To defend Bradley Manning, we must educate the public about WikiLeaks
In order to undo any confusion that may have been caused by recent media reports, the Bradley Manning Support Network has written the following open letter clarifying our position in regards to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.
An open letter on why the Bradley Manning Support Network works to combat misinformation about WikiLeaks in the court of public opinion
By the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee. August 3, 2012.
The Bradley Manning Support Network is singularly devoted to freeing heroic whistle-blower PFC Bradley Manning and countering the military’s secretive and aggressive efforts to lock him in jail for life. We’re exceptionally proud to have accepted the responsibility of ensuring Bradley gets the fully funded legal defense of his choosing. That has been an incredible challenge as his trial drags on for over two years. We are thankful to the many individuals and organizations that have worked to raise awareness around Bradley Manning’s plight, including the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks. And we’re also proud of our role in advocating for WikiLeaks in the public discourse, as educating the public about WikiLeaks is a fundamental part of ensuring Bradley’s actions are understood.
The Bradley Manning Support Network is organizationally separate from WikiLeaks, but we share common goals of promoting transparency and government accountability. The defense of Bradley Manning is the defense of whistle-blowing, of holding government to account, and of countering massive state secrecy. It is clear to us that, through their fearless publication history, WikiLeaks has made incalculable contributions to the public discourse.
We’re deeply grateful to WikiLeaks, not only for their groundbreaking work in advancing government transparency, but also for their vital help in bringing attention to Bradley’s case and cause. Through public advocacy in media interviews and online, Julian Assange and others associated with WikiLeaks have raised both funds and awareness for the preeminent whistle-blower of our generation. We are particularly appreciative of these efforts given the obstacles WikiLeaks has faced over the last few years. Despite threats of assassination and prosecution to Julian Assange, and despite a crippling financial blockade, WikiLeaks has been steadfast in keeping Bradley’s plight at the fore.
Our mission is to free Bradley Manning, ensure he receives top-notch legal counsel and a fair trial, and work to educate the public about Bradley’s situation. Our mission complements WikiLeaks’ work of promoting government accountability and an informed electorate. We cannot allow the government to operate in total secrecy, and we cannot allow the government to commit war crimes with impunity. We must stand up to egregious secrecy, torture, and war crimes with support for the whistle-blowers who expose them. We are proud to stand by WikiLeaks in fighting for government transparency and justice for Bradley.
Gerry Condon, Bob Meola, Jeff Paterson, Rainey Reitman, Kevin Zeese
Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee
well said, and timely!
I endorse the efforts to see that warmongers get exposed through the steadfast whistle blowers work. Enough of secret governments, secret wars and secret war on people who have none to go to seek justice and fairness.
A clear and strong position that should be supportable by any “classical” American patriot.
I appreciate the careful work so many volunteers have done to pool information. This forum aids in the exchange of ideas about the importance of truth and the role that undiluted information plays in allowing us the freedom to draw our own conclusions. War is not a goal. War is an extreme set of compromises that not everybody agrees with. If the military can accept collateral damage and friendly fire, then it is about time they accept that the world population has a right to access to actual truth about the wars they pay for and if the conduit that Wikileaks created is not perfect yet, it is still sorely needed. So lets accept some possibility of friendly fire and collateral damage of a few wounded egos when their actions are known. They are public servants, often engaging in deals that will mean life or death to thousands. The Constitution of the USA does not allow the government to keep secrets from those they serve, and we are suffering for the many loopholes they generously invent year after year.
“accept collateral damage”? It’s central element of the policy – part of the plan – delivering weakly deniable terror and ‘creative destruction’.
Well said…
A hero of our time.
A true hero of humanity under the curse of warmonger corporations in league with secret governments.
The latest issue (#43) of World War 3 Illustrated has an excellent article on Bradley Manning and the video that he brought to light, illustrated with sequential art.
I am not part of this magazine except that I am a big fan of it. You can learn more about them at their web site: http://www.worldwar3illustrated.org/
Ken, thank you for the reminder about this!
I am proud of the American patriots to inform the world about the machinations of U.S. intelligence agencies and the government. Keep it up!
Every body do as I did.I stopped paying taxes to our corrupt government two years ago when Bradley was arrested and I’m not paying taxes till he’s free.If you stop giving money to a corrupt government they will start to listen.
I haven’t paid taxes since 1968 because of the Vietnam war. But the only way i could do that and live at the same time was to go on public assistance by feigning mental disability.
You know, this is an interesting idea. But frightening. What have the consequences been for you? It floors me that my tax dollars are paying for the effort to imprison Manning for life. I have been trying to figure out how to handle that.
