Mike Huckabee: WikiLeaks Source Should Be Executed (VIDEO)

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and possible Republican presidential candidate provided a harsh assessment of what he believes to be an appropriate punishment for the source of the latest WikiLeaks transmission of U.S. embassy cables, saying that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty."

"Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason," Huckabee said, according to a report from Florida Independent. "They've put American lives at risk."

Huckabee continued:

"They've put relationships that will take decades to rebuild at risk, and they knew full well that they were handling sensitive documents, they were entrusted and anyone who had access to that level of information was not only a person who understood what their rules were, but they also signed, under oath, a commitment that they would not violate it. They did. And I believe they have committed treason against this country, and any lives they endanger, they're personally responsible for and the blood is on their hands. And, in addition to their reckless irresponsibility, an act of criminal intent, I think the New York Times has shown an utter, reckless disregard for any responsible journalism by printing something that they know that they obtained in a way that is is not appropriate."

Responses by other potential 2012 contenders, perhaps hoping to steel their foreign policy credentials in advance of a presidential campaign, have been similarly severe in their response to the latest WikiLeaks drop, though none have gone as far as to directly call for such a violent reaction.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took to Facebook Monday and urged the Obama administration to call for a manhunt on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that would be carried out with "the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders."

Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania Senator and potential presidential contender, said Tuesday that Assange was guilty of "terrorism," and should be prosecuted as such.

WATCH:

Comments

[Demarcus Jackson]

01:31 PM on 12/23/2010

How very Christian of Mr. Huckabee.

[Peter Okorn]

09:54 PM on 12/08/2010

Here, Let me google that for you

[politicaljunk0]

06:16 PM on 12/04/2010

So, he wants to execute a US soldier? Yeah, that won't go down well with his buddies at Fox OR his cronies in the GOP.

[Eye4theTruth]

07:45 PM on 12/03/2010

Well Done Imam Huckabee, while you are at it, issue a fatwa against Mr Cheney please

[valhalladad]

04:12 PM on 12/03/2010

Hey Huck,

Too bad your weren't on the 'hang'em high' bandwagon when you pardoned this guy eh?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR2009120102601.html

That's right, Huck has several cases of being loose with the pardon. Look up Wayne Dumond while you're at it. And in the meantime Huck, go back to the 'floating crosses', they suit you.

[escobar]

04:05 PM on 12/03/2010

At the same time this guy claims to be smarter than anyone from Harvard
The "Preacher" cannot recall the ten commandments.
Of course, as a "Born again" he can interpert everything to suit himself.

[cykodriven]

11:24 AM on 12/03/2010

That's not very Christian of you now, is it Mr. Huckabee?

[take10]

02:47 PM on 12/03/2010

Being a pseudo Christian, he's on par for for how they think!

[Tully Mars 63]

06:51 AM on 12/07/2010

Neo-Christian=only interested in the parts of the Bible I like.

[acanthus211]

10:45 AM on 12/03/2010

Congrats to Mike Huckabee for displaying typical, self promoting, christian hypocracy.

[sharpstick]

09:35 PM on 12/02/2010

Expose government lies and corruption = Execution

Expose active CIA operative = Verry short stint in jail.

Justice for all? Yep, whatever you say :(

[Tidyus]

03:59 PM on 12/02/2010

Mike Huckabee says things like this to keep himself in the spotlight.

[Friendly]

01:31 PM on 12/02/2010

Another Fatwa against Freedom.

[Archie1955]

12:17 PM on 12/02/2010

So Huckabee wants the death sentence does he? Will that also apply to Dick Cheney, George Bush and the reast of the neocon crew that outed Valerie Plame? Wikileaks has not proven to be deadly to American military men but Ms. Plame's loss of confidentiality probably set back American interests by a decade at least and who knows how many of her contacts were disposed of?

[take10]

02:58 PM on 12/03/2010

Now we know who really can't handle the truth! They are doing to Julian Assange for revealing information that US Military personnel gave to Wiki Leaks, what Islamic radicals did to Salman Rushdie for the 'Satanic Verses.' They put a hit out on a truth teller! Whatever happened to whistle blower protection? Besides, he is Australian like Rupert Murdoch, who in my opinion is much worse on the character and safety of the US.

[samilli3]

08:20 AM on 12/02/2010

the party of freedom and life...sure, lets kill them

[JohnSawyer]

06:37 AM on 12/02/2010

People calling for the killing of Assange, when virtually everyone, in the US's history, who has committed far greater, and actually damaging, leaks of US secrets (look up Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, etc.), has simply been put in prison, shows how quickly the fondness of fundamentalists (of whatever religion or political persuasion) for fatwahs, decrees, etc. has successfully infected around half of the US population. MANY people on the right, left, and middle want to see Assange dead. And yet many of these same people claim to be against fundamentalist verdicts and penalties.

Robert Gates himself said "Cablegate"'s impact has been overblown, and will have minimal impact on US relations with other countries. And yet we see so many pundits, politicians, etc. on all "sides", in effect telling Robert Gates that he's a fool for not being bloodthirsty. It's pathetic how low so many people have stooped.

[SusanElizabeth1949]

04:03 PM on 12/03/2010

The ONLY reason either Ames or Hanssen are alive, or the Walkers for that matter is theyall cut a deal and told WHAT they had sold. In all 3 cases the Government didn't know what had been turned over to the Soviets and what hadn't.

[menlopian]

08:05 PM on 12/01/2010

100% agree. We elect officials to carry out foreign policy; not some impetuous ideologue who happens to hold an opinion that disagrees with those policies. Take this to its natural extreme, and the U.S. becomes a impotent nations governed by pansies fearful of scrutiny of every little action or communication. Free speech and democracy do not require complete transparency and openness by the government- that is naive bulls***.

[vippy]

05:17 AM on 12/02/2010

Ethics!  We have none.  You can carry out business the honest way, the way you project yourself, and
the crooked way, and after a while people will get used to it and we lose our way, which we have.
Do tell me why our soldiers have to fight, for what, for whom?  Lies have short legs and the it is biting us in our backs.

[applecrispbetty]

10:29 AM on 12/02/2010

Since my taxes pay for illegal acts of the govt, I have a right to know. When I travel abroad on business, it helps me to know what effort I should expend in protecting myself from being a target for actions paid for by my taxes. Bravo Mr. Assange.