To leak or not to leak, that is the question

Excuse my bowdlerizing Shakespeare’s line from Hamlet’s great speech, “To be or not to be.” Apropos, “to leak” substitutes for “to be,” as in being alive, conscious and conscionable.

But then how could a man like Julian Assange, fearless whistleblower, not choose to tell the truth, spilling hundreds of thousands of purportedly classified military documents, allegedly from Bradley Manning, for public viewing. Those included the cold-blooded gunning down of Iraq citizens, including a Reuters cameraman, from helicopters. Is not transparency at the heart of a democratic society? Manning had originally transferred them as a U.S. Army soldier to his personal computer. Also Manning, the government claims, communicated national defense information to an unauthorized source, which presumably is Assange. The right or wrong of that action and the ethical question, “to be or not to be” which Shakespeare posed centuries ago, remains absolutely relevant to both men’s fates in the light of these events. The speech continues . . .

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of trouble
And by opposing them end them. To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to . . .”

Either you do the right thing or suffer endlessly for it, Shakespeare is saying. From deeper in the monologue comes the key line, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” But neither of these men thankfully are cowards but the bravest of the brave, knowing the effect that the release of hundreds of thousands of the documents would make. But publishing the truth is the ultimate duty of the journalist as well as the prescribed duty of the soldier who has knowledge of serious wrongdoing committed by his country, especially in times of war.

In fact, the entire Hamlet speech is about responsibility to take action and not be passive in dire times. In Prince Hamlet’s case, the tragedy was that he ultimately acted too late in avenging his father’s regicide by his uncle and mother, the Queen. And so, he was killed himself, acting with too little too late. But these men are alive and fighting for their lives here and now, fully committed and conscious.

Nevertheless, Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden, accused of raping two women, though he claims the sex was consensual. The two women originally came to the police asking if Assange could be submitted to an HIV-test. In response, the police opened an investigation. One woman was 26, the other 31. Frankly, this seems more like an arranged railroading of Assange for his WikiLeaks than any for-real sexual damage to either of the women. Linked is the full summary of the Swedish Judicial Authority v Julian Assange.

In addition, the article above, mentions that Assange has had money problems created for him in proceeding with publishing. He needs £2.2 million to continue. He claims that he faces “[a] financial ‘blockade’ [made by] Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union,” which destroyed 95% of WikiLeaks’ revenue, costing tens of millions of pounds in lost donations since November. Imagine that. The banksters calling the kettle black.

As to Bradley E. Manning, he was born December 17, 1987, and is now 24 years old, a homosexual, and a prodigy of truth. He was arrested in May 2010 and held in prison for 20 months, 18 of them in solitary, much of that time butt-naked, since the Army “feared” he might hang himself. Of course, this in itself is torture, aided and abetted by the president, who is commander in chief, actively condemning Manning and pre-sentencing him of heinous crimes. The president should know better, given the slew of broken campaign promises he provided to those who voted for and believed in him, including the end of the “dumb wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he continued or accelerated.

So, hypocrisy abounds. Interestingly, Daniel Ellsberg, the great whistleblower of the Vietnam war lies and atrocities, says that Obama’s pre-conviction of Manning should in and of itself cause the case to be suspended. To quote Shakespeare’s Hamlet once more and a little help with the language . . .

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

“Contumely” is insolent treatment or language. “Quietus” is death or something that causes death. A bare “bodkin” can be a dagger or knitting needle and “fardles” are grunts and sweat. “Bourn” literally means “limit” or “boundary.” To cross the border into the country of death, Hamlet says, is an irreversible act. The question is have Assange and Manning crossed that border? I hope not. I hope they live for a long time as heroes for their courage in expunging the ugly secrets WikiLeaks provides. They made the choice to be, to leak the lies, and made all of us safer and stronger.

Presently, the military defense is resting its case, content to describe Manning as prone to fits of rage, a troubled person, and, of course, a homosexual, which guilds the charges in the homophobic mind. Who wouldn’t be troubled or enraged, sitting alone in a cell for 20 months with the threat of life or death hanging over him?

Pfc. Bradley Manning’s defense rested its case after calling only two witnesses who testified about his behavioral problems and lax security controls on the computers in his Baghdad office. RussiaToday.com reported that 38 of the witnesses Manning’s defense wanted to call were not permitted to appear.

The hearing was recessed until closing arguments yesterday, after which the case’s presiding officer will have until Jan. 16 to recommend whether the 24-year-old Oklahoma native should be court-martialed for aiding the enemy vis-à-vis the docs classified nature and a score of other charges. Read the linked article for all the remaining details of the trial so far. It would appear the fix is in.

And so, we turn another dark page in history as the good guys, the truth-tellers, become the felons, and the felons, from finance to the military, walk away sanctimoniously. So strange what this world has become, especially in its descent into hegemony, primarily led by the Bush/Obama endless War on Terror, whose focus and meaning have been lost in regime changes, human slaughter, asset-grabbing and sending NATO to protect the innocent. Whatever happens, remember the innocent are Manning and Assange, and they need to be protected by our voices.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer, life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.