 We have a clip from a documentary I produced on Asanja's plight, where he's reflecting on that video, which made a huge splash and was really WikiLeaks introduction to the world. I like to roll that clip and get some of his thoughts and then get you to, you know, add any meat onto that. So let's roll that real quick. Find them all up. Here's your two traffic, 260s. Come on, Mark. Video WikiLeaks would title Collateral Murder showed footage from a U.S. Army Apache helicopter of soldiers gunning down more than a dozen people in Baghdad who weren't engaged in active combat, including two Reuters reporters. The video generated international press and controversy. Asanja said his intention was to expose the casual carnage and destruction happening in the course of the U.S. war in Iraq. It was another day at the office. How routine it was, a whole street covered with bodies. The reaction to that was nuts. And so as we've, you made very clear in this interview, the charges against Asanja have nothing to do with all these rumors swirling around what happened in 2016. It's about the release of these documents in 2010, including this video. What was the import of the collateral murder video? Well, it really marks a before and after concerning the Bush Wars. This, it's 2010, right? This actual event depicted in the video is I believe from July, 2007. And so the war had started in 2003 and it had been going for seven years by the time collateral murder was released. And by then, there wasn't much interest in the media anymore. There were embedded journalists traveling with U.S. convoys and going to press briefings by the Pentagon and so on. But there was no real insight. There were just body bags coming back from Iraq. And there was no real news work or worthiness, let's say, in reporting about Iraq. And then suddenly this came down and it had such an impact because it really contrasted with what, with the curated information that was coming through the media and it was, it depicts a war crime. That's what you see. It's not just the gunning down of these individuals to begin with where two royalties journalists are on assignment and get killed. One of them tries to crawl to cover and then a van pulls up and two good Samaritans come out of the van and try to pick up this journalist and then bring him into the van and then it gets shot down. And everyone dies except for two children who are shielded by the body of their father. So this is a truly horrific video and it's horrific not just because you're watching it but because you're listening to the conversation and the kind of jokey conversation around it and so on. And it's become to the Iraq war, what that picture of the of the napalm girl, you know, in Vietnam is to the Vietnam war, the one where she's walking and she's running naked away for the village that has just been napalmed. It is, I think Chelsea Manning has said that it is like in 30 minutes you see just the concentration, the Iraq war in its essence. It's just very telling to me that this is what the US is prosecuting him over is facilitating the release of undeniably true information about the war that the US was prosecuting so that the people could have a clearer vision of what was going on. And it clearly had an impact on people's view of that war. And for me, Julian Assange is a figure of world historical importance because of what he unlocked with WikiLeaks. I mean, he demonstrated undeniably that the strategic use of technology like encryption would be shifting the entire global power structure and he ushered in that new reality really. It was the reality that the cypherpunk movement dreamed of this world where a small team of hackers and activists can just share information. And even the most powerful governments can't do anything to stop the release of that information. And he pushed it into being and showed a whole generation that maybe resistance to these powerful super states actually isn't futile. And if you have the right tools and you know how to use them, you can really change the world. And I think that might be a big part of why he's a marked man more so than his alleged crimes. But is there anything else to say that you wanna say as we're wrapping up about his significance as a cypherpunk or kind of his place in history? Well, I think Julian is a visionary and a pioneer, as you say. His writings and his speeches, many of his speeches or clips have gone viral on the internet in relation to Ukraine, for example, he was talking about Afghanistan, but his kind of big picture analysis and criticism of the drivers of war, the true drivers of war have currency now. And in fact, I often go back to things that he wrote 10 years ago because they have stood the test of time. And he is a global figure and a thinker of our times and the type that is direly needed. So, Julian has to be freed, not just because this is an enormous injustice and the precedent it sets affects journalists everywhere in the US, but also globally, it's an extreme overreach, it criminalizes the publication of true information, of the highest public importance, but also because of Julian's position as a public intellectual and of someone who promotes truth and is a critic of war. And just, I'm not sure when this is airing, but there's a house resolution currently which has been tabled, I think that's the word they use in the US, I don't know, by Paul Gosar that says expressing the sense of house, the house of representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment and the BUS ought to draw all charges and attempts to extradite Julian Assange. And there's also a letter that's been signed by multiple congressmen, and including Thomas Massey who we interviewed last week asking Biden to do the same thing, to drop the extradition. So, to wrap this up, can you tell me like, are you optimistic that there will be some sort of shift in the political winds that something can change for Julian's case? Like, how are you feeling at the end of the day here? Well, I think that politicians that actually take the time or at least their staffers that take the time to look at this case will immediately understand the dangers and the un-American nature. I mean, really the First Amendment is something that is quite unique in the world and it defines the political culture of the United States which is much more open and dynamic than other parts of the world, for sure. And this case is actually kind of a more Europeanized, more not to talk down Europe too much, but it is totalitarian in its nature and it changes, it shifts the political culture and it has to be reversed. And I think any, you know, it's the vast majority of politicians that look at this case seriously will be, will understand that the dangers of this case, that it should never come to pass that the case should be dropped. And I'd ask any viewers to contact their representatives and ask them to support any efforts to drop the case against Julian. Hey, thanks for watching that clip from our new show, Just Asking Questions. You can watch another clip here or the full episode here. New episodes drop every week, so subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel to get notified when that happens or to the Just Asking Questions podcast on Apple, Spotify, or any other podcatcher. See you next week.