______________________________
Bradley Manning took full responsibility for the information he’s pleaded guilty to releasing and bravely faced the 20 year sentence he could’ve received, yet for American prosecutors, this isn’t enough, they wish to show that Manning aided the enemy, a charge for which they have the option of executing him. Despite the importance the US Government placed on the information he released, to date, no one’s faced charges for the crimes exposed by Manning, making the whole process appear to be the workings of a kangaroo court. After Manning pleaded guilty to 10 charges and stoically faced the fact that he might face a 20-year prison sentence, the American prosecutors decided to continue with his prosecution on 12 more charges, including the rarely-used charge of aiding the enemy, which carries with it the possibility of a death sentence, something the prosecution said they wouldn’t pursue.
Mr Manning’s plea was not part of a deal to have other charges dropped, but the prosecution could’ve proven its wisdom and used the option it presented them to drop the other charges and move directly to the sentencing phase of the trial. In a statement released to the public, the prosecution stated the following, “Given the scope of the alleged misconduct, the seriousness of the charged offenses, and the evidence and testimony available, the USA intends to proceed with the court-martial to prove Manning committed the charged offenses beyond the lesser charges to which he has already pled guilty”. The case of Bradley Manning proves beyond all doubt that genuine justice isn’t of real importance to the USA, and, perhaps, that the USA has become a corrupt and illegal rogue country, as one sees in the way that their subservient states and their allies they continue to follow them blindly.
According to media reports, the prosecutors intend to call 141 witnesses to Manning’s court martial, which should begin on 13 June 2013, to show that some of the open-source documents released by Manning were found in the former compound of Osama bin Laden. Whether they’d provide evidence that al-Qaeda used the information in the planning of any terrorist acts against the USA is yet to be known, but apparently, for American prosecutors, at this point, mere possession is enough.
Despite the fact that Mr Manning exposed war crimes and the illegality of the American execution of the “War on Terror”, despite the fact that he was detained without trial or charges for over 1,000 days, with his egregious treatment and pre-trial punishment in contradiction of American and international law, American prosecutors plan to continue his trial on charges of aiding al-Qaeda and the enemy, rather than doing the correct and legal thing, which is to dismiss the charges against him, thus, giving Mr Manning the right that many feel he’s earned more than most, to be a free man and a hero. Unfortunately, the treatment of Mr Manning, rather than being an abomination or an egregious exception triggering massive protests and widespread questioning by the general public of the real motivations behind the actions of their government, a government which is supposed to serve them, for the majority of the misinformed, fearful, and subservient population in the USA, it’s something that they’ve become accustomed to, which, in their continuing silence, they support with no import being given to freedom of the press, accountability, and the very principles of democracy.
The treatment of Private Manning is the embodiment of what’s wrong with the USA, and if what he did didn’t trigger an internal American debate, it’s surely triggered a massive international debate. Mr Manning is what those hiding behind a veil of secrecy to commit crimes against all humanity fear most, an individual with access to information proving their criminal conduct, with a conscience and higher moral ideals willing to sacrifice themselves, and his case, has exposed that fact to the world. Whether anything will change or whether anyone will ever be prosecuted for the crimes exposed by Manning is highly doubtful, as those who committed and ordered them and their support network are still in power, yet his actions did expose the illegality and the hypocrisy of the USA to the entire world, and showed that it’s possible for one person to effect, if not change, then, at least, cause embarrassment.
That embarrassment and his attempt to bring those guilty to account, as well as the fact that Mr Manning is being used an example to scare others who might consider blowing the whistle, are behind his persecution. Rather than paying proper attention to the message, the system went after the messenger and all conduits of that message, as they have with WikiLeaks, Assange, Hammond, Swartz, and thousands of other journalists and truth seekers. Without a doubt, those who’ve subverted the US Government, who’ve propagated the “war on Terror” paradigm, continue to conduct illegal wars against poor defenceless nations. As long as they remain in power, they aren’t interested in pursuing those who commit crimes in the process of executing their illegal policies; in fact, they protect them. The list of those who should’ve faced prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but who have protection from the Establishment, is too long to list here, but includes everyone from George W Bush down to Lynndie England, hence, the ongoing persecution of Manning. According to the military and the hawks in power, Manning was supposed to keep his mouth shut and follow orders, just like every other soldier or tool of the US military apparat. Speaking out was his sin; the most expeditious way to prosecute him is by saying he was aiding terrorists and al-Qaeda.
