesn’t want to bomb Iran tomorrow
If you read the MSM over Wikileaks you’ll only receive a very small part of the truth. Government agendas meld seamlessly into media agendas. For example: The dominant theme that emerged in U.S. media coverage of the first round of Wikileaks diplomatic cables last week was that Arab regimes in the Gulf – led by…
Perhaps journalists should just take government money and stop the illusion
I’ve written regularly about the mainstream media’s love of being close to power. Ooh, look over there, Hillary in a red pantsuit! How charming. Sorry,… distracted by a very important news story. Deakin University’s Scott Burchill tackles the same issue, challenging corporate reporter’s desire to be players: To say that the WikiLeaks imbroglio has not…
What should be the real focus of Wikileaks anger?
Many in the US establishment – and indeed, the Australian one, rather upset that their badly protected secrets are no longer secret, poor people – are baying for the blood of Julian Assange. But some sense is around: The predominant consensus in official Washington that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should eventually stand trial here on…