Daniel Ellsberg speaks out for Bradley

Daniel Ellsberg accepts human rights award on behalf of Bradley Manning. Voters in Global Exchange’s Human Rights award contest chose PFC Bradley Manning as their People’s Choice honoree, for allegedly releasing information in the interest of truth, justice, peace, and democracy. Without WikiLeaks’ documents, which Bradley is accused of releasing, we wouldn’t know about many of the war crimes America has committed overseas, Tunisia might not have revolted when it did, and we might still have U.S. troops in Iraq.

On May 10, since Bradley remains in a cage facing a potential life sentence, Daniel Ellsberg accepted the award on his behalf:

Noam Chomsky endorses Bradley Manning contingent at NATO protest. On May 20, a Free Bradley Manning contingent will march in as part of antiwar protests of the NATO summit in Chicago. Speaking on the summit, longtime activist, linguist, and professor Noam Chomsky encouraged support of the demonstration, specifically endorsing the Bradley Manning contingent:

Birgitta Jónsdóttir on why she supports Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks. Jónsdóttir is an activist and a member of the Icelandic parliament, which nominated Bradley Manning for a Nobel Peace Prize this year. Speaking to journalist Patrick McCurdy, Jónsdóttir explained how valuable WikiLeaks’ releases are:

“I mean, how are we going to end the wars?  We are going to end the wars by knowing what war is. And, that was the beauty and the horror of the Afghan War logs is that you were basically just getting minute by minute snippets out of what war is really about.”

Both McCurdy and Jónsdóttir expressed gratitude to Bradley:

 “[T]he material Bradley Manning (allegedly) released ‘…was an incredibly important gesture for our historical records as humanity.’  I too am certain that history books will treat Bradley Manning with compassion and as a whistleblower; someone who disclosed information about misconduct in the hopes of stopping it.”

As it becomes more pervasively clear that Manning’s (alleged) intentions were to bring transparency and peace to a nation rife with secrecy and war, prosecutors in his case are working to make motivation irrelevant. (Read more…)

"My name is Alex. I’m from Ontario, Canada. I am a student- a teenager. I am the future. I support Bradley Manning because Bradley stood up for what was right and did not hide the truth from those who deserved to know it."

I am Bradley Manning

WISE Up in Wales

‘Three Weeks in Wales: Bradley Manning Solidarity Tour.’ In April, WISE (Welsh Irish Scottish English) Up for Bradley Manning held 3 weeks of events to bring awareness to Bradley Manning’s case, spreading information and demanding his freedom. Today WISE Up’s Genny Bove reviewed the series of actions, from events coinciding with the play, ‘The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning,” to public protests with speeches from antiwar veterans.

Relatedly, you can see May Day actions for Bradley in London, including a short protest video and several photos.

WISE Up’s sustained set of actions, thousands of miles away from where Bradley remains imprisoned, is a testament to the widespread influence Bradley has had. People all over the world, as far apart as Los Angeles, Spain, and Australia, have been inspired to speak up for the Peace Prize nominee. WISE Up has played a big part in the international network of those advocating for Bradley. (Read more…)

Pasadena supporters plan recruitment center protest for Bradley Manning. On May 24, members of Free Bradley Manning So Cal will protest at the Pasadena military recruitment center at 1513 E. Colorado Blvd, from which they’ll march to Pasadena Memorial Park to discuss a June candlelight vigil in solidarity with Bradley’s next court date (June 6-8, in Fort Meade).

The event is under the ‘Occupy Los Angeles’ umbrella – another indication that protesters of U.S. injustice see Bradley as a symbol of the persecution of the week in exchange for the protection of the powerful. Well-known war criminals retain immunity will the one accused of bringing light to war is on trial facing a life sentence. (Read more…)

Author Denver Nicks: charging Bradley with ‘aiding the enemy’ is a “reckless overreaction.” Nicks explained that he believes Bradley released information in the interest of transparency, hoping to counter the extreme secrecy that keeps the horros of war in the dark.

“Leaks have become commonplace in this country due to our excessive secrecy,” he says.

