Military Injustice

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Quote of the Day

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

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This morning a military judge sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. This is a travesty that should be condemned by all right-thinking people on this planet. Evidently it's less offensive to commit war crimes than to release documents of the crimes without the government's permission.

 

During the Iraq War, more than 4000 Iraqi civilians were killed at the hands of US-led coalition forces and there have been little to no repercussions. Certainly not to the leaders who brought us into this totally illegal invasion on totally erroneoous information. Bush, Cheney and the neocons who planned this war will live out the rest of their lives in freedom and wealth. Likewise, "all upper-level US government officials who presided over the bloodbath that was the US occupation of Iraq, including the years of 2004-2009 covered in the documents exposed by Manning, will face no punishment of any kind." [Josh Dougherty, Iraq BodyCount website post Aug 2, 2013]

 

In his post, Josh Dougherty notes that some lower-level US troops have faced punishment for specific actions but this has been "quite rare and the punishments have typically been relatively light even where they were sought."

• The US marines involved in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha in November 2005 "faced virtually no legal consequences. One Marine was convicted of a minor offense for which he served no jail time, and the rest have all been acquitted or had all charges dropped."
• "[H]elicopter pilots who gunned down at least ten civilians, including two Reuters journalists and a father of two children who stopped to try to help the wounded, as documented in the "Collateral Murder" video exposed by Bradley Manning, face no punishment of any kind."
• The systematic torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison resulted in punishement of just eleven soldiers. "The heaviest sentence handed down to one soldier was 10 years in prison, for which he received parole after serving 6.5 years and is now free. Other sentences included reprimands, rank reductions, small fines or short prison terms."

 

So contrast that with the vindictive prosecution and sentencing of Bradley Manning for releasing documents the government chose to classify. 35 years for a victim-less crime. No one was killed. No one was tortured. This is so Kafka-esque that it defies belief.

 

Maybe the sentence will be reduced on appeal. After all, Lt. William Calley served just 3-1/2 years under house arrest at Fort Benning for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre.   Lt. Calley, the only one of the 30 officers and enlisted men convicted, gave the order to the First Battalion to kill 70-80 My Lai villagers that had been rounded up.   The total massacred by various battalions of Charlie Company was at least 347.  These Vietnamese civilians included women, children and the elderly. 

 

But maybe not. Maybe Bradley Manning will spend the major portion of his remaining life in a military prison.  For Bradley Manning's crime has no victims.

 

Second Quote of the Day

“Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash: your picture in the paper nor money in the back either. Just refuse to bear them.” ― William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

Link to Wikipedia article on My Lai Massacre