One thought would be to set aside the money that would otherwise go to the US government, and instead distribute it directly to the schools, police departments, libraries, welfare, whatever. I’m not sure if that would cover one’s butt legally, but it does seem like an idea worth exploring, at least.
All of us in the U.S. regardless of whether we admire Manning as a true American hero are also paying for his prosecution and persecution. Not only that, but the more I learn (it’s a process) about how those tax dollars are spent on weapons of war and oppression, the more upset I get. I would really like to hear more thoughts from people on this topic. Thank you for posting.
The Courage to disagree….great pint here…please take a look…benifits of “whistle blowers” :http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree.html?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_campaign=&awesm=on.ted.com_Heffernan
I wish I had some money I could donate to Bradlys defence. A real hero. A true patriot of the people of the world and I don’t mean elected officials. It really is time to stop the madness, to stop fighting the elites wars for them on our dollar. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the lot of them. Tell us the truth we can handle the truth. Rage Against the Machine says it best,” no more lies, no more lies, no more lies went down to the line got a mother fuckin bullit in the head”
This world is really upside down. Pvt Manning, who swore to uphold the Constitution facing life in prison for doing it and the Bush administration that was bent in destroying and confeesed war criminal roaming free collecting a socialist pension for life instead of the jail cell that has Pvt Manning’s name on it. I don’t trust this “Christian and democratic” nation to apply justice. We should let Norway handle his trial. At least we will know they will not become a kangaroo court. Please Lord, help Manning, cause this “Christian and democratic” won’t.
As a European with strong family links to the USA, I feel despair when I look at the way Bradley Manning has been treated. It’s as if America has become fascist. It reminds me of Nazi Germany. It’s horrific, but the one consolation is that anyone I speak to doesn’t believe the mainstream media anymore. They know that Assange and Manning are being persecuted for exposing corruption. What the whole world needs is to see Bush, Blair, Cheney et al dragged in front of the International Criminals Court for war crimes and torture and also Obama for continuing his death camp at Guantanimo bay. The whole world is horrified by what is going on.
You guys are amazing, as is Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and Assange. The world owes you all a huge thanks.
If we are to vote these govts into power we have the right to know what they do in our name and to hold them accountable. If govts feel that makes some people worthy of spending the rest of their lives in prison, or worse, then these governments should not be trusted.
It really is up to us to demand better.
It’s not clear this government was “voted into power.” Both the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen. For the evidence on this please see Freepress.org and Bob Fitrakis’ pieces on King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell. There is an excellent piece on that story in VeteransToday.com.
Thank heavens for the WWW! It is a force for spreading ideas and information. The US government and “governing classes” are as self seeking and corrupt as any in the world. Their partiality is transparent – no US citizen will be convicted of war crimes. Vietnam still suffers the effects (denied by US) of indiscriminate use of agent orange – there is no “Martial Plan” to clean-up that mess.
I blame the British – if we had sent the god-squad to Australia and the Criminals to the US – at least they would have a sense of irony and better beer. Still the same sad result for the indigenous peoples however.
Good Luck to the lad – and all his supporters.
Your letter did nothing to me to dispel confusion. You need to write the facts of WHAT HAPPENED. Uninformed people don’t take time to sleuth out the story. Make it concise–talk about the video he made. Get people angry enough to respond.
Susan, you’re absolutely right–it’s crucial to spread the word about Bradley’s predicament as well as the revelations associated with the leaks. As the tagline below the headline indicates, this particular letter is aimed at something related to that, but YES, please go get people angry!
I agree with Susan. This is a great letter, but it doesn’t address what you referred to as “media reports” about Wikileaks. Since I avoid television and wingnut radio, I don’t know what’s being said. But whatever is being said should be reiterated and then demonstrated to be wrong with specifics.
No offense please. I love you guys. I mean, the fact that the Net exists, that _you_ have done such a superb job representing Manning, it is one of the few things that give me hope in this day and age. I can’t thank you enough. And one other thing. I think you are effective. Last year the comments about Manning on mainstream media websites (which I have been immersed in all day every day for my job) were mostly negative. This has changed!!! Now I see something like a 50-50 split. Lots of people know about Manning. More are learning. The more people learn, the more people will support him. He is so obviously a good kid who did try to follow the rules and was shut down by the chain of command. He followed his conscience and kept his soldier’s oath by not leaving his brain at the door when he enlisted. I wish more soldiers would consider that they need to do more than just “obey.” They need to think, because not all enemies of the state are foreign.
