Chelsea Manning on why she blew the whistle

[Guest GinaInside]

First, I will state up front, that I support what Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning did.

Those who think her a "traitor" should do a bit of research on the documents released, and the crimes exposed.

Here is an article on why Chelsea Manning blew the whistle:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/09/20889925-manning-im-no-pacifist-i-leaked-documents-for-transparency?lite

I salute you, Private Manning!

[Guest Jenn348]

Popcorn! Get your popcorn! LOL

[Guest AngelaA88]

PSA - If you read the article, DON'T read the comments.

[Charlize]

I have to sick my nose in just a bit. Our press is unfortunately letting us down at times. During Vietnam we knew what was happening to a great extent. Films came back daily and we saw the terrors of war in our living rooms. A protest movement grew and eventually we did pull out from a nation that is now a trading partner. These last wars were quiet. We were never told what was happening day to day. The leaks are one of the few ways we have learned anything. It is from the wrong source but it seems the only one at times. Freedom of the press? Where is that i wonder. Sorry just the rant of an old hippie. Peace and Love

Hugs,

Charlie

[Guest LizMarie]

Charlie, this is not the 1960s anymore. Almost anything the military now does gets a formal classification, not because it needs to be secret but because that then allows the military to prosecute any service member who reveals what is going on. In the 1960s a GI could talk to a reporter. Today reporters talk to soldiers in controlled circumstances with Pentagon "media reps" always present. Even "embedded" journalists are often accompanied by Pentagon media reps and themselves are forced to sign notices consenting to the classification of certain information. That's even true of most of the rest of government as well - classify it now, declassify it later if forced to do so.

Over the last 30 years, beginning with Reagan, there has been a steady push to criminalize leaks. And this is true regardless of political party. Thus the media have been hobbled, hence the rise of the "fifth estate" - organizations like WikiLeaks who seek out individuals willing to talk about the crimes they see committed.

So yes, the media is failing us in one sense but that is at least partly our own fault for believing the fear mongering and electing politicians who use that fear mongering to justify further erosion of transparency in government under the excuse of "national security".

If we want that to change, we need to stop electing politicians who try to capitalize on our fears (often unfounded fears) for their own political gain.

[Charlize]

LizMarie, i couldn't agree more. 1984 has come and gone as well. Double speak is the national tongue we are at continuos war over "our interests". When others react to actually hurt us it becomes even a greater justification for spending money and lining the pockets of corporations and extremely wealthy people. We go into debt establishing"democracies" in lands where our oil is easily reached. Trips to Washington to protest our war with Iraq did nothing to stop a push and rush to an unnecessary bloodletting.

I'm sorry but it is hard for me to not react like i did as a kid with long hair and a lot of dry goods in my brain. Today i got to vote here in NJ. It is only a tiny act. It helps me to think things might change. The forums are here for other issues and i hope my frustration doesn't bother anyone's search for peace in themselves. In the end that peace when we are true to ourselves is so important.

End of rant. i'll try to be a good girl.

Hugs,

Charlie

[Guest Amanda Whyte]

I would be curious to see what exactly she leaked to know if it really put lives at risk.

[Guest LizMarie]

It's all out there on the internet, Amanda, but here's a quick summary of the important things Chelsea leaked that no one else was able to uncover.

1. The 'Collateral Murder' Apache helicopter video - the item that started it all.
2. The Reykjavik-13 cable - the US government's indifference to the crimes of bankers who almost destroyed Iceland's economy.
3. The Iraq War Logs - these are huge and list at least thousands of additional civilian casualties that the US government wanted to keep quiet.
4. The Afghanistan War Logs - the actual war logs from Afghanistan that show that both the Bush and Obama administrations were openly lying about how "well" things were going there.
5. Detention, abuse and torture - This included revelations that over 80 people at Guantanamo were found NOT GUILTY by military tribunals years ago but neither the Bush nor Obama administrations wants to release these people.
6. U.S. complicity with repressive Arab regimes - State Department cables that demonstrate the US knowingly backed murderous thugs in the Middle East, against the best interests of the people of the Middle East.

You can break this down further if you want. The Collateral Murder video is something I've shown to numerous veterans and as they watch it, every single time, I get told the same thing. The attack on the first car was normal wartime combat. The attack on the second car of unarmed civilians and children constitutes a war crime. And the only reason the helicopter stopped attacking was because other US soldiers ran in to protect the kids and forced the helicopter to cease fire.

This is what Chelsea Manning revealed to the world - a US government that was using torture, abuse, murder, and supporting outright thugs to get what it wanted.

Here are 10 more things Manning released in her 720,000 records released.

