Mint Quick Edit | Assange is free: Information, not so much
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally a free man. He walked out on bail from a UK jail after reaching a plea deal that will have him plead guilty in a US court on a single charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose national security secrets, in lieu of relief on other counts. He won’t have to face further jail time in the US, as he has already served longer than what the punishment entails.
While this is good news for all supporters of free speech and journalistic freedom, the world still has a problem of over-secrecy. The explosive internal papers put out by WikiLeaks had revealed US military excesses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus exposed, the US government had come down hard on Assange, attempting to try him for espionage, which forced him to seek asylum abroad in a bid to avoid extradition to the US.
That long ordeal is about to end. What we’re left with is an imperfect world in which too much is hidden from electorates who may disapprove of how states deploy force. Some things need to be kept confidential, but this should be a small list.
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