If former US army soldier Bradley Manning was the leaker of this information – President Obama has already said Manning is guilty, undoubtedly affecting any potential trial – he has given the world an invaluable insight into a superpower’s tyranny; he is a patriot in the truest sense of the word.
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), “Kucinich Challenges PR Stunt on Manning, Pentagon Offers No Answers, Only Contrivance,” 28 April 2011.
The Department of Defense must grant my legitimate request to meet with Pfc. Bradley Manning and fully answer serious questions about his treatment.
I urge the news media not to be taken in by this contrived pretention of transparency. The American people rely on the news media to investigate the cover up of abuses, not tell us about the nice, new prison the Army has built.
Send letters directly to Bradley Manning
Address:
Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027Thanks to @Jezebeldiablo
Robert Scheer, “All the Wikileaks That’s Fit to Print,” TruthDig, 26 April 2011.
Why indeed is Manning the one behind bars and not the government officials who kept hidden unpleasant truths about this nation’s policies that the public has a right to know? And why do leaders of our constitutionally protected free press now seek to distance themselves from news sources that have performed a great public service? A service documented by the fact, as tallied by The Atlantic magazine, that more than half of the issues of The New York Times this year have carried stories that relied on WikiLeaks’ disclosures.
abigq: [A tweet from George Takei: “TN bill will prevent teachers from using the word “gay” in class
abigq: [A tweet from George Takei: “TN bill will prevent teachers from using the word “gay” in class
Paul fucking Duffield, internet! Warren Ellis’ FreakAngels
Paul fucking Duffield, internet! Warren Ellis’ FreakAngels
Glenn Greenwald, “President Obama speaks on Manning and the rule of law,” Salon.com, 23 April 2011.
… the Orwellian platitude used by Obama to justify that immunity — Look Forward, Not Backward — is one of the greatest expressions of presidential lawlessness since Richard Nixon told David Frost that “it’s not illegal if the President does it.”
But it’s long been clear that this is Obama’s understanding of “a nation of laws”: the most powerful political and financial elites who commit the most egregious crimes are to be shielded from the consequences of their lawbreaking — see his vote in favor of retroactive telecom immunity, his protection of Bush war criminals, and the way in which Wall Street executives were permitted to plunder with impunity — while the most powerless figures (such as a 23-year-old Army Private and a slew of other low-level whistleblowers) who expose the corruption and criminality of those elites are to be mercilessly punished. And, of course, our nation’s lowest persona non grata group — accused Muslim Terrorists — are simply to be encaged for life without any charges. Merciless, due-process-free punishment is for the powerless; full-scale immunity is for the powerful. “Nation of laws” indeed.