Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Free Bradley Manning

Largest demonstrations yet as court martial begins

Fort Meade, June 1, 2013.



A thousand people came out to Fort Meade on June 1st for a mass rally in support of Bradley Manning. The demonstration brought together a wonderfully diverse group of supporters whose cheers, chants, speakers and hundreds of smiling faces energized the group prior to one of the most important trials in American history. Ralliers marched from the Reece Road main gate to the Llewelyn gate, honoring the heroic whistleblower.
Guest speakers, who included Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, gay rights activist and opponent of 'Dont Ask Don't Tell' Lt. Dan Choi, former US diplomat Col. Ann Wright and former Iranian prisoner Sarah Shroud who spent in two years in solitary confinement, all raised a number of important issues about the trial.
Col. Ann Wright in particular emphasized how Bradley Manning took great personal risk to reveal the truth of unjust wars and that he exposed the truth of Guantanamo prison, while Sarah Shroud pointed out that the US has the highest number of prisoners in solitary confinement per capita in the world and that solitary confinement is a means to break prisoners down. Daniel Ellsberg discussed the chilling effect of Obama’s war on whistleblowers has made it difficult for those who witness war crimes to expose them. All speakers, and protesters, agreed Bradley Manning is a whistleblower, and that we should be proud of his heroic actions.
National events were also held in Phoenix AZ, Tuscon AZ, Dublin CA, Los Angeles CA, Montrose CA, West Hollywood CA, San Diego CA, San Fracisco CA, Santa Cruz CA, Hartford CT, Tallahassee FL, Tampa FL, Des Moines IA, Chicago IL, Cambridge MA, Boston MA, Portland ME, Minneapolis MN, Honolulu HI, Highland Park NJ, Delmar NY, Medford OR, Toledo OH, and Seattle WA.
International events were held in London, UK, Brisbane, Australia, Sydney, Australia, Vancouver, Canada, Toronto, Canada, Heidelberg, Germany, Berlin, Germany, Cardiff, Wales, Rome, Italy, and Seoul, South Korea.
Bradley Manning's lawyer David Coombs issued a statement thanking supporters for their passionate efforts:
"On behalf of both myself and PFC Manning, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support over the last three years. I especially appreciate the the tireless fundraising and awareness efforts of Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network. Finally, a special thank you to those journalists who have been reporting on PFC Manning since the beginning and who have brought worldwide attention to this important case. I AM BRADLEY MANNING."


After three long years of delays and abuse, the court martial has begun. Report from day 1


Humanist soldier.
More than eleven hundred days after he was arrested, Pfc. Bradley Manning’s court martial finally began in earnest at Ft. Meade, MD, where defense and government lawyers gave opening statements on the intentions behind Bradley’s release of hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to the website WikiLeaks.
Defense lawyer David Coombs recounted a poignant turning point during Bradley’s time in Iraq. On Christmas Eve, 2009, an Army vehicle narrowly avoided injury, but another civilian car carrying a family (2 adults and 3 children), wasn't so lucky. In pulling to the side of the road to allow the convoy to pass, they hit an explosive. The explosion blew through the car and killed one of them. His fellow soldiers celebrated into the night, cheering the U.S. soldiers’ survival, but twenty-two-year-old Bradley couldn’t forget about the dead and injured Iraqis.
“From then on,” Coombs said, “[Bradley] struggled.” Not your typical soldier, Bradley wore customized dog tags that read “humanist.” He strove to help his unit, wanting everyone to come home safely every day, but he wanted Iraqi's to go home safely every day too.
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