Bradley Manning is a traitor.

[originalpckelly]

I am a traitor too.

I think anyone should be a traitor to a system whose sole purpose appears to be the domination of normal people.

There is something wrong in this fucking country.
The government claims it has an inviolable right to privacy, but that the people have almost none.

People cannot police themselves, and that's what this government does when it comes to secrecy.

It's fucking bullshit to claim the people who allegedly control this country should have no say in how many pieces of information are secret, or which ones should be.

At the very least, a randomly selected jury-like body should have the constant power to oversee the intelligence community. Not another corrupt branch of government, but the people themselves.

Do a security check on them, make sure they are not spies. Then give them the power to declassify something if needed.

We simply cannot trust, "trust me." We must verify, and not 50 years after the fact.

In a democracy, nothing trumps the people's right to know.

Not even a plea to fear and a false sense of security. That bullshit is scarier and more dangerous to more people than any terrorist group, no matter how much you are brainwashed into thinking otherwise.

The government that is so secret has nuclear weapons, a military that spends more money than any other in the world, and it is lead by morons who seem only to work under the auspices of the 11th hour panic.

And with the power of drones at their control, the circle of people who know even a piece of the puzzle is much smaller now.

If we the people don't bring the runaway train to a halt, it'll just be all that harder later on.

And by the way, traitor is an often hollow term used by those who have nothing more material to say. Or who have something to hide, so they make a plea to your sense of decency, country and honor.

Do I have to tell you what you already know? That these people have no decency, they would do this in any country, and they have no honor? I don't think so.

So, what you gonna do about it? Wake the fuck up? It seems like many people have, but then again being near homeless does that to you. It kind of pops that bubble of bullshit keeping you in check complying with the nonsense of the world.

[loudsue]

1. Best. Post. Ever.

You nailed it.

[rgbecker]

2. Bradley Manning is a hero.

You are right, the character attacks just show that it often takes people who are on the edge, with the least to lose, to stand up and call the establishment out. How many incidents of brutal murderous overkill are hidden away in the files and stacks of videos from Iraq and Afghanistan? At least Manning was able to bring one to light. Was anyone held responsible? I don't think so.

Millions of people have clearances allowing them to access the diplomatic info, yet Manning, who shows the farce that is our foreign policies, is the one charged. Thanks goodness he felt free of the bubble of bullshit and got this secret crap to the people who pay for it.
Lets continue to write and support the guy in his hour of need.

[xchrom]

3. ...

[Marrah_G]

4. Your post makes me want to stand up and applaud.

[rhett o rick]

5. Dick Cheney is a hero and Pfc Manning is a traitor. Can you say Bizarro World? nm

[GliderGuider]

6. Hear, hear!!!!!

[Octafish]

7. It's not you, originalpckelly. Traitors have been in charge since Nov. 22, 1963...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6544843&mesg_id=6547792



“Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.” -- Sir John Harrington

[GliderGuider]

8. K&R

[Overseas]

9. Thought about Bradley Manning a lot over Christmas.

He followed the Nuremberg Principles when our own Democratic legislators had not done so. I was waiting for our Democrats to impeach the Bush gang but they didn't dare.

As more and more news about Bush torture and warfare came to light, didn't we all hear the refrain about Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Nuremberg?

I was astounded that even the basic self-preservation principle wasn't working-- that we'd never torture because we didn't want our own soldiers subjected to that.

But I was voting in a constitutional law professor. The Democrats chose him so we could restore the rule of law in America. Get back habeas corpus. Stop torture. And surely, when someone exposed war crimes because he believed he was acting on the Nuremberg Principles and others disagreed, then we would put him on trial. That's what we used to do here in the USA. We tried and executed foreign combatants for using waterboarding.

So much has happened since then. My Democrats gave too much room to the GOP. It turned out that they did not want to seize the democratic mandate to move that pendulum back to the center. They were not compelled to move as a block, by the urgency of devastating climate change or holding the GOP accountable for the destruction they had wrought. They needed campaign donations to stay in power. They played the compromise game, knowing full well that the GOP had gone off the rails and intended to continue in that direction.

I am very glad some of my fellow citizens shook off their shock and began occupying our shared spaces. I hope they will continue their peaceful demonstrations into the new year.

Part of the wake up call they are sending includes the conduct of warfare done in our name and with our tax dollars. Let's hope they are reading the Nuremberg Principles out loud at some gatherings, and the Geneva Conventions.

[surfdog]

10. I disagree

"In a democracy, nothing trumps the people's right to know."

Implying the USA shouldn't have ANY secrets is idiotic.

Let's post the nuclear codes on the web , after all , nothing trumps the people's right to know

Jeeesh , now I heard it all

[originalpckelly]

11. The real question is why we even have weapons like that in the first place.

And you'll probably get around to the secrecy and spy games of the cold war as your answer.

This is the same country that for decades classified a film about the damage done by nukes, it's not like people would have reacted differently to the brinksmanship of the cold war if they had seen clearly the kind of horrors those weapons bring to people, right?

It's easy to let your government risk your life when you don't have to see half melted babies, it's another thing entirely to have to imagine what it would be like if the people you see in that footage are your own or yourself.

[sabrina 1]

12. Excellent post!

[NorthCarolina]

13. K&R

EXCELLENT POST!

[slay]

14. There is indeed something wrong with this country

something - rotten in the state of Denmark - as Shakespeare would say.

Excellent post - K&R.

[hfojvt]

15. "this fucking country"

Is Wisconsin really that bad?

[JackRiddler]

16. Bravo!

Thank you.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. ...

[got root]

18. There's something happening here

what it is ain't exactly clear.