Letter from a fellow serviceman
The following is a letter written by former Army specialist Ethan McCord, in response to the recent profile on Bradley Manning which appeared in New York Magazine on July 3rd, 2011. The profile, which disclosed a previous unreported set of IM logs between Bradley and the blogger Zinnia Jones, focused on Bradley’s intimate personal details as a way to explain his alleged act of whistle-blowing, and has been met with fiery response by many who have been closely following his case.
Ethan McCord, an army specialist who can be seen in the Collateral Murder video (which Bradley is accused of leaking) pulling wounded children from a civilian van after it was strafed by a U.S. gunship. His letter describes the harsh reality of serving in Iraq, and the the view that Manning’s alleged leaks could only have be an act of conscience.
For more opinion on the New York Magazine profile, and other recent coverage see Glenn Greenwald’s article on Salon.com, Kevin Gosztola’s follow up on Firedodlake, and a very in depth analysis from wlcentral.org. We also offer our own analysis of the IM logs featured in the article.
Specialist Ethan McCord -- Baghdad
PFC Bradley Manning: Conscience & Agency
By Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army
July 10th, 2011
Serving with my unit 2nd battalion 16th infantry in New Baghdad Iraq, I vividly remember the moment in 2007, when our Battalion Commander walked into the room and announced our new rules of engagement:
“Listen up, new battalion SOP (standing operating procedure) from now on: Anytime your convoy gets hit by an IED, I want 360 degree rotational fire. You kill every [expletive] in the street!”
We weren’t trained extensively to recognize an unlawful order, or how to report one. But many of us could not believe what we had just been told to do. Those of us who knew it was morally wrong struggled to figure out a way to avoid shooting innocent civilians, while also dodging repercussions from the non-commissioned officers who enforced the policy. In such situations, we determined to fire our weapons, but into rooftops or abandoned vehicles, giving the impression that we were following procedure.
On April 5, 2010 American citizens and people around the world got a taste of the fruits of this standing operating procedure when WikiLeaks released the now-famous Collateral Murder video. This video showed the horrific and wholly unnecessary killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists.
I was part of the unit that was responsible for this atrocity. In the video, I can be seen attempting to carry wounded children to safety in the aftermath.
The video released by WikiLeaks belongs in the public record. Covering up this incident is a matter deserving of criminal inquiry. Whoever revealed it is an American hero in my book.
Private First Class Bradley Manning has been confined for over a year on the government’s accusation that he released this video and volumes of other classified documents to WikiLeaks — an organization that has been selectively publishing portions of this information in collaboration with other news outlets.
If PFC Bradley Manning did what he is accused of doing, then it is clear—from chat logs that have been attributed to him—that his decision was motivated by conscience and political agency. These chat logs allegedly describe how PFC Manning hopes these revelations will result in “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms.”
Unfortunately, Steve Fishman’s article Bradley Manning’s Army of One in New York Magazine (July 3, 2011) erases Manning’s political agency. By focusing so heavily on Manning’s personal life, Fishman removes politics from a story that has everything to do with politics. The important public issues wrapped up with PFC Manning’s case include: transparency in government; the Obama Administration’s unprecedented pursuit of whistle-blowers; accountability of government and military in shaping and carrying out foreign policy; war crimes revealed in the WikiLeaks documents; the catalyzing role these revelations played in democratic movements across the Middle East; and more.
The contents of the WikiLeaks revelations have pulled back the curtain on the degradation of our democratic system. It has become completely normal for decision-makers to promulgate foreign policies, diplomatic strategies, and military operating procedures that are hostile to the democratic ideals our country was founded upon. The incident I was part of—shown in the Collateral Murder video—becomes even more horrific when we grasp that it was not exceptional. PFC Manning himself is alleged to describe (in the chat logs) an incident where he was ordered to turn over innocent Iraqi academics to notorious police interrogators, for the offense of publishing a political critique of government corruption titled, “Where did the money go?” These issues deserve “discussion, debates, and reforms” — and attention from journalists.
Fishman’s article was also ignorant of the realities of military service. Those of us who serve in the military are often lauded as heroes. Civilians need to understand that we may be heroes, but we are not saints. We are young people under a tremendous amount of stress. We face moral dilemmas that many civilians have never even contemplated hypothetically.
Civil society honors military service partly because of the sacrifice it entails. Lengthy and repeated deployments stress our closest relationships with family and friends. The realities, traumas, and stresses of military life take an emotional toll. This emotional battle is part of the sacrifice that we honor. That any young soldier might wrestle with his or her experiences in the military, or with his or her identity beyond military life, should never be wielded as a weapon against them.
If PFC Bradley Manning did what he is accused of, he is a hero of mine; not because he’s perfect or because he never struggled with personal or family relationships—most of us do—but because in the midst of it all he had the courage to act on his conscience.
Thank you for making real the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by our military men and women. May God bless you and keep you.
Mr Ethan McCord, I can only say that you and other soldiers like Bradley Manning are true heroes for standing up for justice and opposing tyranny and mass murder. I hope you you kep safe as we know too well that your government has a reputation for “neutralising” those it considers a threat to its murderous regime.
Every US soldier, sailor and airmen who served inb Iraq and Afghanistan and who killed an innocent person needs to come forward and make their confession known to the world. This would be the evidence of true bravery. Bravery is not when you are armed with the worlds most sophisticated and deadly weapons against poorly armed conscripts or civilains attemting to defend their homes and children from destruction. US soldiers showed no mercy to too many innocents and the best way to now make some ammends is to come forward and confess. This act would put your government in a very difficult position as they couldn’t jail tens of thousands of troops. So come on, show us how brave you can be.
Wars are horrific and should be abolished. That Bradley Manning was against the horror he found and that he helped bring the truth out should be treated with reverence. That kind of transparency is necessary for any just and moral society Anything else is total hypocrisy and very dangerous!!! What have we become? What kind of monsters?
Thank you for having a conscience, and thank you for speaking out.
Of course the military needs basic training in human rights and international law, from the very first day they sign up. So many poor people sign up to do their duty in some sad sort of misguided sense of patriotism, without knowing or understanding the conflicts they will take part in. Educating soldiers is the most important and successful way to end war crimes. Wars will never be abolished, there’s far too much money and power up for grabs to do that. But if we can minimize the damages to civilians and soldiers alike, we will come far from where we are today. Educate and empower women in all countries, that’s a sure way to end armed conflict. And let soldiers know about their rights and obligations, to themselves and to others. Then they won’t have to come home as broken as they do, living through the effects of the atrocities they have seen and done.
I thought the21st century would bring the end to war. Maybe it will . War is never the answer.