bradley manning

i'm a little behind the power curve on this, but i came across an awesome interview about bradley manning today. for those of you who don't know that name, he's the one the government is convicting of being responsible for some of the items wikileaks has released. the audio is of a private conference call given for the benefit of a the media. it's been tacked onto the back end of an episode of free talk live. to get it, just go to their archive page, and download the podcast for 25 may. if you don't want to listen to the whole show, skip ahead to around 2:18 (2 hours 18 minutes). you'll know you're in the right place if you hear them talking about a cruise as that's right before they tacked on the call.

i think what's said throughout the call makes it quite clear just how corrupt the united states government (of which the military is a part) has become. i got to experience some of this corruption when i was in afghanistan. fortunately, i didn't observe any war crimes. however, the minor instances i did see were responsible for most of the stress i had while i was there. it seemed like every day i was either in an argument or trying to decide if it was worth starting one.

the one thing i did learn was that it's a rare person who can remain impervious to the siren call of power. i even managed to catch myself abusing my position sometimes...and i was near the bottom of the chain.

a couple nights ago i watched the documentary 'fair game' (the 2010 film...there are several with that name). it's about a CIA agent and an ambassador who end up on the wrong side of the bush administration during the second invasion of iraq. add that to the evidence of power corrupting government.

it's rather ironic that the US government is becoming more and more like the brittish government our forefathers fought against 200 years ago. if there's one thing government needs it's a healthy dose of transparency. it's people like bradley manning, daniel ellsberg, julian assange, etc that bring it. instead of being prosecuted, they should be praised for their courage to stand up to the powers that be, and bring the truth to the ignorant masses.

the internal military mechanisms do not work to bring justice or accountability.
-julian assange