Support GI whistleblower Manning

A strong showing of activist groups and individuals rallied and marched to support and defend GI whistleblower Bradley Manning in more than 17 cities across the country and internationally between Sept. 16 and 19. They called on the U.S. government to drop all charges against him.

Demonstration at Quantico Marine Base backs Manning. Photo: couragetoresist.org

Army Pfc. Manning, an army intelligence analyst, has been held in solidarity confinement since May. He is charged with releasing classified documents, including a video that shows U.S. troops killing civilians in Iraq in 2007. Two of them were journalists. If convicted on all 12 counts leveled against him, he could be imprisoned for more than 50 years.

He is also considered a “person of interest” in the leaking of 90,000 classified military documents known as “The Afghan War Diaries.” WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website, has already released 75,000 of these documents, and is expected to release thousands more.

Manning told the June issue of Wired magazine, “I want people to see the truth ... regardless of who they are ... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”

Gerry Condon, president of Greater Seattle Veterans for Peace, said, “If Bradley Manning did what the Army has accused him of doing, he is a hero.” At its national convention in August, Veterans for Peace awarded Manning its Courage of Conscience medal.

“Veterans really feel for the GIs because we were once in their shoes,” said Condon, who refused orders to Vietnam in 1968. “The U.S. government has put these young men and women in an impossible situation — physically, morally and spiritually. They are being asked to sacrifice themselves and their families for lies, for oil, for unwinnable wars against entire nations of people.”

The Days of Action to Support Bradley Manning kicked off in Oakland on Sept. 16 at an event titled “Afghanistan: Occupation, Wikileaks, and accused Whistle-blower Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.” Participants included anti-war retired army colonel Ann Wright and Ray McGovern, a retired CIA agent who has denounced the agency’s torture policies.

Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower from the Vietnam era, also addressed the crowd. He told the Associated Press that Manning “is the first person in 39 years to do what I did — and really better than what I did.” (Sept. 16)

The Oakland-based Courage to Resist organized a global webcast on www.MichaelMoore.com.

GIs, anti-war veterans and supporters marched on Quantico Marine base in Virginia where Manning is being held, while others participated in a “whistle-blowing rally” near Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base in the Seattle area. There were meetings and demonstrations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif.; Corvallis, Ore.; Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Cambridge, Mass.; Minneapolis; Knoxville, Tenn.; Norfolk, Va.; Keene, N.H.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; as well as cities in Canada and Australia.

The campaign in support of Bradley Manning is picking up steam. This international movement has developed on the Internet at www.bradleymanning.org. Its Facebook page at SaveBradley has more than 10,000 members. Supporters have contributed more than $50,000 for his legal defense. For more information, visit www.CourageToResist.org. To sign a petition, visit www.iacenter.org/iraq/freebradleymanning.