30
July 2013 Bradley Manning
Independent
journalist Alexa O’Brien reported an extremely hostile, intimidating
environment pervaded the courtroom during the trial of Bradley Manning. Armed
guards roamed the aisles peering into reporters computers every few minutes.
The
charges against Manning are patently absurd. He has displayed high moral
character and enormous courage of his convictions. He could have remained
silent but chose to expose appalling war crimes and cruelty by his fellow
servicemen - at great personal safety and his personal liberty. The short video shown at the trial – a U.S.
Apache helicopter firing again and again killing two Reuter’s journalists and
ten civilians was just one extremely disturbing example of crimes committed during
the invasion of Iraq. The messenger – Manning,
is being punished and the perpetrators of the war crimes, especially the
Washington politicians, have been a given a free pass. If Manning chose to
remain silent he would have betrayed the U.S. Constitution, his country and
most importantly his Creator.
The
trial has vital impact on First
Amendment rights, because the government can always argue that reporters have
‘aided the enemy’ because of easy access of reports via the Internet. We need
more whistleblowers to hold the
government accountable for its actions. Just reflect on how the course of
history would have changed if we could have exposed government deceit and
collusion into launching illegal wars in Central and South America, Vietnam and
Iraq. To finger point other nation’s human rights abuses and ignore our own
opens us to monumental hypocrisy.
