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Luminous Animal

(27,310 posts)
Mon May 6, 2013, 12:47 PM May 2013

"You can only explain Bradley Manning by his virtues."

The Death of Truth by Chris Hedges (Interview with Julian Assange)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-death-of-truth-by-chris-hedges/

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
May 6, 2013

“His alleged actions are a rare event,” Assange went on. “And why does a rare event happen? What do we know about him? What do we know about Bradley Manning? We know that he won three science fairs. We know the guy is bright. We know that he was interested in politics early on. We know he’s very articulate and outspoken. We know he didn’t like lies. We know he was interested in politics. We know he was skilled at his job of being an intelligence analyst. If the media was looking for an explanation they could point to this combination of his abilities and motivations. They could point to his talents and virtues. They should not point to him being gay, or from a broken home, except perhaps in passing. Ten percent of the U.S. military is gay. Well over 50 percent are from broken homes. Take those two factors together. That gets you down to, say, 5 percent—5 percent on the outside. There are 5 million people with active security clearances, so now you’re down to 250,000 people. You still have to get from 250,000 to one. You can only explain Bradley Manning by his virtues. Virtues others can learn from.”

......


The world has been turned upside down. The pestilence of corporate totalitarianism is spreading rapidly over the earth. The criminals have seized power. It is not, in the end, simply Assange or Manning they want. It is all who dare to defy the official narrative, to expose the big lie of the global corporate state. The persecution of Assange and Manning is the harbinger of what is to come, the rise of a bitter world where criminals in Brooks Brothers suits and gangsters in beribboned military uniforms—propped up by a vast internal and external security apparatus, a compliant press and a morally bankrupt political elite—monitor and crush those who dissent. Writers, artists, actors, journalists, scientists, intellectuals and workers will be forced to obey or thrown into bondage. I fear for Julian Assange. I fear for Bradley Manning. I fear for us all.




19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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"You can only explain Bradley Manning by his virtues." (Original Post) Luminous Animal May 2013 OP
K&R nt Mnemosyne May 2013 #1
It really is one of the best personal defense of Mannng that Luminous Animal May 2013 #3
Hedges did not use an editor for this, did he? randome May 2013 #2
It's a long article that covers much more than Manning. Luminous Animal May 2013 #4
I did not read the entire thing. Thanks. randome May 2013 #9
"Ten percent of the U.S. military is gay." Anyone have a citation for that? Common Sense Party May 2013 #5
It's probably closer to 3%. Julian probably used the general Luminous Animal May 2013 #7
"I fear for us all" navarth May 2013 #6
Kick. Luminous Animal May 2013 #8
Manning belongs in jail. Donald Ian Rankin May 2013 #10
You're going to take a lot of heat leftynyc May 2013 #11
Yes he did know and clearly states that in the chat logs with Lamo... Luminous Animal May 2013 #13
So you quoted him specifically saying he hadn't read everything he released Recursion May 2013 #17
He didn't say he hadn't read everything. Luminous Animal May 2013 #19
Well said... SidDithers May 2013 #18
The first sentence of the article is total hyperbole. Not to mention a total run-on. randome May 2013 #12
None so blind ... Fantastic Anarchist May 2013 #16
Kick. Luminous Animal May 2013 #14
Kick. Luminous Animal May 2013 #15
 

randome

(34,845 posts)
2. Hedges did not use an editor for this, did he?
Mon May 6, 2013, 01:10 PM
May 2013

And this?

Writers, artists, actors, journalists, scientists, intellectuals and workers will be forced to obey or thrown into bondage.


Wow. To get from Bradley Manning to the death of society is quite the stretch. The whole thing sounds like he woke from a nightmare and jotted down everything that came to mind.

Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts)
10. Manning belongs in jail.
Mon May 6, 2013, 03:48 PM
May 2013

Every defence I've seen raised for him ignores the heart of the matter: he did not know what was in the papers he released.

