Thread: Why The Julian Assange Case Is Important

John Pilger, who has closely followed the Assange case, was interviewed by Sweden's leading morning newspaper, Dagens Nyheter. The following is the complete text of the interview, of which only a fraction was published in Sweden:

Why The Assange Case Is Important

He should be afforded the same courtesy every other accused rapist receives. He should also be subject to arrest and prosecution. It doesn't seem that difficult a concept to me.

Pilger is, of course, an extreme left wing anti-American, anti-western muckraker posing as a journalist. He fancies himself as some sort of anti-Imperialist crusader but he's just another far left loon.

It doesn't take too much upstairs to see the whole thing is politically motivated. I bet if it was anyone else this wouldn't happen.

And your attempt to slur John Pilger is childish and laughable. He's won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award on two occasions, and his documentaries, screened to international audiences, have gained awards in the UK and worldwide. He's received several honorary doctorates and human rights and journalism awards, including the Richard Dimbleby Award for factual reporting at the 1990 BAFTA Awards.

Originally Posted by shanners

It doesn't take too much upstairs to see the whole thing is politically motivated. I bet if it was anyone else this wouldn't happen.

And your attempt to slur John Pilger is childish and laughable. He's won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award on two occasions, and his documentaries, screened to international audiences, have gained awards in the UK and worldwide. He's received several honorary doctorates and human rights and journalism awards, including the Richard Dimbleby Award for factual reporting at the 1990 BAFTA Awards.

Don't know much about Pilger, but the case against Assange certainly appears to be of a purely political nature. Don't stand in front of the War Machine, boys and girls, it don't brake for nobody.

Originally Posted by shanners

It doesn't take too much upstairs to see the whole thing is politically motivated. I bet if it was anyone else this wouldn't happen.

And your attempt to slur John Pilger is childish and laughable. He's won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award on two occasions, and his documentaries, screened to international audiences, have gained awards in the UK and worldwide. He's received several honorary doctorates and human rights and journalism awards, including the Richard Dimbleby Award for factual reporting at the 1990 BAFTA Awards.

He's still an left wing extremist who's spent most of his career trashing the West and the United States in particular. Having his documentaries screened to fellow leftists all over the world means nothing. The Richard Dimbleby Award? Wow - color me impressed.

http://cifwatch.com/cif-contributors/john-pilger/

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/i...asp?indid=1763

Just another anti-semitic jew baiting piece of crap posing as a journalist.

Originally Posted by newfriend

Don't know much about Pilger, but the case against Assange certainly appears to be of a purely political nature. Don't stand in front of the War Machine, boys and girls, it don't brake for nobody.

Those damned Swedes always have been a sneaky part of the american war machine! Good one!

Originally Posted by Wiggen

Those damned Swedes always have been a sneaky part of the american war machine! Good one!

They're Swedes, not saints. They're not immune to the "American methods" of persuasion, no matter how much they'd like to boast about the purity of their democratic system. Think the Clintons met Carl Bildt at a prayer group?

Yeah, chalk the Swedes up as just another American puppet state. You do realize you are becoming a joke with this nonsense, right?

Your hero Assange is, in all probablility, a grubby little rapist who's hiding out to avoid the consequences of his actions. Screw him and all those who support him.

Originally Posted by Wiggen

Yeah, chalk the Swedes up as just another American puppet state. You do realize you are becoming a joke with this nonsense, right?

Your hero Assange is, in all probablility, a grubby little rapist who's hiding out to avoid the consequences of his actions. Screw him and all those who support him.

My hero? Hardly.

It's not a revolutionary suggestion, Sweden likes political favors as much as the rest of the world. Maybe they have a higher asking price, and maybe we have deep pockets, especially for a guy who's given us as much grief as he has.

The fact remains that, thus far, the case of serious wrongdoing against him is paper thin. To date, he stands accused of 1 count of refusing to wear a prophylactic and 1 count of having one break under duress, and has been charged with neither, though that appears a formality at this point.

