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Julian Assange is a modern day Tokyo Rose¹ and an enemy of the United States.

John Hinderaker of Power Line has a great post on the Wikileaks scandal (emphasis is mine):

Today Wikileaks founder Julian Assange offered an… interpretation of America’s Constitution: if you support freedom of speech, then you have to endorse Wikileaks’ illegal leaking of classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan.

Assange began by portraying his own conduct as a profile in courage:

“This organization will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group,” Assange told reporters in Stockholm. “We proceed cautiously and safely with this material.”

They’ll be safe, all right. I suppose the Army could take out Assange with a Predator, but of course it won’t. On the contrary, we have this: “Pentagon pleads with Wikileaks not to release more files.”

If Assange really wants to be brave, he should publish some disparaging cartoons of Mohammed.

Here is where Assange lectures us on our Constitution:

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that if U.S. defense officials want to be seen as promoting democracy then they “must protect what the United States’ founders considered to be their central value, which is freedom of the press.”

“For the Pentagon to be making threatening demands for censorship of a press organization is a cause for concern, not just for the press but for the Pentagon itself,” the Australian added.

Sure, that’s what freedom of speech is all about: if you can undermine American security and endanger friendly Afghans, then you must!

Assange’s posting of classified documents is like shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. It is not protected speech because it endangers lives.

The Rosenbergs did less damage than Assange is doing.

Footnote:

¹ From Wikipedia:

Tokyo Rose (alternate spelling Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The intent of these broadcasts was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast. According to rumors circulating among GI, Tokyo Rose routinely identified American units on air, sometimes even naming individual soldiers.

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