"A Different Kind of Patriotism": Russell Brand on Bradley Manning

[Catherina]

"A Different Kind of Patriotism": Russell Brand on Bradley Manning

Today marks the eighth day of Bradley Manning's court-martial for leaking more than 700,000 United States government documents to Wikileaks. Although the 25-year-old former Army intelligence analyst has confessed to disclosing classified information, including diplomatic cables and war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, Manning has not pled guilty to his most serious allegation, “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense that could result in a life sentence.

Many people think this charge—an accusation that purports Manning knew he’d also be giving intelligence to Al Qaeda by leaking sensitive information to Wikileaks—is trumped-up, fear-mongering, fraudulent bullshit. That's the (less polite) perspective of a volunteer group of independent producers and filmmakers, who in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network, spent the last month corralling more than 20 notable figures to appear in the IAmBradleyManning.org video above, a clip they're releasing for the first time in full here today.

Among the recognizable figures who agreed to voice their disapproval of Manning's treatment are director Oliver Stone, married actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, talk-show icon Phil Donahue, and comedian Russell Brand, who we spoke with about Manning earlier this month, before he publicly shamed a trio of inane MSNBC hosts. Brand was celebrating his 38th birthday on the day we talked and did not find an occasion to call us a "shaft-grasper," unfortunately. A lightly edited transcript of our phone conversation follows.

Why are you talking about Bradley Manning on your birthday?

I don't know a great deal about international espionage, but sometimes one senses that an issue is drifting in a certain direction, and just by speaking out in a small way, you can make a subtle difference on that perception. Some people have made their mind up no matter what: "Bradley Manning is a traitor because of revealing classified information." It's very difficult to impact those people. W.B. Yeats said, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity". But it might be nice, if I, from my gentle position—bouncing around on the Left elegantly and Englishly—suggest that it doesn't seem like this person is acting particularly out of self-interest, but rather (Manning) was motivated out of a different kind of patriotism: a genuine love of the people of this country and concern for the people.

...

Read more: http://gawker.com/a-different-kind-of-patriotism-russell-brand-on-brad-511549370

[center]

Asked what Edward Snowden should expect to happen to him, William Binney, answered, "first tortured, then maybe even rendered and tortured and then incarcerated and then tried and incarcerated or even executed." Interesting that this is what a whistleblower, former Senior level Director at NSA, thinks the U.S. government will do to a citizen.

[/center]