“The pressures are immense,” said Kiriakou, who himself accepted a plea deal after being targeted by the Obama justice department for revealing the CIA’s clandestine torture program. “One of the things that Julian was adamant about was that he would not take a plea to an espionage charge and in the end, he did not take a plea to an espionage charge. He took a plea to a conspiracy charge and was given time served. So that’s a win.”

“What was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created,” wrote two repentant US Army veterans depicted in the footage. “From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature of how US-led wars are carried out in this region.”

“Or, if he were to do that, he would have had to wait until after the election. Julian's health has been precarious, both physically and mentally, and I think it's probably better that it worked out this way and he can be home.”

🗣 “It sounds like they’re now saying every citizen on the planet is susceptible to being charged under the US Espionage Act,” said independent journalist Steve Poikonen on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program.

🗣 “He never should have been charged,” insisted cartoonist and syndicated columnist Ted Rall of Assange’s 12-year struggle against the US government. “He never committed a crime. He was never an American citizen and, therefore, not subject to American law. The Espionage Act is disgusting and probably unconstitutional and shouldn't be on the books, and certainly never should apply to journalists.”

🗣 “This idea that Julian Assange was putting lives in danger, etcetera, is completely fabricated in order to give a fig leaf of respectability to the war that has been conducted by the US government against this man who has been, by the way, let free not because suddenly Joe Biden decided to act out of the milk of human kindness,” said economist Radhika Desai.

“The [Washington Post] story is just so completely hypocritical,” she said of an article in the Washington DC-based newspaper that reported that “reactions were divided” over Assange’s release from prison. “The only people criticizing Julian Assange are the US government and all the mainstream media who seem to be taking their cues from them for whatever reason best known to them.”

🗣 “It stinks to high heaven,” agreed author and academic Gerald Horne. “I take it that's a veiled reference to organs like the New York Times, for example, The Guardian… Mr. Assange's reputation has been dragged through the mud. He has suffered unduly, and I wish him only the best.”

“Alongside Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, Julian Assange is one of the heroes of our time. They are a small band of people who have spoken truth to power and they have believed in the truth, they have fought for the truth, they have sacrificed for the truth,” Desai emphasized.