They say you can be judged by the company you keep. President Barack Obama has chosen to take a stand for the criminals that Bradley Manning bravely exposed and to stay silent while this whistleblower is persecuted for causing embarrassment and discomfort to his administration.

Pfc. Bradley Manning

Check out the Iraq Collateral Murder Video that started it all:
• Watch the video:

• Learn more about the video that exposed the gunning down of unarmed civilians, journalists and children, here:
Read about the Collateral Murder Video

To claim that Manning’s leaks have given aid to ‘the enemy’ because some of his leaked info was found in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, is ridiculous. If they’d found a New York Times article with a photo of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, would they accuse the ‘Times of ‘aiding the enemy’ by providing Osama with that targeting information? Nothing that Manning allegedly released through WikiLeaks, The Guardian, The Washington Post and The New York Times, has been shown to have caused any real harm to anyone but it has revealed the duplicity of the USA’s actions in the world. For causing this dent to US pride and prestige, Bradley Manning is to pay with the loss of his liberty for a very long time.

I read Manning’s hour-long statement to the court at his pre-trial hearing at the end of February and cried. This young man is only 25 and has sacrificed the rest of his life for this.

• Read the full text of Manning’s statement:
The Guardian’s transcript of Manning’s pre-trial statement
or
• Listen to Manning’s statement:

Daniel Ellsberg** exposed the Johnson and Nixon Administration’s Vietnam War lies, was vilified but is now recognised as a genuine hero. Similarly, Bradley Manning will go down in history for bravely risking death by daring to expose the lies and criminal behavior of the US military (the Collateral Murder Video and the Iraq and Afghan War logs) and shining a light on the murky dealings of the US State Department with the Cablegate exposure. On the other hand, Barack Obama’s legacy will always be stained by this cruel and vindictive response to Manning’s incredibly brave, ethical act. As Daniel Ellsberg, himself pointed out: “I’m sure that President Obama would have sought a life sentence in my case”.

• Please watch this moving video and share this post if you can:

The featured celebrities involved in the project are:
Actor, Maggie Gyllenhaal; Pink Floyd legend, Roger Waters; Oscar winning director of Platoon, Oliver Stone; revered Vietnam War whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg; legendary talk show host and political activist, Phil Donahue; President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Michael Ratner; Pulitzer Prize winning author, Alice Walker (The Color Purple); legendary RATM and Audioslave guitarist and activist, Tom Morello; Rolling Stone journalist, Matt Taibbi; actor, Peter Sarsgaard; human rights activist and scholar, Angela Davis; music icon, Moby; artist, Molly Crabapple; environmentalist and founder of Peaceful Uprising, Tim DeChristopher; West Point graduate, Lt. Dan Choi; the famous (and arrested) Occupy Wall Street activist, retired Episcopal Bishop George Packard; the ever controversial, Russell Brand; award winning American investigative journalist, Allan Nairn; Pulitzer Prize winning political journalist, Chris Hedges; actor, Wallace Shawn; novelist and political commentator, Adhaf Soueif; and Iraq War veteran of Bravo Company 2-16, Josh Stieber, who was seen on the ground in the Collateral Murder Video and was so incensed by what he’d seen that he renounced his support for President Bush, became a conscientious objector and campaigned against the Iraq war.

** Daniel Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 with crimes carrying a possible 115 year sentence. The charges were dismissed in 1973 following revelations of illegal phone taps by the FBI.

More:
Learn more about the campaign to support Bradley Manning:
• The Bradley manning Support Network
• I Am Bradley Manning Project

My son Toby said, “Funny how this story isn’t given any coverage. It’s one of the biggest stories of our generation.”.
I agree… But in an age of expedience, it’s hard to measure effective journalism when the important issues of our time are things like… Kanye and Kim naming their new daughter, North West.

Please share!
:: Please leave a comment ::