Further, Nicks details the hypocrisy of putting Bradley on trial while ignoring the endless leaks of classified information to American newspapers by senior White House officials:

“Are we going to start charging every official who leaks classified information, from the President on down, with aiding the enemy, or its civilian equivalent, treason? Charging someone with aiding the enemy for, basically, communicating with the press, needlessly endangers our free-press traditions by taking a perfectly good military regulation and applying it to a situation for which it was clearly not intended.”

The White House routinely leaks Top Secret information that it wants to highlight to advance its own policy interests; meanwhile it aggressively persecutes someone for allegedly releasing less secretive information (all ‘Secret’ or lower). (Read more…)

"I am anonymous, and we are Bradley Manning. We deserve truth and justice in its unadultered form, free of twists and mis-information. Supporting Bradley is supporting the WORLD."

‘I am Bradley Manning’ photo campaign!

Plant Seeds of Truth

Plant seeds of truth for Bradley Manning. During Bradley’s April 24-26 motion hearing at Ft. Meade, CODEPINK launched a project in Kansas called Plant Seeds of Truth. CODEPINK will continue the solidarity project to publicize Manning’s case throughout the next several months, culminating in the court martial, scheduled to commence September 21.

Email priticodepink@gmail.com with your mailing address for a packet of seeds and more information. Meanwhile, see Plant Seeds of Truth for more details and photos about this project.

Bradley Manning in his own words – a hero who wanted peace, truth, and justice. For an excellent reminder how just how noble Bradley Manning’s motives were, the Wales group Wise Up for Bradley Manning has compiled several of his quotes from the alleged chat logs with Adrian Lamo, including perhaps Bradley’s most famous and important quote, in which he hopes these releases will lead to “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms.”

Reading these motive-based quotes in a row creates a strong narrative that compellingly dispels any notion that Bradley “aided the enemy.” Instead, it is crystal clear that he, if truly the source for WikiLeaks’ releases, intended to bring light to secret criminal acts in the interest of a better democracy. (Read more…)

Joe Wolverton denounces Obama’s broken promise of protecting whistle-blowers. In an article for the New American, entitled “Obama’s New “Zero-Tolerance” of Whistleblowers Betrays Promised Protection,” Wolverton remembers Obama’s campaign-era promise to protect whistle-blowers:

We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government.

Unfortunately, as we know well, these mere words have done nothing to protect PFC Bradley Manning, currently awaiting a life-sentencing trial for telling the American public the truth. (Read more…)

Chase Madar decries treatment of Bradley Manning. Expounding on ideas in his book, The Passion of Bradley Manning, Madar says, “We are a nation that is very hard on whistleblowers but wonderfully forgiving of our war criminals.”

He also indicts media figures for failing to protect a source who is said to have provided massive amounts of new information, including an incisive new look at our wars in the Middle East:

The major media, even as they make hay out of the WikiLeaks disclosures, have made it clear they have no interest in defending the alleged source, and have been happy to smear Manning as a nutcase, not a whistleblower.

This comes despite how widely unpopular America’s wars are – even though most of the country wants out of Afghanistan, American media cannot protect a whistle-blower who allegedly documented just how terrible that war is. (Read more…)

"My name is Dawn Burris, I am a resident of planet earth and I am in support of Mr. Bradley Manning. Love will prevail and we shall ALL know WE ARE ONE!"

Why do you support Bradley Manning?

Courage to Resist, in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network, is seeking applicants for a regional organizer in the Washington DC / Baltimore area. Approx. 20 hours per week to start. Compensation based on experience ($14-$20/hour range). This is an immediate opening. This independent contractor (1099) position is expected to continue until approximately January 2013.

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

Courage to Resist (www.couragetoresist.org) supports military servicepersons who object to illegal war and occupation and the policies of empire. Courage to Resist is a 6-year-old program of the Alliance for Global Justice, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, and hosts the Bradley Manning Defense Fund in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network.

