Libertarian Republican Not Very Libertarian: Calls for Criminalization of Free Press, Militarization of Speech Police

An article for Libertarian Republican calls for condemnation of Wikileaks for engaging in free speech and press.  The article, which contains numerous falsehoods and inaccurate statements, concludes:

Principled Libertarians, including Libertarian Party members, should condemn this treason and espionage, which endangers the lives of Americans and our friends. The Pro-Defense solution? The creation of a US military tribunal, to find the facts and render judgment.

As an example of the sort of falsehoods found in the article, consider that it begins by stating: "If a person, even a newspaper person, passes Top Secret information to a hostile foreign power--particularly in time of war--that is serious espionage."  In fact, none of the information published by Wikileaks is "Top Secret."  Most of the cables are either Unclassified, Confidential or simply Secret.  A quick look at the Wikileaks website demonstrates this.

The article continues, "Information is usually compartmentalized on a need-to-know basis. Something of this magnitude and volume must have come from inside the DC beltway, with the psychologically-troubled Manning as the fall guy."  It is possible that Manning is nothing but a fall guy, but the leaked files are not "compartmentalized" in this way.  In fact, upwards of 3,000,000 individuals had access to the network (SIPRNET) from which Manning allegedly lifted the cables in question.  These networks were actually de-compartmentalized following the 9/11 attacks, to ensure information sharing between government agencies.  In this regard, Libertarian Republican reveals a distinctly pre-9/11 mentality.  

Next, the author writes, "But many of the leaks were private in nature, revealing personal social security numbers, names of informants, combat methods, etc., that should not be revealed."  In fact, many cables are highly redacted to ensure that such information is not passed into the public domain.  Again, this is clear from any in depth reading of the cables themselves.

One would think that a Libertarian, even one that partially identifies as a Republican, would stand up for liberty, the freedom of speech and the press.  In this case, one would be wrong.