Bradley Manning headed to prison, those who authorized torture go free

Former secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shares a laugh with former president George W. Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney during his farewell parade at the Pentagon.

By: Matt Sledge, The Huffington Post

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/22/319865/manning-goes-to-jail-higherups-go-free/

Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for releasing 700,000 documents about the United States' worldwide diplomacy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Manning was a 25-year-old Army private first class at the time of his arrest. He saw himself as an idealist acting to end the wars, and said in online chats with hacker Adrian Lamo that he was particularly concerned about the abuse of detainees in Iraq. No political or military higher-ups have ever been prosecuted for detainee abuse or torture in Iraq, Afghanistan or at Guantanamo Bay.

"One of the serious problems with Manning's case is that it sets a chilling precedent, that people who leak information ... can be prosecuted this aggressively as a deterrent to that conduct," said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel and advocate in Human Rights Watch's U.S. Program. "Shouldn't we be deterring people who commit torture?"

Here are some of the individuals who have been involved since 9/11 in detainee abuse and torture, and potential war crimes, and have never been prosecuted.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush was president when the U.S. invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence, tortured terror prisoners and conducted extraordinary renditions around the world.

"Enhanced interrogation," a Bush administration euphemism for torture, was approved at the highest level. A "principals committee" composed of Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft signed off on the methods.

"There are solid grounds to investigate Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tenet for authorizing torture and war crimes," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, when the group released a report called "Getting Away With Torture" in 2011.

Dick Cheney

As Bush's vice president, Cheney pushed the nation over to the "dark side," as he called it, in the war on terror.

The U.S. used extraordinary renditions to swoop up terror suspects and send them to repressive regimes for torture. Cheney was the key driver in producing the faulty intelligence that led the U.S. into war in Iraq. And he steadfastly defended the CIA's use of water-boarding and other torture tactics on U.S. prisoners.

Cheney "fears being tried as a war criminal," according to Colin Powell's former chief of staff Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, but he never has been.

Donald Rumsfeld

One of the planners of the Iraq War, Rumsfeld steadfastly maintained while Defense Secretary under Bush that U.S. soldiers did not have an obligation to stop torture being used by their Iraqi counterparts. He also approved of "stripping prisoners naked, hooding them, exposing prisoners to extremes of heat and cold, and slamming them up against walls" at Guantanamo.

While deployed to Iraq, Manning discovered that Iraqi soldiers had arrested members of a political group for producing a pamphlet called "Where Did the Money Go?" decrying corruption in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"‘I immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on," Manning wrote in the chat logs. "He didn’t want to hear any of it … he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees."

George Tenet and CIA torturers

Tenet was the CIA chief who told Bush that the case for war with Iraq was a "slam dunk." Under his watch, the CIA waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Further down the chain of command at the spy agency, lower-level officers have escaped prosecution for killing a prisoner in Iraq and one in Afghanistan in CIA custody. Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012 ruled out prosecuting anyone responsible for those deaths.

In sharp contrast, former CIA agent John Kiriakou is currently serving a 30-month sentence for revealing to reporters the names of interrogators involved in detainee abuse.

Abu Ghraib higher-ups

Although low-level soldiers like former Army Reserve Specialist Lynndie England were court-martialed for their role in detainee abuse at this notorious prison in Iraq, graphically illustrated in photos, the only officer prosecuted in the case had his conviction tossed out.

A 2009 Senate Armed Services Committee report found that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were not the result of a few unmonitored bad apples but rather the direct result of "enhanced interrogation" practices approved of by officials much higher up in the Bush administration.

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Update: 11:55 am

 

Bradley Manning In His Own Words After Being Sentenced to 35 Years

Video Source: The Real News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMtClazlfCc

 

Manning's attorney David Coombs reads American Hero Bradley Manning's statement after he is imprisoned for 35 years in a Military Prison.

 

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Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison

 

 

US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning arrives alongside military officials at a US military court facility to hear his sentence in his trial at Fort Meade, Maryland on August 21, 2013. (AFP Photo / Saul Loeb)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/manning-sentence-years-jail-785/

A US military judge has sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison. Manning faced up to 90 years behind bars, while prosecutors sought to put the whistleblower away for a minimum of six decades.

