Image by Susan Melkisethian via Flickr
TheRealNews on Aug 21, 2013
Advocates say sentence is a serious blow to whistleblowers and investigative journalism, Manning plans to appeal and request President Obama for a pardon.
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Take Action:
Pardon Bradley Manning campaign launched – sign the petition and show your support!
Join Amnesty International and the Bradley Manning Support Network in signing a petition to President Obama….
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Remarks by Ralph Nader on the Bradley Manning Verdict
by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
August 21, 2013
One would have thought that exposing high level criminal and other abusive behavior by [the] government would have been received with reforms and compensation for victims. Instead, the exposed perpetrators managed the torturing and prosecution of a civil disobeying patriot as a traitor. It is time to recall the words of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Mason.
Clemency is the next call for Bradley Manning by his legions of supporters from all political backgrounds. He has suffered enough.
(Even former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shrugged off the disclosures as perhaps embarrassing but not constituting any serious breeches of or damage to contemporary national security.)
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Chris Hedges On Bradley Manning Being Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison
TheRealNews on Aug 22, 2013
Chris Hedges speaks to The Real News in an exclusive interview responding to Wikileaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning being sentenced to 35 years in prison.
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“I Am Chelsea Manning. I Am a Female”: Bradley Manning Announces Gender Transition
democracynow on Aug 22, 2013
www.democracynow.org – In breaking news, defense attorney David Coombs has shared a statement announcing Bradley Manning’s gender transition to female and name change to Chelsea Manning. “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me,” Manning says. “I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.” Coombs said Manning had not wanted his sexual identity issues to become public, but they did after his arrest in 2010.
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As Bradley Manning Announces “I am Female,” Attorney Discusses Role of Gender Issues During Trial
democracynow on Aug 22, 2013
Watch the full interview with attorney David Coombs conducted by independent Alexa O’Brien on Democracy Now! at http://owl.li/oaJvT. When asked how Bradley Manning’s struggles with gender identity affected him in the military, Coombs says: “I think to minimize Brad and say he is one thing and only one thing is not to do justice to him and how complex he is as a person. I think, from the defense’s perspective, we had to look at the entire picture of why he did certain things. And it was clear—and you can see that from the Lamo chats—why he would leak certain information, believing that this information was important for the public to know, believing that it might spark reforms, it might spark debate, it might make a difference in the world. Those are firmly held beliefs that we embraced, obviously, as part of his defense. But you wouldn’t do justice to what he was going through without recognizing that he had those beliefs at the same time that he was struggling with a very, very personal issue that was really at the center and core of who he was and who he hoped to be. And he was in a position now of dealing with that in a deployed environment, where he couldn’t reach out for help, where he couldn’t turn to the next person and say, “Hey, I’m struggling with this issue. Can you help me?” because if he did that, he would no longer be in the military.
In the full interview, Coombs also talks about the government’s use of classified evidence, Manning’s reaction to the sentence and how much of the court record was hidden from the public.
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RussiaToday on Aug 22, 2013
US Army Private Bradley Manning, sentenced to 35 years for leaking classified documents on Wednesday, announced that he would like to live out the rest of his life as a woman. The whistleblower has asked to refer to him by the name Chelsea Manning. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/aptei1
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International Law Required Manning to be a Whistleblower
TheRealNews on Aug 22, 2013
Vijay Prashad: Obama Admin pursuit of Manning probably illegal under international law
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Ann Wright On Bradley Manning Being Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison
TheRealNews on Aug 23, 2013
Ann Wright speaks to The Real News in an exclusive interview responding to Wikileaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning being sentenced to 35 years in prison
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Heroic whistle-blower addresses gender publicly: ready to move on to next phase of her life
by Chelsea Manning
www.bradleymanning.org
August 22, 2013
The Next Stage of My Life
I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.
As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.
Thank you,
Chelsea E. Manning
Chelsea’s mailing address remains:
Commander, HHC USAG
Attn: PFC Bradley Manning
239 Sheridan Ave, Bldg 417
JBM-HH, VA 22211
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Video from press conference: statements from lawyer, Bradley Manning, and family
SaveBradley on Aug 21, 2013
Bradley Manning attorney reads statement from whistleblower.
pardon.bradleymanning.org / Petition: http://tinyurl.com/cja3z9k
On August 21, 2013, immediately following sentencing, lead defense attorney David Coombs responds to client’s 35-year sentence, along with Amnesty International’s Naureen Shah, Courage to Resist’s Jeff Paterson, and retired Col. Ann Wright.
