Bradley’s mother and aunt’s first interview: He felt compelled to let the world see what he had seen
8-year-old Bradley with mother Susan (left) and aunt Sharon (middle) (Photo via Susan Manning)
The Daily Mail. August 4, 2013
The Welsh mother of WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning last night told him to ‘never give up hope’ as he faced up to spending the rest of his life in prison.
Susan Manning says she knows she may never see him again following his conviction last week on spying charges at a US Army court martial hearing.
But in her first interview since Bradley, 25, was arrested for exposing US military secrets more than three years ago, Mrs Manning adds: ‘Never give up hope, son. I know I may never see you again but I know you will be free one day. I pray it is soon. I love you, Bradley and I always will.’
She told how she will never forget a visit he made to her in 2006 when she was being treated for a major stroke in her hometown of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
He was wearing a Superman T-shirt and Mrs Manning, 59, says: ‘Please remember, Bradley, you will always be my Superman.’
It was also during that visit in 2006 that he told her for the first time that he was gay.
Mrs Manning, stricken by health problems that have left her unable to visit her son in the US since February 2011, could not bring herself to turn on her television or radio to hear a US Army judge convict Bradley. Instead she lay curled up in a ball in her bedroom.
She had closed her curtains and was lying in the dark with a mobile phone at her side so her sister Sharon Staples, 50, who lives four miles from her, could keep in touch.
A Mail on Sunday reporter was at the home of Mrs Staples – who helped care for Bradley when he was a child – when the verdict arrived.
Back in May 2010, when it emerged that a skinny, bespectacled American soldier called Bradley Manning had been arrested for the largest leak of classified secrets in US military history, his family were the only people not shocked by the news.
It was revealed that he had forwarded to WikiLeaks more than 250,000 diplomatic cables, 500,000 Army battlefield logs and videos of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan making disparaging remarks about the men they had just killed.
But his family in Wales had witnessed his obsession with computers from an early age – and noted his growing rage against perceived injustices.
Mrs Staples, the aunt who helped raise Bradley after his parents’ marriage collapsed, says: ‘If anyone was going to get themselves arrested for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret documents and end up in jail for it, it was going to be our Bradley.
17-year-old Bradley during a visit to Wales
‘He just seemed to have a burning sense of wanting to right any injustice from such a young age.
‘He’d had a very tough childhood in many ways and he’d had to grow up too quickly. His childhood was cut short by all the unhappiness he experienced as a boy.’
Susan met Bradley’s American father, Brian, in Haverfordwest in her early 20s. He was stationed at the nearby Cawdor Barracks, where he served for five years as an intelligence analyst with the US Navy.
They were married within a year and, when Brian was posted to California a couple of years later, Susan and their daughter Casey, two, joined him. Nine years later, they had moved to Oklahoma, and Bradley was born.
By now Brian was working as an IT executive for car rental agency Hertz and was often away on month-long business trips. Bradley initially enjoyed a happy, carefree childhood in Oklahoma but when he was 12 his parents’ marriage foundered.
After the split, Brian met another woman, also called Susan, whom he later married. Worse still for Bradley, he felt the two sons of his father’s new bride, both close in age to himself, were his dad’s new priorities. It left him feeling rejected and abandoned.
Susan returned to Pembrokeshire with Bradley in 2001 and enrolled him at Tasker Milward comprehensive in Haverfordwest. But he soon became a target for bullies.
Mrs Staples says: ‘They’d pelt their house with eggs day and night and his home life was just as tough. Susan wasn’t at all well and Bradley bore the brunt of that at a time when he should have been working hard for his upcoming GCSEs.
‘Bradley felt he had to look after her and went from being a grade A pupil to leaving school without any GCSEs to his name.
‘From the age of 12 or so, Bradley was having to be the man of the house and that placed huge responsibility on his shoulders that I don’t think he was ready for.
‘He was very intense about everything and seemed to have a much stronger sense of injustice, of what is right and wrong, than most people.
‘He was forever talking about the wrongs that he felt were being committed by certain US senators – but of course we’d never heard of any of them so couldn’t contribute to the conversation.
So eventually he’d get bored and go off and sit at one of his computers instead. I sensed that the computer was his escape.’
