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It seems like ages since accused Wikileaker PFC Bradley Manning first made headlines after his arrest in Iraq for allegedly leaking the largest cache of diplomatic cables in US history. That’s partly because it really has been ages – Manning has sat in jail for over 18 months without any word of an eventual trial, and has endured truly inhumane treatment at the hands of our government. Luckily, he will soon have his day in court.
Of the over 2 dozen charges leveled at Manning, “aiding the enemy” stands out as the most malicious of them all – mostly because it just doesn’t make any sense. If Manning did what they say he did, and leaked over 250,000 documents to Wikileaks, was the impact on our national security and foreign policy interests really so terrible that we believe it advanced the interests of our enemies?
Or was the leaked information already widely known, of low classification or out-dated, causing nothing more than embarrassment among our foreign policy elite and potentially igniting some much-needed pro-democracy movements along the way?
Some in-house damage assessments by Departments of State and Defense, as well as the White House itself — as outlined in the Defense’s Request for Production of Evidence — seem to believe the latter. If true, would throwing Manning in prison for life as a traitor who “aided the enemy” be a proportionate punishment for the crime?
Then there’s the question of who exactly are our enemies to whom Manning is alleged to have provided aid. The truth revealed in the released cables has been credited with helping to influence the start of the Arab Spring, which saw the popular overthrow of some of the most brutal regimes on the planet. Does our government really want to come to the defense of men like of Mubarak, Qadaffi and Ben Ali – and label those who risked and lost their lives for freedom and democracy as our ‘enemies?’
The “aiding the enemy” allegation is wildly unfounded, and we started a petition a while back demanding that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta drop that charge specifically. It’s vindictive and is the government’s way of producing a chilling affect on any potential whistleblowers who dare point out our government’s crimes by making an example out of Manning.
Manning’s Article 32 pre-trial hearing is scheduled to take place on December 16th. Our beloved Jon Walker will be covering the events from the courthouse. I hope you will join us in signing our petition to Secretary Panetta, and help support Jon’s coverage of the pre-trial hearing in a few weeks.
21 Comments
Signed.
This post is so wrong headed. It is written entirely from an outsider’s POV. Everything that Sonenstein says is of no consequence, is of the utmost consequence in D.C. There is NO punishment too severe for embarrassing PTB. And yes, USG DOES really want to support brutal dictatorships. How else can U.S. be the global hegemon. And have the PTB ever shown anything but vindictiveness? And so on.
I’ll sign the petition, but expect the worst for Manning.
I’ve asked this on every Manning post I’ve seen, but never gotten an answer. Is his lawyer competent?
“Is his lawyer competent?”
I’ve been wondering the same thing. He doesn’t need a competent lawyer. He needs a well-connected genius, or better yet, a set of geniuses. Maybe even genies.
Related but missing from any reporting that most people read:
“Over the weekend, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accepted the award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism at the 2011 Walkley Award in Australia, an honor akin to the Pulitzer Prize in the United States.>/b>
From here: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/28/wikileaks_julian_assange_win_major_australian
The questions were rhetorical. It was just how I went about juxtaposing what’s at stake here.
I think you completely missed the tone of the post, but thanks for all the condescension. Much appreciated.
I really do not understand your sentence of no consequence…utmost consequence….Is there a missing word?
Thanks
Probably genies.
thanks greenwarrior! will you be joining us on the liaison call tonight?
How can there be “aiding the enemy” when no war has been declared?
But does it really matter? We have a system of justice that is law less. Our system of justice is driven from top down. He will be found guilty. We have become the new Communist regime. Manning has already been found guilty, we are now going to go through a show trial.
“Then there’s the question of who exactly are our enemies”
——-
That’s easy — the American public. What do I win?
Wow. Good stuff.
Unfortunately, this is a good post.
Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki were assassinated because while the US considered them enemies it had had no evidence to prove their guilt. They had to be dead. The US currently has a policy of assassinating suspected “terrorists.” So Manning is fortunate he’s still alive, because the evidentiary conditions are similar. He’s suspected, but apparently it can’t be proven, given the 18 months.
Is Manning’s lawyer incompetent? Apparently. At least he’s kept him alive.
Yes: Who are the enemies of the US? I want to know. I don’t have any foreign enemies, myself. Got one or two in my neighborhood, but no nation threatens the US therefore where are the national enemies?
PS: Is it possible to get a new, current photo of this alleged criminal? Or is that too impossible in the current US police state.
I didn’t miss your tone, you missed mine. I agree with everything you typed and didn’t mean to be condescending to you, but rather to PTB in D.C. I prolly should have put an end snark tag.
Inartfully worded. Brian says that Manning’s alleged actions had no consequences for actual, real U.S. security. But the D.C.ers think being embarrassed is of the utmost consequence.
Sometimes brevity of expression creates problems. See also my comment to Brian above. I was making fun of D.C.ers, not Brian.
I agree, he’s fortunate to be alive given the governments’ desire to make him pay dearly for his ‘offense.’
I haven’t seen any pictures taken of him post-arrest. They’re doing everything they can to avoid talking about him, so I don’t think releasing photos to the press is high on their list. Not to mention they kept him in solitary for months and basically tortured him – god knows the toll that’s taken on him physically.
Oh – well if that was snark then I’m sorry about that, eCAHN – i need more sleep i guess. The “This post is so wrong headed” got me all confused.
The convicted terrorist, and double agent, David Headley was treated better than Bradley Manning. Headley helped murder 160 people in Mumbai while working for the CIA. He and his three lawyers had no complaints about his confinement. The other convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Ali Mohamed is not even in prison. He is getting a US pension while living in sunny California. It is not known if Headley is getting a US pension and we really do not even know if Headley is in prison.
There are no photos of Headley or Mohamed. That is useful if the US Intelligence Community decides to use them in other False Flag Terror attacks, in the Phony Terror War.
Bradley Manning is a Hero who should be freed immediately.
Commander in chief himself declared Manning was guilty – what – 5 months or so before they even announced a date for his pre-trial hearing?
“Luckily, he will soon have his day in court.”
“LUCKILY, he will soon have his day in court.”
L U C K I L Y
There is hardly anything that makes me despair our world more than what’s happening with Bradley Manning.
This is the stuff that needs to be Occupied.
The fact that the limited attention of good and smart people seems to have gone off Manning and onto the physical act of demonstrating bothers me.