Bradley Mannings Defense is the Defense of Freedom and Dignity

If 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, D.C., what would you do? Bradley Manning

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was convicted on Tuesday of violating the Espionage Act for leaking classified data to the public, including State Department cables, detainee assessments, combat logs, and wartime videos. Thanks to this, the public has been informed of several disturbing events and corrupt practices carried out by the U.S. government. This is how we know, for instance, that the State Department is aggressively marketing Monsantos GMO products overseas.

The most famous of Mannings revelations is the 2007 video from a U.S. helicopter gunship in Iraq showing the slaughter of several men casually walking and standing around on a street, including two journalists with cameras. Some of the men were armed with AK-47s which is a common practice in Iraq; they were most likely protecting the journalists. The gunship opened fire on the men repeatedly, and then when a van came to pick up the bodies, the gunship opened fire on the van. Two children were sitting in the front seat.

If you havent seen this disturbing video called Collateral Murder, it is worth seeing to get a glimpse of what surely was a common practice during the Iraq invasion and occupation.

In his closing arguments, Mannings defense attorney David Coombs correctly described Manning as a whistleblower. While the prosecution attempts to characterize Manning as a selfish, glory-seeking terrorist sympathizer, Coombs provides eloquent reasoning why Mannings actions are those of a person who values life, dignity, and freedom.

No matter what you believe about the reasons for the war or whether Manning should be jailed or not, what he did amounts to a great public service. We have a person who was so troubled by what he witnessed in Iraq that he was willing to pay the price for leaking classified material to Wikileaks.

Mannings humanitarian instincts were strong enough to overcome the robotic discipline and disengagement from feeling that the U.S. military demands of its soldiers. As Coombs states in the closing arguments, Manning believed that atrocities were being carried out in Iraq and wanted to inform the public in the hope that it would inspire debate and change.

According to Iraq Body Count, approximately 120,000 civilians were killed in 10 years, although this number is probably higher. Some of these were killed by Iraqis, but many were killed by American soldiers too. Bradley Mannings release of the helicopter gunship video was only a glimpse. How many other atrocities were carried out and considered legal by U.S. military standards?

Bradley Manning will most likely serve a long time in jail, perhaps even life. We need to recognize that his actions were in the service of freedom and dignity, the freedom to know what our government is doing and the dignity to stop our government from carrying out indiscriminate murder around the world.

By Justin Gardener, REALfarmacy.com

Reference:

Defense attorney: Bradley Manning a whistleblower

Read more:
Bradley Mannings Defense is the Defense of Freedom and Dignity