Bradley flew back to the US when he was 16 after his father persuaded a friend to give him a job with his computer firm. But Bradley’s poor people skills soon let him down.
‘He kept telling his boss how to do his job,’ says Mrs Staples. ‘He’d pull him up all the time for mistakes in the way he was programming his computer. After a few weeks, the boss fired Bradley because he thought he was too big for his boots.’
When Bradley was 18, his father again offered to ‘pull strings’ to land him another job – in the US Army. But Bradley took the initiative and signed himself up while visiting another aunt, his father’s lawyer sister Debbie, in Washington DC.
He remained in regular contact by phone and email with his mother and aunt Sharon in Wales, but they found it difficult to match the ‘scrawny little kid in boxers and a blanket’ to the smart young man now dressed in military uniform.
Mrs Staples says all of his family were ‘very proud’ of him being in the army – but that pride turned to horror in May 2010 when Bradley was arrested.
It was Brian who broke the news to the Welsh side of the family. Mrs Staples, by now running a busy cleaning company employing ten staff, says: ‘I was at work when I got a call from him.
‘His voice was very solemn and he said, “Sharon, Bradley has been arrested. He is in big trouble. Can you let Susan know, please?’’
‘He didn’t tell me any more at the time but told me to watch the TV. I turned it on and there was Bradley’s face staring back.
‘For a second, I thought, what the hell is Bradley doing on the telly? Then I sat down and listened to what he was being accused of.
‘Memories of him at the computer as a boy flooded back. One thought in particular came back to me of the time he’d come back to Haverfordwest to see his mum at Withybush Hospital, after her stroke in 2006.
‘He was wearing his Superman T-shirt and he’d dyed his blonde hair black. I remembered him telling me and my husband, Joe, that he couldn’t walk round town here because he’d be mobbed.
‘At the time I thought, “Get real, mate, you’re not a celebrity.” But he’s certainly fulfilled his dream now, that’s for sure.’
The family’s horror at his arrest in 2010 deepened the following year when they visited him in jail as he awaited his court-martial.
Susan, accompanied by Sharon and her husband and suffering worsening health problems, made her first and only trip to the US to visit Bradley in February 2011 at a US marines’ base at Quantico in Virginia.
She was permitted four one-hour meetings with her son, who was being kept in solitary confinement. Sharon and Joe were not allowed inside.
Sharon says that, after the first visit, Susan fell into her sister’s arms and sobbed: ‘You wouldn’t treat a bloody animal like they’re treating Bradley.
‘He was sitting on the other side of a glass partition and when I walked in I heard the sound of the chains round his hands and feet before I saw him.’
Sharon says: ‘Most of the time, they sat in silence but held each other’s gaze. She didn’t get to hug him, but was able to tell him she loved him.
‘I don’t believe Susan will ever see him again. He’ll be behind bars until he’s an old man, if not for ever, and there’s no way Susan is healthy enough to fly out to America now.
‘It’s going to take a miracle to get him out. And to think people are released from prison after 12 years for murder.’
The following November, Mrs Staples and Joe, a 49-year-old kitchen and bathroom designer, made a second trip to the US to visit Bradley.
By now, he had been transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas – a five-hour each way trip from Oklahoma. ‘It was freezing cold and dead deer lined the road as we neared the prison,’ says Mrs Staples. ‘It was pretty bleak.
‘When we arrived, even though we’d been approved for the visit, the guards seemed hell-bent on delaying us so we’d have as little time with Bradley as possible.
‘In the end, we got 40 minutes with him, but it was worth it.
‘We walked in and Bradley was already in this huge room, dressed in orange overalls like they wear at Guantanamo Bay.
‘There were guards and guns everywhere and microphones directly above where we were supposed to sit – but there was no glass partition and he didn’t have his chains on, so we could hug each other.
‘I threw my arms round him and gave him the biggest hug and a kiss. “That’s from your mum,’’ I said. ‘She says to tell you she loves you.
‘He said he was fed up with having to eat chicken all the time because there were no other choices, but he’d been watching plenty of TV. I asked him if he wanted me to send him anything and he said, “Everything I want is in here and here.’’
