Bradley Manning is to Julian Assange what Bernie Taupin is to Elton John
First off, I would like to make it perfectly clear, without any ambiguity whatsoever, that Julian Assange is a great man and what he is doing should be applauded. Government secrecy has, until now, allowed governments to steal from their citizens, to start wars for no particular reason other than they really like war, to pollute the environment, to vote however the big corporations tell them to and to make themselves rich in the process, throw people in prison as a means of political intimidation, keep products off the market which would be beneficial to all mankind (that means the thousand year light bulb and cars that run on water, but it also means marijuana), and perpetuate their power.
Assange has blown the lid off that secrecy and deserves all the respect and support he is getting. The Swedish sex crimes charge against him is nonsense. Neither of the women is denying the sex was consensual. They are both over 18.
Hackers and hippies all over the world are uniting in support of Julian Assange. Also, it might be really difficult for the U.S. to charge him with anything, as he’s not an American. Since when does the U.S. government have any right to tell an Australian journalist what he can or can’t print?
In all the brouhaha over Julian Assange, however, someone else has been forgotten. The soldier who sent Assange the bulk of the documents, the man who saw them because he worked as an intelligence analyst for the army and who couldn’t take the lies, the imprisonment of innocent people and the murder of civilians any longer; Pfc Bradley Manning.
He had a disturbed childhood, some say. It’s difficult, growing up intelligent in a small town in Oklahoma. Makes the other kids suspicious and even makes some of the teachers nervous. Also, he’s gay.
To me, he sounds like an interesting, intelligent and compassionate person – the type of person the world needs more of, the kind of person we should be encouraging people to be. Instead, he’s in solitary confinement, cut off from the outside world, and his family and friends have been warned not to talk to the press.
He’s not as famous as Assange, his legal position in this affair isn’t nearly as strong, and the press seems to be ignoring him just as much as they can.
If anyone has any ideas about how we can support Bradley Manning, I’d like to hear them.
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