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After numerous private companies dropped their services to the whistle blowing website, WikiLeaks.org, a netroots uprising has taken form to punish companies like Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal. Mastercard yesterday had their website targeted by a Distributed Denial of Service or DDOS attack by a group of anonymous hackers, as part of what they are calling Operation Payback. The cyber offense is aimed at companies that the hackers feel are censoring WikiLeaks. The websites of Visa, Paypal, Sarah Palin’s Political Action Committee, and the Swedish government were also temporarily shut down as well as that of the lawyer representing the two women that WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange has been accused of sexually assaulting, and the lawyer in Sweden representing Julian Assange himself. Meanwhile, Assange has been in British custody and awaits possible extradition to Sweden. Among the latest revelations being published by news outlets with access to the so-called “cable-gate” diplomatic documents, is that the oil giant Shell essentially controls much of the Nigerian government through top posts in ministries and were sharing intelligence with the US government. Also revealed in the documents is the fact that NATO had created a contingency plan to defend Eastern Europe against a potential war with Russia. Additionally, British conservative politicians were found to promise the US a pro-American regime and buy more US weapons if they won elections this year. Here in the US, the right-wing rhetoric against the document leaks has been directed soley at WikiLeaks and Assange, not the Guardian, New York Times, or other news outlets who also have access to the data and are publishing new revelations everyday. Sarah Palin has said Assange ought to be “hunted down like Osama bin Laden,” and some Republicans are set to introduce a bill to the Senate declaring Assange a “transnational threat.”

GUESTS: Ray McGovern, Retired Army Intelligence Officer, served for 27 years as a CIA analyst. He is currently on the Steering group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Ted Rall, syndicated political cartoonist, columnist, graphic novelist, and war correspondent. His books include “The Year of Loving Dangerously,” “Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?,” “To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue,” and his latest, “The Anti-American Manifesto”

Read Julian Assange’s recent commentary here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/07-1