Markin comment:
The Private Bradley Manning
case is headed toward a mid- winter trial now scheduled for February 2013. The
recent news on his case has centered on the now many (since last April)
pre-trial motions hearings including defense motions to dismiss for lack of
speedy trial (Private Manning’s pre-trial confinement is now entering 900 plus
days), dismissal as a matter of freedom of speech and alleged national security
issues (issues for us to know what the hell the government is doing either in
front of us, or behind our backs) and dismissal based on serious allegations of
torturous behavior by the military authorities extending far up the chain of
command while Private Manning was detained at the Quantico Marine brig for
about a year ending in April 2011. The latest news from the November 2012
pre-trail sessions is the offer by the defense to plead guilty to lesser
charges (wrongful use of Internet, etc.) and have the major (with a possibility
of a life sentence) espionage /aiding the enemy charge dropped.
Those of us who support his
cause should thus redouble our efforts to secure Private Manning’s freedom. The
status of the legal case may change a little over the next period if some form
of negotiated plea is worked out (although that is right now only in the preliminary
stages and is far from etched in stone and we believe that he has committed no
crime in need of punishment but rather has done humankind a great service by
his alleged actions) however donations to the legal fund should still be sent
and solicited. The petitioning to the Secretary of the Army for Private Manning
release (see link above) should still be gathering signatures and the
telephone/e-mail/letter campaign to the White House urging recently re-elected
President Obama, who has the constitutional authority to do so, to pardon Private
Manning now should continue.
Additionally, for the past
several months there has been a weekly stand-out in Greater Boston across from
the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop (renamed Bradley Manning Square for the
stand-out’s duration) in Somerville on Friday afternoons but we have since July
4, 2012 changed the time and day to 4:00-5:00 PM on Wednesdays. This stand-out
has, to say the least, been very sparsely attended. We need to build it up with
more supporters present. Please join us when you can. Or better yet if you
can’t join us start a Support Bradley Manning weekly stand-out in some location
in your town whether it is in the Boston area, Berkeley or Berlin. And please
sign the petition for his release either in person or through the "Bradley
Manning Support Network". We have placed links to the "Manning Network”
and "Pardon Private Manning Square" website below.
********Bradley Manning Support Network-http://www.bradleymanning.org/
Manning Square website-http://freemanz.com/2012/01/20/somerville_paper_photo-bradmanningsquare/bradleymanningsquare-2011_01_13/
Private Manning
Support Remarks Made By A Speaker At Smedley Butler Brigade Armistice Day
(Veterans Day) Observance In Boston –November 11, 2012
Welcome one and all and I am
glad you could be here for this important struggle. The Smedley Butler Brigade
of Veterans for Peace proudly stands in solidarity with, and defense of,
Private Bradley Manning and his fight for freedom from his jailers, the
American military.
Now usually when I get before
a mic or am on a march I am shouting to high heaven about some injustice.
Recently I was called strident by someone and when it comes to the struggle
against this country’s wars, the struggle for social and economic equality, and
for freedom for our political prisoners I am indeed strident. But I am looking
for something today something personally important to me, and so I will try to
lower my temperature a bit- I want, like you, for recently re-elected President
Obama to pardon Bradley Manning so I will be nice, or try to be.
Bradley Manning is in a sense
the poster person for all of us who have struggled against the wars of the last
decade. He stands charged with allegedly leaking information about American war
crimes and other matters of public concern to Wikileaks. We, and we are not alone on this, do not see whistleblowing
on such activities as a crime but as an elemental humanitarian act and public
service. Private Manning has paid the price for his alleged acts with over 900
days of pre-trial confinement and is now facing life imprisonment for simple
acts of humanity. For letting the American people know what they perhaps did
not want to know but must know- when soldiers, American soldiers, go to war
some awful things can happen and do. He has also suffered torture at the hands
of the American government for his brave stand. We have become somewhat inured
to foreign national being tortured by the American government at places like
Guantanamo and other black hole locales. We have even become somewhat inured to
American citizens being tortured and killed by the American government by
drones and other methods. But we know, or should know, that when the American
government stands accused of torturing an American soldier for not toeing the
war line then we private citizens are in serious trouble.
Why does Private Manning need
a pardon? Did he give away the order of battle or the table of organization for
American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan? No. Did he give away the
design for drones and such weapons? No. He allegedly simply blew the whistle on
something that is a hard fact of war- war crimes by American soldiers through
release of the Collateral Murder tape
and what have become known as the Iraq and Afghan War logs. This is what the
American government had tried with might and main to cover up. And what needed
to be exposed. All talk of bringing democracy, or nation- building, or having a
war to end all wars, and the million other lame excuses for war pale before the
hard fact that in the heat of war the real strategy is to kill and burn and let
god sort out the innocent from the guilty.
That is what Private Manning
exposed. I, and I am sure many other veterans from previous wars who saw or
knew of such things and did nothing about it, are glad that such things were
exposed. If for no other reason Private First Class Bradley Manning deserves
presidential pardon for his service. To insure that event we urge everybody to
ramp up their efforts in behalf of Bradley by signing here or online at the
Bradley Manning Support Network site the petition to the Secretary of the Army
for his release and to call/e-mail or write a letter to the White House and
demand that President Obama pardon Private Manning.
We have been holding weekly
stand-outs in Davis Square in Somerville outside the MBTA Red Line stop
Wednesdays from 4:00to 5:00 PM and urge you to join us. Or better yet start a
Free Bradley Manning stand-out in your own town square. Thank you.
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