OK, we expect reactionaries like Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly to call for the firing squad for the WikiLeaks source.  And ditto whoever writes Sarah Palin’s Facebook stuff (hunt down Julian Assange, the director of Wikileaks “with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders”, describing Assange as “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands.”)

No surprises there.

But who is THIS GUY and what is he on?:

image: Huffington Post front page

Hey Mike Huckabee, aren’t you hoping to run for President again? You think this will help your chances? Maybe. (But you can’t out-crazy Sarah Palin.)

I heard a former British ambassador saying there’s an old word for what WikiLeaks is doing — TREACHERY.

That’s one way of looking at things I guess. But there are others who ask: What’s really being protected? The assignment to US diplomats to gather passwords and DNA samples and personal credit card information from people in their host country? Hello?

Biographic and biometric data, including health, opinions toward the US, training history, ethnicity (tribal and/or clan), and language skills of key and emerging political, military, intelligence, opposition, ethnic, religious, and business leaders. Data should include email addresses, telephone and fax numbers, fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans.

Does that seem OK to you?

And, what’s this? Fighting fire with fire?

Gee, is there any possibility that this, or the reported pressure on the Australian government to charge Julian Assange with something — anything!! — could be a little bit of abuse of power? Just a thought. (image guardian.co.uk - click)

Pretty gutsy guys in WikiLeaks. Pretty lame stuff from the headline-seekers.