Hi All, I hope this message greets you well. I came across this report and in the interests of giving us a more broader understanding of how this critically important cross road in history is being reported in Military.com circles. Interesting point for reflection as I also understand that many in the military are supporters of this petitioned campaign as well. Remember this all started from personel of the Military wanting the world to know of the alleged war crimes that were being committed by way of our financing through our taxation. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/17/pentagon-papers-leaker-comes-defense-of-assange.html
"ASSANGE HEARING DAY SEVEN— Ellsberg and Goetz Refute Informants Were Harmed and That Assange Was First to Release Their Names" https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/16/assange-hearing-day-seven-ellsberg-and-goetz-refute-informants-were-harmed-and-that-assange-was-first-to-release-their-names/?fbclid=IwAR3SanBiQrJXAFgmMqzC7acmuyZQoglpz2pURXbl4KwWVc7kmHwrm8HJ1K8
Excerpt from Consortium News article linked above and below.
"But he (Daniel Ellsberg) then undermined Lewis’ argument by testifying that he had not redacted a single name of an informant or even a covert CIA agent (which he knew to be against the law) so that redactions would not be used as an excuse to undermine the credibility of the Papers.
Ellsberg testified that he rejected the notion that had grown up in mainstream media of Good Ellsberg, Bad Assange. He said in fact Assange had, unlike himself, redacted names, withheld 15,000 sensitive documents, and had asked the Pentagon and State Department for help in making further redactions. But both had refused to help him. Ellsberg speculated that it was done so that the government could later prosecute him for revealing names, which is what it is doing now.
Lewis retorted, “So it’s all the governments’ fault then.”
“Yes, they bear a heavy responsibility,” Ellsberg responded.
He said the government was being “highly cynical” in suddenly feigning concern for the informants when they did not try to help when Assange approached them.
It was around this point that Assange began speaking loudly from behind his glass cage and he was warned by Baraitser that he’d be removed from the court if he continued.
Ellsberg said the government cynicism was even starker when U.S. wars in the Middle East in the past 19 years had caused a million deaths and 37 million refugees. “It is extremely cynical for them to pretend that they care for these people,” Ellsberg said.
He also stood his ground when Lewis read from Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg’s affidavit about many informants who were threatened because of WikiLeaks publications. Ellsberg challenged whether anyone was actually harmed or just threatened. Lewis could not establish whether anyone actually was.