Update 1/31/12: Bradley Manning campaign speaking tour begins, despite Obama campaign promises gov’t secrecy is “out of control”

Courage to Resist’s Pacific Northwest Tour, “The Campaign to Free Bradley Manning” has officially begun. Next stops include Portland, Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia, and Lakewood. Don’t miss out! Jeff Paterson, director of the Bradley Manning Support Network, will be speaking about Bradley’s case, and about the campaign to free him. He will also report on the article 32 pretrial hearing, and introduce the new Courage to Resist book “About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War”. (Read more)

“Government secrecy is literally out of control” reads the Salon.com headline by Justin Elliott. The Obama administration campaigned on promises of transparency and openness but “several pieces of news about government secrecy emerged this week that show just how far away the United States has gotten from the principle of open government.” This isn’t only a story about Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks – it is also a story about ongoing over-classification of information. “There are still 50,000 ages of government record relating to the JFK assassination” that have yet to be released even though an act was passed to make sure they were released, he writes. The government has been classifying so much information, that it is almost impossible that they could have ever done so following proper procedures. In order to de-classify the material, as they must do, it would take an enormous team – there is a backlog of over 400 million pages. It took two years to declassify 26.6 million pages. The task is impossible – and we must wonder how and why so much information is being classified in the first place. (Read more)

A WikiLeaks lawyer tells of her chance run in, at the Sundance Film festival, with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder is a key figure in the governments ongoing crackdown on whistle-blowers, and in the governments attack on WikiLeaks. At Bradley Manning’s article 32 hearing, it became clear that the government was going after Bradley Manning as part of its strategy against WikiLeaks,

“it was apparent during the Manning hearing that concerns about the U.S. seeking Assange’s extradition are justified. Repeated references were made to the relationship between the Manning proceedings and the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation into Assange and WikiLeaks. Manning’s defense counsel stated explicitly that the Justice Department had an interest in plea-bargaining with Manning in order to get him to implicate Assange, and argued that the number of charges against Manning (particularly those carrying life imprisonment) was designed to pressure him into making a deal.”

Holder however has been unwilling to comment publicly, and so it was fortunate that one of WikiLeaks lawyers managed to find herself sitting near him. “As the lights dimmed and the film began, I wondered: How could I speak to Eric Holder?” she writes. With little time, Robinson engaged Holder, politely guiding the conversation from one of government legacy, before gently introducing herself as a lawyer from WikiLeaks, and concluding with the question so many have asked – “will the Department of Justice state publicly whether or not you intend to prosecute Julian?”. “We will see” he replied. (Read more)

2 thoughts on “Update 1/31/12: Bradley Manning campaign speaking tour begins, despite Obama campaign promises gov’t secrecy is “out of control”

  1. You know,whats happening to Bradley Manning just shows how corrupt our government really is.Bradley Manning did not help the enemy,he new as any true American does,that it was his duty to show the American people that there was corruption in our own government and that us soldiers were killing civilians for sport.We do not need a corrupt government and we do not need our military overstepping their bounds by killing civilians or urinating on dead Afghan bodies.If I was Bradley Manning I would have done the same thing.I would also like to say something to our us government,I believe you to be totally corrupt.When you speak, lies come out.Prove to me and the American people you are not corrupt release Bradley Manning.You own actions will prove to us whether your corrupt or not, we know not to listen to your words.

  2. We Americans should take this opprutunity to call
    every senator and congressman and demand this issue
    be opened to the public. These are not Wars these
    people in Afghanistan and Irag are not our enemies
    we have brain washed our Military to keep persuing
    OIL Arms and profit for the very Rich. Its going to
    take a long time to regain our Morality and repair
    the Military for its real DUTY.

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