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Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years for handing over 700,000 classified documents to Wikileaks that exposed the inner workings of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, the architects of war and torture, are still free. War crime chargers were never brought against them.
There’s so much wrong with this picture. Cheney, who was often referred to the Darth Vader of the Bush administration, was the worst of the bunch. Instead of being charged with war crimes, he got a new heart! And it certainly wasn’t the heart of a Progressive. You can still see him from time to time on TV news, struggling to look tough but aware that he has become irrelevant.
Rumsfeld, Bush’s Secretary of defense, approved of “stripping prisoners naked, hooding them, exposing prisoners to extremes of heat and cold, and slamming them up against walls” at Guantanamo. No telling where he is, maybe working at a conservative think tan and pulling in two grand a day.
John C Yoo, an attorney in Bush’s Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, is the lawyer who claimed that waterboarding is legal. He now teaches law at Berkeley, one of the most liberal universities in the country. Sort of ironic, really.Trickster? I wouldn’t take a class from this guy.
Then there is W himself, a strange little man who used to emit weird chuckles at inopportune moments, the guy who called himself the Decider in Chief, a person of such diminished mental capacity that his brainy and corrupt cabinet members made decisions for him. Occasionally, W comes out of hiding, emerges from whatever weird cocoon he is now inhabiting in the aftermath of his disastrous eight years as president. No one pays too much attention him. Not even his own Republican party.
So Manning, now all of 25, gets 35 years in federal prison. Whistleblower Edward Snowden saw the proverbial writing on the wall and fled the U.S. for Hong Kong before he turned over a reported 700,000 documents that expose the extent of the NSA’s spying program on Americans. He has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, another irony that has the trickster’s fingerprints all over it. Russia isn’t a country we usually associate with freedom from persecution or human rights.
Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for The Guardian UK, is the man who broke this story. He lives in Brazil, with his partner, David Miranda, a Brazilian citizen. Several days ago, Miranda was detained for nine hours at Heathrow Airport in London, and was questioned under a provision of the UK’s terrorism laws. He was passing through London on his way from Berlin to Brazil.
In Berlin, he was visiting Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker, who has partnered with Greenwald on revealing the information in these documents. When Snowden initially contacted her, she was working on a documentary film about surveillance that included an interview with Julian Assange (to whom Bradley Manning sent documents), who revealed certain information to her.
Not only did UK detain Greenwald’s partner, Miranda, for nine hours, but they confiscated his computer, flash drives, all his electronic equipment. Since that happened, it’s been revealed that The Guardian has been under constant pressure from UK officials to turn over the NSA documents they had. They refused to do so and eventually sent copies of their documents out of the UK and elected to destroy their own computers and hard drives.
The message in all this is clear: journalists, you’ve been put on notice. Here in the U.S., journalists are no longer protected by the first amendment. But as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow noted, Journalists are not terrorists.
Since the U.S. tries to manipulate most of the rest of the world, these whistleblowers and their journalist buddies won’t be safe wherever they flee. Except, well, maybe Russia. Or Brazil. Or Bolivia? Maybe not. When it was rumored that Bolivia had extended asylum to Snowden, the plane of the Bolivian president, while flying over Europe, was diverted and searched. Snowden wasn’t on board. The president got home – and raised holy hell.
But these days, you have to raise more than holy hell. You have to look back to history, to the Nixon/Watergate years, when journalists were still protected by the first amendment, and Woodward and Bernstein published their explosive findings that ultimately brought down the administration of Richard Nixon. And then you have to ask yourself: was George Orwell right and just way off on his timing? Is the kind of world in which I choose to live? If not, what can I do about it?
There are some intriguing synchronicities connected with all of this. We covered the Snowden synchros here. And here.
So here’s another synchro. Even though David Miranda is Brazilian, his last name means something in the U.S. The Miranda Rights. We’ve all heard it in cop shows:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.
It means that a suspect’s Fifth Amendment rights are protected; he or she can refuse to answer self-incriminating questions. And what’s at the very heart of the Snowden/Assange/Manning travesty? That in the aftermath of this massive release of government secrets, you – whistleblower, journalist or documentary filmmakers- better say nothing that might incriminate you. You had better be afraid – and mute about your government’s illegal activities against other countries – and against its own citizens.
This whole thing is sad commentary on a country like the U.S. that supposedly stands for freedom in all its forms and touts that PR rhetoric. The truth is that our politicians violate the most human tenets of the Bill of Rights.
What have we become? Who are we as a nation, a collective, a people?
Back in 2005, I think it was, Rob, Megan and I walked into a restaurant in the Dominica Republic and ordered dinner. Laid back town, we were there for windsurfing. But a French couple approached us and the man looked at us and snapped, “Why did you vote for Bush not only once, but twice? How could you Americans do such a thing? Do you have any idea what the repercussions of eight years of Bush are going to be?”
And I looked back at him and said, “We didn’t vote for him.” And yes, we understand the repercussions. We are living them right now.
Nancy, my common saying is that if our ailments don’t kill us, the medications will!
Such a shame, and one that could be remedied.
