it is time to administer some nasty shock therapy to the American empire,
an empire that claims that it’s all for human rights, peace, justice & democracy.
We live in such a time, however, when a 23-year old human being who has the moral wherewithal to join forces with Wikileaks, thus showing the world what our out-of-control military is capable of doing, is tortured!
We have all seen & heard the horrific events that occurred over the city of Baghdad a few years ago.
When these heartless, mindless soldiers cheerfully machine-gunned from the air a couple of journalists, little kids & other adults… we became aware. Because these events were made available to Wikileaks, this openly fascist government
is venting all its rage on a gentleman who ironically enough
joined the military with good intentions
speaking for Kalpulli, & presumably every other decent individual & organization on this planet, i want to go on record
as demanding the immediate & unconditional release of our brother Bradley Manning.
Whether Obama & his thugs like it or not.
In addition
the individuals responsible for the very real mental torture of this young man
should themselves be court-martialled.
Former Gen & Pres Dwight Eisenhower must be writhing in his grave at the thought of what our military is now doing!
Please remember his brightest moment:
his very last speech as president of the US in January 1961, when he warned us against “the unwarranted power of the military-industrial complex.”
One has to wonder,
in the dark, not in the light— what is happening to Bradley Manning right now, in the dark?
What would be done to Eisenhower today, by the US military for making the kind of statement he made 50 years ago?
Kalpulli may be embryonic, may be just past the point of conception, but speaking for my fellow members of the Governing Council,
as well as myself, I’m serving notice
on the jerks of the US:
the day is going to come when there will be what I want to call a second Nuremberg!
You may remember what had to be done to the Nazi’s in 1946 shen the world finally got a chance to bring them to trial and administer punishment.
Release Bradley Manning immediately or we, who are the world,
will make it hot for you.
This is not idle polemic –we criticize Libya & other countries for the crummy way they treat their people.
We have become them. Do you hear me Barack Hussein Selma Obama?
After Bradley is released, after the hell he went through, for example,
made to stand naked in front of his cell for hours,
being denied such basics as pillows & blankets,
being forbidden from doing basic exercises,
somebody needs to see to this precious young man’s recovery.
For this & so many other reasons, one of the goals of our organization will be the establishment of a multi-faceted people’s lobby to successfully confront & remove from power the individuals responsible for this kind of behavior!
It is my hope & prayer, frankly,
that the asshole who is commander of Quantico Marine base will read this & quake in his boots.
Release Bradley Manning immediately, & unconditionally, & if you do so, maybe your sentence will be lightened a bit when the trials come.
I cannot believe
that our little organization, with virtually no resources, is the only thing that stands
between the people & fascism USA. We’re not alone….
Brother Bradley, we love you man.
Your liberation is our liberation!!
These are my words, I take full responsibility for them– thank you not only for reading these words but acting on them!
Respectfully, in the name of a reinvented US,
Brother Ray

Markin comment:

I don’t have much occasion, or at least have not had much occasion recently, to be in Northern Virginia and certainly not in Triangle, Virginia the town attached to the Quantico Marine Base just off the Jefferson Davis Highway (that road designation named for the President of the defeated, or at least I assumed it was defeated, Southern Confederacy alone should tell everyone, every Northern everyone, that we are dealing with a different animal here). Nor would I, in the normal course of events, have occasion to be seeking parking space in the mammoth parking lot in front of the eerily-shaped Marine Corps Museum across from the base, although my late father proudly served in the Marines in World War II and saw battle in the Pacific. But as I have explained elsewhere (see below, Why I Will Be Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning At Quantico, Virginia On Sunday March 20th At 2:00 PM- A Personal Note From An Ex-Soldier Political Prisoner) today though, this day, this spring-like March day I am here on class-war prisoner business in support of accused whistleblower Private Bradley Manning who is being held in close pre-trial confinement here.

And so Northern Virginia Confederacy legacy or not, spring-like weather or not, I am here with other like-minded spirits to show our support in this desperate struggle to gain Private Manning’s freedom. And the usual cast of such characters are present: old-time radicals who have not lost that flickering flame that drove them to the left in their youths; Veterans for Peace, male and female, ex-soldiers of half the modern wars fought by the American imperial state, who learned the hard way, the very hard way, but learned, the madnesses of war and are out to spread the news; CodePink women who have become a righteous mainstay of the anti-war movement and put a little sparkle in as well; assorted Quakers and other religious people who know right from wrong in that milieu and are willing to do something about it; little old ladies in tennis sneakers (New Balance of course), little old men in tennis sneakers (ditto on the sneaker brand) and others, younger others, out to protest the outrageous treatment of alleged whistleblower Private Bradley Manning. Righteous people all, although maybe just a little too politically naïve about the nature of the American state. But I will let that pass for now as we are in a principled united front here on the issue that counted- freedom for Private Manning.

