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Comment by Tony Nuspl on November 15, 2012 at 4:26pm

Nobel Laureates Salute Bradley Manning

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Nov 14 2012

As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we are deeply dismayed by the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning.

We have dedicated our lives to working for peace because we have seen the many faces of armed conflict and violence, and we understand that no matter the cause of war, civilians always bear the brunt of the cost. With today’s advanced military technology and the continued ability of business and political elites to filter what information is made public, there exists a great barrier to many citizens being fully aware of the realities and consequences of conflicts in which their country is engaged.

Responsible governance requires fully informed citizens who can question their leadership. For those citizens worldwide who do not have direct, intimate knowledge of war, yet are still affected by rising international tensions and failing economies, the WikiLeaks releases attributed to Manning have provided unparalleled access to important facts.  

Revealing covert crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, this window into the realities of modern international relations has changed the world for the better. While some of these documents may demonstrate how much work lies ahead in terms of securing international peace and justice, they also highlight the potential of the Internet as a forum for citizens to participate more directly in civic discussion and creative government accountability projects.  

Questioning authority, as a soldier, is not easy.  But it can at times be honorable. The words attributed to Manning reveal that he went through a profound moral struggle between the time he enlisted and when he became a whistleblower. Through his experience in Iraq, he became disturbed by top-level policy that undervalued human life and caused the suffering of innocent civilians and soldiers. Like other courageous whistleblowers, he was driven foremost by a desire to reveal the truth.

Private Manning said in chat logs that he hoped the releases would bring “discussion, debates and reforms” and condemned the ways the “first world exploits the third.” Much of the world regards him as a hero for these efforts toward peace and transparency, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as a result. However, much as when high-ranking officials in the United States and Britain misled the public in 2003 by saying there was an imminent need to invade Iraq to stop it from using weapons of mass destruction, the world’s most powerful elites have again insulted international opinion and the intelligence of many citizens by withholding facts regarding Manning and WikiLeaks.

The military prosecution has not presented evidence that Private Manning injured anyone by releasing secret documents... Nor has the prosecution denied that his motivations were conscientious; it has simply argued they are irrelevant. In ignoring this context and recommending a much more severe punishment for Bradley Manning than is given to US soldiers guilty of murdering civilians, military leadership is sending a chilling warning to other soldiers who might feel compelled by conscience to reveal misdeeds. It is our belief that leaders who use fear to govern, rather than sharing wisdom born from facts, cannot be just.

We Nobel Peace Prize laureates condemn the persecution Bradley Manning has suffered, including imprisonment in conditions declared “cruel, inhuman and degrading” by the United Nations, and call upon Americans to stand up in support of this whistleblower who defended their democratic rights.

http://www.thenation.com/article/171272/nobel-laureates-salute-brad...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on August 21, 2010 at 7:04am

Antiwar activists rally around soldier suspected of leaking classified material to WikiLeaks

David Dishneau, AP News

Aug 20, 2010

The Army private suspected in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history has become a hero to many anti-war activists who have joined an international effort to free him.

At demonstrations this month in New York, Oklahoma City and Quantico, Va., where Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is being held, dozens of supporters have shouted that "Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime."

The same slogan appears beside Manning's smiling face on buttons and posters offered by Courage to Resist, an Oakland, Calif.-based support group for U.S. troops who refuse to fight. The group has raised about $45,000 from nearly 750 people in 18 countries to help pay for a civilian defense lawyer for Manning, project director Jeff Paterson said.

"I think we have an imperative to support those people who've seen the horrors of battle and want to share that reality with the American people," Paterson said.

Manning, 22, a former intelligence analyst in Baghdad, faces possible court-martial on charges that he illegally downloaded classified material. If tried and convicted, he could be sentenced to 52 years in prison.

The material he allegedly leaked included 2007 video of a laughing U.S. Apache helicopter crew gunning down 11 men who were later found to include a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The Pentagon concluded the troops acted appropriately.

The video was posted in April on WikiLeaks, a self-professed whistleblower website, and labeled "Collateral Murder."

The Pentagon suspects Manning is also the source of 77,000 classified Afghan war reports that WikiLeaks posted in July and 15,000 more such documents that WikiLeaks says it intends to publish in coming weeks. U.S. officials say the disclosures have endangered innocent people or confidential informants.

Manning, a Crescent, Okla., native who lived in Potomac, Md., before joining the Army, has been assigned military lawyers who declined to comment on the charges. He has not yet retained a civilian attorney.

JoAnna Pease, 27, a graduate student in women's studies from Venice, Calif., said watching the Apache helicopter video made her want more unvarnished facts about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Somebody needed to stand up and provide this information," she said. "Regardless of who it is, they're really more an American hero than any sort of criminal."

Pease and 28-year-old Laraine Reitman, a San Diego writer, are steering committee members of the Bradley Manning Support Network, launched by Mike Gogulski, a U.S. citizen living in Bratislava, Slovakia. Neither woman considered herself an anti-war activist before seeing the helicopter video; now they find themselves plotting strategy alongside seasoned demonstrators like Paterson and Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era war protester who heads the Seattle branch of Veterans for Peace.

Manning told an online confidant: "I want people to see the truth because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public."

http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/08/19/antiwar-activists-rally-around-s...