“Julian Assange returned today to Australia as a free man. For 12 years, Assange was persecuted and prosecuted for the “crime” of exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, for documenting the brutal and illegal reality of the US torture, rendition and indefinite detention campaigns, and for revealing an impossibly long list of illegal, immoral and embarrassing American diplomatic and military actions abroad. Assange and his family were punished for carrying out the basic tenets of journalism and exercising the universal right of free speech. Meanwhile, the men and women who broke US and international law, those who authorized, planned, and led the war crimes, have faced no consequences. Indeed, many of them have been rewarded with more senior government and military posts, corporate board positions, and news studio chairs. 

As veterans, we should be especially concerned to see the truth and reality of the wars we participated in freely and clearly available to the American people and the world. The millions who suffered under the American wars, and as a consequence of American policies elsewhere, should have their stories told, their deaths, wounds and displacement recognized, and their names known. Sharing their stories and accounting for their experiences is what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have done. As part of the court filings, the US government once again admitted that the Wikileaks disclosures caused no harm to any persons, the only harm ever being the US government acts that Assange and Wikileaks explained.

Veterans must continue to advocate for the protection of the First and Fourth Amendments, for an honest and complete recounting and telling of our wars, and for a government that protects and honors truth-tellers and journalists rather than one that attacks, jails and tortures them. This is what is consistent with the oath we took to the US Constitution when we were in uniform, not supporting a government that criminalizes journalism and suppresses speech.