[HCCN] FW: DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST BRADLEY MANNING!!

[Judith Robbins]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Doug Rawlings <rawlings at vfpmaine.org>
Veterans For Peace                               216 S. Meramec Avenue St.
Louis, MO 63105 (314) 725-6005
    Thursday, February 23
 
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leah Bolger
 541-207-7761      
 DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST BRADLEY MANNING!! Veterans For Peace Tells US
Army: Stop Prosecution of GI Whistleblower A national organization
representing thousands of military veterans is calling on the US Army to
abandon court martial proceedings against Private Bradley Manning, the
accused Wikileaks whistleblower. The young soldier, who has been imprisoned
for 21 months, will be formally arraigned today (Thursday, Feb. 23) at Fort
Meade, Maryland. Army prosecutors say they will file 22 charges against PFC
Manning, including ³aiding the enemy,² a crime that can be punished by the
death penalty or life in prison.
 ³Where is the justice?² asks Gerry Condon, a Board member of Veterans For
Peace. ³The Army is shirking its duty to punish soldiers who have committed
rape and murder. Yet they are trying to destroy the life of Bradley Manning,
who has not harmed a hair on a person's head.²
 In May 2010, the Army arrested PFC Manning, then 22, in Iraq, where he was
working as a low level intelligence analyst. He is accused of leaking
classified information, including an Army video that shows US soldiers in
Baghdad shooting down unarmed civilians, including two Reuters employees,
from an Apache helicopter. The video, dubbed ³Collateral Murder,² has been
viewed millions of times on YouTube.
 Prosecutors have also accused Manning of giving Wikileaks thousands of Army
diaries from its occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army's own reports
reveal that the killing of civilians was a regular occurrence and that the
Army regularly lied about it.. The diaries also show that the Army was lying
to the American people about the progress of the wars in both Iraq and
Afghanistan.      
 ³It is not a crime to reveal evidence of war crimes, but it is a crime to
cover up evidence of war crimes, as the Army has apparently done,² said Leah
Bolger, a former Navy Commander who was recently elected the first woman
president of Veterans For Peace. ³The American people deserve to know the
truth about the wars being waged in our name,² continued Bolger. ³Our
soldiers should not be asked to die for a lie, and those who tell us the
truth should not be the ones being punished.²
 Bradley Manning has been confined for 21 months, including 8 months in
solitary confinement at the Marine brig at Quantico, Virginia, where reports
of his abuse bordering on torture caused an international outcry. Manning is
now at another military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Quantico
brig has been closed down.. The US government has declined repeated requests
by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, to interview
PFC Manning privately about his treatment.
 Private Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, has complained on his blog that
most of his requested defense witnesses were denied by the Army judge, while
all of the prosecution witnesses were allowed.
 ³This is a kangaroo court martial,² said Gerry Condon of Veterans For
Peace. ³It is now obvious that the US Army will not give PFC Manning a fair
trial, That is why Veterans For Peace is calling on Army Chief of Staff
General Ray Odierno, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Commander-In-Chief
Barack Obama to drop all the charges against Bradley Manning.²
 At its national convention in 2010, Veterans For Peace awarded Bradley
Manning for his courage. ³If he actually did what he is accused of doing,
then he is a hero,² said Mike Ferner, Interim Director of Veterans For
Peace.     
    
 Veterans For Peace is a 26-year-old organization whose mission is to
abolish war through nonviolent means, and to take care of the needs of
veterans and victims of war. For more information, visit MailScanner has
detected a possible fraud attempt from "salsa.democracyinaction.org"
claiming to be www.veteransforpeace.org
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=H37ATPImo2%2BJ2Y
kJAxPaw3M8WQlF3Dyj>  and MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt
from "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be www.bradleymanning.org
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dER48TXH1TgqtlRa
etys9nM8WQlF3Dyj> .
     
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