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Julian Assange


END THE ASSANGE INDICTMENT CHARADE


AS THE U.K. HIGH COURT ALLOWS A NEW APPEAL FOR JULIAN ASSANGE, PRESSURE MOUNTS
ON JOE BIDEN TO DROP CHARGES. HE SHOULD.

Patrick Eddington | 5.23.2024 2:00 PM

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(Photo 175384998 © John Gomez | Dreamstime.com)

Australian "radical transparency" activist Julian Assange got a boost this week
in his efforts to avoid extradition from the U.K. to the U.S. to face multiple
Espionage Act charges. On Monday, the U.K.'s High Court ruled that Assange could
once again appeal the U.S. government's attempt to extradite him.

American national security bureaucrats and prominent political figures have
never forgiven Assange and WikiLeaks for exposing clear-cut war crimes committed
by U.S. forces in Iraq during the George W. Bush administration. The U.S.
government used its own document classification system and policy to conceal
those war crimes, which included the murder of journalists and Iraqi civilians
caught on video from a U.S. Army helicopter.

Yet the coverage of the High Court's most recent decision in Assange's favor by
outlets such as the BBC, the Associated Press, ABC, and The New York Times
includes no reference to that fact. There's no mention of how the "leader of the
free world" used patently undemocratic methods not only to hide criminal conduct
by its military but also to politically and legally destroy Assange and Chelsea
Manning—the whistleblower who leaked the helicopter murder video to WikiLeaks.

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Over the years, Assange and his allies have slowly but surely been gaining
support to get the U.S. government to drop the case. One of Assange's most
significant victories came in February 2024 when Australian Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese joined 85 of his colleagues in Parliament in supporting a
motion calling on the U.S. government to end the legal case against Assange "so
that Mr. Assange can return home to his family in Australia."

While Albanese's rhetorical support is helpful, he could do more to resolve this
matter quickly. For decades, Australia and the U.S. have operated joint
intelligence-related bases on Australian soil, which are vital to the U.S.
national security establishment. If Albanese were to suggest that a failure to
drop the charges against Assange would force Australia to reconsider hosting
U.S. intelligence operations, it would send a clear message to the Biden
administration about the high cost of continuing the Assange prosecution.

Some might argue that such a threat could backfire. The dispute in 1985 over New
Zealand's ban on U.S. nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships docking at its
ports led to a major rupture in relations. However, the geopolitical situation
in the Pacific is far different today, as is Australia's defense and security
relationship with the United States.

In light of China's growing influence in the region, a threat by Australia to
reevaluate security cooperation with the U.S. unless the Assange indictment is
dropped would send political shock waves through Washington. Just last month the
Biden administration floated a trial balloon in the press about dropping the
Assange indictment. A not-so-subtle nudge by Albanese, coming on the heels of
this week's High Court ruling, might be enough to convince Biden that it is time
to close the books on the Assange episode once and for all.

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NEXT: Congress' Budget Process Is Broken. Here's One Idea for Fixing It.

Patrick Eddington is a former CIA analyst and House senior policy advisor, and
is a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato
Institute.

Julian AssangeJournalismAustraliaMediaMedia CriticismWhistleblowersChelsea
ManningBiden AdministrationLaw & Government
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