‘As he said the word “here’’, he pointed to his head, then his heart.
‘His mind certainly seemed organised and strong. I’d always thought of him as a spoilt child but I could see now that he had found a strength I never knew he possessed.’
Mrs Staples has not seen her nephew since that day and although he kept in touch with family by mail for a time, he has not seen, spoken or written to any of his relatives for the past ten months.
‘We’re really worried about why that is,’ she says. ‘Are they preventing him from making contact? We just don’t know.’
Their first glimpse of Bradley since 2011 was this week when he appeared at his court-martial in a small courtroom at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.
Mrs Staples watched on television as the judge acquitted her nephew of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy – but found him guilty of more than 20 crimes.
‘I phoned Susan,’ she says. ‘She was sitting in her bedroom with the curtains closed. I told her to turn the TV on and watch it and she said, “Is it bad news?”
‘‘No,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t be ringing you to tell you to watch if it was bad news.’ Afterwards, we spoke again on the phone and she said, “Yes, that’s brilliant news.”
‘And it is really because it offers some hope. Like me, Susan knows he’s not coming home any time soon – but at least there’s a chance now that he’ll be released before he dies. There’s something to play for.
‘But I’m not getting carried away – he still faces a maximum of 136 years in prison.’
However, lawyers for the whistleblower are now seeking to reduce his potential sentence by having some of his convictions merged.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue until August 23, but Mrs Staples says she believes the process will last much longer.
‘Bradley’s sister Casey has told me she is one of several witnesses the judge wants to make statements to the court about him – and that is going to take time. It could be months before he is sentenced.
‘I’m just praying for leniency.’
Collateral Murder
After a voice on the transmission urges the pilots to ‘light ’em all up’, the individuals on the street are shot by the gunship’s cannon.
A few minutes later, a van whose occupants appear to be picking up a wounded person is fired on too.
Two children were among the casualties.
Mrs Staples believes the world will one day see Bradley’s actions as heroic.
She said: ‘How many people wish the Nazi death camp guards who looked the other way had done what Bradley did?
‘One day, maybe even America will recognise that he did the right thing. He felt compelled to let the world see what he had seen.’
It is definitely a good thing to make it known that he is a basically very normal person with a strong sense of morality.
I am so ashamed of what this country has done to such a good soul :’(. What have we come to when we mask our mistakes & call those who want fairness a traitor? This is absolutely disgusting. Susan Manning I am so sorry. I stand with you.
many Americans do its the government and the corporate police state that sees him showing them as criminals is a crime. knock knock at your front door its 1984
I believe the should be more than Proud of what Bradley has done, he has shown that besides everything that he went trough at such a young age, he has grown like a real men, someone with integrity and a huge sense of justice! Long Live Bradley Manning!
Bradley is a superman!
I agree.
Thank you for sharing this story. I – and I’m sure many others – pray for your son on a regular basis. He has lived more in his 25 year life so far than thousands of us put together. Bradley has all my respect. It makes me happy that truth is spreading – slowly but surely.
Am (B.C., Canada)
RIGHT ON BRAD! BRAD MANNING IS A HERO!!! HI HO!!!
If anybody wants to know what a true betrayal of America is just consider the fact that between 2004 and 2005, at least 12 American soldiers were electrocuted to death in Iraq by the faulty electrical wiring of Kellogg, Brown, and Root, which is a subsidiary of Dick Cheney’s Halliburton Co. Not 1 workman or corporate executive was every criminally charged under either the presidency of George Bush or Barack Obama. Allowing American corporations to kill American soldiers with impunity is an act of treason in the opinion of this Vietnam veteran.
I agree. They will now pay pittance for gross negligence. Any electrician would tell you a basic is ‘ground wire’ and yet these criminals making millions upon millions don’t know the simple basics of wiring? The fine Haliburton will pay is equivalent to you or me being fined $50.00; in other words they pay virtually nothing for negligent homicide of military personnel. This is such a disgrace.
Had this been a contractor who wired your home shower, he would now be in prison and broke after paying lawyers and your family. May Cheney the coward who refused to serve in the military and his greedy comrades rot in Hell.
