Today, Joe Lieberman targeted the New York Times for doing exactly what Julian Assange and Wikileaks did: playing the role of third-party publisher. The Times issued a prompt reply from one of its spokespersons, asserting that the “decision to publish was responsible journalism, legal, and important to democratic society.” Why the Times was unable for the past week to proffer this same defense for Julian Assange and Wikileaks remains unknown, but perhaps the Times will refrain from parroting the lies about Wikileaks’ cable dump (there’s been no dump, but a careful and selective release of just 960 of the 251,297 total cables thus far, as Glenn Greenwald makes clear), Julian Assange’s personal life, and the actual revelations found in the cables.
The Times should understand now that it stands in the firing line with Wikileaks, as the Obama administration cajoles into being a frightening exercise of state power to silence those who dare expose U.S. crimes. The Times must not just stand with Wikileaks in the firing line, but also stand with Wikileaks to defend the group from the Stalinist tactics (now on a global scale) that the Obama administration is employing to rid the group of the technological, financial, and intellectual resources needed to carry on its work – tactics achieved by intimidating and threatening third-parties in the U.S. and Europe. Failure to do so will lead to the “slippery slope,” in which failure to stick up for your neighbor will make it impossible to later stick up for yourself – as Obama’s minion, Joe Lieberman, promises.
