Julian Assange - Wikileaks: Warrior For True Part 8

John Lennon.

14.

A CHAIN OF LEAKS.

The media coverage of WikiLeaks was cautious about its launch and about going live with the first leak on Somalia at the start of 2007. As one of the organization members antic.i.p.ated, press agencies didn't know them and were not used to that type of sources. A few websites related their press release or a few pa.s.sages from the site. The Was.h.i.+ngton Post pushed the a.n.a.lysis a bit further. A journalist from the American newspaper e-mailed the organizers who presented the site as follows: "WikiLeaks is becoming, as planned, although unexpectedly early, an international movement of people who facilitate ethical leaking and open government."

Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News was also questioned by the newspaper and admitted that the members of WikiLeaks "have the potential to make a difference." He warned against the fact that "indiscriminate disclosure can be as problematic as indiscriminate secrecy." He finished by saying, "I want to see how they launch and what direction they go in." WikiLeaks organizers said that the site was self-policing. "WikiLeaks would provide a forum for the entire global community to examine any doc.u.ment relentlessly for credibility, plausibility, veracity and falsification."

The Was.h.i.+ngton Post ended with a few sentences on the first leak whose Internet link was offered as a conclusion. On the other hand, Time magazine chose to comment on the launch of the site by interviewing a professor of Rutgers University specialized in African history. He declared that the article was well written, but the events mentioned afterward were obsolete.

Not much effect for the launch of the site and their first leak. The posting of e-mails online between the organization and John Young by Cryptome had people talking about it and was better covered. Wired magazine had an article ent.i.tled "WikiLeaks spilled," which ironically opened with "The first big leak has come out of WikiLeaks of the archive of their internal mailing list," while the first conspiratorial suspicions were suggested on other sites. The very serious BBC also had some doubts, expressed by Bill Thompson, independent journalist and digital specialist. Not knowing their sources, this organization could not verify the veracity of the doc.u.ments received. He also admitted to not trusting the people of the site, and even if the trust were there, he doubted that the site was able to ensure the security, anonymity and immunity that it promised.

WikiLeaks started off slowly during its first months, and the leaks had a moderate impact. In August 2007, a report of the international crisis a.n.a.lysis agency Kroll was published on the site. This report was submitted in 2004 to the Kenyan government who rejected it, judging it incomplete. Though it concerned the corruption perpetrated by the former leader of the country, Daniel Arap Moi, who had embezzled more than three billion dollars. The report also provided the list of his riches spread throughout the world. British newspaper The Guardian used the material supplied to write an article on the former Kenyan president, but didn't make any reference to WikiLeaks.

Posted on the site three months before the presidential elections in Kenya, this leak brought about tragic events, causing 5,000 deaths and almost 600,000 displaced people. WikiLeaks was criticized and judged responsible, but Julian defended himself in The Guardian: "One thousand three hundred people were eventually killed, and 350,000 were displaced. That was a result of our leak," says a.s.sange. It's a chilling statistic: "On the other hand, the Kenyan people had a right to that information and 40,000 children a year die of malaria in Kenya. And many more die of money being pulled out of Kenya, and as a result of the Kenyan s.h.i.+lling being debased." Even though it had a little impact on public interest, these leaks propelled WikiLeaks to the rank of world media.

In September 2007, WikiLeaks published a database listing equipment purchases made by the American army for the war in Afghanistan. This publication shed some light on the use of the army budget, but beyond that, it also showed that chemical equipment are used in this war.

The database was published on the site in its original SQL format and can be read in an ordinary text editor, albeit not that easily. It's a list of codes and equipment names. To understand it properly you need to be a specialist in military jargon.

The New York Sun a.n.a.lyzed the information as follows: "They provide a completely objective window into the functioning of various U.S. units, from psy-ops (psychological operations) to Kabul headquarters. They indicate that America is using two types of chemical weapons in that country, including 72 M7 grenade dischargers gas grenade launchers and eight FN303s, 'which can fire pepper-spray impregnated projectiles,' according to the unsigned WikiLeaks article."

November 2007. The leaking of a military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay finally got international attention. It stated for example: instructions on how to psychologically manipulate prisoners, how detainees could be rewarded by receiving extra toilet paper, or how to use military dogs to intimidate prisoners. As Lieutenant General Ricardo A. Sanchez explained in 2005, "Arabs fear of dogs!" In Wired magazine, Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights program, said: "That actually raises a lot of concerns about the administration's genuineness in terms of allowing ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) full access, as was promised to the world." Dakwar added, "They are the only organization that has access to the detainees, and this raises a lot of questions."

