Posted by
Bert Chapman on Monday, July 26, 2010 7:41:43 PM
Extraordinary rendition refers to transporting suspected foreign terrorists or criminal suspects to third countries for interrogation and imprisonment. The perpetrators of the leak of highly sensitive information on U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, whether they are Americans or any other nationality, should face the highest possible punishment. If we can capture these individuals and harshly interrogate or exterminate them in third countries go ahead and do it. If we exfiltrate them from their own countries and bring them to the U.S. and administer justice than that's fine too.
Since the Pentagon Papers, self-appointed leftist zealots and "advocacy organizations" have felt it was their sole prerogative to determine if classified information they have illicitly obtained is published. Given the ideological animosity felt by these groups toward the Nixon Administration four decades ago, such hostility is understandable even if leaking and publishing this information on U.S. operations in Vietnam was wrong. Remarkably, this leftist animus toward governmental and military authority has been extended by Wikileaks and comparable groups to their Messiah Barack Obama. Wikileaks founder Julien Assange is obviously an extremely stupid and reckless individual who seeks to glorify and enrich himself and his organization by aiding and abetting the Islamist enemies of western civilization. The clear leftist orientation of his ideological compatriots is evidenced by their providing this information to leftist publications like the New York Times, London's The Guardian, and the leftist German magazine Der Spiegel. The stunning and growing synchronicity between leftist western secularists and Islamist extremists is an extremely appalling phenomenon whose fruits we are now seeing.
Democratic governments have done a terrible job punishing those who leak classified information. This is not something that can be resolved by conventional legal proceedings. Since this action affects military and intelligence operations and may cost the lives of U.S. and allied soldiers and intelligence agents, the U.S. Government should also use the resources at its disposal to hunt down, capture, and even kill individuals like Assange who knowingly endanger U.S. security regardless of how unpopular this may be with the chattering classes of self-appointed guardians of "free expression" and the "free Internet" or their own national governments. These individuals should be tried in military court, regardless of their civilian status or country of origin. We live in a globalized and highly interconnected information drenched world and treason against the United States can be committed by individuals who are not Americans. We should also use USA Patriot Act or other statutory powers to seize the financial assets of these individuals and organizations. There should be no sanctuary for such individuals and organizations and the U.S. must be willing to use extraterritorial jurisdiction to apprehend these enemies.
We also need to upgrade our document security systems to impose maximum penalties on those who knowingly and illegally transfer such highly sensitive information. This case, again, demonstrates the Obama Administration's incompetence in conducting national security and intelligence policy. How many American and allied personnel will pay for these leaks with their lives because of this treachery? We can begin partially rectifying the damage this egregiously incompetent administration has done to national security when the November elections come.