Sacrifice of US
soldier's liberty will not have been made in vain
History will
damn the persecutors of Bradley Manning. Big powers who hide crimes away from
their own people - while claiming to act in their name, of course - fear few
more than those determined to hold them to account.
No wonder
Manning was subjected to what the UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez,
described as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment: left languishing in
solitary confinement for months, regularly stripped naked, forced to sleep
without darkness, deprived of any right to privacy. An example had to be made of
a soldier who helped strip away the humanitarian pretences of US power, and
revealed a far uglier reality.
Although it is
Julian Assange - hiding from sex allegations in London's Ecuadorian Embassy -
who has dominated the WikiLeaks story, Manning is the real martyr of the story.
One of the videos released gave an insight into the horror of the US-led war in
Iraq: an Apache helicopter shooting dead 11 Iraqis in a Baghdad suburb, none of
whom returned fire. Among the dead was a 22-year-old Reuters' photojournalist
Namir Noor-Eldeen; two children were brutally wounded. The crew laughed as they
massacred: the video was one striking example of how occupations corrupt the
occupier.
The US military
may well succeed in locking away Manning, possibly for good. But whatever the
verdict, for millions, he has already been vindicated.
"For me this
seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass," was how
Manning put it. According to WikiLeaks, this exposure had a key role in forcing
US withdrawal after the Iraqi government stripped US forces of legal
immunity.
Manning had a
noble and courageous purpose: in his own words, to "spark a domestic debate on
the role of our military and foreign policy in general".
It is a debate
often suppressed with the cynical manipulation of patriotism. But it was the
Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower who warned: "In the councils of
government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential
for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will
persist."
It is exactly
this power that Manning has challenged, and at great cost to
himself.
Although Manning
has pleaded guilty on 10 counts - such as unauthorized possession of sensitive
material - he has proclaimed his innocence on "aiding the enemy", or
specifically al-Qaida. In truth, it is a charge that successive US governments
are guilty of: by funding and arming extremists in the 1980s, and pursuing a
foreign policy that has helped radicalize millions since.
Manning faces
spending the rest of his life in jail. It is not a sacrifice that should be made
in vain. The fight for open, accountable international diplomacy must be stepped
up in response. The US military may well succeed in locking away Manning,
possibly for good. But whatever the verdict, for millions, he has already been
vindicated.
MBH/HJ
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