Finally, at the end of a promising first year, WikiLeaks published the first piece of information that would have legal repercussions. In December 2007, Rudolf Elmer, former Chief Operations Officer of the Cayman Islands branch of Swiss bank Julius Baer Group, submitted evidence that the bank was watching him and his family. Elmer tried to broadcast the details of client accounts in 2002 and again in 2005, but without any major repercussions. The Wall Street Journal covered the affair, but refused to disclose personal data. Naturally, he then turned to WikiLeaks, which published all the doc.u.ments it received. The affair didn't get noticed until February 2008, when the bank sent an injunction to the American domain name registrar Dynadot, which hosted WikiLeaks.

Even if this trial were stressful for the organization, Julian was able to joke about it a few months later. He told of the battle between the bank's lawyers, specialized in the entertainment business (lawyers for Celine Dion and Arnold Schwarzenegger), and a collective of defenders of freedom of expression including, among others, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

The injunction to the Dynadot host was rescinded because within one month it caused enough traffic on the Internet that it became obsolete after WikiLeaks' data had been copied on dozens of other servers.

In March 2008, with its visibility on the rise, WikiLeaks published major doc.u.ments subject to much controversy on the Internet and in the world of secrecy from the Church of Scientology. The release included notes from the Office of Special Affairs and the complete manual of OT Levels, degrees of evolution of the human mind according to the creator of the Church, Ron Hubbard. This posting of the criteria of hierarchical evolution within this organization highlights the perpetual debates of all those who opposed the sect.

In the same month, the site added the publication of a complete version of the international agreement ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). This project brought together several countries working on intellectual property rights. It would create a new body outside existing organizations like the United Nations or World Intellectual Property Organization. The part concerning download services like Pirate Bay sparked much debate with Internet users.

But the site had to look for new means of financing to be able to continue its mission. In August 2008, WikiLeaks tried to propose bidding on leaks about Venezuela. The idea was to sell the exclusivity of these doc.u.ments to the highest bidder for a certain period. The press organizations contacted were hesitant. There's no quality a.s.surance on the information and an exclusive in the current world of media doesn't last long enough to really profit from any substantial spending. The offer was not taken up. Julian declared however that the idea was not totally dead, but that it needed a better structure and more resources to organize this type of operation.

At that time, the leaks site was recognized throughout the world as an interesting reference with a few nice publications, but its visibility rarely went beyond the scope of the subject it addressed and the impact was not yet really measurable.

However, in September 2008 the name of WikiLeaks made more headlines as it moved into a more global dimension. The organization aimed at a colorful public figure, one who didn't hesitate to make a scene and threats that were heard around the world. In fact, the site published the Yahoo e-mails of Sarah Palin, Republican vice-presidential candidate at the time.

The problem raised was that she used a personal e-mail account to deal with affairs of the State. In the past, a similar affair turned into a scandal when George W. Bush's team communicated outside government systems, as this is contrary to the elementary American rules that require the recording of all business communication of the State. To divert attention, Sarah Palin cried invasion of privacy because the e-mails also contained family photos.

Always looking for a stronger impact, WikiLeaks, in January 2009, tried a new publis.h.i.+ng experience with private data. CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs' medical record could be seen on the site. The copy turned out to be fake and WikiLeaks' credibility was questioned.

February 2009 saw the issue of access to information of American citizens come to the foreground. WikiLeaks published the 6,780 reports of the US Congressional Research Services (CRS), considered to be the brain of Congress. Only members are authorized to read the reports of this service, whose budget comes close to 100 million dollars. Since 1998, a movement has been fighting to free up access for every citizen, but governments are still not ready to tell all. Their mode of operation doesn't allow for transparency. This showing of information makes them nervous. It's as if everything in your house were suddenly exposed to the light of day, even your family conversations. You'd be weary as well, and even if you had nothing to hide, you'd still be very tense.

In March 2009, an event confronted Julian with his responsibilities and the organization's sources faced the danger of their actions.

Nairobi, Kenya. Two human rights activists were a.s.sa.s.sinated right on the street after having handed over evidence of police brutality to a United Nations investigator. These activists were also involved in writing a report ent.i.tled 'Cry of Freedom,' denouncing the murders and tortures perpetrated by the Kenyan government. WikiLeaks published this report in November 2008.

Public opinion used these murders to emphasize the organization's inability to protect its sources. Julian defended the organization by revealing the lack of a direct link between the publication and the a.s.sa.s.sination of these two people. Nevertheless, he used these facts to argue the pressure placed on his group.

