“Our children won’t know about Assange in the same way that we have lost so many wonderful people. How many people know anything about John Brown, for instance? This great abolitionist who died for fighting for the rights of Black people, for our freedom. They hide these people from us in this very way that they are doing with Julian Assange. They just lock them away, they kill them. And who are we to let this happen?” —Alice Walker
25 OCTOBER—We were in that brief lull when the vaccinated were allowed to attend church service without masks. Or, perhaps those of us sitting in the pews were still wearing them—I don’t clearly recall. But I do remember seeing Pastor Eric Olson’s unmasked face: Down the length of the nave, walking back and forth across the chancel, he delivered his sobering sermon.
Jesus’s life was a confrontation with empire. What are we doing to confront empire?
In a few understated words the unspeakable had been uttered. The shepherd of a small flock in a tiny rural village had just given voice to one of the ugliest unacknowledged truths of our time: The United States is a sprawling military empire, just as Rome had once been.
Yes! I almost screamed with approval and lunged for my purse. Finding paper and pen I began scribbling notes. This was not to be missed.
And then Eric stopped pacing, faced his congregation and threw down the gauntlet:
What are you doing to confront empire?
I glanced around. But the question appeared to have fallen on leaden ears, among people deeply asleep. Why were we not out of our pews? Why were we not yelling and clapping and stomping our feet? Was I the only person aware of the radical turn of events—and its staggering import? Surely not.
For a second time the gauntlet fell, shattering a weighty silence.
What are you doing to confront empire?
* * *
On February 5, 2003 Colin Powell sat before the United Nations and in a carefully choreographed performance delivered what is arguably the most consequential lie ever spoken by a Secretary of State. He accused the Iraq Government of having and hiding weapons of mass destruction, adding his own fabrications to falsified intelligence. United Nations’ weapons inspectors refuted the claim, but by then the drums of war were resounding loudly throughout the land. Reason and restraint were in retreat.
One month later, on March 20, the United States launched its war on Iraq—a country that had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11 and that posed no threat to our national security. It was a war of aggression, a violation of international law. For his part in the deception Powell should have been tried for war crimes at The Hague—along with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and everyone else involved.
Our twenty year war on terror began with a lie. The lie was told by many people—not just Powell. It was uncritically reported by mainstream media and repeated until it carried all the weight of truth. Ultimately, our long war cost $8 trillion and resulted in nearly one million deaths. Thus begging the question others have asked: who are the terrorists?
* * *
Seven years after Powell gave voice to his infamous falsehood, Wikileaks published Collateral Murder, a video showing U.S. soldiers in an Apache helicopter firing on unarmed civilians in the streets of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Two Reuters journalists were among more than a dozen people killed. Filmed by the U.S. military in July of 2007, the footage was part of a massive trove of documents leaked by whistleblower Bradly (now Chelsea) Manning. It was the documentation of a war crime, for which no one has ever been charged.
I cannot recommend anyone watch Collateral Murder. It is sickening and heartbreaking. The glee of the gunmen all too apparent. The sadism palpable. I finally watched it after years of refusing to do so, and then only to bear witness to what our empire routinely unleashes upon innocent others.
And it is routine. On August 29 of this year, the Biden Administration drone murdered ten innocent Afghan citizens—seven of them children. The decision was based on—What else?—faulty U.S. intelligence. (Is intelligence really the word we want?)
Normally we don’t hear about these atrocities. We aren’t meant to know about them.
* * *
The job of journalism and journalists is simple: to investigate and expose the abuses, crimes and corruptions of governments, institutions, and powerful people. In short: to confront power. That is precisely what Wikileaks and Julian Assange did.
Indeed, Julian Assange was greatly admired by Democrats for exposing the war crimes of George W. Bush’s Administration. But when Wikileaks exposed similar war crimes committed by Obama and his Administration—and, later, the pervasive corruption of the DNC—the entire liberal establishment turned on Assange with a vengeance. Never had hypocrisy been more transparent.
It should go without say that good journalists aren’t partisan. They don’t serve power and they don’t pander to political parties.
In publishing documents leaked by Manning and others, Wikileaks and Julian Assange embarrassed our government and military. They struck a significant blow to empire. Now the empire strikes back.
The prosecution of Julian Assange—begun by Donald Trump and being carried to completion by Joe Biden—threatens the already crumbling foundation of our democracy—a free press. But it also reveals something absolutely essential to the maintenance of the U.S. empire: where it matters most—substance as opposed to style—there is not one degree of separation between red and blue. Readers please note: our ability to successfully confront empire depends upon our understanding of that crucial if extremely uncomfortable point—along with all that it implies.
* * *
Last week our country celebrated Colin Powell. This week our country goes before a British court to argue for Julian Assange’s extradition. Should Assange be brought to the United States he will face seventeen counts of violating the Espionage Act. He will be tried before a secret military tribunal without a jury and away from the public’s eye. He will likely be sentenced to 170 years.
Two men: One served empire; the other confronted it. One man was richly rewarded for his service. And the other?
Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture for the United Nations, visited Assange in the Ecuadoran Embassy and most recently in Belmarsh Prison. This was his conclusion:
“It was obvious that Mr. Assange’s health has been seriously affected by the extremely hostile and arbitrary environment he has been exposed to for many years,” the expert said. “Most importantly, in addition to physical ailments, Mr. Assange showed all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma.
“The evidence is overwhelming and clear,” the expert said. “Mr. Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.
Whatever you may think you know about Julian Assange, know this: he has been the victim of a massive smear campaign. The empire has thrown all it has at Assange in order to destroy him and thereby send a message to other journalists.
As Alice Walker asked in the above quote,
And who are we to let this happen?
Our freedom depends upon Assange being free. And his freedom is in our hands.
* * *
Thus do I break my too long silence.
Consider this a gauntlet thrown.
Good and interesting read, Cara. Definitely something to think about.