• During the Iraq War, U.S. authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape, and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers, according to thousands of field reports. There were 109,032 “violent deaths” recorded in Iraq between 2004 and 2009, including 66,081 civilians. Leaked records from the Afghan War separately revealed coalition troops’ alleged role in killing at least 195 civilians in unreported incidents, one reportedly involving U.S. service members machine-gunning a bus, wounding or killing 15 passengers.
• The U.S. Embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country that opposed genetically modified crops, with U.S. diplomats effectively working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto.
• British and American officials colluded in a plan to mislead the British Parliament over a proposed ban on cluster bombs.
• In Baghdad in 2007, a U.S. Army helicopter gunned down a group of civilians, including two Reuters news staff.
• U.S. special operations forces were conducting offensive operations inside Pakistan despite sustained public denials and statements to the contrary by U.S. officials.
• A leaked diplomatic cable provided evidence that during an incident in 2006, U.S. troops in Iraq executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. The disclosure of this cable was later a significant factor in the Iraqi government’s refusal to grant U.S. troops immunity from prosecution beyond 2011, which led to U.S. troops withdrawing from the country.
• A NATO coalition in Afghanistan was using an undisclosed “black” unit of special operations forces to hunt down targets for death or detention without trial. The unit was revealed to have had a kill-or-capture list featuring details of more than 2,000 senior figures from the Taliban and al-Qaida, but it had in some cases mistakenly killed men, women, children, and Afghan police officers.
• The U.S. threatened the Italian government in an attempt to influence a court case involving the indictment of CIA agents over the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. Separately, U.S. officials were revealed to have pressured Spanish prosecutors to dissuade them from investigating U.S. torture allegations, secret “extraordinary rendition” flights, and the killing of a Spanish journalist by U.S. troops in Iraq.
• In apparent violation of a 1946 U.N. convention, Washington initiated a spying campaign in 2009 that targeted the leadership of the U.N. by seeking to gather top officials’ private encryption keys, credit card details, and biometric data.

People say she should have done something else. She did. She tried to go through her chain of command, was rebuffed, and was also treated badly by her immediate NCO supervisors.

I'll stop here with just this recitation of the above facts. In my opinion, these facts speak for themselves. Others disagree. So be it.

[Guest GinaInside]

Liz Marie,

Thank you for your extended post and explanations.

I hope people will do further research. The information is all available on Wikileaks.org.

Gina

[Guest CassieX]

I really don't know why people are still beating the dead horse of a story about the traitor Private Manning or for the sake of accuracy, Prisoner Manning. I thought everything was said that needed to be said in Sarah Faiths thread back in August.

http://www.lauras-playground.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57683&hl=

I saw this thread a couple of days ago and after getting over the initial reaction of questioning why it is even here in the first place as it does not appear to match the criteria set forth for posts in this particular forum except in the most nebulous sense, decided that I would comment as it creates a decidedly skewed view of what the damage prisoner Manning did to their country by betraying their oath as a soldier and the trust they were given.

In an effort to be fair to the rest of my fellow veterans who agree as I do, but do not wish to revisit old wounds by commenting, I would offer this post as a counterpoint to what has been said.

http://thedogtagchronicles.com/2013/08/24/whistle-blowers-are-not-all-created-equal/

As previous posters said, 'the facts speak for themselves', and 'do further research'.

720, 000 documents, wow! I don't think I read a fraction of that in the 20 years I served.

Maybe we can start a thread that celebrates service-members who are currently serving or have served. Remember Kirsten Beck, anyone? anyone? Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller?... Fry?

Cassie

[Guest GinaInside]

It is sad that telling the truth is seen as some sort of act of treason. Private Manning did us all a favor by exposing warcrimes, and crimes by gov officials, crimes that would get people not in positions of power, thrown in prison. It is NOT acceptable to hide the truth at all costs, doing so has done more damage both to the US, and to our Veterans. Blind and dogmatic loyalty is leading us all stright down the path to tyranny. Only the light of truth will prevent it.

[Guest Elizabeth1974]

While I understand the need in a republic to have as much transparency as possible I also understand the nessecity to not show all the cards in ones hand. This being said some of the items that Ms. Manning released I can say needed to be released. However the sheer volume of her release does not seem to be targeted to specific issues. To me at least it seams as if she did a massive collection of all the classified information she had access to and turned it over to wiki leaks regardless if it was correctly classified or not. Because of this I can not and will not condone her actions. I also have an issue with the US government for not doing a better job compartmentizing the information and for what would also seem to be a lack of two person integerty while accessing classified information. Many of you on both sides have brought up valid points and I respect all of your well thought out comments and opinions and history will eventually judge Ms. Manning for her actions.

[Guest LizMarie]

Let me remind everyone that Chelsea's own military psychologist clearly recommended that she ( A ) not be deployed overseas and ( B ) not be given access to classified materials.

Her commander overrode both of those recommendations.

Let's restate - Her commander was told she was a security risk before she was given access yet he gave her access anyway!

