Update 2/24/12: America on trial, Manning media attention, White House hypocrisy regarding whistle-blowers
James Branum asks, “Who is really on trial — Bradley Manning or America itself?” In an Op-Ed, Branum, Chair of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, asks more pertinent questions:
If we are a democracy, which requires informed citizens, why has critical information about the wars in the Middle East been kept from us? It should not have been necessary for a private first class in the Army to allegedly leak this information in the first place. If anything, we as a nation should be thanking PFC Manning for performing this important national service.
Branum reminds us that Bradley Manning’s treatment in prison and lack of due process highlights failings of the U.S. justice system. (Read more…)
At the Daily Kos, Jesselyn Radack wonders why Bradley Manning hasn’t been given more media attention. Radack explains why the material attributed to Manning clearly evidences war crimes and why mainstream media outlets should be paying much more attention to him:
As I was interviewed by Al Jazeera English and Russian Television this week–and the domestic MSM and alternative media barely mention, if at all, that Bradley Manning is being arraigned today–I have to wonder why we don’t give a damn.
Radack also dispels some commonly spread myths about Bradley Manning. (Read More…)
Jake Tapper asks why the White House lauds aggressive journalism abroad while clamping down on whistleblowers in the U.S. Tapper mentions that the Obama administration has charged six people under the Espionage Act, whereas previous administrations have only used it three times in history. Jay Carney, White House spokesman, evades the question, only saying that cases in the U.S. “involve highly sensitive classified information.” Here’s an excerpt of the exchange:
TAPPER: […] How does that square with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistleblowers to court? […]
CARNEY: […] without addressing any specific case, I think that there are issues here that involve highly sensitive classified information, and I think that, you know, those are — divulging or to — divulging that kind of information is a serious issue, and it always has been.
TAPPER: So the truth should come out abroad; it shouldn’t come out here?
Tapper questions Carney further, but the spokesman is unwilling to fully address the issue. Tapper notes that several organizations have noted this hypocrisy, but Carney merely says he disagrees and moves on. (Read more…)
More video from the campaign to free Bradley Manning across the Pacific Northwest emerges. Here’s a panel discussion with Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist, Randy Rowland – Vietnam Veteran, and Emma Kaplan of World Can’t Wait, given February 5, 2012 at University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle, WA.
You can always upload a photo of you supporting Bradley at iam.bradleymanning.org!
BRADLEY MANNING IS A HERO! I only wish I had his guts when I was in the army.
As a disabled Viet Nam Vet I have seen first hand the irrational hipocracy of our country’s foreign policies. Those who work to expose the wrongs should be rewarded not imprisoned. William E Dodds