Memory from Nazi Germany and Images of the Trial of Bradley Manning

(1) Manning fulfilled his legal duty to report war crimes. He complied with his legal duty to obey lawful orders but also his legal duty to disobey unlawful orders. Section 499 of the Army Field Manual states, "Every violation of the law of war is a war crime." The law of war is contained in the Geneva Conventions. 

(2) Article 85 of the First Protocol to the Geneva Conventions describes making the civilian population or individual civilians the object of attack as a grave breach.  This meant that any crime needed to be prosecuted but to-date the DOD has not prosecuted nor has the federal government.  Manning spoke up.

(3) Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions requires that the wounded be collected and cared for. Article 17 of the First Protocol states that the civilian population "shall be permitted, even on their own initiative, to collect and care for the wounded." That article also says, "No one shall be harmed . . . for such humanitarian acts." The firing on rescuers portrayed in the "Collateral Murder" video violates these provisions of Geneva. Manning was the one who released this video because the DOD was hiding it from those in courts asking for it.

(4) Section 27-10 of the Army Field Manual states that "maltreatment of dead bodies" is a war crime. When the Army jeep drove over the dead body[in one of the videos released by Manning], it violated this provision. 

(5) Enshrined in the US Army Subject Schedule No. 27-1 is "the obligation to report all violations of the law of war." At his guilty plea hearing, Manning explained that he had gone to his chain of command and asked them to investigate the "Collateral Murder" video and other "war porn," but his superiors refused. "I was disturbed by the response to injured children," Manning stated. He was also bothered by the soldiers depicted in the video who "seemed to not value human life by referring to [their targets] as "dead bastards.' "

(6) The Uniform Code of Military Justice sets forth the duty of a service member to obey lawful orders. But that duty includes the concomitant duty to disobey unlawful orders. An order not to reveal classified information that contains evidence of war crimes would be an unlawful order. Manning had a legal duty to reveal the commission of war crimes.

American leaders and the American military need to be brought to justice for these crimes.  The trial of Manning has now reached farcical stage or kangaroo court stage.  American's and media need to get the government and DOD in line with basic rules and principles that they fail to follow in a so-called post-Nazi planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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