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Bradley Manning: Profile in Courage Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
by Stephen Lendman
He’s one of America’s best. He risked great personal harm. He did so to expose vital truths.
He’s a true American hero. He deserves praise, not prosecution. In February 2012, Movement of the Icelandic Parliament (MIP) members nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
They felt compelled to recognize his important contribution to world peace. They called nominating him a “great honor.” They’re indebted for what he did.
He deserves Washington’s Presidential Medal of Freedom.
It’s awarded “for especially meritorious contributions to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
War criminals often get it. Peacemakers are spurned.
British MP George Galloway said Manning should “be getting a Nobel Prize instead of being tortured, and what is the British government doing about this torture of the Welshman, Bradley Manning?”
“What they’re doing is intriguing and plotting with the Swedish government and the US government to send Julian Assange to join him on the torture tables and in solitary confinement for the next 50 years.”
“And we call ourselves the land of the free.”
Paul Craig Roberts called Manning “a window into the American soul.” It reveals “total evil. The US government constitutes Satan’s Chosen People. Nothing else can be said for those who rule and oppress us.”
Manning’s a latter day Daniel Ellsberg. “I was Bradley Manning of my day,” he said. “I too faced life in prison for exposing classified government lies and crimes.”
Ultimately all charges were dropped. It was “because of criminal government misconduct” in his case. Manning deserves no less.
Whistleblowers, social justice advocates, and war resisters reflect America’s best. Washington treats them like criminals.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark says “Our jails are filled with saints.” Some of America’s best and brightest are persecuted and abused.
Law Professor Francis Boyle says US government lawlessness demands civil resistance. It’s lawful, necessary, and right. “US government officials are the outlaws,” he says. Doing the right thing requires challenging them.
Law Professor Marjorie Cohn calls Manning’s heroism “uncommon courage.” He did what he had to do because it’s right. He spoke for the second time publicly. More on that below. His own words confirm “a very brave young man.”
Center for Constitutional Rights President Emeritus Michael Ratner calls Manning’s court martial a “show trial of state secrecy.”
The public’s right to know is denied. Evidence is kept secret. Transparency is spurned. So is accountability. Court documents, orders, and off-the record arguments will decide Manning’s fate.
Ratner attends his hearings. He calls them the “theater of the absurd.” They involve lengthy off-the-record conferences. They’re secretive and suppressed. An in-court summary conceals what’s most important to explain.
A pre-trial publicity order details what lawyers may or may not say. “Even the degree to which proceedings (are) kept secret is secret.”
Doing so reflects Plato’s Cave. People lived chained to a wall. It was blank. They remained there all their lives. Shadows replaced reality. The public’s right to know reflects allegorical injustice.
Denying transparency violates constitutional and statute law. The Supreme Court ruled criminal trials must be public. Democracies die behind closed doors.
Proceedings are rigged to convict. Manning doesn’t have a chance. Expect prosecutors to throw the book at him. Expect hanging judge complicity to go along.
For heroism above and beyond the call of duty, he faces 22 counts under America’s Espionage Act. He’s also accountable under Articles 92 and 124 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
They include aiding the enemy. It’s a potential capital offense. Prosecutors said they won’t seek the death penalty. Manning faces potential life imprisonment.
He was held incommunicado for 10 months. He was subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment. He was isolated 23 hours a day.
He was allowed outside, alone, shackled, and permitted to walk in circles. He was returned to his cell the moment he stopped.
He was stripped of all rights. He was denied most other activities. He was prohibited from exercising in his cell. He was video and visually monitored 24 hours a day. He was forced to sleep naked.
He was denied a pillow and sheets. He was awakened at night for being out of full view. He was forced to respond to guard inquiries every five minutes all day.
He was tortured and abused for doing the right thing. He took everything America threw at him and stood tall. It doesn’t get any better than that.
He’ll be remembered as one of America’s best. At great personal risk, he exposed US war crimes. Everyone has a right to know. They include systematically murdering civilians in cold blood.
