Everest: How is Manning holding up under all this?
Gosztola: Manning seems to be doing pretty well for someone who has been held in pre-trial confinement for over 700 days. He periodically appears to be engaged in the legal proceedings. Sometimes he just looks bored with the whole process and one can see him writing or drawing on a notepad.
Following the June hearing, he expressed thanks to his supporters: "I am very grateful for your support and humbled by your ongoing efforts." He specifically thanked Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network. He is not aware of a lot of the actions being taken in support of him at Fort Meade until they have happened. However, when he finds out, they make him very happy. He found out during the June hearing that there were supporters in the gallery wearing T-shirts that said "Truth" on them. When he heard that, his face lit up and he smiled.
Everest: Why do you think the U.S. government is acting so aggressively and harshly in this case?
Gosztola: The U.S. government has reacted so aggressively and harshly because they have to make an example out of Manning. The shocks to this American superpower caused by his alleged leaks were on a scale that no person in power could ever have imagined. Particularly troublesome for the U.S. government was the release of the cache of over 250,000 U.S. State Department Embassy cables. The release fully exposed how U.S. diplomats have used blackmail, bribery, coercion, cover-ups, fraud, misconduct and other tactics to advance U.S. foreign policy. This forced multiple ambassadors and employees of the State Department to be shuffled around to new posts in the same way that the Catholic Church moves priests guilty of sex crimes so they can avoid attention and accountability.
No person in government can point to an alleged attack by a terrorist organization and say an alleged leak by Manning caused that. Nobody can point to the death of an informant or human rights activist and say that was because of something that was published on the WikiLeaks website. Yet, the government said at the beginning that there would be great damage to national security and lives would be endangered. Well, no critical infrastructure or anything was ever damaged. The only thing hurt was the ego of American empire.
Everest: What do you think is the broader significance of this case, especially for any who oppose the unjust actions of the U.S. military and government around the world and here at home?
Gosztola: The broader significance and implications of the government's pursuit of this case is to try and make soldiers in the military who see something that upsets their conscience even less likely to blow the whistle. Manning clearly had seen some of the horrors of the Iraq war and it affected him. At one point he worked in a unit connected with an Iraqi Federal Police unit. He knew the military was turning over detainees to the Federal Police that were being subjected to torture. He complained to his superior officer but was told to basically run along and go help the military get more detainees. For any soldier who believed what they were doing in Iraq involved helping the Iraqi people, this might be enough to push someone to no longer believe the war was righteous and good.
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