So Assange is "free"

 or has he really just committed the ultimate crime?

I believe the entire Assange saga has been very badly handled from the start. He is not the "press freedom" saint that he is claimed to be by any means. He did endanger lives. His actions could well have led to major global conflict. They almost certainly assisted the Taliban in their takeover in Afghanistan. They almost certainly led to deaths elsewhere. You simply do not publish the sort of information he published and get no consequences. He is responsible for those consequences.

Not everyone is going to agree with me. That's fine. Most journalists I know (and I know a few) do agree. They do not consider him to be a professional journalist. 

That said there is a belief that the whole thing was badly handled. He should never have been able to seek "asylum" in an embassy. He should not have been isolated for so long in prison. The authorities in the United States should have been more careful and more flexible in what they charged him with and how they did it. 

It is easy to say all of that in hindsight. All of it pales into insignificance now that this supposedly such principled man has been willing to plead guilty to something in order to win his freedom. If he really had the principles he claims to have he would not have pleaded guilty. He would have stayed in prison. 

I am reminded of a criminal case here. A man was, wrongly, convicted of murder. He spent many years in prison. He could have been granted parole - if he had agreed he had committed murder. He refused to do that. It took many years, most of his adult life, before he was eventually shown to be innocent. He was then granted an unconditional pardon. Asked why he had not simply agreed to say he had committed the crime and left prison years before he just said, "Because I did not do it. I could not agree to lie about it."

Of the two men I can admire the second, not the first.

I hope there are some strict conditions on Assange's release. I hope there is a "no interviews", "no memoirs", "no internet" condition being placed on his release...and that if any of those conditions are breached he will be returned to prison. He is no hero.