I remember, back in 2004, looking at the abhorrent images from Abu Ghraib, reading about the Torture Memos, and saying to myself: "No matter the reasons, WE should not be doing this." By that "WE" I meant the American Nation. But, of course, WE wouldn't even know anything about it (as we don't most of the time), if the information about the habitual abuse, sanctioned by Top Brass, wasn't leaked to individuals with international media connections.
Nowadays, it seems like WE are drowning in secrets: major corporations, banks, technology developers, military, police, political parties, various government agencies (how about that IRS exposé!) – everyone is hiding something. It's as if Lyndon Johnson has never signed the Freedom of Information Act. I have to be honest, it makes me feel betrayed. It hurts that this is what happens with an international symbol of Freedom and Democracy.
And, while Julian Assange, as a person, creeps me out and I'm highly suspicious of his motivations, I cannot help but appreciate his drive for dismantling the spider web of cover-ups, finding and leaking every bit of information he can get his hands on. He will be in the public eye again this summer and fall with the release of two movies about him: Alex Gibney's documentary We Steal Secrets, the Story of Wikileaks (reviewed by David Edelstein in 05/27/13 issue of New York Magazine) and Bill Condon's feature The Fifth Estate, based on Luke Harding book, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Hence the quotes:
"…There being so many hornets and soul-sucking ghouls and dark subterranean forces in this and the last presidential administration that we're practically living in Harry Potter world."
David Edelstein
"We're going to fuck them all; fuck the world and let it flower into something new."
Julian Assange
"No matter how you cut it, he's done us a massive service, to wake us up to the Zombielike way we absorb our news."
Benedict Cumberbatch
The Frustrated CFO 