Mr. WikiLeaks

There is always some kind of unusual happenings when I come to the islands. This year it is the story of Mr. WikiLeaks.   He has a name. It's Julian Assange.  (Short story: the guy created WikiLeaks. A lot was leaked.  People got in trouble.  He has been wanted on espionage charges for publishing all the stuff Chelsea Manning gave away back in 2010ish.  Unrelated to WikiLeaks, he was wanted for rape charges in Sweden.  Somehow, he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy while in Britian.  Eventually the pressure to turn him over to the US got to Ecuador, and Assange was pulled from the embassy by London’s Metroplitan Police on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department, and spent the next five years living mostly isolated in a tiny cell at Belmarsh prison.)

He still needed to appear before US Federal Court. He had no desire to step foot on US soil.  So, they let him come to Saipan, where we have a US Federal Courthouse (and happen to be a lot closer to his homeland of Australia). But what I don't get...why do the rich and famous needing to appear before the court get to call shot--like where and when they appear?  

Anyway...

Today, Mr. WikiLeaks plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified materials after his whistleblowing website (WikiLeaks) published nearly half a million secret military documents relating to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He got time served.

Here is the beautiful Federal Courthouse building (with one of the best views on island) after all the hustle and bustle had concluded.

Oh...and did I mention I just happened to catch his plane on the runway? Here's the media waiting to get his flight taking off.

Me?  I just walked through the gates onto the runway.  

If you look closely, the plane is on the left of my head under the jet bridge. Yes, I'm really out on the runway and that is really him on the plane. (It took off just a bit after this picture. 1:01pm, actually. VJT199 is the charter flight #. I have been stalking it since Bangkok)  

So is Saipan security really that lax? (probably)  How did I get on the runway!? Well, today the Navy had one of their rescue helicopters for the public to tour.  We had already planned to go check out the aircraft, before this happened. So, I just happened to be on the runway at the same time. Here's another picture of his $500,000 ride.

(Perry preferred the helicopter.  And that's another blog.)