Yes, Edward Stengel, I remember that now, about the wiring and our dear soldiers dying that stupid, painful way. You’re right, Cheney and his awful company are both monstrous.
Thank you. I totally agree.
Bradley is too much like me to ignore, quotes to the effect of “He just seemed to have a burning sense of wanting to right any injustice from such a young age.” could have been written by my family about me if I had been in the position it would ethically destroyed me not to have leaked the information. Heart warming to here re the guy he is from family.
Our whole family believes you did the right thing. You are an inspiration to us. We will send you letters in jail, and are praying that you keep up your spirits. Love, Adrianne
To Bradley’s Mother, Aunt and family. Please do not give up hope on Bradley’s release soon. There is not only tremendous support here but all over the world for this incredible young man. Life is constantly changing. Be prepared for how the universe will support his efforts and he will be free again. Here in America we are very proud and thankful to both Bradley and to Snowden. They are our new leaders and they are giving us great strength and motivation. So very many of us are sickened by the seeming betrayal of our current president and were becoming so despondent to watch what we were so hopeful for dashed, now these to young men have given us hope again. As a great grand mother of 2, grandmother of 7 and mother of 3 I speak for many of us. With love and gratefulness.
Patricia
Your wise words have moved me to tears – so eloquently out. You are right – these men are the pioneers, the new leaders of a better future – one filled with hope.
Lets hope they are acknowledged as such sooner rather than later no that Susan can feel the love, support and pride we feel fir her amazing brave son.
Thank you
Philip
greetings from Australia. The world will NEVER forget Bradley and he will rise like Spartacus. He’ll be remembered when the empire has fallen. He has also inspired so many (and Snowden may be one of them). But, being an athiest & having no belief in any afterlife, I believe, we need to not give up on our efforts to get him free NOW, not later. I already boycott US (and Israel: another story). If we all pledge to do this together, it may be something that talks.
My family and I constantly praying for Bradley. For his health.
We pray that he receive the confort of God for doing the right thing.
And, that he knew’s we are eternal, and what he’s do in his life here count forever.
The chains are only corporal but, in God he can make his soul free.
That’s the wonders of God.
We will still praying for him.
What is the difference between a Hero and a coward? A coward sees something that he knows is wrong, something that he wouldn’t want to happen to him or his family members…and turns his back and pretends he didn’t see it, or it didn’t happen.
A Hero stands up and speaks out…”Hey! What the hell are you doing?” Then he takes action… Thank you Bradley, for being a “Stand Up” kind of guy.
Sorry the rest of us are cowards and thus can’t do more to spare you this “beating” for doing the right thing! And just think, if all the cowards would all stand up at once and say ” Hell no!” And then march forward and take charge, Bradley could come home.
I am so saddened to see what this country that I love has come to. Bradley Manning is a great American and world hero, followed now by Edward Snowden …. our youngest, brightest and most compassionate and moral young people are being demonized and imprisoned while those who commit the violent and corrupt crimes in our names are free to continue to do what they do. If “America has lost favor with God” as some put it, it is because of this and not because of homosexuality, a woman’s right to choose or embracing other religions, spirituality or atheism. I pray and hope every day that this great country will come back to its senses and Bradley will be freed ….. we want our hero free!
08-05-2013
Hi Brad,
We just want you to know that you are in our prayers and that we greatly appreciate the personal sacrifices you have made to shine the light of truth on actions of interest to us all.
You have shown courage and a level of moral strength that far exceeds that of the average American. You are deservedly admired as a true American Hero! Our hearts go out to you in these very troubling times and we continue to pray for your peace and endurance in the days ahead.
Respectfully,
Travis and Luz Ogle
Pensacola, FL
I have been doing what little I can to publicize Bradley’s plight. I am enraged at the treatment he has been subjected to but not surprised. Bradley joins the ranks of Leonard Peltier, the Angola 3, Mumia Abu-Jamal and numerous lesser well known others. All of them have faced inhuman repression. But a day is coming when their prospects for release will dramatically improve because America is turning into a tinderbox waiting to ignite and then anything can happen.
Thank God for people of courage and conviction like Bradley and Snowdon.
You are heroes of the small people of the world.
Don’t give up hope, we are all praying for you.