Is he going to Leavenworth? Why not?

Let me state unequivocally that if, in the period from 1977 to 1985, I had enabled someone with a clear recommendation to not be given access to tactical nuclear weapons, and had instead given it anyway, and then the individual did something that was predicted to occur, that I would have been in Leavenworth for far longer than the person I enabled.

Instead Chelsea alone is going to Leavenworth for 35 years.

Someone tell me where the justice is in this picture because I sure don't see it.

[Guest KimberlyF]

So if Manning was tagged as a security risk prior to the event, does that mean Manning is a hero for anything good released in the hundreds of thousands of documents and not responsible for anything bad?

[Guest GinaInside]

Rather than start a new thread, I would like to post updates to the Chelsea Manning story here in this thread.

I know people tend to have strong opinions about this either way. I am sorry that some people are offended by the whole Manning saga, and probably would not like to see any of this. But, this story will have historical significance, for better, or worse. And, after all Chelsea Manning is Trans, so this is interesting. Chelsea is going to try to go to court to get treatment, so this is worth watching, to me anyway.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/01/manning-says-gender-id-dispute-could-go-to-court.html?ESRC=dod.nl

[KathrynJulia]

Back in my day, I know, I'm older than dirt, we had the Pentagon Papers which exposed illegal activities of the CIA, the US Military and the US Government. It helped to stop US involvement in Viet Nam. I had orders for Viet Nam that were later rescinded a few days later. The North Viet Namese committed War Crimes at will butchering civilians left and right. Torture and murder. They did it and we did it to.

The morality can be argued both for and against the release of classified documents, but it does keep our goveerment officials a little bit honest. Oh, nobody in the government will go to prison, but the embarassment to their reputations, being hauled before Congress and hounded by the press. I just hope it keeps us free of our government becoming totalitarian some day. Kathryn

[Guest GinaInside]

I would like to post this update on the Chelsea Manning story. She has recieved the "Sam Adams Award", for exposing the truth. This article is on RT, here is a quote from the article:

"Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), currently incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison, will be recognized at a ceremony in absentia at Oxford University's prestigious Oxford Union Society “for casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq; human rights abuses by U.S. and “coalition” forces, mercenaries, and contractors; and the roles that spying and bribery play in international diplomacy,” according to the press release, published by activist and author David Swanson."

Here is the article link:

http://rt.com/news/manning-sam-adams-award-697/

[Guest GinaInside]

Here is a new story about Chelsea Manning, she is seeking legal name change:

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/03/20/pvt-manning-seeks-formal-name-change-to-chelsea.html?ESRC=dod.nl

[Bulldog1948]

I also see that she's going to file suit, if need be, to begin her hormone treatment. This should prove to be very interesting as the Army says Trans can't serve, yet she's stuck at Levenworth for 35 years. But, federal courts will end up ruling in this case and probably order the Army to give her the proper hormone therpathy, We'll have to keep an eye on this case.

[Guest Rose1993]

COME ON CANADA!! Get a move on and take over the US!! I honestly believe the US

[Guest Rose1993]

ok, for some reason my last post posted itself before i finished... what i was saying, was: I honestly believe the US government is corrupt on almost all levels, especially when it comes to military, government spending, laws and bills that have been allowed to pass, and especially things like this. She was doing the right thing, and our horrible government sends her to prison for 35 years!!! I dont understand why our government is even still in existance, i hope the US government is dismantled within my lifetime, it will be a very good day for the planet.

[Guest Jenni_S]

Gotta love those broad brushes. I hope no one ever uses one on you, and you'll be able to still say that when the replacement government takes over.

[gennee]

I have to sick my nose in just a bit. Our press is unfortunately letting us down at times. During Vietnam we knew what was happening to a great extent. Films came back daily and we saw the terrors of war in our living rooms. A protest movement grew and eventually we did pull out from a nation that is now a trading partner. These last wars were quiet. We were never told what was happening day to day. The leaks are one of the few ways we have learned anything. It is from the wrong source but it seems the only one at times. Freedom of the press? Where is that i wonder. Sorry just the rant of an old hippie. Peace and Love

Hugs,

Charlie

You nailed it, Charlie. It was the who were instrumental in ending that war. It was also the last time you saw direct action in the war zone on the news. It was bad news for Dow Chemical and DuPont.

[Guest GinaInside]

I would like to add a new article about Chelsea Manning, she has been officially allowed to change her name Here is the link to the story on Military.com:

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/04/23/soldier-convicted-in-wikileaks-case-gets-new-name.html?ESRC=dod.nl

[Guest GinaInside]

Chelsea Manning is being transferred to a civilian prison, so she can undergo hormone therapy, according to an article on Military.com.

For some reason I am unable to post links on this site, so please go to Military.com, and search for:

Pentagon OKs Manning Transfer for Gender Treatment