Amicus,
Sorry I was relying on Dickybird knowing what he was talking about. While it is a crime to threaten people, it is not a crime to threaten unpersons. Just as it is not a crime for members of the 'Coalition of the Shilling' to murder suspected terrorists, Iraqis, Afghans, Somalis or Yemenites.

Several have called for Assange's death or extraordinary rendition and enhance interrogation.

Fox news: Should We Consider WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange A Terrorist Or Enemy Combatant?

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/150501

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/wikileaks-newt-gingrich-treason/2010/07/31/id/366209

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301084

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gingrich-wikileakers-are-enemy-combatants/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/oreilly-wikileaks-leakers-executed_n_789654.html

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/author-brad-thors-execution-solution-to-the-wikileaks-problem/

Well said, Jennifer Wilson. We are seeing an example of what we have become as a country. Sycophantic, making poor judgements and stupid comments by the already compromised Gillard, without doubt the worst politican of any colour since Federation.

I am with those people who see these leaks as nothing but a glaring example of the fallibility of elected politicians and public servants, people who do not seem to remember that in the case of Daniel Ellsberg’s 'Pentagon Papers', the Supreme Court accepted that such matters were able to be disclosed. He received the Gandhi Peace Award. However, even with that verdict, we still see the rightwing newly elected Republicans in the US suggesting that Mr. Assange should be executed. What a country of extremists!

Now you are back to seeing the real America. They will elect a new President of their extreme persuasion in two years time with the potential to start a war to beat all wars, just before the US Empire crumbles from within.
In the meantime we have to tolerate the ramblings of Gillard and her compliant ministers who will do and say anything to consolidate their subservient position vis-à-vis the United States. If the comments by our former PM Rudd, are an example, there will be a lot more to come about Australia. This current government can ill afford any further erosion of its credibility, currently sitting at zero.

But it is the new ABC and its dismissal of the seriousness and value of the Wikileaks by the likes of Ms Sales and Crabb that is the most disturbing. This corporation, once a provider of serious news, professional entertainment, has now sold its soul in pursuit of the crass commercial channels and as a result is increasingly unable to discern where it lives in relation to responsible reporting, let alone its values.

The problem therefore is not Assange and Wikileaks but the general attitude of the US in relation to the way it conducts its business and the seriousness of the way these items are handled on our own media.

If in publishing the cables did he break a US law, but if he was not
the original stealer of the data and was not in the US can US law be
applied to an act in another country ?

For instance I have driven at a speed higher than 110 Km per hour on
German autobahns. Can the RTA fine me and deduct points from my licence
for that offence ?

The state government is proposing to introduce a law against couples
going to India to engage a surrogate mother for their child.
Can this be done, ie apply Australian law in India ?

Hang on a minute, espionage may be a problem, but is nothing compared to his present transgression.

He is now challenging the global warming rip off, with some recent releases.

Just watch the academic & lefty support dry up now. China is likely to be the only place he'll be safe after this.

I think assange is buying lottery tickets in a holliday in Cuba.

Well said Jennifer and rexw.

Hasbeen, climate change is not a political ideology and there are sceptics on both sides of the divide. I suspect Assange won't lose support just because information released might be at odds with an individual's personal view. It is the 'content' that is important when it reveals how policy decisions are made, especially relating to major influences like economic policy (and GFC),trade, climate change, financial regulation and the 'information' that provides the impetus to go to war.

It has always been a furphy that it was to protect human rights, it is no secret, we have always known it even if the 'machine' continues to spin that line. There are really no secrets only spin.

These are far more important issues than some anti-Left or anti-Right commentary.

Assange should be protected under the full force of Australian law as an Australian citizen and from the worse displays of corruption (such as calls for assassination). Even US public servants are being told not to read information from Wikileaks. This is just preposterous when much of it is revealed through world news sources and is really scraping the bottom of the barrell.

It is about time governments manned up and come clean.