He did not find evidence of wrongdoing and expose it, he just released a random collection of classified documents with no idea what was in them. He had no idea what was in them, and hence no idea who he would or wouldn't endanger by doing so, and - critically - no justification whatsoever for doing so.

He *wasn't* a whistleblower.

He took an oath not to do so, knowing what would happen to him if he broke it, and he should be jailed as a result.

 

leftynyc

(26,060 posts)
11. You're going to take a lot of heat
Mon May 6, 2013, 03:52 PM
May 2013

so I'm going to let you know that at least one person (me) completely agrees with you.

Luminous Animal

(27,310 posts)
13. Yes he did know and clearly states that in the chat logs with Lamo...
Mon May 6, 2013, 04:37 PM
May 2013
Bradley Manning: hypothetical question: if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time… say, 8-9 months… and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC… what would you do?
Bradley Manning: or Guantanamo, Bagram, Bucca, Taji, VBC for that matter…
Bradley Manning: things that would have an impact on 6.7 billion people
Bradley Manning: say… a database of half a million events during the iraq war… from 2004 to 2009… with reports, date time groups, lat-lon locations, casualty figures… ? or 260,000 state department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective?

Adrian Lamo: What sort of content?
Bradley Manning: uhm… crazy, almost criminal political backdealings… the non-PR-versions of world events and crises… uhm… all kinds of stuff like everything from the buildup to the Iraq War during Powell, to what the actual content of “aid packages” is: for instance, PR that the US is sending aid to pakistan includes funding for water/food/clothing… that much is true, it includes that, but the other 85% of it is for F-16 fighters and munitions to aid in the Afghanistan effort, so the US can call in Pakistanis to do aerial bombing instead of americans potentially killing civilians and creating a PR crisis
Bradley Manning: theres so much… it affects everybody on earth… everywhere there’s a US post… there’s a diplomatic scandal that will be revealed… Iceland, the Vatican, Spain, Brazil, Madascar, if its a country, and its recognized by the US as a country, its got dirt on it

Adrian Lamo: what kind of scandal?
Bradley Manning: hundreds of them
Adrian Lamo: like what? I’m genuinely curious about details.

Bradley Manning: uhmm… the Holy See and its position on the Vatican sex scandals
Adrian Lamo: play it by ear
Bradley Manning: the broiling one in Germany
Bradley Manning: im sorry, there’s so many… its impossible for any one human to read all quarter-million… and not feel overwhelmed… and possibly desensitized

Bradley Manning: Apache Weapons Team video of 12 JUL 07 airstrike on Reuters Journos… some sketchy but fairly normal street-folk… and civilians

Bradley Manning: at first glance… it was just a bunch of guys getting shot up by a helicopter… no big deal… about two dozen more where that came from right… but something struck me as odd with the van thing… and also the fact it was being stored in a JAG officer’s directory… so i looked into it… eventually tracked down the date, and then the exact GPS co-ord… and i was like… ok, so thats what happened… cool… then i went to the regular internet… and it was still on my mind… so i typed into goog… the date, and the location… and then i see this http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html

Adrian Lamo: what do you consider the highlights?
Bradley Manning: The Gharani airstrike videos and full report, Iraq war event log, the “Gitmo Papers”, and State Department cable database

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
17. So you quoted him specifically saying he hadn't read everything he released
Tue May 7, 2013, 08:29 AM
May 2013

To prove that he knew what he was releasing?

Luminous Animal

(27,310 posts)
19. He didn't say he hadn't read everything.
Tue May 7, 2013, 09:56 AM
May 2013

He said it was impossible for any one person to read them all without feeling desensitized.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
12. The first sentence of the article is total hyperbole. Not to mention a total run-on.
Mon May 6, 2013, 03:53 PM
May 2013
A tiny tip of the vast subterranean network of governmental and intelligence agencies from around the world dedicated to destroying WikiLeaks and arresting its founder, Julian Assange, appears outside...


This is what he calls the police trying to arrest him for skipping bail? Ugh.
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