The Bradley Manning Support Network (www.bradleymanning.org) is an international grouping of individuals and organizations dedicated to supporting PFC Bradley Manning. Bradley faces life in prison for allegedly sharing the “Collateral Murder” video of a US helicopter attack that killed a dozen Iraqis, embarrassing US State Dept. cables, the “Iraq War Logs”, and the “Afghan War Diaries” with the WikiLeaks website.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The primary role of this contract is to build grassroots support for PFC Manning in the greater Washington DC / Baltimore area.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Political and logistical support in building and promoting events at Fort Meade, Maryland, which coincide with PFC Manning’s court appearances.
• Staging support events (presentations, fundraisers, workshops) in the greater Washington DC / Baltimore area; including, organizing protest-type events to focus attention on decision-makers related to PFC Manning’s case and treatment.
• Representing the Bradley Manning Support Network at all manner of events and functions.
• Building allies among related organizations in the DC area and collecting campaign endorsements
• Recruiting and maintaining contact with regional activists/volunteers

This position functions under the direction of the Courage to Resist Project Director, with the input of the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering and Organizing Committees, and alongside current campaign staff.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A strong affinity with the organizational backgrounds described above.
• The ability to function efficiently without direct supervision.
• Strong work ethic, resilience, persistence, and the ability to multi-task.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish positive relationships with individuals from a variety of backgrounds.
• Previous, verifiable experience as a staff member and/or volunteer with a non-profit organization, or similar community organization or grassroots campaign.
• Previous experience with strategic campaign planning.
• Use of a personal automobile is a likely necessity of this position, to include valid license, registration, and insurance.

TIME & COMPENSATION

Approx. 20 hours per week to start, likely to increase to 40 or more hours per week during phases of the campaign. Compensation based on experience ($14-$20/hour range). This independent contractor (1099) position is expected to continue through the end of PFC Manning’s court martial proceedings, currently estimated to end January 2013. Reimbursement of pre-approved travel and other expenses provided. An additional $150 monthly health care stipend is provided based on proof of personal health care insurance coverage.

This organizer position may require long and irregular work hours, to include work on weekends and holidays, when necessary.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Courage to Resist does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation or military discharge classification.

Three references will be requested if you are asked to interview for the position.

Send introduction and resume to dc-org-job(at)standwithbrad.org. Please paste text into the e-mail; do not send attachments. Please send as plain text if possible; keep formatting to a minimum. No phone calls please. Only applicants that articulate in their introduction both a general understanding of PFC Manning’s situation, and previous similar or applicable experience, will be considered.

Also posted on Craigslist at: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/npo/3006369744.html

By Jill Stein. May 9, 2012.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein

My name is Jill Stein and I’m running with the Green Party for President of the United States. If elected,  I will immediately pardon Bradley Manning,  the U.S. Army soldier accused of leaking classified material to the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, while working as an intelligence analyst near Baghdad.

Many people know some of the highlights among the 3 million pages of leaked cables. Probably the most well-know is the horrifying so-called “Collateral Murder” video of the Apache helicopter attack on Reuters journalists and then on the civilians, including the children in that van, who tried to take the wounded away for treatment.

Another revelation concerned a military night raid that killed six children, followed by a U.S. air strike to destroy the evidence and cover up the atrocity.

The overall impact of the leaked information has been huge, leading indirectly to the recent withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq much sooner than our government intended. That’s because these revelations compelled the Maliki government in Iraq to refuse to extend criminal immunity to U.S. soldiers. It contributed to the turn of American public opinion to overwhelmingly oppose the war in Afghanistan. And it added momentum to the Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorial U.S.-backed regimes.

The war criminals whom these Wikileaks cables exposed have suffered no consequences. The only one who is suffering consequences is Bradley Manning, the one who is accused of exposing the crimes.

Whistleblowers are indispensable for democracy. They enable the people to defend themselves against government malfeasance and tyranny. Those U.S. cables released to Wikileaks contained more information on the wars in Iraq,  Afghanistan, and other countries than all the media organizations in the world combined have been able to unearth. And they are all too filled with malfeasance, tyranny and war crimes.

So it may be that Bradley Manning was actually doing his duty, since he swore in his Oath of Enlistment to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is, after all, the duty of every citizen to bring their government to account when it violates the Constitution and the law, including especially laws against war crimes.

Regardless of these justifications, if Bradley Manning leaked the cables, he violated the law by committing what was essentially an act of civil disobedience.   For acts of civil disobedience,  a measure of punishment is accepted as a matter of course.  But the unconscionable violations of international law that have been exposed, and the war crimes that were revealed, all compel extreme leniency in this case.

