ELEPHRAME

What is Julian Assange?

Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks, a site that exposes information about people and institutions from whistle-blowers. He’s most famous for facilitating the release of over 200,000 U.S. diplomatic cables provided to Wikileaks by Bradley Manning and is currently in the news for having been given asylum by Ecuador.

The following is a list of some of the strongest perspectives on Assange. Perhaps they’ll help you make up your mind about him or change the conclusions that you’ve already come to.

What is Julian Assange: A Terrorist
Who said it: Joe Biden, Newt Gingrich, Peter King, Mitch McConnell
Their evidence: Assange knowingly released information that had a significant potential to threaten both the national security of the United States and the safety of certain individuals.
Sources: Biden, Gingrich, King, McConnell

What is Julian Assange: He is an agitator intent on damaging our government.
Who said it: Diane Feinstein
Her evidence: ”This latest WikiLeaks release demonstrates Mr. Assange’s willingness to disseminate plans, comments, discussions and other communications that compromise our country.” 
Source: Prosecute Assange Under the Espionage Act

What is Julian Assange: Valuable
Who said it: Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers whistle-blower)
His evidence: ”He is serving our democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country.”
Source: ‘Assange Is in Some Danger’

What is Julian Assange: Important
Who said it: David Samuels
His evidence: ”Since 1997, Assange has devoted a great deal of his time to inventing encryption systems that make it possible for human rights workers and others to protect and upload sensitive data. […]Wikileaks is a powerful new way for reporters and human rights advocates to leverage global information technology systems to break the heavy veil of government and corporate secrecy that is slowly suffocating the American press.”
Source: The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange

What is Julian Assange: Unreliable or Untrustworthy
Who said it: Ted Van Dyk
His Evidence: ”In any case, there is today no equivalent of the New York Times editorial board which, in 1971, considered the matter long and thoroughly before deciding to publish the Pentagon Papers. For good or ill, the WikiLeaks information is coming in gushers, with no telling whether it is true, false, or in-between.”
Source: WikiLeaks: A gusher of information for no apparent public purpose

Julian Assange in his own words: ”I am an information activist. You get the information out to the people. We believe a richer intellectual and historical record that is fuller and more accurate is in itself intrinsically good, and gives people the tools to make intelligent decisions.”
Source: Julian Assange: the whistleblower