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Pfc Bradley Manning will likely face court martial – and if we don’t act now, he could be convicted on charges that he ‘aided the enemy.’
Last week, Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, the investigating officer in Pfc. Bradley Manning’s Article 32 hearing, recommended that Manning face a court-martial for all 23 charges of which he is accused.
The charges Almanza has recommended are absurdly disproportionate to the acts Manning is accused of committing — the most egregious being “aiding the enemy,” which rests on the government’s dubious claim that Manning knowingly provided intelligence to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, merely because, they claim, he knew Wikileaks might publish some information on the Internet.
Following through on this accusation would set a dangerous precedent for how the government deals with whistleblowers. It would also threaten the foundation of investigative journalism by essentially criminalizing the publishing of any intelligence information.
We’re calling the Department of Defense to demand they drop the “aiding the enemy” against Manning. To make your voice heard:
1. Dial 703-571-3343
2. Press 5 to leave a comment
* If the mailbox is full, leave a written comment for the DOD here: https://kb.defense.gov/app/ask/session/
We see Lt. Col. Almanza’s recommendation as just another step in what is becoming a sham trial. Almanza himself serves as a prosecutor for the Justice Department, which is also investigating Manning, but refused to recuse himself as investigating officer despite the obvious conflict of interest. Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, claims the DOJ wants to flip Manning and have him testify against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
Manning’s defense hasn’t had much of a chance to present testimony supporting the argument that the information leaked did not jeopardize US national security interest and that Manning was not properly supervised. Of the 48 witnesses requested by Manning, Almanza only allowed 12 to testify – 10 of which were also requested by the government. Coombs has been forced to request oral depositions of the denied witnesses, who he says have the potential to show (among other things) just how baseless the “aiding the enemy” charge really is.
Almanza’s recommendation will now move up the chain of command, where Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington will ultimately decide if Manning should be court-martialed, and on what charges. This is our chance to stop the ‘aiding the enemy’ charge from making it to Manning’s court martial.
We are organizing activists to stand up to the zealous overcharging of Bradley Manning, beacuse his life and the protections for other, future whistleblowers depend on it. In just a few hours we’ve already logged more than 400 calls to the Pentagon to demand they drop the “aiding the enemy” charges against Manning.
Click here for a phone number and a sample script: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/manning-call
13 Comments
thanks zach – we’ve logged upwards of 600 calls so far; thanks to everyone for helping to keep the momentum up.
Who else “aids the enemy” and illegally releases classified information? The list of selective leaking without prosecution, is long. But it is OK to aid the enemy if it is for endless wars.
Scooter Libby, Richard Armitage, Bob Woodward, Phillip Mudd, Michael Gerson, what’s his name Novak, all the Cheney’s, used “classifed” to start and continue wars.
Everything is classifed anyway. There are no reporters reporting on the war, except the embedded shills. If they are not embedded, they get blown away. Reuters reporters were “Collateral Damage”. That is a twofer, innocent civilians and genuine unembedded War Reporters. How lucky for the brave soldiers, or was it luck? And Almanza uses this atrocity as evidence against Manning.
The whistleblowers who report crimes are now treated as if they were terrorists. We have a Gulag without Law, and Almanza is a Jailer of that Gulag.
http://my.firedoglake.com/frank33/2012/01/15/bradley-manning-and-the-resistance-versus-secrecy-false-flag-terror-and-the-american-police-state/
As I have said, it is amazing that Manning has stood up to the torture of Almanza’s Police State.
The Pentagon will not let me leave a comment.
yeah we’ve received a few notes like this. i’d recommend the following:
try calling again in an hour or so – they seem to clear the inbox periodically
if that doesn’t work, try emailing them via the link above
if anyone finds a better number, email me at brian@firedoglake.com
Pvt. Manning is a patriot. President Obama is a traitor. Let’s free Manning and incarcerate Obama.
Manning is aiding the enemy. The enemy is the domestic 99ers.
The President is in charge of the Executive Branch which includes the DOD. Trying to pass this off on the DOD is like passing off responsibility for mountain top removal to the EPA. Obama could have Bradley released within 24 hours – if he wanted to.
Don’t forget the American taxpayer. Another group regarded by the one percenters as their blood enemy.
I sent an e-mail to the DOD address at the https://kb.defense.gov/app/ask/session/ link in the OP.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the Nobel Peace Prize Committee should give the award to Manning. It would shine a light on the fate of political dissidents in The World’s Greatest Democracy(TM) and help to atone for their well-intended effort to shame Oilbummer into being a responsible actor on the international stage.
At this moment, the buck stops with Linnington, so that’s who we will focus on until he makes his decision.
The voicemail box was full about a quarter of an hour ago. I emailed. Thanks a lot for sticking with this!
Yes, Manning is a bona fide hero. Unlike his commander in chief.
The web hippies are becoming an annoyance to the Powers That Be. Except, for failed security company Stratfor. They were hacked and hacked good. But they do give a shout out to arsehole hippies who have gotten into physical world activities in a small way.
The government is now “subpeoning” Tweets with an #occupy. Very weird.
aiding the enemy?
Exactly which enemy are they refering to with these charges? Could it be the media who is normally treated like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed pure bullshit) by DOD. Not that the bootlicking beltway media would ever print anything truthful.
Is it some overseas power that Congress has declared war on? Or does the US now just go around fucking with everyone like a playground bully.
Maybe it’s just a government full of pompous biblethumping, knuckledragging, alzheimer riddled, greedy assholes that need someone or something to blame for their many and frequent fuck-ups that were made visible by this leak. And yes, I’m talking about the whole damned bunch.