Ron Paul, the Texas Republican House Representative known for his deep libertarian roots, gave an impassioned speech on the U.S. House floor. Paul likened the attack in Wikipedia leader Julian Assange to “killing the messenger for bringing bad news”. He then posed nine questions for Americans to consider. Transcript of the speech shows:
Number 1: Do the America People deserve know the truth regarding the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen?
Number 2: Could a larger question be how can an army private access so much secret information?
Number 3: Why is the hostility directed at Assange, the publisher, and not at our government’s failure to protect classified information?
Number 4: Are we getting our money’s worth of the 80 billion dollars per year spent on intelligence gathering?
Number 5: Which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into war or Wikileaks revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?
Number 6: If Assange can be convicted of a crime for publishing information that he did not steal, what does this say about the future of the first amendment and the independence of the internet?
Number 7: Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on Wikileaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?
Number 8: Is there not a huge difference between releasing secret information to help the enemy in a time of declared war, which is treason, and the releasing of information to expose our government lies that promote secret wars, death and corruption?
Number 9: Was it not once considered patriotic to stand up to our government when it is wrong?
Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician and Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas. Paul is a member of the Liberty Caucus of Republican congressmen which aims to limit the size and scope of the federal government,[2] and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Committee on Financial Services, where he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policy. He has gained prominence for his libertarian positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republican and Democratic Party leaders. Paul has run for President of the United States twice, first in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again in 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. He is the founder of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including End The Fed (2009), and The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008).
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Congressman Ron Paul speaking at CPAC FL in Orlando, Florida via Wikimedia Commons by Ron Paul with usage type - Creative Commons License. September 23, 2011Featured Image Credit
Congressman Ron Paul speaking at CPAC FL in Orlando, Florida via Wikimedia Commons by Ron Paul with usage type - Creative Commons License. September 23, 2011