Which is it, Mr. Assange?

In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Australian newspaper, WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange wrote: WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed. But just four months ago, Assange was singing a different tune: When I ...

In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Australian newspaper, WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange wrote:

In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Australian newspaper, WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange wrote:

WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed.

But just four months ago, Assange was singing a different tune:

When I try to question him about the morality of what he’s done, if he worries about unleashing something that he can’t control, that no one can control, he tells me the story of the Kenyan 2007 elections when a WikiLeak document "swung the election".

The leak exposed massive corruption by Daniel Arap Moi, and the Kenyan people sat up and took notice. In the ensuing elections, in which corruption became a major issue, violence swept the country. "1,300 people were eventually killed, and 350,000 were displaced. That was a result of our leak," says Assange. It’s a chilling statistic, but then he states: "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 shilling being debased."

It’s probably unlikely that WikiLeaks swung the Kenyan election and provoked massive violence. But Assange can’t have it both ways.

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