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Support Brad ManningBradley Manning, a 22-year-old intelligence analyst who was stationed in Iraq, is accused of leaking a classified video that showed U.S. troops shooting Iraqi civilians from an Apache helicopter in 2007. He may also be charged with involvement in the WikiLeaks exposure of 90,000+ secret documents from the war in Afghanistan. The earlier leaked video was shocking enough, showing 12 people gunned down by a U.S. air crew claiming falsely that there was a firefight in Baghdad, killing a dozen people including two Iraqis working for Reuters news agency, and then laughing at the dead.The new documents from Afghanistan expose war crimes and underscore the toll taken on civilians. But the U.S. government is also furious about the shattering of their rosy depiction of the war. The revelation that the Taliban have used heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles, the attention drawn to the support given to the Taliban by Pakistan's ISI spy agency, the many reports of Afghan government corruption and drug dealing, the widespread use of targeted killings by shadowy forces working for the U.S. military added up to what the Guardian newspaper in England called a "portrait of a chaotic and failing war." The administration and hawkish ideologues fear that public support of the war will now fall even faster in the U.S. and allied countries. Manning faces court-martial and up to 52 years in prison, even in the unlikely event that he is not charged for the Afghan war log leaks. The administration has also undertaken a propaganda campaign attacking those involved in the leaks as endangering "national security." The New York Times pitched in with a character assassination piece on Aug. 9 questioning Manning's motives. But all of that is distraction from their real agenda, which is to protect their ability to deceive the public and keep a lid on the growing opposition to their imperial belligerence. Those who perpetrated the crimes from Bush's invasion of Iraq in the first place to the 2007 shootings in the Baghdad video are not likely to be punished, but for revealing the truth Manning is set to be courtmartialed. Demonstrations have already been held in support of Manning in New York City, Oklahoma City (Manning being originally from Crescent, Okla.), and outside the Marine base in Quantico, Va., where Manning is now being held. Support Bradley Manning! Learn more here: http://www.bradleymanning.org/ |
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