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If the allegations against him are true, it appears that Private Bradley Manning did essentially what Daniel Ellsberg did four decades ago when he exposed the duplicity of the White House and the U.S. Army regarding Vietnam. That is Ellsberg's own opinion, too. And apparently Manning has done it in precisely the way that Ellsberg and others of the Truth-Telling Coalition recommended in September 2004. (See its statement below.)
The duplicity, corruption and abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere around the world needed to be exposed in a timely way. And the public needed the official documents, so there would be no doubt about the information's authenticity.
WikiLeaks Video
Official documents and video: Pictures are still worth a thousand words. The gun-barrel photography of July 12, 2007 showing the killing of 12 civilians, including two Reuters news employees, by 50-caliber canon fire from a U.S. Apache helicopter, is the most visual and telling example of U.S. Army misconduct during the celebrated "surge" in Bagdad. Manning is suspected of making the video available to WikiLeaks, which released and posted it on April 5, 2010. The video is punctuated by the extremely callous remarks by the gunners, showing audibly as well as visually the degree to which not only Iraqis, but also our own troops, have been brutalized by the war in Iraq.
Indeed, the photography and dialogue brought back memories of Ronald Reagan-style World War II films highlighting the most cruel and gruesome behavior of German and Japanese troops. And yet, I was in no way surprised to hear that a brief Army "investigation" of the July 2007 incident concluded that the troops in the Apache chopper were without fault. The Army ruled that they were following the "Rules of Engagement" -- an even more damning admission, in my view.
Why no outcry among Americans aware of the footage, to which WikiLeaks gave the title "Collateral Murder?" Why? Because the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) suppressed it, and all too few Americans -- including those considering themselves progressive -- took the trouble to simply type "Collateral Murder" onto their URL line.
YouTube says its posting of the (shorter) 17-minute version of "Collateral Murder" has received 11 million views. But who are these people; and why do they remain silent? It is not too late to view the footage. And, if 17 minutes is too long for you, try this "Panorama" program from German ARD TV, which made a special effort to "undub" it back into the original English for a hoped-for American audience. Even with commentary, The Panorama program runs for only 12 minutes.
I find it a vivid reflection of the moribund state of the FCM that no "mainstream" outlets have had the integrity to undertake a similar commentary, or even the courage to simply show the raw footage. In contrast, "Collateral Murder" has met with considerable resonance abroad (in case you are among those still wondering "why they hate us").
Upside-Down Rewards
In a just world, we would be considering Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize, if only because his alleged release of U.S. war logs and diplomatic cables about wrongdoing in places like Tunisia and Egypt did much more to oust dictators and give hope for democracy than speeches-sans-follow-up by our mellifluous President.
Shouldn't Manning be accorded honors heavier than the cumulative weight of the ten rows of ribbons, badges and medals weighing down the left breast of Gen. Petraeus and so many other oh-so-admired generals?
And, if their inept and brutal war making was not humiliating enough, they now have to swallow Defense Secretary Robert Gates's opinion (quoting Gen. Douglas MacArthur) that anyone who "advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia ... should 'have his head examined.'" [See Consortiumnews.com's "How to Read Gates's Shift on Wars."]
However, instead of lining up at the psychiatrist's office on the nearest base, the Army brass has decided to imprison Bradley Manning for the rest of his life. Apparently, if you can't kill the messenger, the next best thing is to lock him up forever.
How better to demonstrate to other soldiers the punishment that one should expect -- being locked away in a tiny cell with minimal human contact for a half century or more -- should s/he be tempted to follow Manning's example. How better to divert attention from the damning substance of the WikiLeaks documents, and to focus attention instead on the supposed sins of releasing classified material.
And how better to divert attention from the awkward fact that many of the documents were only classified to prevent embarrassment to the U.S. government and the Army, and NOT to safeguard any genuine national security secrets.
Despite much teeth gnashing in the Fawning Corporate Media about the irresponsibility of Manning and WikiLeaks, the Army has been unable to make a single credible claim that anyone, or anything but reputations, has actually been hurt by the disclosures.
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