Thank you thank you thank you.
As a former US Naval officer I applaud Bradley for his principled position and courage. He is a hero and patriot in my eyes and hopefully one day his courage will be widely recognized in this land of the free (hah) and home of the liars (politicians and too many military officers) who just need to cover their backsides at times such as this. Has anyone been prosecuted for the failure to detect the loss of this material? Prosecuted for failure of the system? I don’t think so? Same with Edward Snowden and they won’t be.
Daniel Ellsberg has been a hero of mine ever since the Pentagon Papers were published. He recognizes Bradley as a patriot too.
I wish his mother and the all of his family all the best in this time of trial.
I will wear your T-shirts and keep your poster on my gate for as long as it takes. Such a horrible miscarriage of justice by Big Brother CANNOT be allowed to continue. Let us hope some kind of deal is cut for him to be quietly released in a few years.
Meantime, his heroic attorneys must see that he is protected in prison against vigilantes!
Bradley Manning tried to do the right thing. In the Brave New World that our country has become, the 1984 word is “don’t embarrass Big Brother by revealing the un-American things it has done and lied and lied and lied to cover up.”
Wars are fought for the economic and political purposes of those at the top but not by them. To hide the reality of war, we are given the false narrative of battlefield heroics by square jawed, bright eyed young men whose hearts are pure and intentions noble.
Bradley Manning gave all those who believe in this fairy tale a small taste or war’s reality; that is nothing but a slaughter and is often racist and for that crime, exposing the truth that our leaders, both Repub and Dem, want to keep from us, this hero has been mercilessly held incarcerated and now tried by a shameless fraud like Obama, a man who doesn’t look backwards when the criminals are of his circle but is remorseless when going after those who dare speak truth.
God bless Bradley Manning; God damn Obama and those that started these wars.
I never thought there will be a day where people upholding the constitution they swore to uphold could face jail time and even death, while at the same time, confessed war criminals get to retire to enjoy a socialist pension for life, instead of a jail and or execution. What a travesty of justice. This proves to the nth degree that the America of before is not the same of today.
A perjury forced Nixon to resign and now war crimes don’t even register in our “moral” values. Free Manning, let Assange go and bring to justice that retard pervert from Texas and his whole administration and then congress can start proceedings against Obama for becoming a dictator. I want my constitution back and pronto.
Dear Jorge Gomez,
I agree with you and thank you for your heartfelt comments. But, I volunteer in government, so if I could ask that you let me correct something, I’d appreciate it.
The kind of dictators Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld are, are fascists, not socialists. Fascism, like that in WWII Germany, is a too-close alliance of the Corporate World (or “Industry”, BIG-business) with the Military (like the mercenaries [for-profit soldiers] of Blackwater).* UNDER FASCISM Government knuckles under to whatever the world-wide corporations want and startS spying on the citizens, jailing all who complain about their crimes (like Manning and Snowden) and exaggerating National Pride or pride over a particular race, religion or other. Remember “the Aryan” Race (Blond, “perfect” men.)
SOCIALISTS want everyone to have equal amounts of everything — money, housing, health-care but they usually end up BEING another kind of dictatorship. These are opposites, though they both tend to end up with an small, privileged, elite group of the winners overlooking all. Democracy requires The People to be involved, to stay educated about what their government is doing, to vote in fair elections and help put the brakes on when either style of fanatics start to take over.
THE fascists of today are ruining Public Education on purpose so children cannot THINK well enough to protect themselves in the future. They want a Private, Corporate-run education system that teaches “government is unnecessary” and they can only succeed when they control the media, too.
The PRESS (MEDIA) has always been our “fourth estate” because our real Democracy described in The Constitution has three balancing branches — the Executive (1st), the Legislative (2nd) and Judicial (3rd) but requires an active, investigating group of writers to report on what the government is doing, being, hopefully, honest and balanced.
Absolutely! I KNOW there are so many good Americans out there. But for now, I have to threaten your jobs and boycott US as totally as I can and urge others to do the same. I want to see all you good people overcome, but I can only see that happening by revolution,,,because your system is too closed to allow change. Not that ours is much better. Its capitalism that sucks.