It’s standard practice. Rules of engagement order combatants to shoot all military aged men on sight. Drone operators do so indiscriminately.
International, constitutional, US statute and military laws are violated. Nuremberg standards aren’t imposed.
Accountability is long overdue. Pursuing justice more than ever is vital. Legions of Mannings are needed.
His Support Network provides regular updates. He’s denied civil justice. His military tribunal trial begin June 3.
On February 28, he pleaded guilty to 10 lesser charges. He can withdraw any of them before trial. He denied 12 greater ones.
He called war logs given WikiLeaks “some of the most important documents of our time.” He chose ones he believed “wouldn’t cause harm to the United States.”
He hoped what he did would launch a national debate. It’s sorely needed and much more. He “became depressed with the situation” in Iraq.
America’s “obsessed with capturing and killing people,” he said.
“Collateral murder” is policy. US helicopter pilots gunned down innocent civilians. They murdered anyone trying to help them. Shooting wounded victims was like “a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass,” he said.
He wanted everyone to know. It’s their right. Back home on leave, he contacted the Washington Post and New York Times. He hoped they’d report what he knew. They published Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers. That was then. This is now.
They spurned him. They’re in lockstep with imperial lawlessness. They’re complicit in suppressing US war crimes. Doing so shares guilt.
Journalism demands truth and full disclosure. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Fundamental ethical standards are violated.
Exposing high crimes and misdemeanors is verboten. Scoundrel media editors and commentators are guilty on all counts.
They support wealth, privilege, power and dominance. They oppose peace, equity and justice. They shame themselves disgracefully. They operate no other way.
Manning enlisted WikiLeak’s help. He had many conversations with someone called “Nathaniel.” He believed it was Julian Assange. No one pressured him to do anything.
He did what he believed right. He did it on his own. “I take full responsibility,” he said.
Judge Denise Lind presides over his pre-trial hearings. His “naked plea” waved his Sixth Amendment and Rule of Court Martial (RCM) 707 rights, she said. They include speedy trial protections.
His plea involved no government agreement. Prosecutors don’t have to prove his admissions. They can use them to pursue greater charges.
Manning read his entire 35-page statement. Judge Lind calls his motives irrelevant. Doing so denies him whistleblower protections. Obama’s war on them strips them of all rights.
Manning pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession of one classified army intelligence memo, more than 20 classified CIDNE (Combined Information Data Network Exchange) Iraq documents, another 30 CIDNE Afghanistan ones, more than five relating to an Afghanistan Farah province military operation, and the Collateral Murder video.
He also pleaded guilty to willfully communicating to unauthorized personnel.
On February 23, international protests marked his 1,000th day in prison without trial. Constitutional and Court Martial rights demand speedy ones.
Defense counsel David Combs represents Manning. He said his “statutory and constitutional speedy trial rights were trampled on with impunity.”
Washington made an “absolute mockery” of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, RCM 707, and Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 10.
Clear evidence shows his due process rights were violated. Judge Lind can dismiss charges with or without prejudice. Doing so with prevents refiling.
Without prejudice permits doing so later. Usually it’s done if more evidence is obtained.
Prosecutors deliberately delayed Manning’s trial. It was done to punish him. It’s just cause to dismiss.
Manning’s been incarcerated since May 2010. Holding him this long without trial is unconscionable. Doing so to inflict cruel and inhumane treatment reveals America’s true face.
State terrorism is policy. Crimes of war, against humanity, and genocide reflect it. So does police state repression. Manning’s victimized for doing the right thing.
Expect kangaroo trial proceedings to mock justice. Dozens of government witnesses will testify. They’ll lie. They’ll claim national security was compromised. Saying so turns truth on its head.
Many witnesses will testify wholly or in part in secret. Doing so denies the public the right to know. It exposes government contempt for judicial fairness.
Combs is prohibited from calling military or government witnesses able to contradict prosecutor arguments. Trial procedures are rigged to convict.
