Video: Bradley Manning is an American hero.

I am not too keen on the the way that the Guardian produced this video.  I had to think about whether or not I wanted to share it.  It does reveal some interesting things for me though.  Firstly, it is very obvious from what other ex soldiers say that the information Manning is accused of  sharing with us was far from secret; if it was so secret, it shows the US military brass as an incompetent bunch indeed.  This information, assuming the commentaries in the video are true, was out there for many to see.  It has been pointed out many times even from Pentagon sources that the information sent to Wikileaks has not caused the deaths of anyone.  The leaks have revealed to us though how US foreign policy has caused the death of untold  thousands, many of them as shown in the Collateral Damage clip, innocent civilians and children.

The other thing is that Manning had very sincere and principled reasons for sharing this information which the video appears to confirm he did. He was concerned about the situation in the world, between the nation states of the world and their conflicting interests. We should not forget that Iraq is the home of the fertile crescent where the birth of human agricultural activity began.  US capitalism and its mass media deceived the American people in order to gain support for its invasion of Iraq and destruction of its infrastructure, its water and sewage plants and means of sustaining basic human life.  It privatised its state owned oil industry through the bomb.

The release of the cables was a principled act of courage and concern for humanity and American workers in particular owe Manning a debt of gratitude for it.  It is a reflection of the true nature of the society in which we live that for a year Bradley Manning is drugged and kept in solitary confinement.  Meanwhile, mass murderers like Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and co. enjoy a free and prosperous life.

Anyone that has been through boot camp or seen examples of it like in the movie The Ground Truth which we recommend to all our readers (you can get it from Iraq Veterans Against the War) knows that it is an extensive effort to dehumanize people and dehumanize those they are sent to kill.  It teaches through humiliation and brainwashing that critical thinking and questioning is not a good thing.  But the real truth is that we do not need to be brainwashed and humiliated to defend our democratic rights and freedoms by agents of the ruling class who send working class youth in to combat while their children enjoy the security their wealth and connections bring.

Manning joined the military to get an education, rich kids don't have to do that.  That he was gay, short, had issues or was not the soldier that the draft dodger George Bush liked to dress up as or the soldier John Wayne, another person who never faced an armed opponent, liked to portray is irrelevant.  He wasn't a good soldier--so what! This has no bearing on what he is accused of doing. It does not detract from his heroic gesture to reveal to the American people what slaughter of innocent people was being carried out in our name and what hypocrisy the so-called diplomacy of the capitalist class is. It is the orchestrator's of these predatory  wars that place our youth in harms way, not Bradley Manning.

And please do not forget to see the movie, The Tillman Story another young American punished for refusing to be the lapdog of the likes of Rumsfeld and co.  Tillman and his family are Americans we can be proud of.

Free Bradley Manning