Manning, Wikileaks and U.S. Crimes Abroad.
Prelude: The Lost Promise of Barack Obama
Issue:
Today President Barack Obama holds the key to a military cell in which he has imprisoned Chelsea (a/k/a Bradley) Manning, a U.S. soldier convicted for providing classified United States government documents to the public, allegedly through Wikileaks, an organization that publishes the truth as it is represented by the documents of governments and corporations.
Deception:
The Obama Administration maintains that by her actions, Manning has jeopardized the safety and lives of United States citizens. This is deception.
Reality:
Manning stands convicted for espionage against the U.S. - yet her only true offense was being the person Obama promised to be but has failed to become: the one who would finally bring openness and truth to the body politic. Manning's actions have had only one effect, and that one is positive: the world now knows the truth of U.S. crimes overseas.
Contrary to assertions by the government, Manning's actions have not jeopardized the security, safety or life of a single person. Along with the release of documents by Edward J. Snowden, they have instead opened public discussion and debate to a far more accurate and full understanding of how U.S. invasions of foreign countries, militarily and otherwise, are conducted and the death and destruction those interventions cause. We all benefit from Manning's desire to share with us the sordid details of our government's affairs, actions that we finance. Manning has done nothing more than put the truth in front of our eyes. If we fear that we fear democracy.
Fifteen of the nineteen airplane hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, a leading U.S. ally in the Middle East and host to strategic U.S. military bases. Their alleged leader, Osama Bin Laden, was of a very prominent Saudi family that was in business with the family of both Presidents Bush. Yet no retaliatory actions were taken against Saudi Arabia. Instead the U.S. invaded one country that had no known ties to the terrorist attacks and another that had, at most, minimally tangential ties. Who pays the price? For starters: U.S. soldiers; innocent Afghan and Iraqi citizens and their infrastructure, agricultural lands and cultural assets; and U.S. citizens through our taxes and through the destruction of our civil and constitutional rights.
Resolution:
It is this simple: the criminals that should be prosecuted are the government and business leaders whose crimes are detailed in the released documents: the leaders who declared war against, invaded, occupied and profited from the exploitation of Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact that neither were responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil; the leaders who directed the wholesale destructions of cities and countryside and the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians; the leaders who sent over 6,000 U.S. troops to their deaths in those countries and caused the maiming of thousands more; the leaders who have lied to the U.S. taxpayers who have financed those wars as to their purpose and conduct; the leaders who continue to wage a drone war against innocent civilians on the soil of our ally Pakistan. The leaders who would have you believe that almost everyone they have killed are "enemy combatants" - even though those people were never charged, tried or convicted and whose identities, in most cases, were unknown.
Chelsea Manning has only enlightened us as to the depth and details of the destruction waged in our name. President Obama seeks to suppress our enlightenment and does so with the near-universal support of Congress. The hope now lies with those U.S. citizens who know that Manning is not the culprit, not the criminal, not the one who should be convicted and sentenced to prison. President Obama has the power to pardon Manning. He should use it to restore government accountability and the audacity of hope.
Issue:
Today President Barack Obama holds the key to a military cell in which he has imprisoned Chelsea (a/k/a Bradley) Manning, a U.S. soldier convicted for providing classified United States government documents to the public, allegedly through Wikileaks, an organization that publishes the truth as it is represented by the documents of governments and corporations.
Deception:
The Obama Administration maintains that by her actions, Manning has jeopardized the safety and lives of United States citizens. This is deception.
Reality:
Manning stands convicted for espionage against the U.S. - yet her only true offense was being the person Obama promised to be but has failed to become: the one who would finally bring openness and truth to the body politic. Manning's actions have had only one effect, and that one is positive: the world now knows the truth of U.S. crimes overseas.
Contrary to assertions by the government, Manning's actions have not jeopardized the security, safety or life of a single person. Along with the release of documents by Edward J. Snowden, they have instead opened public discussion and debate to a far more accurate and full understanding of how U.S. invasions of foreign countries, militarily and otherwise, are conducted and the death and destruction those interventions cause. We all benefit from Manning's desire to share with us the sordid details of our government's affairs, actions that we finance. Manning has done nothing more than put the truth in front of our eyes. If we fear that we fear democracy.
Fifteen of the nineteen airplane hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, a leading U.S. ally in the Middle East and host to strategic U.S. military bases. Their alleged leader, Osama Bin Laden, was of a very prominent Saudi family that was in business with the family of both Presidents Bush. Yet no retaliatory actions were taken against Saudi Arabia. Instead the U.S. invaded one country that had no known ties to the terrorist attacks and another that had, at most, minimally tangential ties. Who pays the price? For starters: U.S. soldiers; innocent Afghan and Iraqi citizens and their infrastructure, agricultural lands and cultural assets; and U.S. citizens through our taxes and through the destruction of our civil and constitutional rights.
Resolution:
It is this simple: the criminals that should be prosecuted are the government and business leaders whose crimes are detailed in the released documents: the leaders who declared war against, invaded, occupied and profited from the exploitation of Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact that neither were responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil; the leaders who directed the wholesale destructions of cities and countryside and the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians; the leaders who sent over 6,000 U.S. troops to their deaths in those countries and caused the maiming of thousands more; the leaders who have lied to the U.S. taxpayers who have financed those wars as to their purpose and conduct; the leaders who continue to wage a drone war against innocent civilians on the soil of our ally Pakistan. The leaders who would have you believe that almost everyone they have killed are "enemy combatants" - even though those people were never charged, tried or convicted and whose identities, in most cases, were unknown.
Chelsea Manning has only enlightened us as to the depth and details of the destruction waged in our name. President Obama seeks to suppress our enlightenment and does so with the near-universal support of Congress. The hope now lies with those U.S. citizens who know that Manning is not the culprit, not the criminal, not the one who should be convicted and sentenced to prison. President Obama has the power to pardon Manning. He should use it to restore government accountability and the audacity of hope.