As I said to Judge Napolitano earlier today, I am so happy I might cry, and so angry at what they did to Julian and his family I might put a fist through a wall in my house. I think most of us are heavy with emotion while trying to understand what comes next. Here’s a rough attempt at that:
Today is a day to celebrate the end of the cruel and unjust punishment, prosecution, and persecution of Julian Assange. His release and the relief for his family should be first and primary in our thoughts.
The crime that has been underway for more than a decade against a man whose transgression was to possess and then act upon an audacity to expose the war crimes of the American Empire appears to have come to an end, or at least this long phase of brutal and vulgar captivity.
However, this is not a complete or final victory for those of us who believe in the universal right of free speech, those who believe in a free press, and those who believe in a people’s right to know what their governments are doing. The US government, in this case, the Biden administration knew they possibly could lose at Julian’s appeal next month in London, and even if they were successful and able to extradite Julian to the US, there was no certainty of victory in American courts. Additionally, the spectacle of a political prisoner brought to the United States is unbecoming to the Biden White House over the final five months of their beleaguered and trailing re-election campaign.
There are many reasons to understand why the US government, the Biden administration, and the American Empire chose to go forward with this deal to release Julian. We also have to understand that for the American government, the Biden Administration and the US Empire, this does not mean their thesis has been proven incorrect or their actions have been adjudicated and decided against. Nothing was determined as to the legality of what they have been attempting in their assault on free speech and a free press. Further actions to criminalize journalism and punish truth-tellers are not simply available to them but are probable. What they have done to Julian remains an option to do to others.
The way the US government, the Biden Administration and the American Empire will portray the abrupt end of Julian’s persecution is that their attempts were scuttled, interfered and obstructed by British judges, a foreign judicial system, and the right of the United States to go after those who dare speak the truth of the American Empire remains unchallenged, unchecked and unrestrained. Nothing has been established in an American court to halt future attacks on the universal rights to free speech and a free press or to limit the global reach of US enforcement of imperial need for narrative control and petty vengeance.
They put Julian’s head on a pike for 12 years. Whose head comes next? What they did to Julian and his family is something that will stick with journalists and truth-tellers for decades, and we already know the chilling effect that Julian’s prosecution, persecution and punishment have had on journalists. The American government, its compliant corporate media and the vassals of its Empire will continue with such a threat: if you speak out against the American Empire, if you expose its crimes, if you embarrass or humiliate it, the same fate awaits you as what we delivered to Julian and his family.
Today, though, is a day to celebrate.
Thank God Julian is free.
Thank God Julian will soon be with Stella and their sons.
Thank God the work of his father, John, and brother, Gabriel, has finished.
Thank God the torment has come to an end.
As we move forward, we must recognize that our fight against the Empire is ongoing and continual. We may never be finished with it. We are advancing steadily, carried forward by the courage of truth-tellers like Julian Assange and institutions of information and journalism like Wikileaks. The Empire is failing, but a dying mule kicks hardest, and the worst of it is undoubtedly to come. We must accept and prepare for that.
Today, though, we celebrate Julian’s release, his family’s relief and the end of these years of their torment.
Also, my appearance with two greats: Danny Davis and Scott Horton:
Reprinted with permission from Matt’s Thoughts on War and Peace.
Matthew Hoh is the Associate Director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Matt is a former Marine Corps captain, Afghanistan State Department officer, a disabled Iraq War veteran and is a Senior Fellow Emeritus with the Center for International Policy. He writes at Substack.