Update 2/29/12: Assange lawyer talks about Manning’s case, Manning leads human rights award vote
Assange lawyer Michael Ratner discusses Manning on the Real News Network. Ratner is the President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and he attended Bradley Manning’s arraignment on behalf of Julian Assange. In the video below, Ratner discusses Manning’s case, efforts to implicate Julian Assange, and more:
Bradley Manning leads Global Exchange’s human rights award contest. With twice as many votes as the second highest vote getter, Pfc. Manning leads the vote for a human rights award. Manning is credited with helping end the occupation of Iraq, exposing unreported civilian deaths, and revealing a policy to ignore torture in Iraq. Vote for Manning here!
Supporter shares photo, Palestinian poem. Zoe sent this photo along with this statement: “My name is Zoe I am a trainee teacher from East London UK. I support Bradley Manning’s courageous act of self-sacrifice for truth and the greater good. The poem below says what I want to say much better than I ever could. My thoughts are with Bradley and his loved ones.”
It’s Also Fine
It’s also fine to die in our beds
on a clean pillow
iam.bradleymanning.org
and among our friends.
It’s fine to die, once,
our hands crossed on our chests
empty and pale
with no scratches, no chains, no banners,
and no petitions.
It’s fine to have an undusty death,
no holes in our shirts,
and no evidence in our ribs.
It’s fine to die
with a white pillow, not the pavement, under our cheeks,
our hands resting in those of our loved ones,
surrounded by desperate doctors and nurses,
with nothing left but a graceful farewell,
paying no attention to history,
leaving this world as it is,
hoping that, someday, someone else
will change it.
Mourid Barghouti (b. 1944) Palestinian Poet and Writer
Send your photo to iam.bradleymanning.org today!
I find the Obama campaign full of nerve, advertising on the same Daily Kos site as the Bradley manning report.
I agree with Michael Ratner, whatever strategy Bradley Manning’s lawyers are taking in court, we can say outside that arena anything we like. We know that the motive for the alleged disclosure was that of informing own-side publics in the USA and acolyte nations the war crimes the USA is still perpetrating. Reporting up the chain of command is not an option, as many women soldier rape victims have proven. Few in the chain of command value their conscience over their career.
Aiding the enemy is just a way of ramping up the severity of the sentence and trying to entrap Julian Assange. But ‘aiding the enemy’ makes every one of us who say that the wars of aggression are wrong and must end an ‘enemy’ of the US military/intelligence/lethal industries/bribery and corruption/mass-murder complex.
Such a ludicrous charge should be thrown out by any serious unbiased judge. Yes, we know, all too sadly, they are a rare breed in the US legal system.