WikiLeaks' mission implied the denunciation of all forms of censors.h.i.+p enforced by States. The year 2009 was marked by several revelations to this effect, especially Internet censors.h.i.+p.

As a result, the site published a list of webpages blocked by the Australian government in March and the Italian government in June. These 'black lists' were supposed to act against p.o.r.nography, pedophilia and extreme violence. Placing this information online however, revealed that a number of these links didn't match the criteria and even included leaks from WikiLeaks. Once again a wave of protests hid the activist message of the organization: the action of exposing these forbidden links was labeled scandalous by Australian child protection agencies.

In November 2009, the site weathered Thai censors.h.i.+p by putting a video of the decadent birthday party in the honor of the crown prince's dog online. It showed the prince at a table with a naked woman, surrounded by the luxurious decor of the villa and his swimming pool. It did nothing to improve the image of this future head of State. The video was published to fight a regime that eliminated any criticism of the royal family using laws of lese-majeste.

Also in November 2009, the publication of some 561,300 text messages sent on September 11, 2001 was again misinterpreted. WikiLeaks published this information as a witness to history. It didn't reveal anything new, nor did it have any journalistic objectives, and so was seen as voyeurism. However, Julian pointed out that not a single family complained about it.

In 2010, WikiLeaks became notorious for the release of a series of doc.u.ments related to the world's biggest superpower.

In March of 2010, the leak of a CIA report showed how the American government could better manipulate public opinion in Germany and France so that these countries would continue to fight in Afghanistan. The idea was to use empathy, particularly in France, on the condition of Afghan women as a motivation to go to war. The report stated that President Obama had to make use of his aura in these countries to sell the war. At the time, Glenn Greenwald of salon.com talked to Julian who declared: "If you want to improve civilization, you have to remove some of the basic constraints, which is the quality of information that civilization has at its disposal to make decisions. Of course, there's a personal psychology to it, that I enjoy crus.h.i.+ng b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, I like a good challenge, so do a lot of the other people involved in WikiLeaks. We like the challenge."

The challenge is the new policy of the organization. They had to hit hard, come out of anonymity and get people to talk about them or else the WikiLeaks team risked being stopped in their tracks without any one paying attention. In fact, WikiLeaks had real reasons to be worried.

In March 2010, the site released a report on the US Department of Counterintelligence a.n.a.lysis, dating back to 2008, concerning WikiLeaks. It stated fears, risks, a detailed a.n.a.lysis of leaks and declarations. In a chapter ent.i.tled 'Is this freedom of expression or illegal expression?' the report mentioned that in some countries, illegality didn't only result in the delivery of the information to the site, but also in consulting it. It also stated that the governments of China, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Vietnam and Zimbabwe had already sought to block or at least hinder access to the site. It lists revelations credited to WikiLeaks. Apparently, according to Glenn Greenwald, WikiLeaks had other similar reports yet unpublished: information of the US Navy or an a.n.a.lysis of US forces based in Germany.

The monitoring of WikiLeaks' activities started the day it went live. The clashes between WikiLeaks and the American government were many and they would continue to have consequences. It was at that moment that the debate arose: go back or go even further than before to search for and expose the truth. All of this had fed Julian's determination to continue his quest. He then decided to branch out his battlefield: crus.h.i.+ng conspiracies, stimulating freedom of information, shaking up citizens and fighting against injustice.

To properly carry out these challenges, he had to improve WikiLeaks' visibility all the while protecting it by declaring himself a journalist. To do so, he had to stand out more often in the mainstream press and collaborate with high-caliber journalists.

When he received unbelievably d.a.m.ning images in the spring of 2010, he saw an opportunity for WikiLeaks to achieve its world mission. He decided to edit the images as a film and broadcast them on an Internet site created for the occasion. He put everything in place for major media coverage. He launched the film during a press conference in Was.h.i.+ngton. He let New Yorker journalist Raffi Khatchadourian follow the team when they were editing the video. The article, telling a brief history of Julian and WikiLeaks, became a reference to many people. Khatchadourian reports in many details, with dialogues, the editing of what was later known as Project B.

15.

PROJECT B18.

Two cars drove slowly through the colorful city of Reykjavik. They turned onto Grettisgata and parked in a lovely street that sloped down to the sea. Even though it was springtime, it was still snowing near the North Atlantic. A couple of men stepped out of their cars to take a moment to admire the view over the cliff. On that day, March 30 2010, the whistleblowers were walking silently in the northern wind. They calmly approached a small white century-old house.

