Browsing: Afghanistan

Even if we can’t agree that Julian Assange is a journalist, and even if we can’t agree on support for him as a person, it is imperative that we agree on the principles of the situation. Prosecuting someone whose actions align with the daily practices and goals of journalism would be an attack on the First Amendment freedom that allows the press to give the public the news it needs.

Eight years ago on a night in March, they interrupted our regularly-scheduled programs for a breaking news bulletin. We sat before our televisions and watched rockets arc into the skies over Baghdad. Many of us had doubts about the stated and implied causes of the war that began that night: the need to secure Saddam Hussein’s stockpile of WMD and to retaliate for his part in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

When I think of the rights that are unique to American citizens, one of the first things that comes to my mind is the right to free speech. Since the birth of the United States, citizens have been able to share their thoughts without restriction from the government, excepting of course the Sedition Act put into effect in 1918 that was quickly shot down in 1920 after the end of World War I.