I know justice will be done…in this life or the next. We must not forget.
There is no other life. We have to save this one for all people and this planet NOW. Its OUR responsibility, not some mythic godfather/mother whatever. We fucked it, we fix it.
I sent this song as a tribute to Bradley Manning to my friends, family, along with others this past weekend. It’s in Finnish so I don’t understand the words but the tune has empathy in an anthem.
Kukkurukuu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZWNf9bHMZE
To Susan Manning, Sharon Staples and Brian Manning;
Bradley is a one of a kind real life hero. One that you can be proud of. And i believe his actions will go down in history as the act of an true America patriot.
But more than that – his actions show us how important it is to speak up when you witness lies, corruption and deceit. How important it is to NOT simply ‘look the other way’ just because everyone else does.
And now, Brad is showing us how to remain courageous, even when you know you will lose the battle.
We’ve learned from him that the war is not lost. That there are still many battles ahead for those he inspired with his skill and honesty.
Bradley is more than just a hero .. he’s an honest man.
I know that doesn’t help Brad now :/ .. how i wish i had the power to do so. No one deserves the kind of treatment the shameful military complex/government is giving him.
Your quite right Ms Manning, animals are treated better .. and humans would be arrested and fined for treating one the way they have treated him. I am sorry .. i can’t imagine how painful that is to witness someone you love subjected to treatment like that.
Please know that many thoughts are prayers are will you ALL.
And thank you for raising such a fine young man.
I wish Bradley and all his family peace, hope and strength. Never thought I’d live to see my country behave so badly to its heroes and true patriots – but I think the wrong guys won somewhere along the line.
Thank you for bringing up a young man who not only put his life on the line to tell the American people the truth about what their soldiers were being made to do, but for also bringing about an end to a war where wounds of the soul were being inflicted twice as much as physical wounds. It was so hard for some young men to follow orders that mocked everything they ever believed in. It is so easy to lie and pretend Afgan people are not just people, until Bradley released the video of the children’s father stopping to help the wounded only to lose his life in the process to U.S. soldiers. Thank you and thank Bradley. We will continue to support the quest for Bradley’s release,and pardon. Hopefully he will receive the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE along with his freedom.
I am Bradley Manning in the person of a 75 yr old woman (8/8/38) in California, USA. It hurts my heart to read your story but please have faith. Good has to come of this. Bradley is a hero. Susan, you be brave and stay well and you WILL see your son again. All my love and good wishes to you,
Frances Miller
Dear Frances ,thank you for your kind words ,, we will see brad again ,i have faith, sharon has determination and Bradley has time ., regards Joe staples,
Bratley Mannyng comandant en Cap per que vol Justícia de veritat
I am looking at a picture of Saint Anthony,
he is wearing the standard garb of monestary monks,and in his right hand are flowers. In his left arm, he is holding a child. He is floating on a cloud.
I am not Catholic, but for those of you who are, I suppose you already know that Saint Anthony is the Saint of Miracles.
If any of you are in good standing with higher powers,
send Saint Anthony a prayer for a true hero: Bradley Manning.
The bravery and courage and ethical fortitude of all young people including that of the following three shining examples: Julian ASSANGE, Bradley MANNING, Edward SNOWDEN – let’s all the world know that honesty and justice are indeed worth standing up for. None of these men has caused a single death – the true irony is that the vested interests/businesses/military and presidents are the real murderers – and betrayers – of democracy. Bradley has been shamefully treated and abused – when those who are to blame sweep away the sophistry and weasel words and own up to their abusive behaviour and apologise meaningfully – then we can all move forward but until that day and Bradley’s freedom – and the same guarantee for Julian and for Edward – the much-vaunted democracy of the US is well-and-truly down the gurgler! Bravo to Bradley’s family for their steadfastness!
…lets all the world…
Bradley is a true hero and should be honoured for his courage not punished. He is way braver than those that just blindly follow the orders and hide the truth.
Justice must prevail and Bradley seen for the hero that his is.
Susan you should be so proud of the wonderful comapassionate selfless son you raised.
Thinking of you and of Bradley and sending strength, hope and a plea for justice.
