Ten Revelations From Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks Documents
Ten Revelations From Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks Documents:In 2010, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was detained in Iraq on suspicion of passing classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks. On Monday, after more than three years in military jail, his trial finally began at Fort Meade, Md. The 25-year-old intelligence analyst admitted earlier this year to passing documents to…In 2010, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was detained in Iraq on suspicion of passing classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks. On Monday, after more than three years in military jail, his trial finally began at Fort Meade, Md.
The 25-year-old intelligence analyst admitted earlier this year to passing documents to the whistle-blowing website, though he denies the charge of "aiding the enemy," an offense that carries a life sentence or the death penalty. Manning said at a pretrial hearing in February that he leaked information, including diplomatic cables and U.S. military war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, in order to "spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy."
Below is a list of 10 revelations disclosed by Manning's leaked documents that offer insight into the breadth and scope of what he revealed, help explain his motivation for leaking, and provide context for the ongoing trial. The list, in no particular order, is far from comprehensive but encompasses some of the most significant information brought to light by the leaked documents.
- During the Iraq War, U.S. authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape, and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers, according to thousands of field reports.
- There were 109,032 "violent deaths" recorded in Iraq between 2004 and 2009, including 66,081 civilians. Leaked records from the Afghan War separately revealed coalition troops' alleged role in killing at least 195 civilians in unreported incidents, one reportedly involving U.S. service members machine-gunning a bus, wounding or killing 15 passengers.
- The U.S. Embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country that opposed genetically modified crops, with U.S. diplomats effectively working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto.
- British and American officials colluded in a plan to mislead the British Parliament over a proposed ban on cluster bombs.
- In Baghdad in 2007, a U.S. Army helicopter gunned down a group of civilians, including two Reuters news staff.
- U.S. special operations forces were conducting offensive operations inside Pakistan despite sustained public denials and statements to the contrary by U.S. officials.
- A leaked diplomatic cable provided evidence that during an incident in 2006, U.S. troops in Iraq executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. The disclosure of this cable was later a significant factor in the Iraqi government's refusal to grant U.S. troops immunity from prosecution beyond 2011, which led to U.S. troops withdrawing from the country.
- A NATO coalition in Afghanistan was using an undisclosed "black" unit of special operations forces to hunt down targets for death or detention without trial. The unit was revealed to have had a kill-or-capture list featuring details of more than 2,000 senior figures from the Taliban and al-Qaida, but it had in some cases mistakenly killed men, women, children, and Afghan police officers.
- The U.S. threatened the Italian government in an attempt to influence a court case involving the indictment of CIA agents over the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. Separately, U.S. officials were revealed to have pressured Spanish prosecutors to dissuade them from investigating U.S. torture allegations, secret "extraordinary rendition" flights, and the killing of a Spanish journalist by U.S. troops in Iraq.
- In apparent violation of a 1946 U.N. convention, Washington initiated a spying campaign in 2009 that targeted the leadership of the U.N. that sought to gather top officials' private encryption keys, credit card details, and biometric data.
Although Manning's disclosures totaled some 720,000 records—the largest security breach in U.S. history—the leak still amounted to less than 1 percent of the almost 77 million documents reportedly classified by U.S. government agencies in 2010. The soldier's actions are at the center of an ongoing debate about a spike in extreme state secrecy in the U.S. since Sept. 11—an issue regularly covered here on Future Tense—that has resulted in several aggressive leak investigations and surveillance of journalists. During the first day of Manning's trial, the government accused the soldier of indirectly assisting al-Qaida and leaking the information to "gain the notoriety he craved." Manning's defense attorney described him as "young, naive, but good intentioned," passing documents to WikiLeaks in a bid to "make the world a better place."
Manning's trial is expected to last through the summer.
Wow wow wow. I'm aligned more with the hero side of Manning than traitor.
directorbear: timeywimeyness: Yes I did. Martha Jones, BAMF
Yes I did.
Martha Jones, BAMF
think-progress: The scary effect sequestration is having on...
The scary effect sequestration is having on women seeking domestic violence help.
nextsignal: My life philosophy, right there.
My life philosophy, right there.
"One way that whites can be accountable is to stop being enablers to white supremacy by supplanting..."
"One way that whites can be accountable is to stop being enablers to white supremacy by supplanting the voice of people of color with their own. We do not need white people speaking for people of color. Such talk is crass paternalism. My words do not need to be placed through a white filter in order for them to be understandable."- Ewuare X. Osayande (via cielito-lindo)
nextsignal: buzzfeedlgbt: UK Group Attempts To Promote...
UK Group Attempts To Promote Straight Pride Parade
Side eye for days.