Julian separated from the group and rang the doorbell to announce himself to the owner of the place. It was time to put on a show.

"h.e.l.lo, we're journalists and we've come to write about the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that has just recently started erupting."

Once the rental transactions were dealt with, the owner quickly went away, seeing that these people weren't very talkative. As soon as the man left, Julian quickly closed the drapes. The house, now locked day and night, had become the war room. A dozen computers were quickly installed in the starkly decorated living room.

Shortly after, Icelandic activists showed up. They started working right away, more or less led by Julian. They almost all knew what they had to do. A war against time had started, and it was called Project B.

Project B was the code name Julian had given the thirty-eight-minute video shot in 2007 from an Apache helicopter c.o.c.kpit in Iraq.

The news of this video was as if a bomb had been dropped within the ranks of WikiLeaks. Aside from human error, the images of the American soldier opening fire on eighteen people in the streets of Baghdad were a highly guarded military secret at the highest level of government. They flagrantly represented today's wars, which were as ambiguous and cruel as ever. Thanks to these images, Julian and his team hoped to rekindle the global debate on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Two Reuters' journalists died along with Iraqi citizens during this terrible blunder. Reuters had been trying for three years to get a hold of the video from the army through the Freedom of Information Act of 1966, which obliged federal agencies to hand over their doc.u.ments to anyone asking for it, regardless of their nationality. To this day, the news agency has not been able to obtain the compromising images from the American army. And today, the virtual denouncers of wrongdoing have the means to lift the veil on this secret dictators.h.i.+p, with the natural support of journalists.

It was up to Julian to make his move at the right moment. Mastermind of the WikiLeaks movement, he planned to unveil the images before a group of reporters did at the National Press Club on April 5, 2010 in Was.h.i.+ngton.

To achieve the desired effect, Julian and the WikiLeaks volunteers had to a.n.a.lyze the raw footage, make a quick edit, create a website to broadcast it, prepare doc.u.mentation and launch a media campaign about the film, all in less than a week. The atmosphere was almost religious, as everyone understood the impact this film would have. They wouldn't get much sleep.

Julian was sitting at a small table, dressed in a snowsuit. Even though he had been working for hours in a heated house, he was still wearing it. Rop Gonggrijp, sitting in front of him, glanced over at him kindly. Julian could stay focused for hours without being bothered to sleep, barely eating or drinking. Ever since Julian noticed he was being followed, Rop had become his unofficial manager. If Julian's fear of surveillance increased, it would contaminate the others. WikiLeaks was a hive full of individuals and everyone had their limits. Even Julian.

This was why Rop's role was crucial: he had known Julian for many years, and was immediately alerted when they received the images. Julian didn't reveal the source of the doc.u.ment cla.s.sified as a 'defense secret,' simply saying that the video came from someone who was not pleased with this attack. The images were encrypted and it took Julian three months to crack a code he believes was moderately difficult. His cryptography skills are exceptional: every code was a challenge for him, like a battle with its maker. He could spend hours and even days on it. He lived in the IT world.

Rop quickly noticed that Julian was spreading himself thin and decided to do something sensible for him. He fronted 10,000 euro to WikiLeaks in order to finance operations. He became the treasurer of Project B; he took care of everybody's schedule and made sure the kitchen was well stocked.

Around 3 p.m., Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir showed up. A woman in her forties, she had long brown hair and bangs, and she was dressed in black. She pulled out a WikiLeaks T-s.h.i.+rt from her handbag and threw it to Julian.

"Here, it's for you, you could use a change of clothes!"

Julian caught the T-s.h.i.+rt, put it on the back of the chair and continued working. He was typing on one of the only computers not connected to the Internet; it actually contained a lot of information they needed to keep for themselves until they went live on the site. Birgitta took out her computer and asked Julian how he intended to delegate the work on Project B.

"Someone should contact Google to make sure that YouTube is OK with hosting the film."

"Isn't making sure caving under pressure?" she asked smiling.

"They have rules when it comes to gratuitous violence," Julian answered. "In this case, the violence is not gratuitous, but nevertheless, they could consider it that way. It's too important to have to deal with this kind of problem when we go live."

Birgitta was unemployed before becoming a parliamentarian. She considered herself an artist, poet and activist. Her political opinions were mostly anarchistic ones. As a blogger and Internet pioneer, she proposed a bill this year to turn Iceland into a freedom of the press haven, with the goal of achieving total transparency and allowing journalists to reveal to the world the state of society. She joined the WikiLeaks movement in a heartbeat.

"What can I ask N to do?"