Manning is guilty by accusation. At issue on what charges and length of sentencing. Minimally expect it to be longterm. Obama may demand he’s imprisoned for life.
Tyranny reflects today’s America. The criminal class in Washington is bipartisan. Dissent is endangered.
Rule of law principles provide no protections. Police states operate that way. America is by far the worst. There’s no place to hide.
About the Author: Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Purchase his new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity” and visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Also listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=241484
Posted by Stephen Lendman on Mar 4 2013, With 0 Reads, Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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This one brave little man, no bigger than any of us, in the right position at the right time, saved many lives and stopped the onslaught of millions. Each one of us is just a powerful, and just as capable to voice our opinions to our elected leaders. We should, when the time comes to help this man, write, text or email, our elected leaders, and make it clear, people like Manning should not be punished in any way for blowing the plans of the elected elitists which may have been a major factor in avoiding a war somewhere on God’s green earth. (Okay, if its Allah’s earth whatever.) JFK said, “Wars will exist until that distant day, when the conscientious objector receives the same recognition as the patriot,” (or something like that.)
I have always admired the courage of this man, for he probably did what I do not have the nerve to do what this man has done. He was more than likely doing God’s work, avoiding a massive human tragedy. Without these governments wars would not exist. Bradley Manning, if you read this, you are to be commended for your courage. You, like Daniel Ellsberg from my youth, are heroes. Out her amongst us commoners there are many, and we need to recognize their actions, and memorialize them for their courage and bravery. I bet it just makes them squirm to speak your name. Such a irritant, such a patriot!
the District of Criminals practices warfare against America.
ramming NAFTA-GATT through to hand all technology and production to China,
handing out “corporate welfare” enabling companies to move there,
handing US the bill for it wrapped up in “national deficit”,
as WE are left terrified of unemplyment and homelessness (possibly death for it too).
sabotaging a nations economy is a tactic of warfare. (federal reserve counterfeitting anyone?)
spying, surveillance, espionage, reconnaisance, are all synonymous terms for tactics of warfare.
sabotaging peoples health (poisoning!) is also a tactic of warfare (for mostly foreign owned corporates).
GMO crops, chemtrailing, fluoride and other drugs in the water, is all bio-weapon attacks!
the District of Criminals has fully supported doing these things to the people of America.
known bio-toxin COREXIT that is banned in a dozen countries, used heavily in Florida by BP.
“BP police” enforcing on American soil to prevent any documentation of their bio-weapon attack,
was also fully supported by the District of Criminals.
illegal undeclared wars they call “police actions”, giving other countries good reason to hate the USA,
trashing our reputation globally, is also a tactic of warfare against AMERICA,
by a little handfull of SOB’s in the “District of Criminals”, who HAVE been caught rigging elections.
I do consider Bradley Manning heroic for trying to expose these criminals exploits overseas,
but I also wish more people were aware of the real criminals, who claim to be “legitemate leaders”,
while they are waging WARFARE against this nation, every way they possibly can,
as they call anyone aware of the reality, some kind of authority resenting “crazy conspiracy theorist” or “traitor”, for daring try to expose the criminality. “the media” is also complicit to it all.
This individual acted on good conscience in keeping with reason principled on the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights and in competition with liberal anti social leadership which contravenes the rule of law and attacks those who oppose this. YES give him the Nobel, and redact Obama’s.
Colonel George Griggs wife tell is all about the kind of scums who have been unto Bradley Manning:
Kay Griggs: Colonel’s Wife Tell-All Interview .4 of 4
****************http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A159Q9K8MlM#!
True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application…
The welfare of the people is the ultimate law.
The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.
According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another.
The strictest law often causes the most serious wrong.
The more laws, the less justice.
…the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled…
The administration of government, like a guardianship, ought to be directed to the good of those who confer, not of those who receive the trust.
When a government becomes powerful…it is an usurper which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance for votes with which to perpetuate itself.
Cicero
And the prescription for this is the 2nd Amendment, UNIFIED security, militia, armed.