Bradley Manning will have spent more than two years in detention before his court martial begins. For the first 10 months, he was held in solitary confinement, restricted to his cell 23 hours a day, and subjected to degrading treatment, including being forbidden reading material or the right to exercise, and being stripped naked while under constant observation. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, accused the U.S. Government of cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment in his report based on a 14-month investigation. It said that the U.S. might have violated laws against torture as well as Manning’s basic right to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

Let me be clear. Defending Bradley Manning in this particular case, does not argue for  license for the release of classified information more generally. However, if Bradley Manning was the source of these leaks, he has served his country and the cause of liberty heroically by providing very disturbing truths to the American people that the Obama Administration sought to withhold. The time he has been imprisoned and the harsh treatment he has received are more than enough.  He should not be further punished.

In fact, the President should have brought Bradley Manning under the protections of the Whistleblower Protection Act. But the President, as well as the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have publicly stated that Manning broke the law. Those statements from the top of the chain of command constitute unlawful command influence that prejudices the proceedings of the court martial. It is one of many reasons why Bradley Manning cannot now get a fair trial in the military justice system.

The assault on Bradley Manning’s basic rights for allegedly blowing the whistle on government misconduct comes at a time of an unprecedented assault on whistleblowers by the Obama administration. The Obama Justice Department has charged six people, including Manning, under the Espionage Act for leaking government information to a journalist. Prior to Obama, there were only three cases prosecuted under the Espionage Act since it was enacted in 1917.

If I am elected and have the opportunity to pardon Bradley Manning, I will do this as an affirmation that my country, the United States of America, strives to achieve the highest possible standards of justice, transparency, and honor.

We must strive as a nation to so conduct ourselves that we have nothing to fear if the truth of our actions should be revealed to the world. If we can aspire to that goal – to be beyond reproach – then we will earn the sincere respect of the people of the world. The cause of freedom and democracy advance through honesty and defensible action, not state secrecy and attacks on whistleblowers.

Bradley Manning is the “wrong target.”

This is a case of “shooting the messenger,” and the need for the U.S. to find a scapegoat for its failure to safeguard classified information.

What the leak exposes should be a greater shock to Americans than the fact that a lowly soldier gained access to secret documents and leaked them. There is no evidence that any harm has come to individuals because of the leak, although many thousands have died in American military action in the Middle East based on the false premises that WikiLeaks brought to light.

As Manning is a mere intelligence analyst, it’s easy for the military to aggressively overcharge with little political fallout. We should push back against this crackdown of whistle-blowers whenever we can. (Read more…)

“I am Bradley Manning” play opens in Chicago tonight. Running from tonight through Sunday, May 13, in DePaul University’s Theatre School in Chicago, the play, entitled “I am Bradley Manning,”

“investigates in two radically different spheres: questions of civic and ethical responsibility in our global community and how massive an impact a solitary action can have on the world at large.”

Read more about the play’s background in a news release here (PDF), and find ticketing and logistical information here.

Graham Hnatiuk's painting on Collateral Murder

Artist Graham Hnatiuk is auctioning off a painting for Bradley Manning. The painting incorporates various aspects of the ‘Collateral Murder’ video, from the chaos brought about by airstrikes to the facelessness of its victims. All proceeds of the auction will directly to Bradley Manning’s defense fund, which covers lawyer David Coombs’ legal fees. Hnatiuk’s artist statement explains his support for Bradley:

Criminalizing whistle blowing is contrary to the functions of democracy. Bradley Manning (as well as several others indicted under the Espionage Act in the past two years) dared to uphold the values that Western Democracies are supposedly founded on. For this they are prosecuted. Modern-day discourse is full of ephemeral threats to our “freedom,” while whistleblowers are prosecuted unprecedently under the Obama Administration, and peaceful protests against corporate influence in politics are met by militarized police forces and biased media. When we are complacent is when our true freedoms will erode without resistence, until there is nothing left to fight for. We are forgetting what matters. We are forgetting what is important.

