Is WikiLeaks Release Of Information A Crime?

Dear Reader, This brief letter about WikiLeaks was published on December 5, 2010 in The Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles area newspaper.

The latest WikiLeaks release of 250,000 secret U.S. government documents has upset top officials. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called those who released them "criminals, first and foremost," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed the leak was an "attack on the international community" and Attorney General Eric Holder said the U.S. would try to prosecute those responsible.

What nonsense. In 1789, when James Madison presented the Bill of Rights for ratification it included the First Amendment right of free speech. At that time, the U.S. was viewed as a grand experiment in which the people would rule themselves. Elsewhere in the world, kings, emperors and other sovereigns ruled, often with an iron fist, and parliaments where they existed were a lesser voice.

But for this U.S. grand experiment to work, the people had to be free to express themselves without government intimidation and their press had to be free to investigate government and publish the results to keep everyone informed and hold the government accountable.. As Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." But if people are not informed, how vigilant can they be?

Today, the U.S. keeps most of its major actions top secret, the peoples' right to know be damned. Vital information about corporate bailouts, wars and the economy are censored and the news media seldom penetrates that censorship. Now WikiLeaks is informing Americans and people all over the world and U.S. government officials respond in anger and make threats. No surprise from a government that has evolved into one answerable only to lobbyists and their corporate benefactors.

If we want to restore the U.S. democracy, we as citizens must be informed and must get involved. Thank goodness for WikiLeaks. As Thomas Jefferson also said, "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."



Dick Kazan, Palos Verdes Estates