once again the US has decided this is the hill it will die on. instead of reforming intelligence agencies, challenging the doctrine of mass surveillance, revisiting the manifest destiny of imperialist foreign policy, or even considering the cost to do nothing at all, the US has arrived at the conclusion that a witch hunt is the best hunt.
prosecuting and jailing Assange does absolutely nothing to stop Wikileaks or wilileaks->next(). Whatever effort the US spent to slander and discredit Assange does nothing to stop people inspired by him, or motivated by US foreign policy in countries that do not enjoy its favour. The US seems completely oblivious to the fact that whatever happens to Assange the journalist, it simply isnt enough to curtail the overwhelming cacophony of demand for free and open journalism across the internet.
Just let the guy go and focus the money, time, and effort on preventing this in the future. nearly every major news outlet and journalist all see Assange as a journalist, not a hacker. .