Shooting the messenger

In July, Wikileaks released over 70,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan putting themselves, and in particular Julian Assange, the face of Wikileaks, in the firing line of the US government. Both the US and UK governments were quick to condemn the release of the Afghan war logs and say that the lives of troops and people who had collaborated with them were at risk. This has since been shown to be yet another piece of propaganda as three months on, the Pentagon were forced to admit that not a single person has been harmed by the release of the logs. In the lead up to July, Wikileaks had contacted the US government to request their help in redacting sensitive information - the US government refused to cooperate and of course initially denied that Wikileaks had contacted them until documents surfaced proving Wikileaks had contacted the US State Department via an intermediary.

The release of Afghan war logs turned Wikileaks and Julian Assange into the US government's bête noir  and so began numerous attempts to shut them down. Pressure was exerted on the British registered website that Wikileaks used for online donations and they succumbed to that pressure. A Swedish prosecutor decided to impugn Julian Assange's character by issuing a rape warrant which was cancelled 24 hours later. Last week, Wikileaks was subjected to an online attack that in their words "could have only been carried out by a highly skilled hacker", something that had been proposed by various persons within and without the US government. Fortunately, Wikileaks don't just have a Plan B, but a Plan C and a Plan D and their leak of the 400,000 classified documents on the Iraq war went ahead.

What is indisputable, is the accuracy and veracity of the documents so why is the US government hell bent on shooting the messenger instead of addressing the realities these documents reveal? With the Afghan war logs, the source, according to the US government, is Private Bradley Manning, but thus far the US government has not fingered anyone for the leak of the Iraq war logs - why?

At a press conference in London last Saturday on the Iraq war logs, Julian Assange noted that the first casualty of war is the truth and Wikileaks intent to redress that - the release of the logs shines a spotlight on seven years of propaganda peddled by the US and UK governments. Sitting alongside Julian Assange was Daniel Ellsberg whose courage about 40 years ago, in leaking the Pentagon Papers, served to make the US public aware of what was really going on during the Vietnam War and helped turn the tide of public opinion firmly against the war. During the press conference Daniel Ellsberg presented Julian Assange and Wikileaks with the 2010 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award which the latter fittingly accepted on behalf of their sources.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

John Lennon 9th October 1940 - 8th December 1980

Words that are even more resonant today than when he wrote them.

There are no certainties in sport

Over the past week, there have been a number of sporting results which can be categorised as upsets; Rafael Nadal, the world number one tennis player losing to his compatriot, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in Bangkok, Liverpool FC, England's most successful club, losing to newly promoted Blackpool on Saturday and the reigning NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in an exhibition game at London's O2 arena last night.

While Rafa's loss can be categorised as bad day at the office given he had numerous break points, he got back to winning ways in his next match in Tokyo. For Liverpool, it's a different story altogether as this result has meant the club have made their worst start to the league for 57 years, far longer than I have been alive. The international break means the Liverpool players will have to wait until 17 October to see if they can turn things around - given they are playing Liverpool's other club, motivation won't be lacking, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough. The Los Angeles Lakers played all but 6 minutes without Kobe Bryant who is recovering from knee surgery he had in July. The Minnesota Timberwolves coach, Kurt Ramblis, is an ex Laker so his motivation for getting one over Phil "The Zen Master" Jackson was not in doubt. The Lakers kept things close in the first two quarters, but they made numerous turnovers in the third quarter and it was a similar story in the fourth quarter. The Lakers started with four of their usual starters; Derek Fisher, Kobe, Pau Gasol and Ron Artest, but only Derek and Pau played a significant number of minutes. Kobe has his eyes on a 6th NBA championship ring so it's no wonder he's playing things very safe.

The drama at Celtic Manor as the last day of the Ryder Cup unfolded is something that would have been labelled fanciful if a scriptwriter had come-up with such a rollercoaster of a plot as the destiny of the Ryder Cup remained uncertain until the 17th hole of the last singles match to be played.

Sport is a great leveller and the guaranteed uncertainty is what makes the watching and participation so compelling.