which is why they haven't filed an extradition request. There are no charges that the US can file that will withstand public scrutiny, or higher court appeals. Nor would US release "evidence", citing national security. That means the US wants to get their hands on him outside the legal process, and just detain him without access to US courts.

No way is Hillary going to cede the honor of the first go.

Others in intelligence or administration? Perhaps. Depends on if they believe in exisistence of document file, and fear of whats on it.
Obviously, US would like to shut Assange up, and Wikileaks down. Since there is thin legal grounds to do so, US is trying to accomplish this by extralegal means... which by definition could be indefinate detention, torture, lack of due process, etc.

The Swedes would turn him over to the CIA or military intelligence immediately. He would never be seen alive again.

He'll disappear into the system after being tortured

It's something to do with somthing in the USA PATRIOT Act that not even sitting U.S. Senators can tell us about. Really, it protects democracy.

The US will have Assange in jail for the next 30 yrs.

We are at war and we may not like it but legal rights are different.

Aussies use 240v/50Hz, but 120 applied to the testicles achieves remarkable results.

Yank ingenuity.

or disappear him altogether.

or make him a terrorist, then it will be legal to execute him without a trial.

Inside or outside the legal system. He's been on the grid for nearly two years.

The rest is paranoid ramblings or his deliberate attempt to avoid prosecution in Sweden.

From the article linked to above:

However, the Australian embassy in Washington reported in February that "the US investigation into possible criminal conduct by Mr Assange has been ongoing for more than a year".

The embassy noted media reports that a US federal grand jury had been empanelled in Alexandria, Virginia, to pursue the WikiLeaks case and that US government officials "cannot lawfully confirm to us the existence of the grand jury".

Despite this, and apparently on the basis of still classified off-the-record discussions with US officials and private legal experts, the embassy reported the existence of the grand jury as a matter of fact. It identified a wide range of criminal charges the US could bring against Assange, including espionage, conspiracy, unlawful access to classified information and computer fraud.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/us-in-pursuit-of-assange-cables-reveal-20120817-24e8u.html#ixzz23orz2gHw

My guess would be further action awaits the outcome of Mr. Manning's trial....

just hold him someplace like Gitmo, torture him when it suits them, and then in a few years release and send him back to Australia a broken man when no one is looking. They really don't have anything they can charge him with. He can't be charged with treason because he's not a US citizen. What country is he committing espionage or conspiracy for? He's not releasing or selling secrets to another hostile country but just putting stuff up on his own website. I don't believe they can really put him on trial because it will only shine a light on what goes on behind the scenes at our State Department and the Pentagon.

He knows what his fate is, which is why he is fighting so hard.

I still find it hard to acknowledge that the US has allowed indefinite detention since the Bush Gang era.