Capturing Bin Laden Takes Back Seat to Fighting WikiLeaks

UPDATE 080410

Last Thursday I thought I’d ask the White House a simple question. Is it more important to capture Osama Bin Laden, or to detain and “question” (under the PATRIOT Act, we all know what that can mean.) Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.

I thought this was a no brainer. How wrong, I suppose, I was. At least, for the White House. The decision on what may be declassified has been removed from the Executive Branch of the United States (or any) government, and it seems the Obama administration has yet to figure out how to respond, aside from scheming to capture / detain / or otherwise incarcerate Julian Assange, so that he may be interrogated. With, or Without Due Process. But really now, Patriots! In secret?

Not Bloody Likely.

An absence of answers from the White House Press Office apparently means what? Corking-up WikiLeaks is more important than stopping Al Qaeda?

On Friday morning, I called the White House Press Office again, and repeated that question, and another. I spotted Assange’s interview with abcnews.au wherein he asserted the White House had been approached by the New York Times on behalf of the media partnership, and asked if they would help remove names of our Afghan Friends. The White house “declined.”

I asked, “Is this True?”

Since then, silence.

Seriously. The White House declined an opportunity to protect our “assets”?

What’s wrong with this picture?

Just to keep this in perspective, here is WikiLeaks extraordinary press conference last week:

Link: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8526049

﻿Short Link: http://bit.ly/aQyzbs

WikiLeaks Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010

The Guardian Afghanistan War Logs

Der Spiegel Afghanistan Protocol

New York Times Afghanistan War Logs

My email this morning to the White House Press Office is below.

-dcm

I took the press conference at the Frontline Club July 26 and split it in two and made it available for download here:

Frontline London Press Conference July 26 2010,downloadable,2 pcs http://bit.ly/WLatFL

Also, rageunderground over at YouTube has mapped from the WikiLeaks War Diaries, all of the Afghan War IED attacks from 2004 through 2009, and overlaid them on a NATO map of the area. Here:

:dcm

UPDATE@ 080410

First, there is now an easy to use Citizen Journalist Research tool for the Afghan War Diary Database at http://www.diarydig.org/ . Next…

Here’s a riotously succinct synopsis of why we need ironclad Net Neutrality, as illuminated by the release of the Wikileaks Afghan War Diaries, courtesy of thejuicemedia’s Rap News.

:dcm

Subject: 2 Simple Questions regarding WikiLeaks/Guardian/DerSpiegel/NYT War Diaries, from Scribal Thrum

David Manchester <david.c.manchester@gmail.com> Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 9:17 AM To: White House Press Office <media_affairs@who.eop.gov> Cc: [list of journalists] Dear President Obama and Robert Gibbs: Once again, I ask. For the fourth (4th) time since last Thursday 07/29/10: Which is a greater priority for the White House and Pentagon – capturing Osama Bin Laden, or detaining and “questioning” Julian Assange? Once again, I ask. For the third (3rd) time since last Friday 07/30/10: Is it true the White House declined to help the media partnership of NYT/Guardian/DerSpiegel/WikiLeaks to scrub the names of our Human Resources from the War Diaries as part of their Harm Minimisation?

Every single time I have contacted the White House Press Office (“media affairs”) I have identified myself, given a phone number, email address, and identified the blog I publish. Every single time I have been assured You will “get back” to me. You have not. Is it because I run a blog, and the White House does not think that merits a response? Have I received no response because the White House does not think I am qualified as a journalist? Let me assure You, I was trained in Print, Broadcast, and Photo Journalism by the Department of Defense Information School. I served on active duty as an Army Journalist. The paper I worked on won numerous awards during my tenure there. Please respond to these questions with answers. As I mentioned this morning when I called around 0715hrs, my headline for my next post on Scribal Thrum will be something like White House Won’t Protect Afghan Sources, Won’t Rule Out Killing Assange

Capturing Bin Laden Takes Back Seat to Fighting WikiLeaks If I have no response from You by 12 noon today I will surmise the White House is okay with this headline, and will proceed. Thanks for the Help! Regards,

Dave Manchester

xxx.xxx.xxxx https://dredeyedick.wordpress.com

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