Update 5/3/12: New photo of Bradley, dangerous implications, and continued military secrecy
Most recent photo of PFC Bradley Manning
David Coombs obtained and released a new photo of PFC Bradley Manning. At his blog, Coombs released the photo, at right, to the public domain.
Ann Wright discusses how the government is making an example of Bradley Manning. Wright observes how the aggressive prosecution of Bradley Manning is used to intimidate would-be whistle-blowers and other dissenters of U.S. foreign policy:
The charges of “aiding and abetting the enemy” and of espionage are meant to threaten any others who might find the evidence of government criminal actions and alert the American public.
The unmistakable warning is “don’t tell on us, or we will put you behind bars for the rest of your life.”
Col. Ann Wright resigned from U.S. government in 2003, in protest of the Iraq War. (Read more…)
Relatedly, Kevin Osborne for City Beat examines the “scary” implications of Bradley Manning’s case. Wondering whom exactly the government wants to keep from seeing its secrets, Osborne writes:
Surely, Iraqi civilians were aware of the mass casualties in their homeland; leaders in Yemen were aware that missiles were falling around them; executives at Google were aware they were being hacked and blocked by the Chinese government.
The only people left in the dark about any of this — at least until WikiLeaks published the material — was the American public. It’s clear our government doesn’t want us to know the actions that it undertakes in our name (and using our money)
Osborne concludes, as Wright did, that the government wants to silence future potential whistle-blowers. (Read more…)
Singer and Bradley Manning supporter Cass McCombs releases music video for his song, “Bradley Manning.” NPR has more on McCombs’ support for Manning and on the video, which was shot in Bradley’s Oklahoma hometown.
CCR’s Michael Ratner discusses his recent article: “Bradley Manning: a show trial of state secrecy.” Ratner, president Emeritus at CCR, explains to Antiwar.com why Bradley Manning’s case is a show trial – chiefly, the wrong people are on trial. Bradley is said to have exposed war crimes, and yet those exposed walk free today. Furthermore, he argues, the trial is being conducted in secret, with essential records kept secret. Listen here, read his Op-Ed here, and download the MP3 here.
Manning’s misery — Designed to stress your emotional guts
Empire USA uses torture primarily to terrorize we the people into fearful submission. A secondary reason is to use the fiction gained by torture to substantiate propaganda, like the illusion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.