Bradley Manning: An American Hero

Should a citizen be prosecuted for trying to stop an illegal state policy? Where’s the American Zola?

STEPHEN LENDMAN | [print_link]

Manning, of course, is the courageous Army intelligence analyst turned whistleblower, who admitted leaking:

  • “260,000 classified United States diplomatic cables and video of a (US) airstrike in Afghanistan that killed 97 civilians last year,” and
  • an “explosive (39 minute) video of an American helicopter attack in Baghdad that left 12 people dead, including two employees of the Reuters news agency” – “collateral murder” he felt obligated to expose.

It got him in trouble. On June 7, the military in Iraq arrested him, saying:

Unmentioned was the following:

  • our presence and imperial aims cause harm, not Manning or WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, exposing truths the public has a right and need to know.

In his August 4 Anti-Empire Report (https://www.greanvillepost.com/?p=7246), author William Blum asked

Rubbish according to Blum, saying:

“The only ‘war of necessity’ that draws the United States to Afghanistan is the need for protected oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea area, (and) establishment of military bases (there), making it easier to watch and pressure next-door Iran (besides being a land-based aircraft carrier to target Russia and China). What more could any respectable imperialist nation desire? Oh, did I mention that the military-industrial-security-intelligence complex and its shareholders” will profit handsomely?

Daily Telegraph reported:

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai was a former Unocal adviser when pipeline negotiations took place. He was also a CIA asset. Unocal claimed it abandoned the pipeline project. Secret talks, however, continued up to a few months before 9/11, Taliban representatives visiting the State Department, CIA, and National Security Council. They even had a Queens, New York diplomatic office, and US officials visited Taliban ones in Islamabad.

The French newspaper Le Figaro also quoted Arab specialist Antoine Sfeir, saying CIA operatives met with bin Laden (a CIA asset in the 1980s) and maintained contact with him until his training camp was attacked in 1998.

Revealing Disturbing Truths Is Risky

Held initially in Kuwait, a July 29 Baghdad Pentagon press release said:

On August 2, Congressman Mike Rogers (R. MI) told Michigan radio station WHMI that Manning should be executed, saying:

Federal Charges Against Manning

In early July, the Pentagon charged him with four noncriminal offenses, and eight violations of federal criminal law, including one count of violating the 1917 Espionage Act, accessed through the following link:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/06/us-will-press-crimin.html#more

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) charges included:

  • four noncriminal Army regulations violations, governing the handling of classified information and computers.

If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 52 years in prison.

The Bradley Manning Support Network

Access it for information about Manning through the following link:

http://www.bradleymanning.org/

Its purpose is to:

Nonetheless, the Bush administration preemptively attacked in violation of US and international law. Obama is a war criminal pursuing and escalating it, expanding it cross border into Pakistan, and continuing the Iraq conflict and occupation.

He exposed cold-blooded civilian murders, the public unaware that Pentagon rules-of-engagement (ROEs) target them like combatants in every warfare theater. Waging permanent wars of aggression, America acts lawlessly and recklessly. The public has a right to know. Manning and Assange are heros, deserving plaudits for their courage.

A Final Note

On Sunday, August 8, a public rally will be held outside the Quantico, VA, Marine base, supporting Manning. War criminals remain free uncharged. Manning, an American hero, faces 52 years in prison for exposing their crimes.

Senior Editor Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

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