Obama's war on whistleblowers – The trial of Bradley Manning

Obama's war on whistleblowers – The trial of Bradley Manning







Dylan Murphy
Activist Post
<blockquote class="tr_bq">If you had free reign over classified
networks… and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that
belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark
room in Washington DC … what would you do? </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">God
knows what happens now. Hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and
reforms… I want people to see the truth … because without information,
you cannot make informed decisions as a public. - Quotes from an online chat attributed to Bradley Manning</blockquote>On
3 June the trial of PFC Bradley Manning finally began. He will have
spent over three years in prison. During his first year of incarceration
the conditions Bradley was kept in amounted to torture and were
condemned by the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez.

The American government has devoted great energy and resources to the persecution of Bradley Manning since
his arrest in 2010 for releasing documents to WikiLeaks that exposed US
war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is all part of President Obama's war on whistleblowers
that has led to his administration arresting more people under the 1917
Espionage Act than all of the previous governments put together. Up
until Obama took office, the US government had only prosecuted three
whistleblowers in 40 years. Now under Obama six people have/are being
prosecuted for their whistleblowing activities.

The persecution of John Kiriakou,
a former CIA intelligence analyst, who was sentenced to two-and-half
years in prison for exposing torture as official US policy sums up the
attitude of Obama's government.

Obama's government is trying to send a very clear message to both
servicemen and women and those in the intelligence services. To those
Americans he is saying don't you dare release any document that might be
critical of US foreign policy or we will come after you and put you in
prison for a very long time.


Of course, this is not the only target in Obama's sights. It is very
clear from the pre-trial hearings that the military prosecutors want to
send a message to journalists which is: if you have any contact with the
enemies of America then you may be guilty of aiding the enemy and we
will come after you also.

Journalist Alexa O'Brien has covered the Bradley Manning case from the
start. As she points out, the persecution of Manning is one of the most
important civil rights cases since 9/11. In her blog she commented,'
<blockquote class="tr_bq">At issue in the Manning trial is the danger
posed to democracy and the rule of law by the government's expanding
control over information in the digital age; and the use of prejudicial
prosecutions that turn whistle-blowing into treason and journalism into
espionage or an act of war.'</blockquote>It
is not surprising that they have gone after Bradley Manning considering
the revelations he allegedly made to WikiLeaks when he was serving in
Iraq as an intelligence specialist. The documents released by WikiLeaks
have opened a Pandora’s box of highly embarrassing and illegal
activities committed by American forces. The ''Iraq War'' logs revealed
that American armed forces routinely ignored the torture of suspects by
the Iraqi security forces. Indeed, they often used torture themselves.
They also revealed war crimes committed by American troops. The infamous
video of an Apache attack helicopter shooting and killing 11 people in
Baghdad in 2007 is probably the most famous revelation.

The Afghan war logs
reveal a relentless catalogue of civilian killings by NATO forces, many
of which are war crimes. Not surprisingly, most of these unlawful
killings have not been investigated. The most infamous of which is the
major scandal surrounding the NATO bombing of a village at Kunduz. This
massacre of 140 civilians gained worldwide media coverage at the time.

The military trial that Bradley Manning will receive will not be open
and transparent. Military judge Denise Lind had ruled that some sections
of the trial will be closed to the public to protect classified
material. She has also ruled that the testimony of 24 of the 150
witnesses for the prosecution will be heard in closed sessions of the
court.

On 22 May a group of prominent journalists, that includes Julian
Assange, filed a lawsuit that tries to force military judge Denise Lind
to grant the public and press access to transcripts of the trial
proceedings, the government's filings and court orders.

Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Attorney Shayana Kadidal has commented,
<blockquote class="tr_bq">If this lawsuit fails, Manning’s trial will
take place under conditions where journalists and the public will be
unable as a practical matter to follow what is going on in the
courtroom. That ensures that any verdict will be fundamentally unfair …'</blockquote>Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! is one of the journalists bringing the lawsuit against military judge Denise Lind. She has warned:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Secret trials are commonplace in
dictatorships, but have no place in this country. The Obama
administration conducts unconstitutional dragnet surveillance of
journalists to uncover protected sources, and targets whistle blowers
with unprecedented use of the espionage act. Access to court documents
and proceedings in the court martial of Bradley Manning is vital to the
public's right to know to what lengths their government will go to keep
secret their conduct of wars and occupations abroad.</blockquote>This
is one of the the most important trials of the last decade, yet it is
largely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States.
Internationally, support is growing for Bradley Manning. In the UK he
was recently voted The Guardian’s Person of the Year by readers.

In early December three Nobel Peace Prize winners,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Perez Esquivel
called upon the American people to stand up for the whistleblower who
has done so much to defend their democratic rights. Their letter of
support for Bradley Manning concludes:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">'We Nobel Peace Prize laureates condemn the
persecution Bradley Manning has suffered, including imprisonment in
conditions declared “cruel, inhuman and degrading” by the United
Nations.... In the conflict in Iraq alone, more than 110,000 people have
died since 2003, millions have been displaced and nearly 4,500 American
soldiers have been killed. If Bradley Manning released the documents,
as the prosecution contends, we should express to him our gratitude for
his efforts toward accountability in government, informed democracy and
peace'.</blockquote>Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the top secret Pentagon Papers
in 1971, that exposed the destructive and immoral nature of America's
war in Vietnam, has made an appeal for people all over the world to
support Bradley Manning:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">We need money to support ongoing grassroots
efforts—including rallies, petitions, and ads. Most importantly,
however, we need to continue fully funding Bradley’s legal defense
efforts—including possible appeals, all the way up to the US Supreme
Court, if need be. The future of truth-telling is at stake, and a young
man’s selfless, heroic act of patriotism deserves our support.</blockquote>To learn more about Bradley Manning’s case or to get involved, visit the Bradley Manning Support Network website.

source:-http://www.activistpost.com/2013/06/obamas-war-on-whistleblowers-trial-of.html