Ed Note: This piece was originally posted on the VFP website on March 1st, 2013. I am reposting it here in order to help get the word out far and wide regarding the importance of as many supporters as possible rallying at the gates of Ft Meade, Md, this June. My organization, VVAW/OSS, has already put the trial on their action agenda, and will have folks there for the opening of the trial in July, along with VFP, and many others...hopefully, you too. We were at Quantico, and we will be at Ft Meade as well. We ARE Bradley Manning. WH
"I felt I accomplished something that
would allow me to have a clear conscience.”
Submitted by Gerry Condon
VFP Board Member
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.
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