What was not present and, in the end to our regret, was anything like the Bolshevik Party of Russia in 1917. Or some great cloud of pre-World War I Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, Wobblies) descending on a Western town for a raucous Free Speech campaign where all hell was expected to break loose by both sides. Or even, closer in time, some Hippie-Yippie-Communist conflagration to shut down the streets of Chicago in the 1969 Days of Rage or the American government in the streets of Washington, D.C. in 1971. But someone forgot to tell the Virginia state/ Marine military intelligence officers who organized the security forces against the grannies and grandpas massed outside the Quantico base that this was not the intention, never was the intention, and could not possibly be the intention of those who sought Private Bradley Manning’s release this day. In the headline I called it the Quantico war-zone and that is what the governmental preparations were like- I swear I have not seen so many fully-armed, SWAT teams, so many horse-riding Cossacks, so many just plain police officers massed for a small demonstration in a while. Maybe I would have to go back to those shutting down the American government 1971 days but at least there we knew what we were up against, and were ready to take our chances. Needless to say with so much police presence the air was tense with expectation. And also with the inevitable police overreaction to every small gesture of resistance, no matter how non-violently posed. Like the fate of the American government was at stake in Triangle, Virginia that day. Everybody from Obama on down in that crowd should have egg on their faces from this one. But in the end the important thing was that we were there to support Private Bradley Manning, a righteous winter soldier. And we did so.

Note: I did not want to overload what I wanted to write above about the March 20th Quantico war-zone with a lot of speculation about what that massive police presence meant so I will put it in this note. Obviously some 30 billion dollars spent on intelligence-gathering, if that is the right word, does not buy you what it use to. A simple informer’s report from the March 19th Veteran’s for Peace-led march in front of the White House would have told the authorities that a mass rising at Triangle was not in the offing. And while we are on the subject it is clear that the Quantico security satraps did not bother to check with their Washington brethren about how to handle finicky grandpas and fidgety grandmas who WANT to be arrested as acts of civil disobedience. There were probably about a hundred or so police (maybe less) acting as security in front of the White House, the WHITE HOUSE for christsakes, who had the situation in well in tow and without serious incident. Additionally, and I take no credit for this one, apparently those in charge of Quantico security are-metaphorically-challenged and seemingly took literally the notion that we were there to free Bradley Manning. Like this was some Weather Underground freeing of guru Timothy Leary in the old days kind of action. In any case stop reading that old stuff and update your files.

http://on.fb.me/hsEBeD

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Judge-Soldier-can-show-he-reported-Afghan-plot-1223696.html

Unfortunately, that trial is becoming rigged as well:
“In his email Friday, Judge Hawks revealed that he has been removed from Winfield’s case. Col. David H. Robertson appointed himself as trial judge. No explanation was given, and it was not immediately clear Sunday whether Hawks had also been removed from any other cases over which he has presided.”

http://www.change.org/petitions/end-the-torture-of-b-manning-create-legislation-to-protect-whistleblowers-in-the-military

This is interesting.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/20113216812327175.html

War crime is allowed but reporting is NOT?
Blame the messenger?

Keep up the good work.

http://twitpic.com/4bk0dy and http://twitpic.com/4bk226

Remember tho, these soldiers are just doing what they’ve been ordered to do. Let’s not waste energy hating them or even their superiors who are only mad because they got caught giving terrible orders.

Please also remember, any soldier who wants to come forward with testimony or evidence of more war crimes will be welcome with open arms, and will be considered a hero.

Adam Winfield blew the whistle on his platoon in Afghanistan when his commanding officers suggested they killed Afghan civilians for sport, and they jailed him, attempting to use him as a patsy. He now has the attention of a judge who has seen his proof that he tried to get the word out about his orders:

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Judge-Soldier-can-show-he-reported-Afghan-plot-1223696.html

Keep the faith guys, it’s not ALL the military, it’s higher ups in key positions who are only doing the bidding of those paying for the operations. Continue to love our troops, but keep passing good information their way about how to withdraw from an amoral, unethical killing machine.