Philip
As I sit here this beautiful morning looking over the peaceful hills of the Switzerland this American has chosen to call home, I reflect on the America now so far away, not only in time and distance, but in truth as a dimming ray of hope for this burdened world. What to say to Susan, Sharon, Bradley … For the America that I have ever in my hopes along with the fears, a phrase from my beloved Hawaii resonates especially strong in my mind after reading this quietly but strongly moving testimony of love from Bradley’s family and friends:
Ho’oponopono … a message saying of America, to ourselves, every one …
“I love you;
I’m sorry;
Please forgive me;
Thank you”
(For a clear definition of Ho’oponopono, I refer you to Wikipedia.)
Thank you Bradley, and thank you as well to Edward and Julian and to all courageous others who have stepped forward in support of TRUTH. WTP
Be careful here, The Mail is a very right-wing and unreliable UK tabloid.
I don’t believe they “interviewed” Susan Mannning (who they point out is still in some considerable distress, understandably) the quotes from her seem to come from a statement (that I thought were sent to Bradley’s lawyers)…
No sir i can assure you you are wrong, Joe staples
I am so shocked by the US government, mostly made up of criminals. Billions are spent on racist wars so that a handful of evil people can get even richer.
Bradley is one courageous guy. I have a sticker of him on my backpack to advertise his bold actions.
Ho’oponopono to us all. Thanks again Bradley and family, wherever we are.
It took courage to survive and continue the fight for truth in the face of possible death. Why do we continue to honor those in the military whose job is to kill yet we condemn those who dare to use their voices to demonstrate wrongs. You are more of a warrior.
Bratley Manning is the hope of Thruth
Mrs Staples believes the world will one day see SOOOOOO TRUEEE!!!!!
“Bradley’s actions as heroic.
She (Bradley’s Aunt) said: ‘How many people wish the Nazi death camp guards who looked the other way had done what Bradley did?
‘One day, maybe even America will recognise that he did the right thing. He felt compelled to let the world see what he had seen.’”
GOD BLESS BRADLEY MANNING!!!!
Bradley Manning, you are a man of extraordinary courage and principles. Thank you for what you have done. I know this government would rather come down on you with all it has than investigate the real crimes that were done here. I believe our Founding Fathers would be ashamed of what our country has become. Things can change if enough of us have the courage to speak out.
You did what was right. I wish there were more like you.
Obama must grant a full pardon to Bradley Manning for what his administration shamefully did to him. The injustices that the Obama administration has done to whistleblowers sets a precedent that doing the right thing, however well-intentioned, can result in punishment for the whistleblower and not the actual criminals. What Bradley Manning has gone through is disgusting enough, but to think that his real punishment hasn’t even been commenced fill me with a deep sadness that this is America, this is the land where the things that are idealized in popular media; telling the truth, doing right by others, etc… is really just a crock of horseshit. When one is in a position to have the privilege to access such confidential and classified information, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong is blurred, in this case intentionally by the US military and the government that has allowed this travesty to continue. I sincerely hope the American public can see through the wool that the government has placed over its eyes and see that Bradley Manning is a real American hero.
We were promised a new era where whistle blowers were protected from this type of abuse. Our president campaigned on this very issue. Obama has abandoned his principals and saddened us all by joining in lock step with the previous corrupt administration. Though I wrote this music before the wikileaks affair, I now dedicate this song to Bradley.
It seems appropriate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o04uNXF3UhY
Godspeed Bradley Manning! You have held the constitution above your personal freedom while members of congress dream of new ways to subvert it. Our founding fathers are your true family. They were called traitors too, but held steadfast that the common humanity of all men was worth risking everything for.
I LOVE you Bradley you brave American, you brave Soldier I will pray for your release. For those who speak the truth God will answer. Pray that before we all know this is over you will be out soon and running for office like you should you brave man. I believe nothing is impossible and promise to pray pray pray for a miracle because you did nothing wrong. You told the truth.
If Bradley were my son or nephew I’d damn well go in there and DEMAND his release – backed up by all the sane people who can see he’s a victim of the criminal gang who’ve taken over the USA.
Bradley Manning is a hero! The bravery this man possesses is rarely matched, the courage to give up everything to simply INFORM. How many people would do this in today’s America?! I mean really, look around us.
