An Anonymous US Law Enforcement Officer Claims US Wouldn't Arrest Julian Assange 399
McGruber writes "The Washington Post reports that 'Federal prosecutors have not filed a sealed indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, despite persistent rumors that a nearly three-year grand jury investigation into him and his organization had secretly led to charges, according to senior law enforcement sources. ... "Nothing has occurred so far," said one law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. "If Assange came to the U.S. today, he would not be arrested. But I can't predict what's going to happen. He might be in six months." The law enforcement official providing this assurance chose to remain anonymous.'"
Re:I could imagine a truth buried behind this (Score:2, Interesting)
We didn't have a war on fascism dumbass. We had a war against Japan, and added Germany and Italy to the list shortly afterwards.
Japan was an Imperial Monarchy, and had nothing to do with fascism. Meanwhile Spain's Fascist General Franco was never a target of US military action.
Re:Sure... (Score:4, Interesting)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Tort_Claims_Act [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosa_v._Alvarez-Machain [wikipedia.org]
In essence, US claims that one way or the other, USA has jurisdiction over every living person on earth. You might be a British citizen, who has never been to USA and has not broken any of the British laws, but you can be prosecuted regardless, if you knowingly or unknowingly broke US laws, without ever setting foot in USA.
Re:I could imagine a truth buried behind this (Score:4, Interesting)
Where then is the authoritative description of what a declaration of war is, in what form it must take, and the exact language required?
I'll save you some time... there is no such thing.
Re:Sure... (Score:5, Interesting)
Anwar al-Awlaki - intentionally executed without trial.
Samir Khan - unintentionally executed as part of the execution of Anwar al-Awlaki.
Jude Kenan Mohammad - intentionally executed. Had previously been convicted of terrorism conspiracy, but not to a sufficient degree to actually be imprisoned.
Abdulrahman al-Awlaki - 16 year old with no personal involvement in terrorism, but who had a father (Anwar al-Awlaki) who was involved. Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary, stated that he "should have had a more responsible father." Unclear at what level the execution was a mistake.
Three of the four are arguably "bad guys" - but they should still have gotten a proper trial, so we could determine if they are. The last one doesn't even seem to be a bad guy, just somebody that happened to be born to an unfortunate father.
Re:Sure... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm English, by the way.
Most people are trained to be "patriotic" to whatever country they live in from a young age.
We are taught the pledge of allegiance in class for just this reason.
No... No, we are not. No one is trained to be patriotic in England. Seriously. There is no patriotism at all in schools, no proudness of what the UK has achieved. This is a US phenomenon.
I personally love my country... but that has nothing to do with education, and the bits I love are probably the bits someone else who loves the UK hates. That's part of what I love about my country.
Most people learn about how important the UK is now (7th biggest economy in the world) and was (largest empire of all time) after they have left school.