rigorousintuition.ca

I'm a "hero" and it makes me want to puke. This week I was voted a "Hero of the Media" in one of those fairly harmless polls that are little more than thermometers of face time on the idiot box, this one in the Nation.

But this Nation Magazine gong is shared with Julian Assange, impresario of WikiLeaks. Yuck.
A friend just compared hero Assange to Daniel Ellsberg. Oh, please!

Ellsberg let out the truth about the War in Vietnam with a noose around his neck. He was arrested and, he told me, he expected to spend the rest of his days in prison. (Lucky for Ellsberg, this was well before Bush and Obama repealed the Constitution.)

Question: Do you remember the reporter who put his byline on the story of Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers? Of course not; because the Times reporter didn't risk a thing. Julian Assange didn't risk a thing either - except excess TV exposure and an excess of blonde groupies. The hero of the Wikileaks/Guardian/Times/Spiegel exposure is Pvt. Bradley Manning.

NO ONE gives a fruit fly's rectum about this heroic man now rotting in Obama's prison cell, facing a 52-year sentence. Not [That includes] That includes Mr. Assange, who did nothing to protect Bradley and doing nothing now.

My only hope is that, when Judgment is passed, Assange will join his fellows in that ring of Hell devoted to those who wear the mantle of courage stolen from others. I imagine Julian will burn quite nicely with that white silk scarf he sports around his neck.

But it's not just the Wicked Leaker who abandoned Manning. The New York Times, happy to take the bows for printing material this soldier risked his freedom for, has not lifted one finger for this brave man.

The Times, you'll recall, spent gazillions on the legal defense of that Defense Department camp follower Judith Miller, but not a penny for Manning. The Times editorialized in high dudgeon that Judith should not be jailed, but on Manning, you hear only the sounds of complicit silence

The Times greedily feasted on Manning's information, sold many an ad, then left their source's carcass to rot in a military dungeon. IS THERE NO SHAME?

This week, I am headed off to the Caspian Sea while struggling with ways to protect the skin and blood of three sources. I have decided to cancel one of the meetings, lose the story, rather than put a man of greater character than mine on the legal gallows.

I wish to thank, sincerely, those who voted me a hero, but a hero I am not. I'm the guy with the pencil, the reporter, telling you the truly courageous, the folks - like Bradley and Ellsberg - who put their careers, and sometimes their corpses, on the line.

I once reported on the slaughter of fifty gold miners in Africa. They were working a site desired by a company on whose board of advisors sat George Bush Sr.

One of my sources, Tundu Lissu, for secretly passing the evidence to me from inside Tanzania, was charged with sedition. My paper, The Guardian, faced a ruinous lawsuit by Bush's buddies. Me too. The paper was rightly frightened (me too) and hoped I would withdraw the story. But I could not, would not, abandon Lissu.
I have only two jobs: to report on the heroics of others - and protect them.

And my thanks to "Pig Man #1" and "Caspian Man" for trusting me with your stories and your safety.
Pvt. Manning is hero. Assange is a zero.

It is the Mannings and Lissus and Ellsbergs who will save this sorry world, not preening camera-philiacs.

There is only one thing to do if I am to sleep tonight: I am asking The Nation to remove my name - and replace it with Pvt. Bradley Manning's.

A note: If you have a document marked "confidential" or "eyes only," go to GregPalast.com and "contact Greg." Honestly, there is no perfect protection for whistleblowers, but it won't be me who will give you away. No matter what.

Wombaticus Rex wrote:Judith Miller was in the CIA, Bradley Manning is a soldier.

Palast is smarter than this...it's a weird piece. Maybe he was drunk. Why would he not even mention Llamo's role here?

Also, WikiLeaks has other sources besides Manning, most of whom are still safely anonymous.

Manning was the one taking risks for what he believed in while Assange gets all the attention and lauding in the press

Burnt Hill wrote:"Tough titty' havent heard that one in a while!
Reminds me of "if you dont like it- lump it"...
Also

Manning was the one taking risks for what he believed in while Assange gets all the attention and lauding in the press

not sure how accurate this is, in fact, its awfully inaccurate isnt it?
On edit- thanks wintler..

wintler2 wrote:If Palast was a journalist he'd know that, but it seems he's just an entertainer.

Wombaticus Rex wrote:Hi, Stephen! I was wondering when you'd get around to interrogating me. I've been seeing how you work here for a few months now, and I just wanted to let you know, I'm not impressed. You should probably find someone else to play with. As usual, most of your interrogation is rhetorical, not an actual question -- you're smart enough to understand everything I said, you just want to have the ol' Back & Forth for a few pages. Well, tough titty, old man. Tough titty indeed.

Stephen Morgan wrote:

Wombaticus Rex wrote:Judith Miller was in the CIA, Bradley Manning is a soldier.

What's your point?

Palast is smarter than this...it's a weird piece. Maybe he was drunk. Why would he not even mention Llamo's role here?

Who's Llamo?

Also, WikiLeaks has other sources besides Manning, most of whom are still safely anonymous.

How does that remove the fact that Manning was the one taking risks for what he believed in while Assange gets all the attention and lauding in the press.

Plutonia wrote:David House and Jane Hamsher have been blocked from seeing Bradley Manning and are currently being detained without explanation, vehicle searched and impounded.

Unfolding on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/davidmhouse/statu ... 4249453568

http://twitter.com/#!/janehamsher
https://twitter.com/#!/davidmhouse

Glenn Greenwald is following:
https://twitter.com/#!/ggreenwald