There is a Bradley Manning Support Website which has videos, links to news coverage, and more. There is also a Congressman from my home state of Michigan calling for Bradley Manning’s execution
Who is Bradley Manning? It appears he disapproves of torture, random long distance killings of civilians, and believed that “Western Morality” and honor demand an end to both.
Mind, there are those who believe that there is no such thing as “Western Morality”, given that the West has used nuclear weapons, and so forth
The US now routinely tortures prisoners, despite its strict illegality under US and international law, and a recent poll shows that the percentage of Americans who approve of torture is rising. Indeed, it is quite high, though still just below a majority.
And we have what appears to be a new thrill: American soldiers using the cover of war to murder civilians. Recently American troops were arrested for murdering Afghan civilians for fun and collecting trophies such as fingers and skulls.
This revelation came on the heels of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s alleged leak of a US Army video of US soldiers in helicopters and their controllers thousands of miles away having fun with joy sticks murdering members of the press and Afghan civilians. Manning is cursed with a moral conscience that has been discarded by his government and his military, and Manning has been arrested for obeying the law and reporting a war crime to the American people.
The proposed Republican solution is not to stop torture, but to execute Manning:
US Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, of course, from Michigan, who is on the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, has called for Manning’s execution. According to US Rep. Rogers it is an act of treason to report an American war crime.
In other words, to obey the law constitutes “treason to America.”
US Rep. Rogers said that America’s wars are being undermined by “a culture of disclosure” and that this “serious and growing problem” could only be stopped by the execution of Manning.
Rogers is quoted in several articles.
I admit I have been busy, but has the world gone mad while I was busy working?
When my grandparents came to this country, it was to escape torture and ethnic cleansing, not to support torture.
Granted, “War is Hell” is not a new concept – Thank you William Tecumseh Sherman, but “torture” is specifically illegal, and holding our government accountable and to its own laws and standards is the basic, fundamental requirement for the Rule of Law as opposed to tyranny.
So, while in all likelihood Bradley Manning is no saint, my research says he is a hero and also, that the fundamental rule of law in this country has never been at greater risk.
Without equality before the law, there is no freedom. The best laws in the world are only words on paper unless those laws are enforced, courageous attorneys and laypeople are willing to hold government accountable.
What Mr. Manning is alleged to have released seems to be Controlled Unclassified Information. It gives no information that, upon exposure, could cause “grave damage” to the United States or allies. It seems similar to federal tax information, which is classed similarly. Its greatest threat is government embarrassment.
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p>A reason for execution?
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p>The United States is shown as the greatest terrorist. We vilify the CIA created and trained opposing forces for their murders while we send a drone aircraft’s explosives into crowded wedding or funeral parties or into the homes of sleeping women and children. (We are so civilized!) Sure the peoples of the countries we colonize already know that.
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p>So Mr Manning awaits his fate. He will surely fare no worse than Aafia Siddiqui. Such is the price of breaking the rules. You dance to the tune, you pay the piper. Against him is the full power and weight of the government of the United States.
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p>I wonder, however, if the Wikileaks site is a CIA plant. What better way to filter information, tag the blabbermouths, and dim the prospects of real future leaks? A clearing house?
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p>“Without equality before the law, there is no freedom. The best laws in the world are only words on paper unless those laws are enforced, courageous attorneys and laypeople are willing to hold government accountable.” –AmberPaw
Your post seems to argue that soliders on the field have full Constitutional rights. I’d like to think that’s true. But is it? Is there any case law on this?