Totally engrossed in what he was doing, Julian didn't answer.

His phone rang, he answered with his deep voice and spoke slowly. The Icelandic police were on the other end. Julian tried to find out more about what happened a few days earlier.

A young volunteer of WikiLeaks Iceland was caught entering into the system of a plant where his father worked. He was stopped by the police and taken into custody. The police then interrogated him at length about Project B. The young man was seen on a picture in front of a restaurant in the company of Julian and other supporters. That day, Julian and his team were actually preparing the operation of Project B in the restaurant that had placed a private room at WikiLeaks' disposal for the meeting. The reasons why the young man tried to break into the factory's system were not very clear. Julian liked to understand things, and he had a bad feeling about this. On March 26, 2010, he wrote a heated e-mail, telling the story of the young man held for more than twenty hours by the police. The subject line read: "Something is rotten in the state of Iceland."

Julian hung up.

"Our young friend talked to the cops. I was about to get some details, but my battery died!"

He smiled and went to plug his phone in.

"We're all paranoid schizophrenics," said Birgitta watching Julian walk away. "Look how he's dressed."

Julian had not yet taken off his snowsuit. Rop abruptly got up and headed toward the window. He slowly pulled back the drapes and took a good long look outside.

"Someone there?" Birgitta asked.

"Just the reporters' truck," he said. "Ready to corrupt minds," he added sarcastically.

He shrugged his shoulders and let go of the drapes. The others hadn't budged. It was their daily fate to be followed by the media and suspected by the police. Some people had already had to abandon the movement or get involved differently for fear of reprisals. The choice had to be made every day. Spend a quiet life hidden away or work to show the world as it really was. And for what?

Everyone had his or her own answer and there was nothing to discuss. If you were there, you work for the cause, that was it. Julian was so sure of himself that he incited others to concentrate on the action.

Before viewing the video of the Apache helicopter for the first time, he prepared everyone for a shock. He knew that this film was crucial to WikiLeaks members and that it was impossible not to be one hundred per cent committed after having seen it.

Everyone gathered in front of the computer to view the film.

Julian fired up the video, but quickly paused it to explain something.

"In this video, you'll see a certain number of people getting killed. The film has three parts. In the first part, you'll see an attack based on a terribly misguided error. In the second part, the error clearly turns into murder if looked at through the eyes of an average person. And in the third part, you can see the killing of many innocent civilians who became legitimate targets in the soldiers' operation."

To the extent that WikiLeaks published all its material sources, Julian felt that they were free to make their own a.n.a.lysis.

"This video shows what modern wars have become, and I think that after having seen this, people will better understand what it means when they hear about other cases of closed air support battles."

"For this project we're producing an edit that will support our own comments and a.n.a.lyses. We could call it Permission to Engage, or maybe something a bit more shocking."

Two minutes later, he said to Rop: "Let's abuse the nice euphemism of 'collateral damage' and call the film 'Collateral Murder.'"

At the beginning, the video was just some kind of puzzle, with proof and images to be understood in their context. Julian and the entire team spent a lot of time rebuilding the whole story by pointing out every detail. Every group worked on a specific point: the structure of command, the rules of engagement, the jargon used by the soldiers on the radio and most importantly, if and how the Iraqis on the ground were armed.

"One of them has a weapon," said Julian, looking at blurred images of a man going down a street. "Look at all those people standing there."

"And there's a boy with a RPG19 under his arm," Rop added.

"I'm not sure," Julian retorted. "It seems a bit small for a RPG."

They viewed the film together one more time.

"You know, it's weird. If he has a RPG, then there's only one. So where are the other weapons? And all those guys there. It's weird."

"It's a really tricky job," Rop sighed. "Maybe you should have accepted the military officials' invitation to clear some things up, no?"

"Listen, I think they'd have done more harm than good. Anyway, when it's for WikiLeaks, they aren't very cooperative. Let's look at it again."

Julian set up Project B like a surprise attack. His war was waged on another field, but like all wars, it remained a war of nerves: quick decisions, swift action and a lot of uphill strategy.

He reinforced the rumors by saying that the video was shot in Afghanistan in 2009, in the hope that the Department of Defense would be caught off guard. Julian thought the military was very suspicious of the media, and believed it was not fair for inst.i.tutions to know the story before the general public did.

"Isn't there a risk of you being thrown in jail if you go to the United States?" asked an activist.

"It'll be a lot riskier for me to go there after this. For now, it's still quite safe," Julian explained.

"They say Gitmo20 is really nice this time of year," Rop joked.

The conversation ended there and everybody went back to their screens.