by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
March 4, 2013
Image by savebradley via Flickr
I was in a military courtroom at Fort Meade in Maryland on Thursday as Pfc. Bradley Manning admitted giving classified government documents to WikiLeaks. The hundreds of thousands of leaked documents exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as government misconduct. A statement that Manning made to the court was a powerful and moving treatise on the importance of placing conscience above personal safety, the necessity of sacrificing careers and liberty for the public good, and the moral imperative of carrying out acts of defiance. Manning will surely pay with many years—perhaps his entire life—in prison. But we too will pay. The war against Bradley Manning is a war against us all.
[…]
via Truthdig
Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His latest books are Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, Death of the Liberal Class, and The World as It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.
Copyright © 2013 Truthdig
From the archives:
Transcript of Bradley Manning’s Statement for the Providence Inquiry
Bradley Manning pleads not guilty to “aiding the enemy” charge
Bradley Manning’s Attorney David Coombs Breaks His Silence
Michael Ratner: Bradley Manning Testifies About His Torture
Iraq War Documents from WikiLeaks
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Manning followed his conscience over orders and has sacrificed his freedom for possibly the rest of his life so that others could get a peek behind the theater’s curtains. This cannot be tolerated and now the head grasshopper must make an example of him so the rest of the ants stay in line. The shocking part isn’t what he revealed, its how little much of the mainstream press and pubic gave a damn.
Very good point, Jeff.
So true, yet what he revealed utterly condemns the establishment. We are at an ethical cusp for humanity.
Manning should not be made a theatrical whipping boy. This is a make or break moment for us all. Do we condone tyranny in the name of false morality, or do we stand up for the “rights of man?”
In God We Trust, America; so, thank God for Chris Hedges. Those of us with any morality salute Private Manning.
The fact is, young Bradley is a far better man than old Barack.
Obama’s sick administration of crony militarist controllers and their self-appointed “infallible” bully-boy capitalist agencies, are in effect “gods” beyond the law ~ of course! they have rigged their vacuous biocidal laws to protect what are indisputably, criminal actions. This is not just a racket gone to seed, it is a living nightmare for the entire demented gang. The eagle is coming home to roost. They cannot erase the truth anymore.
A war crime is an atrocity against the very idea of civilization, no matter how much historic atrocity has been perpetrated in its name over time.
To expose any war crime is the most heroic and patriotic action any loyal citizen can perform.
This trial is not only the proverbial straw that would break the camel’s back! this time we should commandeer the straw and free the camel and let it be a better camel, properly fed and watered and even well bedded on its abundant comfortable straw.
This shambolic, bankrupt government of fools should be forewarned, they have unleashed far more than a whirlwind. This is just the beginning of the end for American power. Nemesis awaits, patiently.
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.