From the archives:
Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison
Screaming in Bradley Manning’s Trial by David Swanson
Bradley Manning apologizes to court for ‘unintended consequences’ of his actions
Vijay Prashad: Bradley Manning, the Nuremberg Charter and Refusing to Collaborate with War Crimes
The Courage of Bradley Manning Will Inspire Others To Seize Their Moment of Truth By John Pilger
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Asking pseudo lawyer Obama for a pardon? Hope is eternal but…
the bottom line is this : History is so hard to see when it is happening . those who think that this guy is some kind of traitor down the line may see him as the hero he is , which is a man who followed the primacy of his conscience.
Look at Cicero . he stood against the Empire in Rome and sided with those who would like to keep it a Republic . They beheaded him . The Empire crumbled , and Cicero ‘s words remain true . there are so many other examples thru history of this . so many .
i think that the way to live ones life is to not be trapped in ”the prison of the present ” ,. as Daniel Boorstein says ,but to have the courage , no matter what you are doing … to act as if your work will LAST. most people just go along with the crowd and nothing changes , and the trouble with normal is it always gets worse./ so in a way to be silent about things , or to back down
to back down is insanity ! to be bullied is insanity . one must have a vision beyond their life . just think , J.S. Bach , the greatest composer of all time …his sheet music was used as wrapping paper . he was laughed at. but he did not stop composing . he knew it would last . and it has . boy has it !!!!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Updated the post.
And updated it again.
I agree with Rocket, the only problem is, societies are still making the same mistakes, so although great work endures, idiocy still prevails.
We have never had a public forum like the Internet ever before, nor has there ever been such freedom of speech ~ in principle; and in practice, internationally. As Popper made clear and Chris Hedges has alluded to however, those who are attracted to power are seldom motivated by the aspiration to serve (all of) humanity, nor are they usually guided by wisdom. Those of us who would prosper change in public life, must decide just how far we are prepared to go.
For example, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission is actually doing a better job than the European based ICC, and infinitely more than the US administration ever has, that still operates in the dark as a rogue state in contempt of international jurisdiction. So what should we do?
Obama evidently taught constitutional law. This seems a curious anomaly insofar as he has demonstrated very little appetite to uphold the US constitution.
If he were to face impeachment, that might re-awaken his enthusiasm.
David , agreed . history does show that we learn nothing from history . what concerns me now is that the gender debate on both sides of this thing will overshadow the real issue here of the constitution and what Manning did that was so brave.
Watch the media king hammer away at the politics of genitalia throwing the spotlight on the wrong side of the stage , and his accomplishments as whistleblower be lost in the shuffle . Fortunately , Snowden is waiting in the wings with the goods on the Empire.
I’m sure you’re right on both counts, the bluff is well and truly up; & they’re going to make a very big mistake over Syria I believe ~ the nightmare of what the West has wrought in the old Ottoman Levant is beyond description…
Poison everywhere, DU, plastic filth in the oceans, the Gulf of Mexico Corexit death sludge, Fukushima radiating the Pacific, bio-synthetic GMO anarchy, interference with the jet stream, tarsands ecocide, carcinogenic toxic tailings from oil, coal mining, uranium & extraction generally, ecosystem habitat destruction and indigenous genocide, fracking ~ it’s utter psychotic horror in trumps….
….& what if we have more seismic upheavals and worse to come? It makes these toy-boy political henchmen look like desperate rags smothering an unquenchable firestorm at sea in a doomed ship of state.
We need to keep our independent moral compass set right with a firm hand on the rudder of truth and an acute sense of what the augurs are telling us…
David , agreed. the older i get , the more Nietzsche’s predictions have come true and also his answer” little acts of rebellion are more important than a revolution”. if i put that in a christ context; the cup of water, the coin , seeing people on the street…buying them a sandwich ……random acts of kindness. what else can we do?
we dont need permission to do these things , nor do we have to get overwhelmed on thinking that we can save the world , but just our little corner of it .
I really hope that hero whistleblower Bradley Manning is released and pardoned very soon, and that the real criminals who murdered many innocents are finally bought to book!!