OXFORD (Rixstep) — The media attack on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks this past week was no accident. The matter was built up over a lengthy period of time, combining propaganda for a US attack on Iran with yet another attempt to discredit WikiLeaks and their founder.
What most people saw was spurious protest by a marginal group in the Oxford Union protesting against a former Sam Adams Award winner. That protest didn't amount to much, but what's more relevant is that it was part of a much more sweeping strategy.
The Sam Adams Award winner for 2012, welcomed to Oxford by several previous winners including Julian Assange, had published incontrovertible proof that Iran discontinued their nuclear weapons project back in 2003. This isn't the type of thing the White House and the Pentagon want the public at large to be aware of.
The screenplay for Steven Spielberg's new WikiLeaks movie project begins with a scene totally out of context: somewhere in Iran, nuclear scientists are putting the finishing touches on a nuclear weapon.
Yet Iran remains a country - admittedly with a wacky undemocratic government - that's surrounding on all sides at the borders themselves by 45 (forty five) US military bases.
It was this and other things Julian Assange was to speak about at the Sam Adams Award ceremony. This had to be stopped in some way, or at least thwarted and neutralised.
Oxford Union sabotaged the audio feed from the Ecuadorean embassy for Julian's speech. This is heard distinctly immediately Assange begins talking. The sound returns miraculously as soon as his speech is over.
Someone also sabotaged the planned direct streaming from the embassy. The word was simply to not get out.
Oxford Union spent two days, according to their own version of the truth, redacting the green screen background to Assange. The background was footage from the famous Collateral Murder video. Oxford Union claimed - falsely - that this footage was the property of the US government. The footage had of course been widely distributed online for over two years. And yet wonder of wonders: with two days work to remove that background, they didn't attend to the missing audio feed.
WikiLeaks managed to salvage the original transmission so people can see and hear what they were supposed to see and hear.
There was a claim that this was not at all about WikiLeaks and truth but about Julian's tenuous situation in the Ecuadorean embassy, but the actions of those at the Oxford Union responsible for this scandal blew it. The background to the feed from the embassy had nothing to do with copyright, even less to do with nutbag allegations about Assange's person emanating from Stockholm. The entire effort was designed to reduce the impact of what Julian Assange intended to say.
Everything you see, read, and hear is there for a reason, Assange told the audience. News as you read it is not quite the same thing as reading a Twitter feed or any other social media site. A spurious opening movie scene with no connection or context, a damaged audio feed, distracting demonstrations with ostensibly little public support - these aren't accidents.
Mainstream journalists have blood on their hands, said Julian Assange. The same holds for the fools and tools at Oxford, for Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and for Steven Spielberg.
Protest to the Guardian
The Guardian were also part of the setup, not surprising as they're profiting hugely off Spielberg's movie and any success in covering up what they've been up to. Alan Rusbridger, Ian Katz, David Leigh, Luke Harding, Nick Davies, Heather Brooke, James Ball: these are some of the most despicable members of the dying 'Old Media'.
But this time around, and in perfect sync with everyone else - including Sundance - they picked on writer Amelia Hill to try to stick in the daggers. 'Not much support for Assange at Oxford Union', she wrote. The Sam Adams Award winners - who'd actually cosponsored the event with Oxford - immediately protested.
The Guardian dutifully reprinted the protest. Sort of. Below you can see the original together with what the Guardian published.
If the Guardian could 'find no allies' of Julian Assange (Report, 24 January), it did not look very hard. They could be found among the appreciative audience at the Oxford Union, and in our group seated at the front: the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. Many in our group, which cosponsored the event, had travelled considerable distances to confer the 10th annual Sam Adams award on Dr Thomas Fingar for his work overseeing the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that revealed the absence of an Iranian nuclear weaponisation programme since 2003. Many of us spoke about the need for integrity in intelligence, describing the ethical dilemma that confronts government employees who witness illegal activity, including serious threats to public safety. However none of this, nor any aspect of Dr Fingar's acceptance speech, made it into your article.
Ann Wright Retired US army colonel and foreign service officer of US state department, Ray McGovern Retired CIA analyst, Elizabeth Murray Retired CIA analyst, Coleen Rowley Retired FBI agent, Annie Machon Former MI5 intelligence officer, Thomas Drake Former National Security Agency official, Craig Murray Former British ambassador, David MacMichael Retired CIA analyst, Brady Kiesling Former foreign service officer, US department of state, Todd Pierce Retired US army major, judge advocate, Guantánamo defence counsel
Amelia Hill recruited as the new 'hatchet man' for the Guardian.
Dear Sir
With regard to the 24 January article in the Guardian entitled 'Julian Assange Finds No Allies and Tough Queries in Oxford University Talk', we question whether the newspaper's reporter was actually present at the event, since the account contains so many false and misleading statements.
If the Guardian could 'find no allies' of Mr Assange, it did not look very hard! They could be found among the appreciative audience of the packed Oxford Union Debate Hall, and - in case you missed us - in the group seated right at the front of the Hall: the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.
Many in our group - which, you might be interested to know cosponsored the event with Oxford Union - had traveled considerable distances at our own expense to confer the 10th annual Sam Adams award to Dr Thomas Fingar for his work on overseeing the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that revealed the lack of an Iranian nuclear weaponisation program.
Many of us spoke in turn about the need for integrity in intelligence, describing the terrible ethical dilemma that confronts government employees who witness illegal activity including serious threats to public safety and fraud, waste and abuse.
But none of this made it into what was supposed to pass for a news article; neither did any aspect of the acceptance speech delivered by Dr Fingar. Also, why did the Guardian fail to provide even one salient quote from Mr Assange's substantial twenty-minute address?
By censoring the contributions of the Sam Adams Associates and the speeches by Dr Fingar and Mr Assange and by focusing exclusively on tawdry and unproven allegations against Mr Assange, rather than on the importance of exposing war crimes and maintaining integrity in intelligence processes, the Guardian has succeeded in diminishing none but itself.
Sincerely,
The Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence:
Ann Wright (retired Army Colonel and Foreign Service Officer of US State Department), Ray McGovern (retired CIA analyst), Elizabeth Murray (retired CIA analyst), Coleen Rowley (retired FBI agent), Annie Machon (former MI5 intelligence officer), Thomas Drake (former NSA official), Craig Murray (former British Ambassador), David MacMichael (retired CIA analyst), Brady Kiesling (former Foreign Service Officer of US State Department), and Todd Pierce (retired US Army Major, Judge Advocate, Guantánamo Defense Counsel).
Everything you see, read, and hear is there for a reason. Every time something is omitted, it's for a reason as well.