In fact, what Mr Manning did, is to aid the American people and the world’s population find the rule of law and true democracy. The fact that he did so knowing the risk he faced, and the fact that he stood up in open court and took full responsibility for the largest leak of sensitive information in American history is something that makes him one of the greatest heroes of modern times. The US Government and those in power have got it so terribly wrong on so many levels in the case of Manning, but above all, his case proves that soldiers and those who witness horrendous acts and illegality being carried out under the influence of power have nowhere to go and no one to turn to, proving that the true rule of law and legal oversight in the USA have become farcical, something that one only pays lip service to.
In his almost two-hour statement to the court, Manning detailed how he came to be an intelligence analyst, how his diminutive stature made his time in basic training torturous, the nature and his views on the information that he processed, the problems he had in the field in carrying out his mission, how WikiLeaks (WLO) came to his attention after they published 500,000 text messages related to 9/11, and the circumstances surrounding each release. His most telling statement, which sheds light on his motivations, was the following regarding a diplomatic cable he had access to, “The more I read, the more I was fascinated with the way that we dealt with other nations and organisations. I also began to think that the documented backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity didn’t seem characteristic of the de facto leader of the free world”.
Truly a prisoner of conscience, Bradley Manning is a hero, and should be treated as such, those responsible for the crimes he’s revealed to the world should be pursued, but in reality, this won’t occur, because in the paradigm that the USA is trapped in, and our world is being pulled into, the messenger is of more importance than the message, and anyone who goes against the criminality of those in power must be eradicated with extreme prejudice.
4 March 2013
John Robles
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_04/Persecution-of-Manning-to-continue/
Republicans in Congress Won’t Allow Steps to Stop the Sequester
Tags: american economy, Anglosphere, Barack Obama, Business and Economy, Cold War, economics, economy, George W. Bush, Government debt, Obama, political commentary, politics, United States, United States Department of the Treasury, USA
______________________________
Americans hoped until the last moment that the US government would save them from the threat hanging over the US economy, but it didn’t happen. The crisis that’s loomed over the US economy is now reality. After fruitless attempts to secure cooperation from the US Congress to cut the budget deficit, President Obama imposed across-the-board cuts. By presidential order, budget cuts will slash spending by 1.2 trillion dollars (37 trillion Roubles. 920 billion Euros. 800 billion UK Pounds). This will spell major disaster for millions of Americans. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be out of work, still hundreds of thousands more will lose their medical coverage and social benefits. Schools and day-care centres will close, which will see teachers swell the ranks of the unemployed. Job cuts amongst air traffic controllers will upset normal air travel and the public won’t be able to take tours of the White House. Sadly, this doesn’t exhaust the list of evils due to fall on the heads of ordinary Americans.
The reason for such extraordinary measures was a crippling 17 trillion USD (525 trillion Roubles. 13 trillion Euros. 11.4 trillion UK Pounds) federal government debt and an annually-increasing budget deficit. This disproportionately-huge debt and the government’s annually repeated failure to keep within budgetary limits is largely the result of excessive military spending. Once the Republican administration of George W Bush took office in 2001, it resumed the arms race that ended with the conclusion of the Cold War. Immediately, growing debt replaced deficit-free budgets. By the time that Barack Obama arrived in the White House, the debt had mounted to 13 trillion USD (400 trillion Roubles. 10 trillion Euros. 8.7 trillion UK Pounds). Nevertheless, the arms race didn’t stop. As military spending in Fiscal Year 2013 exceeded 630 billion USD (19.5 trillion Roubles. 500 billion Euros. 425 billion UK Pounds), the US federal debt continues to increase. According to the US Department of the Treasury, the US federal debt may hit a whopping 19 trillion USD (586 trillion Roubles. 14.6 trillion Euros. 12.75 trillion UK Pounds) in the foreseeable future.
