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    Re: Thanks for posting. That's a great story. Daniel Ellsberg RIP. nm. Archived Message

    Posted by scrabb on June 22, 2023, 7:07 pm, in reply to "Thanks for posting. That's a great story. Daniel Ellsberg RIP. nm."

    By a small coincidence I happened to be reading Nils Melzer's "The Trial of Julian Assange" this afternoon when the name of John Kiriakou came up (somebody I don't recall knowing about before). He's mentioned in the section discussing plea bargaining, and the way the US government slaps a huge sentence on defendants -- 35 years in the case of Kiriakou -- in order to frighten them into pleading guilty to minor charges and in exchange getting a few years instead, 23 months in Kiriakou's case.

    When extradited, which he will be, Assange will be tried in the District of Alexandria, as are all whistleblowers and others accused of national security breaches. The reason for this is that it is near to the CIA headquarters and all jury members will either have worked for the national security agencies or have family members who still do. No case involving national security tried in this court has ever resulted in acquittal. 100 per cent guilty.

    "The Trial of Julian Assange" is a truly depressing read and I have to grit my teeth to persevere with it. For instance, it makes the point that more whistleblowers were charged and convicted during Obama's term than any other US president. Kiriakou was the CIA agent who revealed that waterboarding was a routine torture method and even named some of the people involved. But instead of charging them, under Obama's watch it was decided to let them go because Obama "wanted to look forward, not backwards."

    The man who received the Nobel Prize for Peace. What a joke.





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