Businesses, including Amazon.com, began to sever ties with WikiLeaks after the group released a trove of diplomatic cables that revealed U.S. thinking on issues like North Korea, Russia and China. The documents have caused the United States widespread embarassment.
U.S. government officials are investigating the possibility of filing criminal charges against Assange and he is also facing rape charges from two women in Sweden.
Assange's supporters say the timing of the charges appear politically motivated. A WikiLeaks spokesperson said the refusal of Mastercard and others to allow use of the services the group uses to raise money amounts to an attack on free speech. Dubbed "Operation Payback," a group of "Hacktivists" have been causing havoc at several sites. They even attacked Sarah Palin's website.
"We are seeing growing support for us, especially in the last few days when we've had these outrageous attacks on us by companies that are bowing to political pressure from political forces in the United States," Kristinn Hrafnsson told ABC News Wednesday. "We are getting seriously close to censorship in the United States and that must surely go against the fundamental values that the country is based upon."
But lawyers for the two women who have accussed Assange of rape say that they are being treated like they did something wrong.
"They were attacked by Mr. Assange and then they are treated like perpetrators themselves," attorney Claes Borgstrom told ABC News. "He has molested them and then sacrificed them for his own interests."
Assange has denied all wrongdoing but turned himself into British authorities earlier this week. His supporters fear that the United States will try to extradite him here to face criminal charges while he is in custody.
If Assange did nothing illegal to obtain the documents, it is clear he is protected under this country's standards of free speech. What he did is no different than what any newspaper might do in publishing secret documents. The burden is on the United States to keep the documents secret.
At the same time, the women who accussed Assange deserve to have their day in court. He has the right to mount a defense against the charges and to not be the victim of a political prosecution.
What needs to happen is a moment of clarity. There's been a lot of grandstanding on the issue. Sen. Joe Lieberman said Assange should be charged with treason. The only problem is that Assange is an Australian citizen.
In the rush to denounce the release of the documents, this country could craft something that actually restricts free speech. It's similar to what happened after 9/11 when laws were created under the Patriot Act that many say violated the freedom of Americans.
Once again, the United States is starting to look like a country that says one thing and does another. How can we criticize China for shutting down Internet access? Our European counterparts are starting to think we are a little nuts, just after we have started to earn back some of our credibility on the national stage.
"The response has been vicious, coordinated and potentially comprehensive," he said, and presents a "delicious irony" that "it is now the so-called liberal democracies that are clamoring to shut WikiLeaks down," wrote John Naughton of The Guardian of London.
That's not what this country needs.
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Source: http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/12/09/wikileaks-supporters-go-on-the-attack/
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