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I disagree that embarrassment was the motivation.
Leaking the details of classified foreign intelligence operations is considered espionage or treason. Some of those leaks resulted in the execution of informants. Those are not small crimes.
According to the Espionage Act of 1917, he could have been executed. Imprisonment is standard, but 12 years is far better than the maximum of life in prison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage
Yes but you're saying "it's a big crime because the people who stand to benefit from it being a big crime say it's a big crime."
While I'm not saying all and any espionage/treason is good, I'm asking why one would think these memoranda are worth more than human life?
Were they? Would the world be better off with Assange dead?
For the operatives put in danger and/or killed, it was worth human life?
You seem to be ignoring that Assange either knowingly or unknowingly risked peoples' lives, people who had often given those lives into great risk in service of their country.
When the leaks first happened, I was supportive of Wikileaks (a natural position for an anti-war person like me). Later, when it was revealed that there had been no or little due diligence to ensure the information had been vetted and scrubbed, I realized how extreme it can be on both ends of the political spectrum.
Stop trying to paint this with some large political brush.
Assange is not a hero. The US government is not innocent.
In service of their country? Did the US make them US citizens?
Because most US informants were working against their countries in some cases even after the US invaded.