Put like this,the US can barely say no – that is,to an Australian prime minister who makes it known with firmness and confidence he believes,as he said in December about Assange,“Enough is enough.” That is,it’s enough he suffered the three years in Belmarsh prison,sometimes with arms and legs shackled as if Hannibal Lecter,on top of eight years of self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian embassy.
In the context of Australia’s role as an ally – the heft we deliver for the US empire – a decision to let Assange walk free rates about five minutes of President Biden’s Oval Office attention. And our ambassador in Washington should be deputed to trot up and down the Senate corridors telling Republicans that,if they value our friendship,they might lay off the president for listening to Canberra on this one.
In any case,Biden and his advisers might conclude,it’s time all the baggage of Afghanistan and Iraq were let go. Afghanistan was America’s longest war undertaken to eliminate al-Qaeda and,later,drive out the Taliban. After 20 years of squandered blood and treasure,the Taliban are firmly in control and al-Qaeda again claims the wretched country as haven.
The Iraq War proved only the paradox of unintended consequences,unleashing Islamic State on the world and delivering a boon to Iranian power projection. Pursuing Assange makes it look like the unfinished business of these wars devolves on the pursuit of one shackled Australian,even as if snatching Assange is the last expression of American frustration at the battlefield defeats by ragged insurgents. It’s time the restless giant closed the books on the disasters unloosed by George W. Bush.
Last week Bill Clinton said for the first time he feared for the future of America as a “constitutional democracy”. He was referring to laws enacted by Republican state governors that make it harder to vote and easier for state officials to overturn the popular vote. And the return of Trump. Fifty per cent of Americans think their country is headed for civil war;a similar number think their country will end up a dictatorship.
Yet as it sinks lower on the list of democracies published by Freedom House,the battered American republic can teach the world a thing or two about its First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Its claim to be a nation of laws is stronger if Assange,this dissident publisher,has the threat of extradition lifted. If he were sentenced to die in jail,The New York Times andWashington Post would suffer a precedent against them anytime they might want to expose bad wars and the atrocities that follow in their wake.
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The military in the US and Australia have had to admit no lives were lost because of Assange. But we wouldn’t have heard of serious war crimes in a counterproductive war were it not for the haggard prisoner in Belmarsh.
Our new prime minister can say:“We’re not fans of the guy either,Mr President,but it’s gone on long enough. We’re good allies. Let this one drop.“
And if Albanese asks,my guess is America will agree.