Thank you, Bradley for what you’ve done and the evil you have exposed. Let this be a wake-up call to all of us, not to stand idly by while we witness atrocities committed by our fellow man. To have the grit to stand up and say THIS IS WRONG.
Bradley, you will always be in my thoughts and prayers and your name will always be, for me, a salute to courage and integrity that cannot be matched.
Bradley Manning a agi dans l’intérêt de la vérité, et du bien de l’humanité ; les USA se trompent en le condamnant. Courage. Soutien à Bradley Manning de Paris, France.
Bradley our Lord knows our pains,how we suffer needlessly, he is ready to release you from the evils of the American Gov and us citizens, and the soldiers you have saved and others in their countries. God has answered me in times of need that I wondered where I was going and how, by the good I contributed to others. He works faster than a letter, or court appt, their are angel,s who come in discuise, thru the almighty,whom their are Miracles. I continuely think of you everyday as my grandson, and I personaly have contributed to your plight .Thank you for the wisdom you have contributed to the world, I am co sorry you have had to be tortured by your own. And the guy that turned you in woo to him he will gets his by his Karma. Bless your Mom and Aunt, I am wishing the Seals will deliver you somehow. Maybe David Copperfield could make you disapear from the cell. I have seen him do it. I am praying for you.God answers my prayers. My mind is on you.One reason too is you look like my grandson almost alike, He is almost a look a like, if he were in your uniform people would think him you. God is working a miracle for this world and you as it cannot go on like it has there is a change, now we all know and we will not stop until you are free. With Much Love to you and Family .
Be brave, dear Susan Manning. And be proud of your loving, heroic son.
It is sickening that someone who shows great strength and bravery in demonstrating the sterotypical moralistic values we attempt to instil in people as children is held against some of the most basic priniciples of law (i.e being held without trial)by people who are entusted to uphold the values of a free and fair society, people who are voted into power and given these responsibilities and powers democratically by a ‘free’ people. Instead they illeagaly spy on the people that put them in this position of power via the NSA, and when a person has the strength and courage to stand up and make them accountable for their actions and the abuse of power that they have been entrusted with (by violating laws laid down by their forefathers and indeed, some of them by themselves)they revoke his freedom and seemingly his his status a member of the human race by revoking his rights and treating him no better than an animal whilst in custody. What they need to realise is that by imprisioning Bradley, even indefinately, will not make this go away. The doors have been blown clean off, and we can all see what they have tried to hide. Wars are not won with picnics and cuddles, I think that is widely accepted by most and it is understood that people get killed, but the aptly named collateral murder video shows the attitude behind the people doing the killings, that civilians and children are just ‘collateral damage’ rather than innocent victims in a war they may or may not have choosen to be involved in, and Bradley should be commended for his bravey for highlighting the slip in moralistic action and lack of adherence to their Rules of Engagement, rather than condemned by the country he served in a conflict zone. Is this how America commends his courage? It seems not, looking at all the world wide support he’s getting, it seems to be the government or US Army officals who have alot to account for that seem to think this is the right way to treat a hero. They deem it right to make more innocents suffer, Bradley, his family,his friends and any other innocent victims of US conflict because they do not want to take responsibility.
Dear Susan, Brian and Sharon,
It may seem far away, and rather foreign, but here is one of the websites and events here in San Francisco dedicated to your brave son. Thousands of us marched, the largest contingent in the largest LGBT Pride event in the US, and our focus was on sharing Bradley as a hero to all young people everywhere. As “queer” folks it is important to us to claim our history, and he is our newest and most relevant hero.
Actually, I don’t see it as that strange, now that I realize he was raised by a parent in Wales. My understanding is that you there have always been the fighters, the brave miners and lone herders, the bards and truth-tellers of the Isles. And it is clear from learning of your family just where Bradley found his strength. If we in the LGBT and other progressives can add even one iota of support to brave Bradley, it is our pleasure as well as our duty.
All the best to you, from those who can relate to where Bradley came from, for indeed we are all Bradley Manning,
Mark Freeman
10,000 Queer Heroes for Pride…including Bradley Manning https://www.facebook.com/events/475213535904703/