Manning will be credited with the 1,294 days he spent in pre-trial confinement plus an additional 112 days. He was also dishonorably discharged, saw his rank reduced to private from private first class and was forced to forfeit all pay and benefits. No additional fine, however, was levied against him. Manning will have to serve a third of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Col. Denise Lind, who on Tuesday began her deliberations in the court-martial case, announced the sentence shortly after 10am local time (14:00 GMT). Lind read out the sentence succinctly and provided no other statement as a gaggle of journalist’s waited in anticipation. Flanked by his lawyers, Manning, 25, stood at attention and appeared not to react when Lind announced the punishment, AP reports. He further made no statement after his fate was announced

Immediately after sentencing, Amnesty International called on President Barack Obama to commute Manning’s sentence to time already served to allow his immediate release.

"Instead of fighting tooth and nail to lock him up for decades, the US government should turn its attention to investigating and delivering justice for the serious human rights abuses committed by its officials in the name of countering terror,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.

The American Civil Liberties Union was also quick to excoriate the decision.
“When a soldier who shared information with the press and public is punished far more harshly than others who tortured prisoners and killed civilians, something is seriously wrong with our justice system,” said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.

Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, decried the sentence as "unprecedented"in its magnitude.

"It's more than 17 times the next longest sentence ever served" for providing secret material to the media, said Goitein. "It is in line with sentences for paid espionage for the enemy."

Manning's lawyer David E. Coombs had asked the judge for leniency, requesting a sentence that did not “rob him of his youth." Coombs argued that Manning's leaks had not endangered the US.

The prosecution had sought a 60-year sentence, arguing the stiff term would deter others from leaking classified information.

"There's value in deterrence," prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow said in his closing argument on Monday

 

Protesters with the Bradley Manning Support Network hold a vigil while waiting to hear Manning's sentence on August 21, 2013 outside the gate of Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. (AFP Photo / T.J. Kirkpatrick)

Last week the 25-year-old Manning apologized for the “unintended consequences”of his actions, saying he believed he was “going to help people, not hurt people."

He told the court at Fort Meade, Maryland, that "the last three years have been a learning experience for me."

WikiLeaks responded to Manning’s mea culpa, saying “the only currency this military court will take is Bradley Manning’s humiliation.” The anti-secrecy group continued that Manning’s “forced” apology was done in the hopes of “shaving a decade or more off his sentence.”

The soldier was convicted last month of 20 charges including espionage, theft and violating computer regulations. Manning was found not guilty, however, of the most serious charge – aiding the enemy – which entailed a potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Manning faced up to 90 years in prison for passing on more than 700,000 Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010. He was later arrested in Iraq in May of that year.

He also leaked video of ‘Collateral Murder’ video, which shows a US helicopter attack in Baghdad in which at least nine non-combatants were killed, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

Manning is entitled to appeal against any verdict handed to him by the court-martial in the Army Court of Criminal Appeal within six months.

Collateral Murder Bradley Manning Leaked Video Clip

Video Source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0I6S8mva-s

 

Manning's sentence unjustifiably harsh, crimes he exposed remain unpunished – Moscow

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/manning-russia-tough-sentence-799/

Moscow has slammed the “harsh” sentence for US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, saying it was apparently meant to scare away other whistleblowers, and was not in accordance with human rights standards.

“When the USA’s interests are at stake, the American judicial system, as in the case of Bradley Manning, takes unjustifiably harsh decisions based on the principle of 'let’s teach them so that it doesn’t become a habit' – and without any glance at the human rights aspects,” Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for human rights, Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Wednesday.

Calling Manning’s case an example of US “double standards in regard with the supremacy of law and human rights,” Dolgov argued it showed that America’s claims for leadership in those respects are “groundless.”

The Foreign Ministry official then cited international human rights groups – including those in based in the US – who believe Manning has revealed “widespread abuses on the part of the US Army during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the deaths of civilian, the torture of prisoners, as well as the other grave abuses of the international human rights law. ”

Despite all the efforts of rights groups and the UN Human Rights Council, no one in the US was held accountable for these crimes, Dolgov added

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FREE Bradley Manning!!! Jail US Military for War Crimes in Iraq and US Government for their Aggressive war on the sovereign nation of Iraq!

