WikiLeaks through its notorious spokesperson Julian Assange has called for the arrest of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and other politicians who could be implicated for inciting murder in connection to the weekend shooting spree in Tucson, Ariz. that left six dead and injured 14, including Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Read Write Web, an influential tech industry blog, reported that WikiLeaks' official Twitter account had posted an update linking to a press release that called for Palin's arrest and that authorities "aggressively pursue justice" for those killed.
The shooting spree appears to have been premeditated and aimed at assassinating Giffords, a conservative Democrat, who was "targeted" by Palin during the 2010 midterm elections in an infamous, SarahPAC-financed ad called "Take Back the 20." The ad featured gun sights over 20 House districts carried by McCain and Palin in 2008 that were represented by Democrats voting in favor of health care reform.
Palin is no friend of WikiLeaks or Assange. Late last year, WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that allegedly exposed the duplicity of the government in its dealings with allies around the world, to the embarrassment and outrage of the U.S. In short order Assange went into hiding and became the subject of a worldwide dragnet; Palin published a note on Facebook urging that he be "hunted down ... like the Taliban," according to the press release, available here.
Assange, who was arrested on unrelated charges of alleged sex assault and later freed on bail, is quoted in the press release as saying, "When senior politicians and attention-seeking media commentators call for specific individuals or groups of people to be killed they should be charged with incitement -- to murder. Those who call for an act of murder deserve as significant share of the guilt as those raising a gun to pull the trigger."
Giffords is in critical condition and suffered what physicians called a "through and through head wound" that entered and exited the skull plates. She is voluntarily responding to surgeons, according to media reports. The alleged gunman, 22-year-old Jared L. Loughner, has waived bail and will likely face the death penalty for attempting to assassinate a member of Congress and for murdering, among others, a federal judge and young girl that was born on Sept. 11, 2001.
Contact Eric Christopher Adams at eric(at)alaskadispatch.com