The statement provides more detail of the painting’s origins and more on Hnatiuk’s advocacy. (Read more…)

The National Press Club agrees it’s absurd to keep heavily publicized WikiLeaks documents classified. The Press Club panel was held on May 1, featuring:

“James Risen of The New York Times, James Bamford, author of “The Puzzle Palace,” and Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for the Justice Department discuss[ing] the Obama administration’s crusade against leaks of government secrets – and against some of the journalists who report them.”

The panel answers a question from State Department WikiLeaks supporter Peter van Buren, explaining that it makes no sense to keep widely publicized documents classified, comparing the surrealism of the logic to “Alice in Wonderland.”

WikiLeaks Truck

Bradley Manning supporters plan solitary confinement performance tour. Advocates for Manning’s freedom, including ‘WikiLeaks Truck’ artist Clark Stoeckley, plan to tour the northeastern United States, incorporating chatlog quotes to perform a

“site specific, experimental, documentary theater piece examining the conditions of solitary confinement that Bradley Manning was held in without charge in Quantico Marine Corp Brig in 2011.

…

Built into the back of the WikiLeaks cargo truck, the exact dimensions of the solitary confinement cell Manning was held in at Quantico Marine Corp Brig in 2010 will be recreated. A piece of plexi-glass separates the cell from the audience where two guards stand outside at all times. Because it is mobile this allows us to take this piece wherever it is needed.”

The artists are asking for supporters to donate what they can to help finance the project. (Read more…)

Check out the pitch for the performance here:

Edward Wasserman calls on journalists to speak up for persecuted sources and whistleblowers. Summarizing the various whistle-blowers persecuted under the Obama administration, culminating with the “biggest case,” that of PFC Bradley Manning, Wasserman calls the government’s reasoning into question:

“The administration seems undeterred by the scanty evidence that any of these defendants was out to hurt the country, a mainstay ingredient of espionage, and the Manning judge has even warned prosecutors they must show he believed he was “aiding the enemy” or she would toss the most serious charge against him.”

Wasserman continues, calling on reporters to publicly denounce this wave of aggressive prosecutions:

“[Journalists’] silence constitutes an abdication of the media’s role as a voice in shaping public policy. After all, the ultimate purpose of reporter shield laws and the defiant tradition of protecting confidential sources isn’t to make writing stories easier for reporters, it’s to ensure that publicly significant information comes to light.

If the news media publish sensitive information, fully believing it ought to be made public, how can they stand by without protest when the government punishes the people who furnished it?

They can’t. The government may have found a way to suppress the flow of news without ruffling the feathers of reporters, but that doesn’t absolve the media of their duty to speak out for that flow.

The challenge now is for the media to rediscover their voice.”

Reporters, of course, rely on whistle-blowers, sensitive information, and protected sources to deliver news every day. It’s high time they spoke up. (Read more…)

Army plans to increase surveillance of soldiers. Instead of addressing massive overclassification, punishing newly exposed war criminals, or thanking the whistle-blower who exposed them, the Army learned a different lesson from WikiLeaks’ releases: it believes soldiers should be under more surveillance:

In the wake of the biggest dump of classified information in the history of the Army, the brass is searching for ways to watch what every soldier is doing on his or her Army computer.

The Army wants to look at keystrokes, downloads and Web searches on computers that soldiers use.

Rather than looking inward and examining why so many documents are kept secret from the public that funds the military with its taxes, the Army chooses to crack down harder on intelligence analysts lest they become inspired by the WikiLeaks whistle-blower. (Read more…)

"My name is Kim Lundström, I live in a town called Umeå in Sweden. Im an unemployed geek and I am Bradley Manning because the truth is always the answer."

iam.bradleymanning.org

Descend upon Chicago for Bradley Manning!

At the invitation of the White House, military and civilian representatives of the 28-nation US-commanded and largely US-financed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are meeting in Chicago, May 20-21, 2012. This is the same military apparatus responsible for waging over 10 years of unjust and illegal wars in our names, committing war crimes exposed by the WikiLeaks revelations and persecuting one of the most influential whistle-blowers of our generation, Bradley Manning.

Join us in Chicago as we say Free Bradley Manning! and no to NATO’s war and poverty agenda!

The Free Bradley Manning contingent will meet in Chicago IL, at the south entrance of Butler Field in Grant Park, (which is on E Jackson Dr., between S Lake Shore Dr. and S Columbus Dr.) at 11:00am for the rally and march to McCormick Place on Sunday, May 20, 2012. Look for the massive black and white Free Bradley Manning banner.

