"lacks the skills of a credible journalist"
What are the skills of a 'credible journalist'?
Is a credible journalist one who hires a communications whiz to hack peoples cell telephones to find out about the users activities? Is a credible journalist one who rifles through garbage/trash cans searching for clues to a persons lifestyle?
I think most people agree that the function Assange has performed is that of a investigative journalist.
Assange didn't just go out and expose the leaked cables, he acted as a responsible journalist and redacted information that could endanger 'little' people.
Did he act lawfully? I think even the U.S. government agrees he broke no laws, therefore he acted within the law.
So we are back with 'credible'. He warned the U.S. government; he shared the information with several leading newspapers - one of which consulted with the U.S. government before publishing.
So Assange took a little hop and a skip following a meeting that obviously went successfully for him. Who amongst The Reg readers hasn't, in their own way, physically demonstrated satisfaction at a job well done - be it coding, circuit design or whatever.
If Assange had dropped into a pub following the meeting, would that qualify him him as a drunk?
By any measure Assange behaved as many other journalists would - remember he has no editor to guide him - and in enraging the U.S. government he was very brave. How many of we readers would want to go up against the U.S. government, or indeed those of Britain, France or Russia, given their historic records of solving problems with a little termination in a back alley.
We need more like Assange, and Bradley Manning, to expose the dishonesty of the elected officials who lie and mislead their respective citizens.
The families of all those killed or maimed in Iraq or Afghanistan deserve to know, so they may judge whether their respective losses were in a good cause.
Our present and future generations of leaders are without military experience (Bush never made it to a zone of conflict) and therefore they can hardly relate to the horrors of war. Blair, IMO acted as a lapdog to Bush, as we are now finding out through an inquiry in London, satisfying his ego at the expense of British soldiers who have since died.
Assange has done well and right and may he continue to expose the injustices in this world.