BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON WAR CRIMES IS NOT A CRIME!
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Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, faces life in prison for allegedly sharing a video of a U.S. helicopter attack that killed 11 civilians and seriously wounded two children in Baghdad, Iraq with the WikiLeaks website.
He has also been charged with blowing the whistle on the “Iraq War Logs”, the “Afghan Diaries”, the “Guantanamo Files” and embarrassing US State Department cables.
In short, he’s been charged with telling us the truth!
For some details of the inhumane treatment of Manning by the US army uncovered by Amnesty see the link below. Bear in mind that he has been accused but not convicted. Still, after the Orwellian “Patriot” Act the “presumed innocent until proven guilty” principle no longer applies these days.
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/inhumane-treatment-of-wikileaks-soldier-bradley-manning/
Posted on February 8, 2012, in Not A Poem At All and tagged Cover up, Criminal, Injustice, No shame, Torture. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Ben Naga 
I haven’t read the article yet, but war crimes is a touchy topic. While there have clearly been viscous crimes committed in wars by US service personnel, there are also many accusations of crimes in circumstances that I believe there was no wrongdoing in the mind of the accused. There is killing in war and a soldiers state of mind that develops in that time is open for error. I highly doubt that most of the awful things that occur are a result of trigger happy fun of pilots and infantry. But I’m sure there are a few examples that were. Well, if that soldier agreed to give his life to his country and fight in a war, under the agreement that breaking the serious policies they uphold, and then disregards them in any way, he subjected himself to the known results that would occur.
Just thought I’d comment as I always like reading your blog. I just wish we could avoid money/oil driven wars. Errr…
Take care Ben!
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Glad you enjoy the e-log.
If we become afraid to talk about touchy topics we might as well be giving our freedom and power away without a fight. I don’t think I want to do that. This post is strongly linked to “Integrity” (https://bennaga.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/integrity/)
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I love talking about touchy topics 😀
But I was thinking that integrity existed in other places as well, such as agreements, one’s “word”, and sworn duties, or even information one stands by on a public blog. Well, maybe it’s old fashioned to consider those important. I’m still young and learning 🙂
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You might find it useful to read this:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nuremberg_defense .
My piece “Integrity” simply restates the acknowledged principle that individual responsibility trumps “following orders”, without in any way denying the validity of duty and obedience in the appropriate contexts.
Can I also recommend you watch the TV series “Hornblower”)
http://www.amazon.com/Horatio-Hornblower-Collectors-Ioan-Gruffudd/dp/B0018C705M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328731568&sr=8-3
It examines in some detail the whole subject of duty, obedience and morality, especially in Episodes 5 to 8, as well as being extremely entertaining! I’m sure that you, being “a person of deep thought with a romantic mind” will find it well worth thinking about. 🙂
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The line gets very fuzzy depending on who’s looking… people should never be too afraid to tell the truth… There are lots of things needing fixing in our world!
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definitely true and it don’t seem to be getting any better. God help us.
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I am with you on this one
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Bless you. Let us hope “they” will eventually see sense. Did you read that he has been nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize?
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Yes. Enough said. You are right.
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Appreciated. 🙂
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