Originally Posted by Wiggen

John Pilger « CiF Watch

That entire article smacks of propaganda. So looking closely:

In July 2005, Pilger published an article in the London ‘New Statesman’ where he asserted among other things that there had been no suicide bombings in Israel before Ariel Sharon became prime minister. The next week the New Statesman published this letter:

My 20-year-old daughter Alisa was murdered in a suicide bombing in April 1995, years before Sharon came to power. Islamic Jihad carried out that attack and proudly took credit for the martyrdom of the bomber. What other facts does John Pilger have wrong?

Stephen M Flatow
Jersey City, US

None of the links to the New Statesman work so we are left to believe that blogger who got it all hopelessly wrong, and maybe it was intentional. In his film Palestine is Still the Issue, Pilger, at 15.20, states, "Suicide attacks against civilians are clearly crimes and they are used by extremists but the extremists rely on the brutality of the occupation and the despair of their young volunteers. Some extraordinary Israelis are brave enough to recognize this. Rami Elhanan is one Israeli father who knows about suicide bombing: on September 4th, 1997, his daughter, Smadar, was killed by one."

What other facts does CiF Watch get wrong?

John Pilger - Discover the Networks

In the summary this states, "Praised ... the Marxist Sandinistas of Nicaragua"

Ever stop to think why? Probably because this court ruled that the US was guilty of supporting international terrorism:

The International Court of Justice yesterday ruled that US support to the contras in Nicaragua is illegal, and demanded that the US pay reparations to the Sandinistas

Which also explains his "anti-American" stance.

But wait, there's more:

' "If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents," George Bush announced on the day he began bombing Afghanistan, "they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril." I'm glad he said "any government", as there's one which ... requires his urgent attention. For the past 55 years it has been running a terrorist training camp, whose victims massively outnumber the people killed by the attack on New York, the embassy bombings and the other atrocities laid, rightly or wrongly, at al-Qaida's door. The camp is called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or Whisc. It is based in Fort Benning, Georgia, and it is funded by Mr Bush's government.'

Just another anti-semitic jew baiting piece of crap posing as a journalist.

Why do so many people associate valid criticism of Israel's policies as antisemitism? No, John Pilger is a brave and honest journalist. In Palestine is Still the Issue, he interviews Ishay Rosen-Zvi, former Israeli soldier, who says, "This is a huge bluff of the Israeli establishment that every criticism of its policy is antisemitism."

And back to Rami Elhanan. Pilger asks him, "How do you distinguish the feelings of anger that any father would have felt at losing his daughter in such circumstances?" He replies, "Someone who murders little girls is a criminal and should be punished. But if you think from the head and not from the guts and you look what made people do what they do ... you have to ask yourself, have you contributed in any way to this despair and craziness ... the boy whose mother was humiliated in the morning at the checkpoint will commit suicide in the evening ... the suicide bomber was a victim the same as my girl was ... understanding this is part of the way to solving the problem."

Here's another brave outspoken Israeli:

"You have quite a few people (in Israel) who are actually brave beyond belief. They are really putting their life on the line. These are the people who send us information about the army, about military secrets, about war crimes and names of war criminals. So there are quite a few Israelis who are doing incredible work ... For me, to support the Palestinians is an ethical necessity..."

Then he touches on what Ishay Rosen-Zvi was saying above:

"I was accused by Zionists and Jewish anti-Zionists of being racist and anti Semitic, but embarrassingly enough for them, not a single anti Semitic or racist argument has ever been found in my many papers. On the contrary, there is an anti racist attitude that stands at the very core of my criticism of Jewish identity politics and Jewish ideology. I have been writing now for ten years, and for all those years, I have had a note on my web site saying “If you find something racist or anti-Semitic in my writings, let me know. I will apologise and remove it immediately”. And not a single person has ever come up with anything."

Israeli occupation: Calling A Spade A Spade