 

 

 

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Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years behind bars, August 21, 2013

Source: RT.com



A US military judge has sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison. Manning faced up to 90 years behind bars, while prosecutors sought to put the whistleblower away for a minimum of six decades. Read more at: RT.com

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Facing 90 Years, Bradley Manning Expresses Regret for "Unintended Consequences" of Leaking Docs, August 15, 2013

Source: democracynow.org



Bradley Manning apologized for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks during his sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Manning faces up to 90 years in prison after being convicted last month on 20 counts. He said: "I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions.

When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people." Manning added, "I understood what I was doing and the decisions I made. However, I did not truly appreciate the broader effects of my actions. Those effects are clearer to me now through both self-reflection during my confinement in its various forms and through the merits and sentencing testimony that I have seen here."

An Army psychologist who analyzed Manning while he served in Iraq also testified Wednesday, along with a clinical psychologist who spent 21 hours examining Manning after his arrest. Manning's sister and aunt also both took the stand to deliver emotional testimony about his childhood. We speak to reporter Alexa O'Brien who was in the courtroom and has closely covered the Manning trial. "Bradley Manning is more of a moral character, than he is a political one," O'Brien says. -democracynow.org

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RT | Manning Spy? Whistleblower faces 136+ yrs jail time under Espionage Act, July 31, 2013

Source: RT.com



The 25 year old was acquitted of the most serious charge against him - that of aiding the enemy - which carried a potential life sentence. But the army private was convicted on 15 counts of espionage and theft of government property. There was also a computer fraud charge - along with similar infractions Manning committed while in the military. Add it all up, and Manning could face 136 years behind bars. For a closer look at how the White House has used the Espionage Act in its war against whistleblowers, here's RT's Gayane Chichakyan. -RT.com

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Manning US Army like child torturing ants with a magnifying glass’ (FULL LEAKED TESTIMONY)

 

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/manning-trial-recording-leak-177/

A speech freedom advocacy group has released audio of Bradley Manning’s testimony about his motives for leaking secret US government documents to WikiLeaks. It marks the first time the public has heard Manning's voice since his 2010 arrest.

Defying the military's ban on making recordings at Manning’s pre-trial tribunal at the military court at Fort Meade, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) has released Manning’s February account to the judge explaining why he exposed military secrets.

"We hope this recording will shed light on one of the most secret court trials in recent history, in which the government is putting on trial a concerned government employee whose only stated goal was to bring attention to what he viewed as serious governmental misconduct and criminal activity," the FPF said in a statement.

While unofficial transcripts of the statement are available, this is the first time anyone outside the court has heard Manning’s own explanation of how and why he gave the Apache helicopter video, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars Logs and State Department Diplomatic Cables to WikiLeaks

Freedom of the Press Foundation

https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/

Manning justifies his actions with a firm belief that what he identifies as US government wrongdoings need to be exposed in order to “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

In the recording he goes on to accuse the army of “not valu[ing] human life," comparing servicemen "to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

In regards to the “Collateral Murder” video, which shows US Apache helicopters opening fire on and killing civilians, including journalists, Manning said “the most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemingly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have.”

 

The attacks footage received worldwide coverage following the release of 39 minutes of classified cockpit gunsight material in 2010, starting the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks and its whistleblowing founder Julian Assange.

Because recording is prohibited at Manning’s hearings, the Pentagon is pursuing measures that would strengthen security and prevent information leaks from the trial.

Military judge Denise Lind, who is trying Manning’s case, has been informed by the Department of Defense that there was "a violation of the rules for the court," a spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP, and that the “US Army is currently reviewing the procedures set in place to safeguard the security and integrity of the legal proceedings and ensure PFC Manning receives a fair and impartial trial.”

Twenty-five-year-old Private First Class Manning has been held in US military custody following his arrest in May 2010. He has pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges set against him. If convicted, he could face 20 years in jail. He is pending trial as the prosecution still intends to pursue the 12 remaining charges.

Leaked Video by Bradley Manning

 

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American Killers and their Killer Friends

 

A Syrian insurgent fires shots at a helicopter during clashes with the Syrian Army force in the northern province of Idlib, June 26, 2012.

By: Rodney Shakespeare

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/03/270168/american-killers-and-their-killer-friends/

In 1968 around five hundred unarmed civilians were massacred by American soldiers at My Lai (Son My), Vietnam. Most of the victims were women, children, infants, and the elderly.

Many of the women were raped, or gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Only one soldier was found guilty and he then served a mere three and a half years under house arrest (i.e., he was sentenced to three and a half years of lounging on a sofa, drinking Coca Cola, eating pizzas and watching television).

