by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
The illegal and unwarranted prosecution of Julian Assange by the US Government in a British court, if court it is and not a Star Chamber, is in fact the prosecution of the First Amendment. It will prevent journalists in the future from informing the public of criminal activity by government. This is already the case in a number of countries, and the US and UK are about to join them. Washington, working through a British judge and a British prosecutor, is murdering the First Amendment and, thereby, accountable government.
The US government’s case for Assange’s extradition to the US that is working its way through a CIA-suborned British court redefines journalists who hold government accountable as spies. In other words, journalists who reveal criminal actions of governments are quilty of espionage. If this were in fact the case, the New York Times would have been prosecuted for publishing the Pentagon Papers.