Meanwhile, reader G. A. says I'm missing the bigger point about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

If Assange were to disappear today, another WikiLeaks would spring up tomorrow, simply because the information is out there to be collected and disseminated and because there are many people who would like to see these documents made public. It's easy to blame the "messenger", but it doesn't solve the problem.

The answer to WikiLeaks is (a) tighter document distribution combined with (b) serious encryption. I also understand why this hasn't been implemented: training government employees to use encryption is too difficult, given current technology. But that's a problem that can be overcome, given time and resources.

He's right. The question people should really be asking -- and so far, the U.S. government appears to be ducking the issue -- is how in God's name did a Private First Class manage to steal 250,000-plus classified cables without somebody noticing?

Assuming he is found guilty, . But it's the system that allowed him to become one that's broken. And no amount of moralizing, cable-browsing, DDoSing, or bloviating will fix it.