Audio recording of Bradley Manning’s statement leaked
The Freedom of the Press Foundation published a full audio recording of Bradley Manning’s statement to the court taking responsibility for WikiLeaks’ releases.
Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP
By the Bradley Manning Support Network. March 12, 2013.
The transparency group Freedom of the Press Foundation has published an illicit audio recording of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s full statement on releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks as an act of conscience.
Despite this being among the most important trials in America today, journalists are not allowed to record any audio or video of the proceedings.
In the statement, Bradley describes joining the Army as an intelligence analyst, discovering and investigating grave abuses like the ‘Collateral Murder’ video and Garani air strike, and concluding that the American public deserved to know about how their government operates abroad.
He details his decisions to release the Iraq and Afghan war databases, the Collateral Murder video, Department of State diplomatic cables. He said he hoped these releases would “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.” Glenn Greenwald breaks down the statement in several audio segments here.
Upon hearing the audio recording, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg said, “I believe Bradley Manning is the personification of the word whistleblower.”
Prior to this release, the public and press at large have never been able to hear Bradley Manning’s voice. They’ve also been unable to see basic rulings, transcripts of the proceedings, and legal motions, as the military withholds all of these documents, severely hampering the press’ ability to follow and cover this case. The Center for Constitutional Rights, along with several media organizations, has sued the military to make documents in Manning’s proceedings public.
The Department of Defense just last month finally began releasing judicial notices and rulings, but most are several months old and don’t provide the press with contemporaneous access to the case. Reporters have become increasingly frustrated with their access to these proceedings.
As the Freedom of the Press’s announcement reads,
Freedom of the Press Foundation is dedicated to supporting journalism that combats overreaching government secrecy. We have been disturbed that Manning’s pre-trial hearings have been hampered by the kind of extreme government secrecy that his releases to WikiLeaks were intended to protest. While reporters are allowed in the courtroom, no audio or visual recordings are permitted by the judge, no transcripts of the proceedings or any motions by the prosecution have been released, and lengthy court orders read on the stand by the judge have not been published for public review.
The press and public should be allowed full access to Bradley’s proceedings. This recording is a welcome development toward that end, as it finally broadcasts Bradley’s voice and whistle-blowing motivations to the world.
Filmmaker Laura Poitras made a five-minute documentary using Bradley’s own words describing the Collateral Murder video here:
Awesome!
Why am I not surprised that we have someone saying Bradley as a soldier disobeyed orders. Soldiers are supposed to report war crimes. That is the difference between an army carrying out orders of a dictator where there is no rule of law and our gov’t. which used to be a country where the rule of law is observed. War crimes by anyone are an affront to humanity as is war itself actually. It is also curious how some don’t mind at all that the war criminal geo. bush and his underlings are not only free but very well treated by the new powers that be, yet Bradley is the traitor. How mixed up can we be?
Bradley Manning was a member of the military and is supposed to defend the Constitution and the people of his country. He disobeyed direct orders by releasing information he knew to be secret, there is no justification that he continued to do so. If he is found guilty he deserves the punishment he receives.
Seems to most Americans, he is a member of the military who DID defend the constitution while it was being subverted through incompetent generals and unprincipled politicians, Jeff.
@Mike Mckee
As a veteran who served three years in Iraq, I agree.
I totally agree with you! This man enlisted in the service of our Country. He saw inhumane actions of our military personell and I appaude him for his bravery in showing the “other side” of this war. The hidden side, that we are not supposed to see. I thank GOD for people like Bradley, every day, who only want to bring these horrific actions to light! Peace, Love, and Light to all!
the Oath is defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic; He was witnessing acts of treason and terrorism being committed in the name of the US … he did what any person with a conscience that actually upholds the values of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and justice enshrined in the Constitution. I suggest you read the Constitution and know what it is you are to uphold if you are ever going to truly defend. Manning defended the Constitution and its values sacrificing his freedom to protect it. Semper Fi.
AMEN! I stand with Bradley!
When people go to work for corporations, they sign onto that corps rules as well. No matter, if they find their employer to be stealing, killing, stying one thing to their investors while doing another, they are encouraged to let authorities know so that all are protected against a morally bankrupt employers. What is wrong, is wrong. It is wrong for all human beings, not just a few. When we start to understand that we should all rely on a moral compass and just do what is right instead of having to rely on 1001 rules which are usually made so that rules can be worked around and sins can be committed, this will be a more peaceful planet for all. Just because the military makes rules, doesn’t mean they are right. When any of you can show the DAMAGE done by Bradley Manning, versus hte millions of people that rise to his cause because they know in their heart and soul that he is righteous… show that damage instead of grousing he broke the law. Killing people is breaking one of the few natural laws all humans believe in.
My god Jeff – wake up. Don’t you recognize the criminal energy of your own government. As a sane human Bradley had to act as he did.
