Event organized by our sister organization, OCC

[Tony Nuspl]

Solidarity March in Support of Bradley Manning**

Thursday, August 12, 8pm

From the Corner of NE 16th and Lincoln to Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City

This Thursday, August 12, Oklahomans will show support for and solidarity with Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking documents about the Afghanistan War, with a march at dusk near the state capitol.

Please join us for this important action in support of the Army intelligence officer accused of leaking classified documents showing war crimes committed in Afghanistan by U.S. and NATO forces.

Manning, an Oklahoma native, faces 52 years in prison for exposing war crimes.

The Army intelligence analyst, originally from Crescent, Oklahoma, is being held in the brig at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia.

The action is being organized locally by the Oklahoma Center for Conscience, with support from the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

James M. Branum, an attorney that works with OCC on military law cases, calls the Pentagon’s treatment of Manning “extreme” and designed to set up the case “as an example of the punishment waiting for others who would consider exposing violations of military regs and international law.”

“We are saying that exposing war crimes is not a crime,” he said.

The whistleblower behind the Vietnam era’s Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has called Mr. Manning a hero. ”I admire the courage of Bradley Manning for sacrificing himself to make the public aware of the futility of the war in Afghanistan,” says Ellsberg.