Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's too bad that Bradley Manning didn't torture and kill people instead of telling us about it [View all]Zorra
(27,670 posts)48. Honestly, I haven't seen any evidence of that among strong supporters of the MIC here.
All I have seen is indignation and outrage that someone exposed it.
And you do realize that what Manning uncovered and exposed is just the tip of the iceberg of vile rot, corruption, and violence that is being perpetrated in our name by our government in service of wealthy private interests?
Almost all of these unspeakably wicked things are being done in our name by our government so that wealthy private interests can continue to increase their profits.
What Manning Revealed - Read This & Tell Me Just WHO Is Our Government Keeping Safe?
Last edited Tue Jul 30, 2013, 09:03 PM USA/ET - Edit history (3)
What did WikiLeaks reveal?
PFC Bradley Manning is a US Army intelligence specialist who is accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, an organization that he allegedly understood would release portions of the information to news organizations and ultimately to the public.
The "Iraq War Logs" published by WikiLeaks revealed that thousands of reports of prisoner abuse and torture had been filed against the Iraqi Security Forces. Medical evidence detailed how prisoners had been whipped with heavy cables across the feet, hung from ceiling hooks, suffered holes being bored into their legs with electric drills, urinated upon, and sexually assaulted.
U.S. defense contractors were brought under much tighter supervision after leaked diplomatic cables revealed that they had been complicit in child trafficking activities. DynCorp -- a powerful defense contracting firm that claims almost $2 billion per year in revenue from U.S. tax dollars -- threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment.
The Guantanamo Files describe how detainees were arrested based on what the New York Times referred to as highly subjective evidence. For example, some poor farmers were captured after they were found wearing a common watch or a jacket that was the same as those also worn by Al Queda operatives. How quickly innocent prisoners were released was heavily dependent on their country of origin.
Even though the Bush and Obama Administrations maintained publicly that there was no official count of civilian casualties, the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs showed that this claim was false. Between 2004 and 2009, the U.S. government counted a total of 109,000 deaths in Iraq, with 66,081 classified as non-combatants. This means that for every Iraqi death that is classified as a combatant, two innocent men, women or children are also killed.
-U.S. Military officials withheld information about the indiscriminate killing of Reuters journalists and innocent Iraqi civilians.
-The State Department backed corporate opposition to a Haitian minimum wage law.
-The U.S. Government had long been faking its public support for Tunisian President Ben Ali.
-Known Egyptian torturers received training from the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.
-The State Department authorized the theft of the UN Secretary General's DNA.
-The Obama Administration allowed Yemen's President to cover up a secret U.S. drone bombing campaign.
MORE:
http://www.bradleymanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/WikiLeaks2.pdf
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/what-did-wikileaks-reveal
Meanwhile, still free to roam the streets, take their book tours and collect their 5- and 6-digit speaking fees, is the cabal of scorpions that rationalized torture which they claimed was not torture, secretly rendered people off the streets of U.S. allies and secretly transported them to secret prisons in nations ruled by dictatorial regimes, fabricated evidence to take us into Iraq, where thousands of Americans and tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died in the conflict, conjured up a hell-hole at Guantánamo Bay, a place the attorneys created to be jurisdictionlessnot quite the U.S., not quite Cubaand thus free from both American and international law.
Last edited Tue Jul 30, 2013, 09:03 PM USA/ET - Edit history (3)
What did WikiLeaks reveal?
PFC Bradley Manning is a US Army intelligence specialist who is accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, an organization that he allegedly understood would release portions of the information to news organizations and ultimately to the public.
The "Iraq War Logs" published by WikiLeaks revealed that thousands of reports of prisoner abuse and torture had been filed against the Iraqi Security Forces. Medical evidence detailed how prisoners had been whipped with heavy cables across the feet, hung from ceiling hooks, suffered holes being bored into their legs with electric drills, urinated upon, and sexually assaulted.
U.S. defense contractors were brought under much tighter supervision after leaked diplomatic cables revealed that they had been complicit in child trafficking activities. DynCorp -- a powerful defense contracting firm that claims almost $2 billion per year in revenue from U.S. tax dollars -- threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment.
The Guantanamo Files describe how detainees were arrested based on what the New York Times referred to as highly subjective evidence. For example, some poor farmers were captured after they were found wearing a common watch or a jacket that was the same as those also worn by Al Queda operatives. How quickly innocent prisoners were released was heavily dependent on their country of origin.
Even though the Bush and Obama Administrations maintained publicly that there was no official count of civilian casualties, the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs showed that this claim was false. Between 2004 and 2009, the U.S. government counted a total of 109,000 deaths in Iraq, with 66,081 classified as non-combatants. This means that for every Iraqi death that is classified as a combatant, two innocent men, women or children are also killed.