However, the US government will do everything possible to mitigate the effects of sequestration. In a search for a solution to this situation, President Obama put forward a plan of far-reaching savings, including the abolition of the substantial Bush tax breaks for major corporations and the richest individuals. Given that large corporations and the “Billionaires Club” account for the bulk of national wealth and yearly revenues, this Democratic proposal was bound to ease the growing US federal debt, if not help the ailing US economy.
However, Obama had no such luck. The Republican-dominated Congress continued to dig in its heels obstinately. Negotiations lasted for many weeks. The President tried to reason with them, he even offered concessions to them, and he sometimes blustered, but nothing worked. The debate continued literally until the last minute, until, on the night of 1 March, President Obama ordered a compulsory reduction in government spending by 85 billion USD (2.6 trillion Roubles. 65 billion Euros. 57 billion UK Pounds), the consequences of which are hard to foresee at present. In its present configuration, the US Congress is mostly an élitist club of ultra-right conservatives, which makes it unable to express the interests that benefit the greater American society. Now, congressmen approve exorbitant military spending, launch unlawful bills like the Magnitsky Act, and doggedly stick to Cold War stereotypes. Big Business interests dictated the budget sequester provoked by the US Congress; as many of the lawmakers take its money, ergo, they serve its ends. In addition, it runs counter to US national interests; it may have serious consequences for the welfare of the USA and for the global economy. Apparently, it looks like those who consider themselves the American national élite couldn’t care less.
Valentin Zorin
A View from Moscow
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_03_06/Respublikanci-v-Kongresse-SSHA-ne-pozvolili-predotvratit-sekvestr/
Editor’s Note:
Let’s keep it simple. American war expenditures are 46 percent of the world total. If we cut it in half, it’d still dwarf the next-nearest rival (the PRC) by THREE TIMES. Most of this money is either spent on pointless adventuring in foreign parts or its outright boodle and corruption (the US Congress is well-known for having been a world-class champion in graft since the time of Mark Twain). For instance, the USA spends BILLIONS on “private for-profit armed corporations” to guard convoys and facilities in combat zones; we should be using regular troops to do so (regular troops are more disciplined and accountable than private mercenaries are… but the US government uses mercs to avoid the political fallout from having to reinstitute conscription in a time of “war”).
The American national interest would be best-served by the defence of the maritime lines of communications of the so-called Anglosphere (USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which would require a ocean defence belt based on the GIUK Gap-British home islands-Gibraltar-Azores line in the Atlantic zone and the Aleutians-Guam-Australia line in the Pacific zone. The only Continental navies that have bases outside of the GIUK Gap/English Channel choke-points are France, Spain, and Portugal (all American allies at present). Note well that the Anglosphere home defence isn’t based on the army, as is so on the Continent or in Russia, China, and India, but on the navy. That is, NATO is completely irrelevant to American home defence… the wars on the Asian mainland only knackered the US economy (as General Omar Bradley famously put it, it was “the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy“)… they didn’t add one whit to American national security. The only thing that the Bush Wars did was to transfer an obscene amount of dengi to the already-rich.
In short, the Republican drive for global hegemony, to make the world safe for unrestrained corporate profit, provoked and precipitated the current financial crisis. After all, grounded people know that you don’t go to war and CUT taxes (that is, the Republicans increased war spending exponentially, but cut the revenue flow to pay for it… DELIBERATELY). That’s what the Republican Party did… such reckless and notional foolishness had the inevitable result; it crashed the economy. Reflect on this… the Right stands for personal gain above all else… that means that they’re unpatriotic to the bone, and that they’re grasping cretins. Ironic, ain’t it… those who wrap themselves up the most in the flag are the least patriotic. Don’t forget, Willy Romney was an unrepentant draft dodger and Paul Ryan refused to serve in the forces. In the end, most leftists are more patriotic… but the corporate media says otherwise. Whom do YOU believe? Do you believe what the corporate media tells you, who owe their well-compensated jobs to toeing the “party line” of the plutocrats, or, do you believe the reality that’s in front of your face? Do choose well…
BMD