CODEPINK & The World Can’t Wait – 2013-08-20 00:41:23
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/wikileaks/8351-because-of-bradley-manning
ACTION ALERT: Prepare to March for Bradley Manning
CODEPINK
“In 2010, Private Manning did his duty to the rest of humanity and supplied proof from within the murder machine. This is his triumph, and his show trial merely expresses corrupt power’s abiding fear of people learning the truth…
— John Pilger
(August 19, 2013) — Of the hundreds of thousands who had access to the classified US material, Bradley is apparently the only one to have seen something very wrong, and taken action to put those crimes before the people. More than anything, the US government wants to stop any future Bradley Mannings or Edward Snowdens from blowing the whistle on war crimes. We must continue demanding — in every way possible — an end to his imprisonment now. Not one more second in prison for Bradley.
Millions worldwide regard Bradley Manning as a hero. We are outraged that he was found guilty for reporting widespread, horrific crimes of his government while war criminals walk free.
We expect Judge Lind to announce sentencing sometime between Monday August 19 and Wednesday August 21.
On that day, join us in the streets for a Codepink-initiated action to declare “Free Bradley Now!”
ACTION ALERT: Prepare to March for Bradley Manning
The World Can’t Wait
(August 19, 2013) — Bradley Manning was convicted in a military “show trial” of espionage and theft charges for making available to the public classified documents evidencing US war crimes and bullying of other countries. He could be sentenced to 136 years in prison.
During the time his sentence is being considered, we must make a concerted effort to make sure that that hundreds of thousands see Collateral Murder, US military footage of an Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 which killed 12 Iraqi civilians.
View and share this Collateral Murder video clip.
This is what your government didn’t want you to see:
WIKILEAKS (Uploaded on April 3, 2010) — Wikileaks has obtained and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents.
After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well.
The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths ocurred. Wikileaks released this video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010 on http://collateralmurder.com
Because of Bradley Manning
Dennis Loo / The World Can’t Wait
(August 15, 2013) — Because of Bradley Manning, we have Edward Snowden, who was inspired to come forward by Manning’s example;
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that most of the prisoners held at Guantanamo are innocent or low-level operatives and we have the identities and pictures of the prisoners held at Guantanamo who are now hunger striking.
Because of Bradley Manning, we have the “Collateral Murder” video which allowed Reuters to finally find out how their reporters were killed, in the face of years of Pentagon lies and stonewalling, and allowed the world to see the attitudes and actions of the US soldiers who commit war crimes and laugh about it, and by implication, the brass and public officials who expect and encourage this barbaric behavior;
Because of Bradley Manning, “US defense contractors were brought under much tighter supervision after leaked diplomatic cables revealed that they had been complicit in child trafficking activities. DynCorp — a powerful defense contracting firm that claims almost $2 billion per year in revenue from US tax dollars — threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment. DynCorp had already faced human trafficking charges before this incident took place.”
Because of Bradley Manning, we have the Tunisian Revolution which in turn inspired Arab Spring which in turn inspired Occupy Wall Street which in turn showed the reservoir of mass support for radical/revolutionary changes here in the US;
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that Egyptian torturers received training from the US: “According to a leaked diplomatic cable from Cairo, the head of Egypt’s notorious State Security Investigative Service (SSIS) thanked FBI Deputy Director John Pistole for the ‘excellent and strong’ cooperation between the two agencies. In particular, the FBI’s training sessions in Quantico, Virginia were of ‘great benefit’ to his interrogators.
Another cable documented what the US embassy considered ‘credible’ allegations of human rights violations by the SSIS, including torturing prisoners with ‘electric shocks and sleep deprivation to reduce them to a “zombie state.”‘
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that the State Department under Hillary Clinton secretly sought to strong-arm the UN: “According to the ‘National Humint Collection Directive,’ a secret document that was signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and published by WikiLeaks, US diplomats were authorized to collect ‘biometric’ and other sensitive information from top UN officials as well as UN representatives from other nations.
The leaked documents show that ‘biometric data’ specifically included samples of the officials’ DNA, among other forms of personally identifying information. They also ordered diplomats to collect credit card information and secure passwords. These activities contravene the 1946 UN Convention.”
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that the Japanese and US governments were warned about the dangers of a nuclear disaster at Fukushima three years before the 2011 catastrophe but ignored the warnings. Fukushima has now been ranked as bad as Chernobyl and TEPCO officials recently admitted that the damaged plant has been leaking radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean ever since.
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that in December 2009 President Obama authorized a secret drone campaign in Yemen. “A year later, WikiLeaks revealed that Yemen’s President Saleh had agreed that his regime would ‘continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.'”
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that hundreds of civilians in Iraq were executed at checkpoints.
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that Obama’s administration handed over thousands of detainees to the Iraqi authorities with the knowledge that they would be tortured.
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that 15,000 civilian deaths that were previously unknown were uncovered in the leaked files, in contrast to the denials of the US government that they had figures on civilian deaths.
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that detainees were humiliated, tortured, and killed by US Special Forces, the CIA, and military contractors.
Because of Bradley Manning, the public is informed of things the government would never have let us know about, and would have continued to categorically deny with straight faces; and
Because of Bradley Manning‘s conscience, bravery, and sacrifice on behalf of the interests and future of humanity, the world is a different place, a world in turmoil but with a chance now to turn things aright.
Dennis Loo is a member of the Steering Committee of World Can’t Wait. His website is dennisloo.com.
