WikiRebels: The Documentary Page #5

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And the way it's written up,

it's called an 'Escalation of Force'.

You know.

It's not an escalation of force, is it?

It's a killing.

And it's, you know...it's horrific.

Is anything truly new in war?

War is hell.

Awful things happen.

And what these logs tell us is that war is hell.

They don't hide from the truth.

They're not spun by a military spin doctor

talking in an air-conditioned conference room in the Green Zone.

This is visceral

unequivocal death

written in raw detail.

109,000 lives lost over the course of these reports.

We're all doing what we can in something so huge

that people can, and hopefully will, study this data for years.

This is worth telling. This is worth getting out there.

The lack of respect for human life

runs like a common thread through the material.

These images are of a helicopter crew

who have just received orders to bomb a building

where three enemy soldiers are thought to be hiding.

If you like,

Crazy Horse 18 can put a missile in that building.

A passer-by suddenly turns up...

but the crew don't wait.

It was a missile.

The crew could have waited until the man had passed.

This is perhaps a measure

of how human life was valued in Baghdad.

Private cars being pursued by an attack helicopter.

The driver gets out of the car

and holds his arms up in a gesture of surrender.

The more horrific the discovery the investigators in London make,

the more they get the feeling of being threatened.

It gradually becomes obvious

that someone's watching their office.

I do know that I'm being listened in to,

monitored by forces - I don't know.

I've received strange text messages from anonymous sources.

I've received death threats.

And they're not very nice, clearly.

And particularly the one that talked about my children.

I just think that was a bit unnecessary.

There's op eds in 'The Washington Post'

saying that our personnel should be kidnapped.

From Europe, our sources...

one alleged source executed similar statements

by right-wing members of the US Congress.

Congressman Mike Rogers isn't the only one crying revenge.

In Washington,

the influential public figure Christian Whiton

is agitating for the indictment of WikiLeaks members,

saying they should be treated as terrorists.

There has to be a clear punishment for people

who engage in what I would consider a form of espionage,

a form of political warfare.

It's not an act of journalism or transparency

but an act of political war against us.

The US ups its efforts to stop WikiLeaks.

The payment service providers Moneybrokers

closed down WikiLeaks' account.

American hackers suspected of having

links to WikiLeaks are detained,

questioned and have their computers confiscated.

At the end of the day, things involving the Web,

I think you find, are less mysterious and new

than may meet the eye at first.

If you just go beyond, I'd say, the surface,

you'll find telecommunications companies

that are hosting the servers,

or hosting the companies that in turn host this information

and have made this possible.

You'll find banks that provide banking services to these people.

You'll find landlords who provide

rent to the individuals involved.

So, to that extent, I'm pretty sure you can peel back the onion

and find exactly what this organisation is,

where it conducts its activities

and which jurisdiction it's subject to most directly.

However, the stronger the attacks,

the greater the support WikiLeaks receive.

Julian Assange has been without

a fixed address for several years,

but wherever he lands,

activists are on hand to offer him a place to sleep

and their services free of charge.

People love the idea of

an out-of-control investigative journalist

who's trying to take on governments.

The story of some quasi-romantic, fleet of foot,

Scarlet Pimpernel character

in the form of Julian Assange darting in the cybershadows,

it's very appealing.

I am very pleased to be amongst so many people I can respect.

I don't think I have ever...

Assange is an ideal media figure.

He's been portrayed as the Lone Ranger

of the information age.

- Who to? - Arnie...

You are the only one which is sounding like a pure angel.

- Me - a pure angel? - Yes.

- It's just the hair. - No, no...

Praise and prizes are being poured over WikiLeaks.

Time Magazine has included Assange on a short list

for the world's most influential man.

You should remember Solzhenitsyn's words that in the right moment,

"One word of truth outweighs the world."

But all is not quiet on the WikiLeaks front.

Assange is aware that the Iraqi material

that's shortly to be released

will generate even more anger.

In August he travels to Sweden.

He applies for a resident's permit to obtain the protection

of the world's most extensive freedom of the press law.

Does this mean that WikiLeaks is becoming even more Swedish?

I hope so.

To start with, everything goes well.

Julian Assange is welcomed with open arms.

He's invited to major political and trade union venues

and there are calls that he should be

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

A couple of days later, the picture changes dramatically.

Swedish authorities have issued an arrest warrant

for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

He's accused of rape and molestation.

On 20 August, Assange is accused of rape.

The alleged crime is immediately leaked to the world press.

Behind the accusation are two women

who had casual relationships with Assange.

The women don't make any public statements,

but the important evening paper 'Aftonbladet'

publishes an anonymous interview with one of them,

which states that what started as voluntary sex

subsequently became what she described as 'abusive'.

But she's not afraid of him and he's not violent.

Alright, Julian Assange,

the WikiLeaks founder

and the target of the rape allegations, joins me now on the line.

Thank you so much for speaking to us, Mr Assange.

What do you think about this?

Clearly, clearly, it is a smear campaign of some kind.

Well, I came to Sweden as a refugee.

A refugee publisher involved with

an extraordinary publishing fight with the Pentagon,

where our people were being detained.

It was an attempt to prosecute me for espionage.

So I'm unhappy and disappointed

with how the Swedish justice system has been abused.

Assange says he never forced anyone to have sex

and that the judicial system has been misused.

He implies that he's a victim

of personal revenge and US pressure.

That trouble the last of us

that had worked with the organisation,

the way this case was mixed with WikiLeaks.

The way, of course, there must have been a party

at the American Embassy in Sweden when they read this news.

"Yes, we don't have to do anything except just to pass this on."

But, whatever the truth is,

a shadow is now being cast not only on his

but also WikiLeaks' name.

The rape allegations lead to

a storm of protests from WikiLeaks.

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