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COUNTDOWN TO 1st JUNE! PROTEST TO DEFEND INTERNATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER |
Each week we highlight different aspects of what Bradley Manning has done for the movement.
Thank You Bradley Manning!
“If the public, particularly the American public, had access to this information, it could spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy in general as it applied to Iraq and Afghanistan, it might cause society to reconsider the need to engage in counter-terrorism while ignoring the human situation of the people we engaged with every day … I felt I accomplished something that would allow me to have a clear conscience.”
Bradley and Wikileaks Exposed the Rape of Children and Detainees
While politicians and media decry rape at home (even when they do little about it) cables released by Bradley Manning through Wikileaks show that there was an extensive, officially sanctioned cover-up of rape and other sexual violence in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The rapes often were of children.
These cables and logs also revealed the existence of “Frago 242,” an order from the US military issued in 2004 not to investigate allegations of abuse, including rape, by Iraqi government officials. Cables reveal that the US Government was aware that some of the abuse included the rape and sexual torture of prisoners of both sexes in US custody. Many of those subjected to rape in custody were in fact children.
A man of exceptional courage and principle
In a statement he read in court on 28 February 2013, gay US Army PFC Bradley Manning proudly admitted having leaked information to Wikileaks in order to inform the public of US war crimes and government skulduggery that was being kept from us.
He faces charges up to life in prison. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the third time in a row.
Wikileaks also provided further insight into the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl and her family in Haditha by members of the US 101st Airborne. The worst of the offenders was later released with an honorable discharge into the US civilian population. Only after protests first in Iraq and then in the US, were he and four others finally arrested, tried, and found guilty of murder.
Bradley and Wikileaks exposed the use by private military contractors of “dancing boys” in Afghanistan, a practice which even the State Department describes as a ‘culturally sanctioned form of male rape’. One of the contractors, DynCorp, had also been used by the US Government in Bosnia where they were involved in the systematic rape of girls, some as young as 12. The released cables show that the US Government was specifically notified and asked to cover up what was going on for fear of what the reaction by the local population would be to the use of the contractors.
“The anti-rape movement internationally is indebted to Bradley Manning and Wikileaks for helping to expose the extent of rape and torture, including of children, and its systematic cover up under occupation.”
1 - 8 June: International Actions to Free Bradley Manning
So far actions in Canada, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Turkey, UK, USA, Wales…
