Discrepancies in facts create disagreements which can lead to wars. The famous quote by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange applies here: “If wars can be started by lies, then peace can be started with truth.” Following the release of the famous Collateral Murder video of 14 years ago, showing U.S. forces gunning down civilians in Iraq, the fact is that drone and helicopter strikes ceased, and the war in Iraq soon ended. Julian Assange has been painted by the media as endangering lives, when in fact the opposite is true.

What Assange did was so new, publishing verifiable documented evidence of what is really going on, that it seemed a radical departure to the traditional narratives and stories told by news outlets relying on public trust and belief in what they are being told. Politicians and the media reported that Assange put lives at risk by publishing source documentation such as war logs and diplomatic cables from whistleblower Chelsea Manning, but the United States admitted in court that there have been no cases where someone has been harmed by WikiLeaks publication of Manning’s disclosures. Witnesses attest that Assange did redact all harmful information and in fact was criticized for over-redacting. Reportedly, anything that was not redacted was already publicly published through other sites such as cryptome.org.

Assange’s innovations in journalism opened up a whole new practice of public awareness and scrutiny using discernment and critical thinking skills. The public began to look for evidential proof of the stories they were being told, and many of them didn’t mind doing the research for themselves. Julian Assange revolutionized journalism by making the source documentation available to the public alongside articles he wrote and lectures he gave. He showed the proof and let the public look it over and see the truth for themselves. When the truth is clear because the facts are made available for all to see, transparency ends disagreements and promotes cooperation between groups and nations.

Assange is a humanitarian and he innovated more ways to solve problems and promote peace. He created a safe and secure way for whistleblowers to upload files because when governments behave recklessly, it has become a tradition for whistleblowers to come forward and disclose information to the public that might cause a government embarrassment. But transparency can lead to a government that operates with integrity and accountability. We cannot continue forward in any healthy or productive manner if a government is censoring the free speech of the public and arresting members of the free press.

What Assange did for the world was provide a way for the public to be sure of the truth, on the basis that a public has a right to know how their government is behaving on their behalf, and public knowledge of knowing what the facts are is part of that. The only benefit to selling narratives and confusing the facts is to keep wars going endlessly so more money can be made from the sale of weapons and the extraction of more taxpayer money.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government hasn’t been able to overcome its embarrassment over the exposure of their conduct in war zones, and opted to criminalize Assange’s work. In a recent interview with Pat Kenny, Assange’s wife Stella explains, “The whole indictment is a set up because he is being accused of doing what journalists do every day, receiving information from Chelsea Manning, processing it, and making it public, and that is described as a criminal conspiracy and criminal act.”