Bradley Manning: the face of heroism

[sabrina 1]

57. First of all, this whole 'war' was based on lies.

One of those lies was that we were there to 'shut down' Saddam Hussein's torture chambers. We all know now how that turned out. We now have people in this country contradicting themselves when they were lying to get support for this illegal, immoral invasion, by attempting to JUSTIFY torture.

What he reported was the torture of Iraqi citizens, who also, foolishly, believed the US when they were told that we were 'bringing them democracy'. They actually believed that it would be okay in this new 'democracy' we claim to have created, to exercise their right to free speech. They thought they had the right to protest, PEACEFULLY, with signs, some of the actions of this new, 'democratic' government they were told was there to represent them.

They were wrong. They were arrested for holding signs and tortured for daring to protest the replacement of Saddam Hussein. Like Manning, they were duped, nothing much had changed after all.

Since Manning witnessed these war crimes, committed by our newly created 'democratic' allies, he reported them. He was ignored. Imo, he should not have been surprised since we've all learned that torture is now acceptable in our own democracy.

I have read his thoughts on his own transformation from total support for the invasion to being unable as a human being, to witness these crimes and remain silent about them.

What you are saying is that the US has zero obligation to the Iraqi people whose country they invaded and destroyed. Not even to protest to the government they set up about the continuation of the torture of Iraqis by SH when they dared to peacefully protest.

Iow, you are condoning 'looking the other way' rather than taking a stand. Then why didn't we do that in the first place? Why didn't we just stay out of their business since we have done not one thing to improve the lives of these people which the whole world knows?? It is wrong, it is immoral, it is not honorable, it is unethical. What Manning did is what every decent human being should do when they see a crime taking place. And even more so, he was obligated by his own oath to report such crimes.

He knew will what the consequences would be when he finally decided to take the only action he felt he could take to try to stop these crimes from continuing. So it's not a case of him looking forward to any 'cushy' life. He knew he faced jail, maybe worse, but like so many before him who had the courage to try to stop wrong-doing, he was willing to take those consequences. That is what makes him a hero.

As for any harm done, I will take Gates' assessment of the harm. He has stated that no harm was done as you claim, other than embarrassment. And even less harm would have been done if his superiors had taken war crimes seriously and shown the world they will not tolerate such crimes, whether it is Saddam Hussein or the puppet government they set up doing it.

In the end the world now knows that the US never cared about SH's torture chambers, they certainly knew about them when they were supporting him for decades.

We have been exposed, not by Manning, but our own actions, as hypocrites and liars, and THAT is what has harmed the US.

As the protesters in Tunisia and Libya and Egypt said when they were trying to overturn their own dictatorships 'we do not want American style democracy here, as they created in Iraq'. If you think that the actions of our leaders has not harmed this country all over the world, and that Manning is the problem, then all I can say is you haven't been paying attention.

Manning too wanted to get back home safely. But he could not turn away from the crimes against humanity he witnessed. Too bad there are not more like him.