When you perceive the granting of rights to others as the destruction of your own, you are living in privilege.
somehowfurious: kissing-monsters: apiphile: sexxxisbeautiful: ...
Peggielene Bartels, A.K.A. King Peggy, is currently the King of Otuam, Ghana. She was chosen to be one of only three female kings in Ghana, and when she discovered that male chauvinists wanted her to only be a figurehead, she said: "They were treating me like I am a second-class citizen because I am a woman. I said, 'Hell no, you're not going to do this to a woman!'" When she encountered corruption and the threat of embezzlement to the royal funds, she declared "I'm going to squeeze their balls so hard their eyes pop!"
King Peggy has maintained her work in Ghana's embassy in Washington, D.C. while making education affordable in Otuam, installing borehead wells to produce clean drinking water, enforcing incarceration laws to deal with domestic violence, replenishing the royal coffers by taxing Otuam's fishing industry to improve life in the village, and appointing three women to her council.
"Nobody should tell you, 'You're a woman, you can't do it,'" she insists. "You can do it. Be ready to accept it when the calling comes."
Quoted from the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Ms. Magazine.
What a beautiful badass woman.
King Peggy has been on my blog before but this is my goddamn blog and I will have King Peggy on here twice if I want.
MORE FEMALE KINGS.
Always reblog King Peggy, who is on my dash far less than she should be. Did you know she has written a book about her life? It is great, and you should all get right on that if you haven't already.
Dear everyone: Chris Christie is conservative
Dear everyone: Chris Christie is conservative:Chris Christie in swimming in Democratic money as he runs for reelection. His Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, is ignored by the national press and the sort of people that would usually be writing checks for the Democratic challenger to a Republican governor in a large, liberal state.
Hugging Barack Obama was maybe the best political decision New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ever made, and he's made some very canny ones. I'm not saying his embrace of the president following Hurricane Sandy was entirely cynical, but it was very boisterous, and it continued through last week, when Obama visited the Jersey Shore and once again made nice with Christie before the national TV news cameras.
Here's what's odd about this Republican governor who currently seems much more popular with Democrats than national Republicans: He's quite conservative. Especially for the Northeast. That was, in fact, his original appeal, back when conservatives were thrilled about him: He's the most conservative possible successful statewide officeholder for a blue state like New Jersey.
In his first term, Christie torpedoed a much-needed mass transit tunnel project, same-sex marriage and early voting. He vetoed a minimum wage hike. He vetoed legislation designed to eliminate the gender wage gap. He withdrew from a regional carbon cap-and-trade agreement. He killed a Jersey version of the DREAM Act and cut funding for women's health services, including eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood. Remember how pissed everyone got when Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives tried to do the same thing? Many liberals seem to give Christie a pass for his antiabortion views that they'd never give a "red state" Republican. (This is maybe because he used to be pro-choice, meaning he made the exact switch on the issue everyone trashed Romney for making.)
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andrewpauldost: i want dogs to be allowed at more places and i want children under 6 to not be
i want dogs to be allowed at more places and i want children under 6 to not be
George R.R. Martin on sex versus violence #this man is my...
George R.R. Martin on sex versus violence
aghostwhorawks: WAAILS | MOTIONS OF THE MOON (by...
WAAILS | MOTIONS OF THE MOON (by Waailsmusic)
Putting this here again because it's probably been too long.
thedailybeard: dashbeardconfessional: "GIF" versus "JIF"…...
"GIF" versus "JIF"… resolved?!
whaaaat?
blua: If you're unemployed, it's not because there isn't any...
blua:
If you're unemployed, it's not because there isn't any work.
Just look around: A housing shortage, crime, pollution; we need better schools and parks. Whatever our needs, they all require work. And as long as we have unsatisfied needs, there's work to be done.
So ask yourself, what kind of world has work but no jobs? It's a world where work is not related to satisfying our needs, a world where work is only related to satisfying the profit needs of business.
This country was not built by the huge corporations or government bureaucracies. It was built by people who work. And, it is working people who should control the work to be done. Yet, as long as employment is tied to somebody else's profits, the work won't get done.
And this was my birthday card from Joey. He knows me all too...
And this was my birthday card from Joey. He knows me all too well.
brucebannerisms: idris elba for next james bond. idris elba for twelve. idris elba for everyone...
idris elba for next james bond.
idris elba for twelve.
idris elba for everyone tbh.
WHEN THE WEIRD GUY ON THE BUS STARTS TALKING TO YOU
WHEN THE WEIRD GUY ON THE BUS STARTS TALKING TO YOU:
"JK Rowling created seven Horcruxes. She put a part of her soul in every book and now her books will..."
""JK Rowling created seven Horcruxes. She put a part of her soul in every book and now her books will live forever""- -Stephen King (via howtedmethiswife)
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