In 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by a missile from the American ship USS Vincennes. All two hundred and ninety on board including sixty six children and sixteen crew members were killed. The United States has never admitted responsibility, nor apologized.

In 2007, leaked videos revealed that American helicopters were playing lets-shoot-’em video games whose object is to machine gun as many people as possible in the shortest possible time. Posted on YouTube, the thirty nine minute cockpit video shows three incidents, in which people were targeted as they walked along Baghdad streets, sat in a van or went into a building, unaware that Apache gunships were aiming to destroy them.

Because the dead included two Iraqi journalists working for Reuters TV, the news agency attempted to request the video footage under the Freedom of Information Act. It did not succeed. The footage was eventually acquired from an undisclosed source in 2009 by the website Wikileaks which released the footage in 2010, under the name ‘collateral murder’.

Moreover, as ‘collateral’ is being mentioned, it should be remembered that the Americans snigger and titter when reference is made to ‘collateral damage’. By ‘collateral damage’ they mean the hundreds of civilians now being killed, in various countries, by the drones which blast them apart with never a word of apology let alone compensation for the killing of innocents. These are war crimes of the worst sort. Furthermore, American drone policy is being extended to new countries almost every day.

And now a video, if confirmed as genuine, shows Syrian insurgents beating government soldiers before spraying them with bullets. However, this latest massacre is only the latest in a string of summary executions throughout Syria and the reason is that the insurgents, supported by the Americans, the Saudis, the Qataris and the Turks, are a bunch of throat-slitters, thugs and gangsters.

Of course, the USA, once again exposed as connected to war crimes, is throwing up its hands in horror and claiming that the massacre must have been done by the irresponsible few. We are innocent, they say.

Oh no they’re not. The USA is hand in glove with these killers and its only complaint is when, like My Lai in 1968, like with Flight 655 in 1978, like those videos from 2007 in Iraq, clear evidence reveals that a war crime has been committed. The USA trains, finances and arms these gruesome killers, and, when it cannot do so directly, does so through its allies such as Turkey or Saudi Arabia. These war crimes go on because the USA has embarked upon a wholesale war against Islam in which anything is allowed.

They started the war in September 2001 (just think of Tower Number Seven, not touched by an airplane, suddenly imploding into dust....)

Of course, just in case it gets caught out once too often in war crimes, the USA has been careful to ensure that it is excluded from the aegis of the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, in the United Nations Security Council the USA has a veto which is always sufficient to ensure that the Council does not put the USA up before the ICC.

However, world public opinion is now becoming fully informed that, like Zionist Israel, the USA does not care if it commits war crimes. Nor does it care if war crimes are committed on its behalf. It only cares if a war crime is exposed.

That is why Bradley Manning, a young American soldier is being tortured in a military prison, when he has not yet been tried and convicted and why the USA, together with its subservient ally, the UK, is intent on getting its hands on Julian Assange for allegedly revealing those videos to world opinion. If he did it, Assange was only doing what journalists always do if they can i.e., reveal the crimes of governments.

However, the USA, suffused with its sense of arrogant exceptionalism (which means that the USA believes it can torture and kill indiscriminately while receiving plaudits from the rest of the world) is not going to stop committing war crimes. It is only going to try to prevent exposure by, for example, ensuring that alternative radio and television media such as Press TV are shut down.

Nor is the USA going to stop its allies from committing war crimes or straightforward ordinary crimes. As long as a regime agrees to give overt or covert support to the ever-expanding Zionist entity then, in the USA’s eyes, it cannot possibly be complicit in anything which is wrong. Which is why Israel itself commits war crimes, and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to take but a few, daily commit civilian crimes.

So next time you hear hectoring Hilary Clinton lecturing somebody on freedom and democracy just remember that, behind the rhetoric, there lies an evil intent to commit war crimes or get somebody else to do them.

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About: Rodney Shakespeare

A Visiting Professor of Binary Economics at Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia, Rodney Shakespeare is a Cambridge MA, a qualified UK Barrister, a co-founder of the Global Justice Movement http://www.globaljusticemovement.net, a member of the Christian Council for Monetary Justice. His main website is http://www.binaryeconomics.net. Shakespeare is also Chair of the Committee Against Torture in Bahrain. More articles by Rodney Shakespeare

 

 

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