'DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER': THE FINAL DEFIANT MESSAGE FROM WIKILEAKS BOSS JULIAN ASSANGE BEFORE BEING DETAINED
Mr Assange reserved his fiercest criticism for his own Government - accusing Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (pictured) and her administration of 'disgraceful pandering' to the U.S.
He highlighted that his organisation had 'copped the most vicious attacks' from 'the U.S. Government and its acolytes', and condemned calls for him to be 'taken out' and 'assassinated'.
And in an article which revealed the extreme pressure that the whistleblower has faced in recent weeks, he pointed out that his own son had been threatened with being kidnapped 'for no other reason than to get at me'.
But Mr Assange reserved his fiercest criticism for his own Government - accusing Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her administration of 'disgraceful pandering' to the U.S. and insisting that Australia had colluding with Washington in the hope of 'framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the U.S.'
In an opinion piece published in The Australian before his detention last night, Mr Assange said: 'WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the U.S. embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.'Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups, that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the U.S. government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a U.S. citizen.
'There have been dozens of serious calls in the U.S. for me to be "taken out" by U.S. special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be "hunted down like Osama Bin Laden", a Republican bill sits before the U.S. Senate seeking to have me declared a "transnational threat" and disposed of accordingly.
The opinion piece published in The Australian before Julian Assange's detention
'There have been dozens of serious calls in the U.S. for me to be "taken out" by U.S. special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be "hunted down like Osama Bin Laden", a Republican bill sits before the U.S. Senate seeking to have me declared a "transnational threat" and disposed of accordingly.
'An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister's office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.
'And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Julia Gillard and her government.
'The powers of the Australian government appear to be fully at the disposal of the U.S. as to whether to cancel my Australian passport, or to spy on or harass WikiLeaks supporters. The Australian Attorney-General is doing everything he can to help a U.S. investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the U.S.
'Prime Minister Gillard and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.
'We are the underdogs. The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336415/Julian-Assange-WikiLeaks-chief-hauled-British-prison-rape-charge.html#ixzz17WLSI0x8
