Seek out someone who supports, however grudgingly, a continued U.S. effort in Afghanistan, who supports, too, the work of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Find a person opposed to remaining in Afghanistan who is also critical of Assange. In either case, listen, because you won’t have either opportunity often. Attitudes in controversy tend to be self-confirming, a state of mind and affairs not conducive to critical thinking.

This is the complete, unedited interview by Stephen Colbert of Julian Assange, originally aired on The Colbert Report in its edited version on April 12, 2010.  You will find no more incisive and revealing interview of Assange from any professional journalist, a commentary both on the state of journalism and the critical, revelatory force of satire. At times, Colbert’s comic persona is indistinguishable from the fiercest kind of straight reportorial examination. He controls the interview and deftly pierces pretension.

Related articles by Zemanta

• WikiLeaks Bombshell on Afghan War: What You Need to Know (alternet.org)
• “Wikileaks’ Afghanistan docs: Pentagon Papers 2.0” and related posts (infoproc.blogspot.com)
• Who is Julian Assange? (observer.com)
• WikiLeaks Founder Talks to Reporters in U.K. (blogs.wsj.com)
• Wikileaks considers posting more documents on Afghanistan war as Pentagon assesses situation (pennlive.com)
• “WikiLeaks founder says evidence of war crimes in 91,000 leaked Afghanistan documents” and related posts (taragana.com)
• Wikileaks: From Iraq Video To Afghanistan War Documents (nowpublic.com)
• Pentagon Scrambles to Assess Wikileaks Damage (politics.usnews.com)
• The Wikileaks ‘War Logs’ Media Backlash Is Here [How Things Work] (gawker.com)
• Open Thread: WikiLeaks Releases 90,000 Classified War Documents (newsbusters.org)
• WikiLeaks Publishes Afghan War Secrets (politics.slashdot.org)