I am Bradley Manning!!!
Bradley Manning was only trying to spark a debate. His words before and during the trial. He actually had much more detailed information that he had fact checked and double fact checked to insure that whatever he published would not be detrimental in whole to US operations. Regardless of what people may think on the subject, the information he published helped prove the power in corrupted military. He felt like people should be aware that this is going on so that the public could decide for itself, how it’s goverment should respond to terrorism abroad. If you feel that he was a whistle blower that is your opinion. But it is pointed out the trading of secret documents was a part of World War I and he was trying prevent another disaster. He has already served a long prison stance. If he gets life in prison it will only help to imprint upon the people the price for trying to do the right thing.
This whole case is beyond rediculous. Regardless of what he “leaked” I feel he done the right thing by making us as Americans more informed of our corrupt government. We’re going down hill as a country and people like Bradley Manning are heroes to the fact of being prepared of the destruction coming by our government.
Bradley Manning was defending the constitution and people of this country. He exposed the truth, showed us what was going on and also how this war was dehumanizing our own young people. The occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with d3fending the American people, a few of them yes, those that profit from the plunder of a region’s resources. Calling for him to be punished for what he did would be like calling for a German that exposed the Nazi camps to be punished.
What PFC Bradley Manning did is no different than what Daniel Ellsberg or Colonel Billy Mitchell did. In the case of Billy Mitchell, he went to the media to expose the fact that the navy was so concerned with budget cuts after World War 1 that they deliberately refused to allow Mitchell to prove that bi-planes with bombs could sink battleships and cost almost nothing in comparison to the cost of the battleships, and the navy put its economic concerns before the national security of the country. We need a thousand PFC Bradley Mannings.
Jeff, Edmund Burke had you in mind when he said “The triumph of Evil is when good men do nothing.”
Whatever happened to the little boy in the Anderson fairy tale who observed that the king was wearing no clothes?
Not only is Bradley Manning correct, he is a true American Hero in the footsteps of General Smedley Butler.
http://www.jeffersonrivercoalition.com/War_Is_A_Racket_Smedley_Butler.htm
Politicizing Manning isn’t going to help him in regard to the due process of law. Manning “himself” is deadheaded inability to a jury trial short a Presidential pardon, pleading guilty to all the charges or any plea agreement the prosecution council will accept; True? The Department of Defense could explore the the option of using abstract law but the direction of the trial would remain constant. Manning situation is unique in “itself” that it commingled the United States of America and the Department of Defense proprietary material. The scope of the attention seams to be directed at the Department of State cables and otherwise is unnecessarily being dragged up in explamentary pa portions.
Bradley, desde Chile te apoyamos,te mereces la libertad, ahora.
~Dragged up in explamentary pa portions through the Department of Defense justice system.
Those of us (this includes myself) who took the oath to defend the constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic probably did not know what we were saying. This oath is administered to all elected officials, police, and judges. If it were adhered too our country would not be in the shape it is in. Bradley Manning would not be in jail and the world would be a better place. I am with Bradley!!! stand up and be counted all you vets and active duty people. No more Melie massacres, no more 4 dead in Ohio how many more?
Bradley Manning is a true defender of all the U.S.A stands for (or should stand for), a hero unfortunately NOT being free in the home of the brave. If there were more like him, this worl would be a better place – a place the founders of the U.S. had in mind.
I can’t see that Bradley did anything wrong, so why is he being prosecuted? Why are the military going to all this trouble to prosecute a low rank soldier who told the truth? Why do they want to cover up this abuse? If they make an example of him, then maybe they think that others will be put off doing likewise? Their actions are not particularly in the best interests of the country they serve. The government exists to serve the people of the country, and are elected in to do just that. Is America a democracy? Does the voice of the people decide the actions of those who lead in their name? That can only happen when the nation as a whole, know and understand what is going on around them. The higher powers have a vested interest in keeping the people they serve ignorant of the real facts that surround them. Who gave them the right to act as God over the people, and decide what they will and won’t observe and hear. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s. There is a higher moral law here, in this case. America, or more correctly it’s leaders, are doing themselves no favours in the eyes of the world. They want to operate on a different level to the everyday people, and control what the nation know and think. My conscience would have led me to do exactly what Bradley did, and hang the consequences, because I prefer answer to a higher power than the US military or it’s government.
America is not ‘home of the brave’. It was only until the 2nd world war. Then years later, the America the world once looked at through rose-tainted glasses, was suddenly filthy and stank of a big rat. Bradley Manning should not be imprisoned one more day for the ‘crime’ of justice he has committed. He was only exposing what the filthy U.S congress and government don’t want the rest of the world to see because they are dead scared the country will one day attempt to overturn them – And that is just what they deserve for not allowing good, brave soldiers like Bradley Manning to do his duty.