Please RVSP:

On Facebook

On the website

Or by email

See you there!

For more information contact Courage to Resist at courage@riseup.net or (510) 488-3559.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee PFC Bradley Manning, a 24-year-old, openly gay, Army intelligence analyst is facing life in prison and has been held in pre-trial confinement without a court martial for over two years! He endured torture and was held in solitary confinement for the first 10 months of his incarceration. He is accused of releasing the Collateral Murder video, that shows the killing of unarmed civilians and two Reuters journalists, by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. He is also accused of sharing the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and series of embarrassing US diplomatic cables. These documents were published by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, and they have illuminated such issues as the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq, along with a number of human rights abuses by U.S.-funded contractors and foreign militaries, and the role that spying and bribes play in international diplomacy. Given the war crimes exposed, if PFC Bradley Manning was the source for these documents, he should be given a medal of honor not locked up for life.

‘Bradley Manning: Political prisoner and hero.’

Manning showed human sympathy with the victims of US power in the global south. In the chatlog transcript with Lamo, Manning said he has access to “260,000 state department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective”.

He also said he felt he had to take action because “it might actually change something”.

If Manning is indeed the source of leaks to WikiLeaks, then he is a hero who has helped change the world. The world will never be the same after WikiLeaks’ releases.

WikiLeaks has helped provide the anti-war movement, and democracy movements throughout the world, with the arguments and the confidence they need.

Evans said Bradley is a political prisoner and a hero who deserves to be freed. (Read more…)

Bradley Manning–A Case of Class-based Justice System. Author Mark Biskeborn discusses Bradley Manning’s trial as a microcosm of America’s two-tiered justice system, in which the powerful are immunized despite rampant criminality and the weak are railroaded into prison for dissenting:

The U.S. military along with its justice seems to enjoy taking exceptions to the law when it needs its top security in the politically darkened court room as well as out on battle fields made soggy by the blood for oil exchange. Some of the documents that Manning allegedly leaked include videos of Apache helicopters pilots killing unarmed Iraqis and Reuters journalists as if they were mere targets in a video game. (9) The secrecy of information in Manning’s case and about everything else in these endless wars delivers an indictment against the U.S. systems of justice and governance by its massive volumes of secrets.

Manning’s trial is an exceedingly secretive sham, in which the public can’t see the documents discussed and, therefore, can’t see this process of injustice. (Read more…)

Ron Jacobs: defending Bradley Manning is part of defending our future. In a review of Chase Madar’s new book, The Passion of Bradley Manning, Jacobs calls on those who want to end America’s systematic injustice to help free Bradley Manning:

Simultaneously an indictment of a government obsessed with secrecy and a nation addicted to war, The Passion of Bradley Manning is also a concise and clear explanation of who Bradley Manning is. It explains why he risked his life and future by committing the overtly political act of exposing his government’s crimes and lies. Perhaps most importantly, it is a call to us to act not only in defense of Manning, but in defense of our futures.

You can create an event for Bradley Manning today, or donate to his defense fund here. (Read more…)

"Give him the Nobel Prize"

Submit your photo!

By Jayel Aheram. May 7, 2012.

Did Bradley Manning help end the Iraq War?

Bradley Manning’s trial continues with the defense succeeding in getting the judge to force the prosecution to release the government’s damage assessments:

A military judge has ordered the state department to release into her hands official documents that assessed from the viewpoint of the US government how damaging the leak of state secrets to WikiLeaks had been to American national interests.

[…]

For months Manning’s defence lawyer, David Coombs, has been pressing the soldier’s military prosecutors to hand over in the discovery stage of the trial the official damage assessments. The assessments, carried out by several federal agencies including intelligence bodies, could have a crucial bearing on any sentence handed out to Manning should he be found guilty.

There have been suggestions that the assessments show that in the official opinion of the US government, WikiLeaks did very little to harm US national interests around the world. That could prove invaluable for the defence in mitigation.