I would encourage anyone here to make their presence felt on media sites, because even though it’s “just the Internet” (TV folks must realize it’s making them irrelevant as newscasters) those comments DO get read by people who count, who make policy.
If you have no money to donate to Bradley, donate your time and say your piece on those sites as much as possible.
Another thing is that paid shills will post against Manning and against justice, so donating time this way is –I believe–a very effective way to fight this info battle. People will read those comments and the word will be passed along. Let’s communicate about this.
all praise for you Susan!
Weckbaugh’s point needs reinforcement. If I had to guess what “people in general” might honestly think was wrong with Manning’s action was that he didn’t check through the stuff to make sure that Private Snuffy out on the wire in Timbuktu (where he had no business being, but still) got his throat cut because some cable or file contained his radio frequency and security data so he could lured to the local bordello, etc.
We are told that Assange checked stuff before releasing it. Did Manning? I think that’s a big burden to meet because he was one PFC without a lot of background or a lot of time to sift through it (“Say, Manning, what are you looking at there?” “Oh, nothing, sir, just sprucing up some data management protocols.”).
So, on the one hand, it’s vital to get the government (does that term refer to the judge or the prosecution–you seem a little indecisive in your use of the term–”what is the government’s plan for the next motion hearing?”), meaning the prosecution, to spell out the harm done, but as Perry Mason is my guide, it’d be nice to know if Manning knew he wasn’t launching the launch codes into cyberspace.
So what bothers me might bother people in general. How else can you evaluate this?
For one thing, two million people had access to those “secret” cables. Two million. For another, have you watched the Collateral Murder video at collateralmurder.com? Have you listened to the audio? Have you seen the interview on that site with the US soldier who was on the ground who got in trouble for trying to rescue injured kids from the van after they watched their father, who was driving them to school, being slaughtered? Perhaps you need to do these things…I have a feeling you haven’t. If I’m wrong, I apologize in advance. But please also understand that whether Manning actually caused harm is part of these proceedings. National security agencies have been asked exactly how Manning caused or even risked harm.
And then ask yourself how much harm Manning might have caused compared to the people who should be on trial. Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Condi, Wolfy, Feith, all those people who LIED to Americans about the reasons for going to war, who ignored intelligence warnings that 9/11 was coming, who have sent our brothers and sisters and fathers and sons and daughters to die for their for-profit war.
If only there had been a wikileaks prior to the Vietnam War the horror might have been avoided. Thanks for your work on behalf of Bradley Manning.
It is essential that truth is published about the acts of governments and not only the US-government. Furthermore Bradley Manning is a role model not only for all gays but everybody else regarding personal courage. He should get all support he can get from the gay community and from others.
Detlef Schultze
I can not enough express my gratitude for the FREE BRADLEY MANNING NETWORK, WIKILEAKS, BRADLEY MANNING AND JULIAN ASSANGE. I truly believe all need to be in future history books in public schools as well as replacing some of the public holidays we have like say . . Columbus Day. I absolutely expect to someday, be able to hold the governments accountable.
Dear Editor,
I’m writing today to encourage your editorial board to increase its coverage of accused Wiki-leaks Whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning’s pre-trial hearings, by providing coverage of his next motion hearing beginning August 27.
It is critical that you do this as because of the Arab Spring, there are now two Democracies in the Middle East.
As you know, Good men must not allow Evil, they must address it, or it will flourish, just as it has in the manner in which an American Soldier has been treated by people that are pure Evil.
What is being done to PFC Manning is the same Evil as what are the NAZI…..As what the Angel of Hitler is.
Manning needs some Tough Hombres to pull him from that Evil Courtroom where the Uniforms and Medals of Soldiers like Dan Choi’s have been desecrated by people not fit to serve The Army of The United State of America, The Army of General George Washington, Baron von Steuben, and General George Patton.
I hope that he returns to Europe, to England. I can assure you what happened when he returned to Wales with his mother will not happen again. He will be included in Society in England because he is a Hero and has Social mores.
Manning will be in Ft. Meade, Maryland on August 27, for a hearing that will focus heavily on his horrendous pretrial confinement conditions. I ask that this paper and other news media please cover this hearing and bring its important developments to your readership.
Juvenal
hi all the way from Istanbul Turkey with passion and understanding! for a new world a new tomorrow. There is such a thing as political violence and it is the most violent inhuman violence there is!
Does the BMSN oppose the existence of *all* national security secrecy laws? If so, would you encourage whistleblowers to disclose forthcoming troop movements in theaters of war? If not, where is the line to be drawn?
It’s a shame their after Julian Assange now, anything to suppress the truth..