Bradley Manning is heading to trial for treason & has agreed to plead guilty to 10 lesser charges related to the misuse of classified information which could send him to prison for 20 years--a very heavy sentence for a very young man. Of all the charges against him, the most legally pernicious is “aiding the enemy.” Aiding the “enemy” by telling the truth & exposing US war crimes!? Meanwhile thousands of US soldiers go scot free for sexual assault on women soldiers & generals & other officials take a hike for ordering unspeakable war crimes!?
They can incarcerate brother Manning; they can try to reduce him to a turncoat.They can belittle & deride him & make him into a cheap drug store cowboy. But his human decency & honesty in the midst of the monstrous demands of colonial war make this modest man someone to look up to for his resolute courage against all odds & ridicule & prosecution. In today’s world where bullshit/propaganda is honored as truth, that aint nothing to scoff at!
There are legions of antiwar veterans who give the most compelling testimony to the atrocities of war; they don’t dignify it with flag-waving; they expose it with truth-telling. That’s why there are all those lies to alienate veterans from the antiwar movement--like that crap about anti-Vietnam protestors spitting on US soldiers--who we in fact considered as brothers.
Brother Manning is one of our antiwar veteran leaders (we don’t use the honorific “heros” since it’s chock-full of elitism & propaganda) & there are many of those--though they don’t get recognition. He was a scared kid with everything to lose who believed in human decency & put his ass on the line.
Free Bradley Manning!
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