"I felt I accomplished something that would allow me to have a clear conscience.”
Bradley
Manning has shown us once again that he is a hero.
On Thursday, February 28, he made a profound and
historic My statement to a military court and to the
world. Reading from prepared notes for over an hour,
Bradley detailed how he released classified military
and government documents to Wikileaks, and he
explained why he did so.
I believed if the public, particularly the American
public, could see this 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.”
What Manning released through Wikileaks was evidence
of the regular killing of civilians by US forces in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the regular cover-up of
these war crimes. The Iraq War Logs and the Afghan
War Diaries also revealed that military and civilian
leaders were lying to the U.S. people when they
presented rosy assessments of the progress of those
wars.
Would that we all had listened to these truths when
Bradley revealed them almost three years ago.
Perhaps we would not still have US Special Forces
engaged in murder, mayhem and torture in Afghanistan
today
Contrary to the misinformation being transmitted in
many mainstream news reports, Bradley Manning did
not make a plea agreement, and he certainly did not
agree to go to prison for twenty years. Rather, he
unilaterally pled guilty to 10 of the lesser charges
against him, while maintaining his innocence to 12
more serious charges, especially Aiding the Enemy,
which can be punished by life in prison and even the
death penalty (Army prosecutors say they will not
seek the death penalty – very gracious of them).
Rather than “rolling over” or “caving in,” Bradley
has courageously chosen a path which allows him to
tell the world the truth and to explain the meaning
of what he has done.
Bradley Manning is a champion for peace and justice,
for truth and transparency. He had the courage to
follow his conscience and to do the right thing,
regardless of the consequences. He showed us that
courage again in the courtroom this week. The US
government and military have already punished
Bradley severely and apparently they will try to
keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Veterans For Peace will not allow this to happen.
We demand that the US Army drop all charges against
Bradley Manning and release him from prison
immediately. We intend to stand with Bradley every
step of the way. We will escalate our support
actions leading up to his court martial, which is
expected to begin on June 3 and to proceed
throughout the summer. We will show up en masse at
Fort Meade, Maryland for the support rally being
planned for Saturday, June 1. We will protest in our
hometowns too, including at military recruiting
stations. Bradley Manning represents everything that
Veterans For Peace stands for and we will not stop
until he is free.
Source Veterans for Peace