Chris Hedges TruthDig.com http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/shooting_the_messenger_20131208 There is a deeply misguided attempt to sacrifice Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning and Jeremy Hammond on the altar of the security and surveillance state to justify the leaks made by Edward Snowden. It is argued that Snowden, in exposing the National Security Agency’s global spying operation, judiciously...
Norman Solomon Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/19-0 In Oslo, the world’s most important peace prize has been hijacked for war. In London, government authority has just fired a new shot at freedom of the press. And in Washington, the Obama administration continues to escalate its attacks on whistleblowers, journalism and civil liberties....
Robert Parry Consortiumnews http://consortiumnews.com/2013/08/15/americas-upside-down-morality/ Pvt. Bradley Manning has prostrated himself before his court-martial judge, apologizing for leaking documents on U.S. government wrongdoing and referencing his psychological problems as reasons for mercy. The sad spectacle underscores how upside-down American morality now is. Having covered the U.S. government for nearly 36 years,...
John Pilger Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18046-the-courage-of-bradley-manning-will-inspire-others-to-seize-their-moment-of-truth The critical moment in the political trial of the century was on February 28, 2013, when Bradley Manning stood and explained why he had risked his life to leak tens of thousands of official files. It was a statement of morality, conscience and truth: the very...
Josh Stearns freepresshttp://www.freepress.net/blog/2013/08/01/criminalizing-journalism-manning-media-and-you?akid=4374.9948461.Imiafn&rd=1&t=6 On Tuesday, Bradley Manning was acquitted of “aiding the enemy” for leaking 700,000 classified government documents, including a video of an American airstrike in Baghdad that killed 12 civilians, among them two Reuters journalists. While aiding the enemy was the most serious charge he faced, Manning was still found...
Peter Van Buren TomDispatch.com http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175732/tomgram%3A_peter_van_buren%2C_the_manning_trial_began_on_9_11/ On July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress created the first whistleblower protection law, stating “that it is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds, or misdemeanors committed...
Juan Cole Informed Content http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/31-7 Bradley Manning will be sentenced today, having been found guilty of 20 counts on Tuesday, including espionage (despite the lack of evidence for intent to spy and the lack of evidence that his leaking ever did any real harm). Whatever one thinks of Manning’s actions,...
Norman Solomon USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/30/bradley-manning-institute-for-public-accuracy-editorials-debates/2601569/ Tuesday’s verdict from a military judge does not diminish the huge moral stature of whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Next month, I will be proud to deliver a petition to the Nobel Committee in Oslo with a simple message from more than 100,000 signers: “I urge you to award...
A “traitor” to what? To the United States… only if the United States is to be a warfare state, where we “cannot make informed decisions as a public.”