Protest in Quantico Shows National Support for Manning
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Supporters from around the country gathered in Quantico to protest the imprisonment of accused WikiLeaks whisteblower Bradley Manning. The gathering, hastily put together by several activist organizations, was held on August 8th in Quantico, VA – where Pfc. Manning was transferred and is currently pending his court martial.
The organizations and individuals in attendance included Code Pink, the ANSWER Coalition, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Courage to Resist, the Reverend Lennox Yearwood and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Protesters carried signs calling on the US government to free Bradley Manning and end the wars.
Some counter-protesters were also in attendance. An attempted march following the rally was halted by town police without major incident.
Manning faces up to 52 years in prison from charges related to disclosing classified information. The information he is alleged to have leaked included the “Collateral Murder” video, documenting American troops shooting and killing two Reuters employers from an Apache helicopter. Daniel Ellberg, famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower, has stated that if Manning did disclose the documents, he is a hero.
Photo credit: mar is sea Y @ flickr.com
Event coverage and photos by Jeff Patterson at Indybay.
Article by RT America, including video: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks making headlines yet again
Article by CNN, including video: Activists rally to ‘Free Bradley Manning’ in WikiLeaks case
Video: Andrew Castro: “We Demand Freedom for Bradley Manning!”
Andrew Castro is a member of the ANSWER Coalition, a national peace and justice organization.
Video: Rev. Lennox Yearwood: “I Pray for all Truth Tellers!”
Rev Lennox Yearwood is the chair of the Hip Hop Caucus,a community activist and a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Video: Ray McGovern: “No Moral Sense in Pentagon and White House!”
Ray McGovern is an ex-CIA analyst, peace and justice activist and author.
Video: Josh Stieber Defends Bradley Manning
Josh Stieber is a Iraq War veteran and a conscientious objector. See Mr. Strieber’s blog here: http://contagiousloveexperiment.wordpress.com/
Video: Phyllis Bennis: “Wars Needs Secrets!”
Phyllis Bennis is a journalist, and a peace and justice activist. Ms. Bennis said: “Wars Need Secrets. Illegal wars keep illegal secrets… Democracy needs whistleblowers.”
Thank you for posting these videos!
And by the way, I do take offence to the actions of military personell killing civilians and others even though I understand it is be popular to critizise it leadership only.
Like with other comments I wrote elsewhere, I voice here a claim that soldiers are not really being privileged for killing people, the point being that military forces as such are not sacred, not void of having a responsibility and accountability of their actions, and not imbued with with some general sacrosanct immunity of critique or shame.
To ask me to simply forgive or accept, for example, the gunning down of a man on a scooter because someone thought it was to the effect of being practical, is simply not acceptable. I just wanted to make that point clear and say that noone should expect me to respect such sentiments perchance wanting to go off onto some blame-game against a single high ranking officer. I am confident the ills start at the squad level as well, they too are interest driven as their leadership is.
I worry that there will be a general belief that a critique of the behaviour of a military force is simply an anti-war-attitude, which is simply not so and would undoubtedly be an unfair characterization of other peoples concern and indignation. In my opinion, there should also be a way of complaining about the real rules and the consequences of engaging in warfare, without defaulting to polarized views presumably loosing focus on important issues.
Common sense surely would have it that in the end, the whole process of warfare is not only complicated, but extend to matters of politics with regional policies. There, I believe are some real challenges to be worked out, and I worry that overlooking these political challenges in the end, will maintain a case for continued recklessness, speculation and cruelty to what I understand are the product of wanting to wage war.