Required reading: Kevin Gosztola was at the trial and has some up-to-date information.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Manning would probably be convicted. After all, it is a trial where the judge’s boss is the Commander-in-Chief who already decided before any trial began that Manning broke the law. It is not really that far-fetched to say that best outcome out of this would be for Manning to wither away in jail instead of being executed for daring to embarrass the Empire. I would ask “Why go through all this trouble of wasting resources conducting a mock trial? Why not just execute Manning and be done with it?” but then I already know the answer.

Anyway, I had the opportunity a few of weeks ago to attend a presentation by Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning Support Network. Him and another staffer are traveling the country giving updates to concerned citizens about how eager the government is to make an example of Manning.

Paterson is not only a project director for Courage to Resist, but a fellow Marine artilleryman as well. As part of his presentation, he recounted his own antiwar stand during the first Gulf War as one of the first group of servicemembers who refused to fight that war. He ultimately spent several months in jail before being discharged from the military, after which he disappeared from the public eye. It must be noted that his stand was not an attempt at activism, but a lone protest motivated by a deep moral objection to war.

And because of this action, he has more credibility than most of us could ever hope to achieve. Unlike him, when I joined the Marine Corps in 2006, Iraq and Afghanistan was already well underway. My lack of knowledge is a poor excuse and that I honestly believed the propaganda is irrelevant. The fact that I was a willing cog in the war machine forever discredits me and there is nothing I can do—now or any time in the future—to redeem myself of this complicity.

Which brings me to the Army specialist who found a way to redeem himself: Bradley Manning.

Paterson’s backstory is very important, because it explains his involvement with the Manning case. As he explained in his presentation, he became involved with the military resistance movement at the beginning of second Iraq War. From those efforts came Courage to Resist, a network of veterans, military families, and activists supporting many military resisters defy the War Machine. When it came to light that an Army specialist by the name of Bradley Manning was central in the government’s investigation of Wikileaks, Paterson knew that he had to do something or as he puts it, “before they disappear [Manning].” Within two weeks of Manning’s arrest, Paterson was able to persuade several people to publicize Manning’s plight including establishing the Bradley Manning Defense Fund. To say that Paterson was “involved” with the Manning case is to understate how important he was to this cause. If it were not for his early efforts, who knows what might have happened to Manning?

Paterson’s presentation began with the infamous Collateral Murder video, the release of which firmly embedded the name “Wikileaks” in people’s radars. Manning is accused of leaking the video and also many other documents, including the Iraq War Logs and hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables. If the accusations are true and that Manning is to be credited for the leaks, that would make his singular action of leaking classified information the most significant catalyst of change in modern history.

There is some evidence that the classified information Manning allegedly provided to Wikileaks influenced and might have contributed to the Tunisian uprisings, which itself became the fount from which the Arab Spring continues to flow. Could it be that Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, Khaled Mohamed Saeed’s death, and Manning’s reckless bravery are all to be equally credited for the changes sweeping the Middle East? According to Amnesty International in their 2011 report, Wikileaks’ revelations were “catalysts” in the Arab Springs:

While the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia would not have happened without the long struggle of brave human rights defenders over the last two decades, support for activists from outside the country may have been strengthened as people scrutinized the Wikileaks documents on Tunisia and understood the roots of the anger. In particular, some of the documents made clear that countries around the world were aware of both the political repression and the lack of economic opportunity, but for the most part were not taking action to urge change.

So, while one cannot fully credit Manning and Wikileaks for the Arab Spring, there were fundamental to its strength and ultimate success. Additionally, the Arab Spring’s strength and success served as inspiration for the widespread protests of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Scientists might stand on the shoulders of giants, but modern revolutionaries apparently stand on the shoulders of a 110-pound Army specialist. Some might write about how Wikileaks is changing journalism, but in reality without Manning and his trove of classified information, Julian Assange and his outfit would have a lot less to leak.

So, Manning’s leak might have started revolutions in the Middle East, inspired a social movement in the United States, and changing the journalism itself, but could it have ended a war as well? Paterson asserts that the account of atrocities in the Iraq Wars Logs is what finally pushed Iraqi legislators to grow a spine and refuse granting immunity to American troops from prosecution in Iraqi courts. This refusal was the “deal breaker” that finally led to the Third End of War in Iraq (Obama’s second). If that is the case, then Manning’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination is well-deserved.