-U.S. Military officials withheld information about the indiscriminate killing of Reuters journalists and innocent Iraqi civilians.
-The State Department backed corporate opposition to a Haitian minimum wage law.
-The U.S. Government had long been faking its public support for Tunisian President Ben Ali.
-Known Egyptian torturers received training from the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.
-The State Department authorized the theft of the UN Secretary General's DNA.
-The Obama Administration allowed Yemen's President to cover up a secret U.S. drone bombing campaign.
MORE:
http://www.bradleymanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/WikiLeaks2.pdf
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/what-did-wikileaks-reveal
Meanwhile, still free to roam the streets, take their book tours and collect their 5- and 6-digit speaking fees, is the cabal of scorpions that rationalized torture which they claimed was not torture, secretly rendered people off the streets of U.S. allies and secretly transported them to secret prisons in nations ruled by dictatorial regimes, fabricated evidence to take us into Iraq, where thousands of Americans and tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died in the conflict, conjured up a hell-hole at Guantánamo Bay, a place the attorneys created to be jurisdictionlessnot quite the U.S., not quite Cubaand thus free from both American and international law.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
79 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
It's too bad that Bradley Manning didn't torture and kill people instead of telling us about it [View all]
votesparks
Jul 2013
OP
It's always best when you don't much about an issue, not to make definitive declarations about it.
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#28
Well, Lynndie England, Charles Graner, et. al. weren't given the "awesome" treatment.
MADem
Jul 2013
#6
I agree that it's always "silly" to make a bet you're not likely to win. And you're not.
Th1onein
Jul 2013
#12
I can wait for the outcome. You've already decided that it's "Off with his head."
MADem
Jul 2013
#13
I find it odd that you hold others to a higher standard of civility than you obviously hold yourself
LanternWaste
Aug 2013
#61
Since you yourself used the expression "two wrongs" I guess I am now entitled
truedelphi
Aug 2013
#59
You play the "compare and contrast" game, and overlay a moral imperative upon it,
MADem
Aug 2013
#63
What do you mean, "if?" He DID. And he stole classified material and transferred it
MADem
Aug 2013
#68
I was responding, with specificity, to the OP's assertion that torturers are greeted as
MADem
Jul 2013
#34
I intended to say 'the Medal of Freedom'. It was given to people like Bremer, eg.
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#35
Yes. How dare he join the military and then protest that soldiers killed people.
randome
Jul 2013
#7
You really should watch this. Your heroes that Bradley fingered, in real life action!
Zorra
Jul 2013
#22
Who was president when these crimes were being committed on a regular basis in Iraq?
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#43
Yes, it was a secret the Government TRIED to keep by refusing for two years to release the video
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#51
Who ordered the shooters to fire on those people? Are you saying the same thing should
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#53
Ah, George W. Bush's voice is clearly audible in the video giving that order
jberryhill
Jul 2013
#54
Warning!! Godwin's law about to be invoked! For those who object to learning from history only.
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#55
Yeh, you know, like, turned over the evidence? Just because the MIC didn't prosecute them and
Zorra
Jul 2013
#44
??? What are you talking about. He reported TORTURE. It was his duty to do so.
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#33
War Crimes are Not only frowned upon by society in general, they are Illegal, too. (VIDEO)
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
Jul 2013
#40
And kids with reporters. I don't believe there were any kids involved in the Apache attack.
randome
Jul 2013
#19
There were two beautiful children who were left to die in the van, when those pilots shot their
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#47
Are you serious?? Even the US Government hasn't tried to come up with such nonsense. The
sabrina 1
Aug 2013
#74
He'd have his commission by now w/ a silver bar, and maybe a silver star
kenny blankenship
Jul 2013
#24
John Burge of the Chicago Police Dept. tortured many blacks into confessing to murder
mucifer
Jul 2013
#30
It's too bad he also released hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables for no reason
pnwmom
Jul 2013
#42
It's too bad some modern day good American quasi-nazis believe that anything their government does,
Zorra
Jul 2013
#45
No one here is in that category. Everyone I know agrees that the helicopter videos
pnwmom
Jul 2013
#46
Honestly, I haven't seen any evidence of that among strong supporters of the MIC here.
Zorra
Jul 2013
#48
I'd be disgusted if my caliber as a sentient being was so low and easily transparent
TheKentuckian
Aug 2013
#65
Here's the bottom line. People that get rude and personal aren't taken seriously. nt
MADem
Aug 2013
#66
Unless they agree with you and then it is cool and froody or else by some strange definition
TheKentuckian
Aug 2013
#71
A prisoner exchange should be in order. Manning exchanges his cell for Dubya's ranch.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Aug 2013
#69
Sounds about right. You can kill for the government. You just can't tell the citizens of said
liberal_at_heart
Aug 2013
#70