Ok, let's see if we can see through some of your old-school smoke screen here...
"Wikileaks' supporters could raise a billboard encouraging support of Wikileaks' mission. They could send letters to representatives and picket assemblies and courthouses"
Does that EVER work? The most effective protests I've seen involve showing up, en mass, at the doors of the offending party and picketing. Nothing like a group of dissenters outside your break-room window to make you think twice. As companies transition toward internet storefronts, it seem logical to me that those presences would be picketed too. DDoS isn't harm, it is interruption, in much the same way picketing is. Just because you cannot SEE the people standing around, doesn't mean that the interruption has a new aspect. To me, the escalation point beyond this is where the line is drawn. Much like a protest is considered civil until someone throws a brick through a window, the DDoS seems legit until someone hacks a site. I do not support this recent action.
On the nature of Wikileaks, I would suggest this; the information they are releasing is generated elsewhere. They are not forcing our nation to do terrible or embarrassing things, they are simply revealing the shit we like to keep buried. Why vilify them for doing something that punishes bad activity? Don't like the smear it puts on us? Well kick those politicians out of office, retire those generals, and hang those traitors that actually took part in the embarrassing activity, don't lynch the messenger.
