Update 10/31/11: Michael Moore proposes renaming #OccupySF camp after Bradley Manning, military begins to discuss details of Bradley’s trial
Michael Moore, at #OccupyWallStreet
Michael Moore spoke out at an Occupy San Francisco calling on everyone to remember the contribution of Bradley Manning, “… sad, tragic and criminal that he is still in jail. Has not been charged with a crime or put on trial. Having done a very brave thing, when you draw a line from A to B to C, that we are here in this park today in part to his courage.”
The Army is preparing a media plan for Bradley Manning’s upcoming trial, although the trial date still
hasn’t been set. According to an army spokesperson, Bradley Manning has spent the last year in a half
in jail without trial because of the difficulties involved in making sure everyone was cleared to see the
classified documents requested by Bradley Manning’s lawyers, while another “source close to the case
said a big holdup has been disagreements between prosecutors and U.S. Intelligence agencies over
what types of information can be used to try him.” Link.
Our own Emma Cape’s presentation at Swarthmore college is covered by Anti War Radio. Why should
we support whistle-blowers? Shouldn’t some information be kept secret? We need whistle-blowers,
Emma Cape argues, because it’s clear the government has been keeping too much from the public. How
would knowing what we know from WikiLeaks have altered the course of public debates about the
war?
I will be most interested to see what happens. What has happened (to Manning) already is typical of the American system
While I understand your unhappiness with the seeming injustice of keeping Bradley Manning in custody without trial, but anyone who has dealt with classified information or the justice system can tell you that it is a slow affair if unexpected issues arise. Additional, I want to remind the readers of this site that Manning knowingly violated the UCMJ. While these rules may seem archaic, unconstitutional, and arbitrary, their observance is necessarily to keep the military operating smoothly.
There have been very few major revelations from his documents that were not already suspected, but is lack of censorship has undoubtedly lead to the death of local informants who are guilty of nothing more then trying to make their country a safer place.
There is no question that Bradley Manning has and still is, being treated disgacefully. The sort of behaviour one expects of totalitarian despotic dictatorships, not of ‘The Land of the Free’
What a man! Bradley Manning is a true American hero.
Bradley Manning is the canary in the mine. We should be warned! This is the frightening picture of what has happened to this country. Our justice system is a farce, bought and paid for by those who profit from war.
Bradley Manning should be released, he is a patriot.
Never mind !! The writing has been on the wall for a long time. The System has failed – only ‘let’s pretend will fix it. It’s broken. And now people are beginning to see it. The only solution is massive/global forgiveness of all debt. I believe it will happen soon now. Italy will ‘help’ !
So why isn’t Manning being treeted like anyone charged with a “crime”???
He should be released on bail and given an attourney to help prepare a defense to alledged offense!
He hasen’t even been charged with any violation of civil or criminal code!!!
So why is he in a cell???
It appears that the Obummer administration’s pledge or credo about being the most open (to public scrutiny and transparency) administration is, when applied to Bradley Manning and other “whistle blowers” nothing more than phony,sophmoric sloganeering!
Ted,
“There have been very few major revelations from his documents that were not already suspected, but is lack of censorship has undoubtedly lead to the death of local informants who are guilty of nothing more then trying to make their country a safer place”
As far as I know, there have been no deaths associated with WikiLeaks material, even though many repeat this unfounded claim. Glenn Greenwald covered this a while back, writing
“… by the Pentagon’s own admission that, in stark contrast to its own actions, there is no evidence — zero — that any of WikiLeaks’ actions has caused even a single death.” (http://www.salon.com/2010/12/24/wikileaks_23/)
And as for there having been “few revelations”, I would point you to the thousands of news articles that contradict your position. Major issues revealed? Extensive over-classification of material, military cover-ups of possible war crimes, improper rules of engagement, improper government/corporate collusion (ie. government pressuring Haiti on behalf of major oil corps), just to name a few.
The truth is, there have been more important, news-breaking, releases coming out of WikiLeaks than any other media organization, and it is just wrong to say that “there have been few revelations” from the release of these materials. Without this kind of information, we have no way to hold the government to its overly-secretive foreign policy actions.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/11/overseeing_state_secrecy
We demanded for your immediate release and another petition at the United Nations demanding your release as well as Assange is under way — they have no strong case against you and the information we received from anonymous source is the evidence we need for a world court hearing so be on the look out, something big is going to happen and it’s coming your way. We are not backing down for your immediate release, U.S. military law does not over ride international law and that’s the case we are making, see me on Facebook and Myspace.com…etc.
@ Ted
It is irrelevant what he did, it’s the fact that he is being held without due process and respectable conditions while being held. That is considerably more illegal that what he may have done. Remember, we are innocent until proven guilty. A lot of people are starting to forget that, no?