ACTION

24 September 2010

Rally for Bradley Manning

At a rally Sunday, September 18, 2010, outside of the

gates of Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, Iraq veterans

spoke on behalf of a soldier imprisoned inside,

Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Manning has been held in solitary confinement at Quantico

for almost three months now, accused of being the source

of the “Collateral Murder” video which was released in April

by the online whistleblower web site WikiLeaks. The video

shows US forces firing 30 mm cannons from helicopter

gunships into a crowd in Baghdad, killing over a dozen

Iraqis, including two Reuters journalists, and seriously

wounding two children.

The government has intimated that Manning may also be

considered the source of the “Afghan War Diaries,” a series

of almost 100,000 documents pertaining to the Afghan war

published in July by WikiLeaks, which all together

constitute the largest leak in military history.

A former soldier from the ground unit that responded to the

helicopter shooting seen in the now-infamous video

described the incident as a typical moment in his 2007

deployment to Baghdad as part of the Surge. “It was by

no means abnormal,” said the former soldier, Josh Stieber

, who served 14 months in the New Baghdad neighborhood.

In a previous interview with me, Stieber and two other soldiers

from his unit, Bravo Company 2-16, detailed the paradox of

attempting to “win hearts and minds” while systematically

abusing people. “I think it illustrates why we shouldn’t put

soldiers in that situation” he said of the video.

“That’s what the war looks like,” he told the crowd Sunday,

while explaining that those who leak such information to the

public are doing a service to the country. “It’s important in order

to even have a conversation on [these wars] where soldiers are

supposedly fighting on behalf of the American public,” he added

, “for the American public to realize what kinds of situations

soldiers are being put into.”

.

[I believe it is time for politicians to quit meddling in

military matters! How are soldiers suppose to 'serve country'

when you politicians keep getting in the way?

This isn't about you politician(even though you THINK it is)

This situation is all the more reason to put military

General into the position of US President.]