Headline April 19, 2018/ '' 'JULIAN ASSANGE DECADE' ''

'' 'JULIAN ASSANGE DECADE' ''

JULIAN ASSANGE ARREST CONSTITUTES ''an unprecedented effort by the United States  seeking to extradite a foreign journalist to-

To face criminal charges for publishing truthful information.'' said Assange's US lawyer Barry Pollack.

THE US GOVERNMENT HAS regarded WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a dangerous national security threat  ever since he and his organization-

Opened a decade long effort to expose US secrets - from military files to embarrassing Democratic Party emails during the 2016 election.

But Assange's indictment on narrow charges of hacking conspiracy Thursday seems to concede that  his activities, as damaging as they have been, could be protected by constitutional freedom of the press guarantees.

After holing up in Ecuador's London embassy for seven years, Assange was arrested by the British police last Thursday on a U.S. extradition request, ''outraging press freedom groups''.

Washington has investigated Australian born Assange, 47, since at least 2010 when he published  hundreds of thousands of US military and diplomatic files obtained from a US Army intelligence official Bradley Manning.

Those files exposed controversial US military war actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, including evidence of torture, a video of a US Army helicopter attack that killed two journalists in Baghdad in 2007, and the huge numbers of civilian deaths that resulted from the US invasions.

The leaks rocked the US establishment which said they endangered the lives of US soldiers in the fields as well as diplomats.

While Manning - now known as Chelsea Manning after gender reassignment treatment - was tried and imprisoned for the leak, Assange was able to continue his activities from the sanctuary of the Ecuador embassy.

Meddling in 2016 election
WikiLeaks revealed secret files on the US Guantanamo prison, published highly sensitive National Security Agency Intercepts, Internal US trade negotiation documents, and files from the CIA's ultra-secret Vault 7 hacking program.

In 2016, the organization played a central role in Russian meddling during the presidential election  battle between Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The just-concluded investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller alleged that Russian intelligence hacked materials from Clinton's campaign and released them through WikiLeaks, damaging her election bid.

Court filing shows that Assange actively sought out the  Clinton  materials and then was in contact with the Trump campaign  over the timing and content of the  releases by WikiLeaks.

Trump, whose campaign got a boost  from the leaks, readily praised Assange's operation on the campaign trail.

''The WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable..............it tells you the inner heart; and you gotta read it,'' he said at one event that October.

''Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks,'' he said at another, just days before the vote.

BUT on Thursday, asked if he still loves the organization, Trump told reporters : ''I know nothing  about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing

''Hostile intelligence service''
Those activities led to Assange and his organization being labelled a major security threat by top US officials.

In 2017, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, called WikiLeaks a ''non-state hostile intelligence service'' abetted by Moscow.

But the US government has been cautious about charging him. Assange has maintained that he is a journalist protected by the US constitution's free speech guarantee, and that WikiLeaks activities  are no different from those of other media organizations.

The Honor and Serving of the latest  Global Operational Research on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange continues. The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Paul Handley

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare for Great Global Elections and ''register'' on : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Power & Points '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless