INFORMedia - alternative free media news and reviews - during times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act

Article by Katharine Dawn

Two men of very divergent walks of life have been irrevocably connected on the stage of world history.

One is 22-year-old US Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. (formerly SPC) Bradley Manning who allegedly leaked a secret video and classified military information to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, was arrested by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command in May 2010 and is currently held in US military detention in Kuwait facing numerous charges.

The other is Julian Assange, the daring co-founder and prominent spokesperson for WikiLeaks. Dubbed by some as “the most dangerous man in the world” and by others as a super-hero of the truth movement, Julian Assange remains highly active despite having to step up his personal security measures since the Manning arrest so as to elude “prosecution or worse”.

The leaked video, published by WikiLeaks in April 2010 under the title 'Collateral Murder', shows an American attack helicopter gunning down Iraqi civilians and a Reuters camera crew in Baghdad in 2007.

Like a large stone thrown into a great pool, this significant leak is creating numerous and wide-ranging ripples.

Ripple One : It has caused a wave of public outrage, internationally but particularly within the United States, over US militarism, demonstrating the power of leaked classified material to fuel civil activism for a more just and peaceful world.

Ripple Two : A “Supporters of Bradley Manning” group has been started, bringing together a high power international team with skills and networks from independent media, law, IT and peace activism, furthering what were reportedly Manning’s hopes that the release of the videos and documents would lead to “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms”.

Ripple Three : Significant mainstream media attention on the combat video leak brought its publisher, WikiLeaks, into the limelight. As a result, the word is out. That there exists an international public service called WikiLeaks, run by a collective of journalists and activists, that web-publishes leaked secret documents and media. That WikiLeaks protects its sources (using the most sophisticated encryption technology and basing their operations in countries such as Sweden and Belgium which have strong source protection laws). That WikiLeaks invites anyone with access to classified or confidential material that rightfully belongs in the public domain to contact them.

The Bradley Manning Support Group can be joined at www.bradleymanning.org

Will we be seeing many, many more coming forward in the manner of Attorney at Law James Ceverney, who wrote in the open email communications of the Support Group: “For a long time I have felt sickened about what is happening in this country, and I have felt guilty that my activism has been minimal. This case, however, touched a nerve in me. For me, this was the last straw. I’m ready to get off my butt and do something, anything I can, to stop this monstrous compounding of injustice upon injustice.”


References for this article include

http://www.bradleymanning.org/
http://indymedia.org.au/keywords/bradley-manning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_of_Bradley_Manning
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2920598.htm
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/wanted-by-the-us-wikileaks-founder-keeps-his-head-down-20100613-y652.html