I'll believe in the indictment when I see it on Wikileaks. :) And anything Stratfor says in regards to Wikileaks should be taken with a grain of salt:
"WikiLeaks said it has more than five million emails from Stratfor, based in Texas, dating from 2004 to 2011. The emails show Stratfors web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, WikiLeaks stated. Some of the documents expose alleged U.S. government and Stratfors attempts to attack and subvert WikiLeaks and its director Julian Assange." http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/153192 On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/02/report-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-indicted-in-115779.html > > Report: WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange indicted in U.S. > > By JOSH GERSTEIN | 2/28/12 9:22 AM EST > > A top official at the private research service Stratfor told > colleagues via e-mail last year that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange > was the subject of a sealed indictment by the U.S. Government, the > Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday. > > The claim that Assange faces charges in the United States came in > e-mails apparently stolen from Stratfor by the hackers' group > Anonymous and relayed to news organizations by Assange's > pro-transparency organization WikiLeaks. > > "We have a sealed indictment on Assange," Stratfor vice president for > intelligence Fred Burton said in a January 26, 2011, e-mail, according > to the Australian newspaper. The Herald said Burton's note carried > notations such as "please protect" and "not for pub[lication]" > suggesting the source of the information was a US government official. > > A Justice Department spokeswoman and an attorney for Assange did not > immediately respond to e-mails from POLITICO seeking comment on the > report. > > The fact that U.S. prosecutors have been interested in making a case > against Assange has been clear for some time, especially after a grand > jury was convened in Alexandria, Va. to call witnessess who might have > information about how WikiLeaks gathered U.S. government secrets. > Assange's lawyers have been preparing for just such a possibility > since late 2010. > > It's possible for a grand jury in the U.S. to return an indictment and > for prosecutors to ask that it be put under seal, especially if the > defendant cannot immediately be arrested or won't voluntarily appear > in court. > > However, there are reasons to doubt that a sealed indictment exists. > For one thing, military prosecutors suggested in court filings in > December that Assange faced no charges in the U.S. at that time. The > statements came in response to motions from Assange and WikiLeaks > asking that his lawyers be guaranteed access to both open and closed > proceedings in the case against Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who faces a > court martial for allegedly providing hundreds of thousands of secret > military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. > > In addition, the grand jury seems to have been most active in the > middle of last year, which makes an indictment that would have been > returned six months or so earlier unlikely but not impossible. > > The prospect of a U.S. indictment of Assange has caused concern among > press advocates and others who believe it could set a precedent for > similar prosecutions of more traditional journalists. However, U.S. > officials have insisted that Assange's tactics are markedly different > from those of the mainstream press. In addition, evidence emerged last > year that Assange entertained a request from Manning for help breaking > password locks on Army computer systems. That kind of help, if it > occurred, might support the U.S. government's suggestions that > Assange's tactics went beyond those of typical journalists. > > It's possible Stratfor's Burton caught wind of a draft indictment of > Assange, rather than a sealed one. The existence of a sealed > indictment would mean that the Justice Department decided to proceed > with a prosecution of Assange. A draft indictment would be far less > momentous, simply signaling that the prosecutors involved were trying > to game out what an indictment might look like. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:347611 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