I have a friend who takes Ambien routinely. She works the 3-11 shift at the hospital here. One night when she got off work and started home, she got lost and had no clue where she was even though she lives close to the hospital. She drove around all over the place trying to find her way home. It scared the beejeebies out of her. Her physician (not the one who gave her the Ambien) told her it was a side-effect of that drug. Yet she continues to take it! I would flush them down the toilet! I also won’t take name-brand Tylenol, made by McNeil Laboratories, and instead purchase the Publix brand of acetaminophen made by a different pharmaceutical company. McNeil is as bad as Monsanto, almost, and many of their products, including Tylenol, has been recalled from shelves regularly. (I don’t tolerate aspirin.)
Good to know about the Tylenol. I also don’t use anything made by the Bayer company. Another evil group, IMHO.
I saw this written on Rich Martini’s new post –
“This film that Alex Gibney made, “Wikileaks” has a key piece of spiritual information in it. At the very end, when Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning is discussing why he felt he had to reveal all this information that got him 35 years in prison, he refers to “the pale blue dot.”
That’s a reference to Carl Sagan’s work – or to the photograph that Carl referenced in his work, and also became famous as a photograph from space looking back at our planet. There were photos of Earth from the moon which were pretty startling, but this particular photo showed Earth as this tiny pale blue dot, almost impossible to make out, but there in outer space.”
https://flipsidetouristguide.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/thoughts-on-shift.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+FlipsideATouristsGuideOnHowToNavigateTheAfterlife+%28Flipside:+A+Tourist%27s+Guide+on+How+To+Navigate+the+Afterlife%29
I also see Rich has his “Flipside” book on kindle for sale again at Amazon for 99 cents,but only for a short time.
Now THAT is fascinating, Daz. I also didn’t realize martini has a blog, I’ll check it out. His book is a bargain at 99 cents. I hope he’s doing a sequel.
Re: “I hope he’s doing a sequel.”
In that post he says he is writing it now.
I just left hi a comment. Thanks for the link, Daz. Interesting insights he has.
My material from the attorney group for the class-action lawsuit against Monsanto is seven inches thick. In addition to the “legalese”, it contains countless notarized, confirmed-by-physicians, testimonials. One of these is a mind-blower. A neuro-surgeon (no less!) decided he wanted to start doing a few good things to improve his body’s general health. He switched from sugar-soda to Diet Coke as a part of his strategy. In about six months, he began to have severe headaches. Blinding, debilitating headaches with vomiting, that were not migraines. Procedures presented a significant mass in his brain. He had surgery to remove the non-malignant mass. Within the mass of that brain tumor tissue, the pathologist found enormous amounts of formadehyde and methanol….two of the three chemicals in Aspartame. The shame is that this is not an unusual or rare case.
Parents who believe they are doing right for their kids purchse sugar-free gum, sugar-free Jello, sugar-free popsicles, sugar-free Kool-Aid, etc etc etc. These children are developing seizures and many other horrible and often life-threatening ailments. When the Aspartame is removed from the diet, often there is a fairly rapid recovery….sometimes, though, it’s too late. When I’m in a grocery store and watch folks putting all those Aspartame products in their buggies, I want so much to scream “DON’T!” But I can’t. What I CAN do is urge everyone who wants to use sugar-free products to go to Splenda, Stevia, even Sweet and Low (which is now determined to be safe). There ARE alternatives to Aspartame.
Please, please use those, or even a bit of plain old sugar, honey, or syrup. One tsp of sugar is only 16 calories. Diabetics are now allowed a little sugar. Just don’t overdo it. A nice thing about Splenda is that it bakes well. Aspartame is not good for cooking and/or baking, in addition to its toxicity. It breaks down even more into the deadly chemical combination, and also loses its sweetness. Get educated on this. Don’t eat poison!!!
Lauren, I’m one of several hundred-thousand people in a Class-Action lawsuit against Monsanto Chemical Company. It won’t be settled while I’m alive. I suffered proven”Aspartame Poisoning” (Aspartame toxicity) and almost died from it. My blood work showed extreme, deadly levels of formaldehyde years ago when I was being tested. I was drinking Diet Coke and eating sugar-free products sweetened with Aspartame at that time. There are valid , independent scientific studies demonstrating that Parkinson’s, MS, epilepsy, brain tumors, can very well be the result of ingesting Aspartame, even in small amounts, and it has been PROVEN that other neurological and other ailments are directly caused by the ingestion of that artificial sweetener. Aspartame, (Nutrasweet, etc), was originally used as a medicinal treatment for ulcers, but the side effects were so astronomical that the FDA pulled it off the clinical market, then turned around and approved it for food substances as an artificial sweetener. This is not a conspiracy theory. When any food containing Aspartame reaches 85-degres F, and most do during transporation and storage, especially in warm areas, the chemical components of Aspartame undergo a transformation and become methanol (wood alcohol), formaldehyde, (and we all know what formaldehyde is used for), and formic acid, which is the toxin emitted by fire ants.
Aspartame is a neurol0gical toxin in ANY amount used, and folks who eat it routinely, as I did for many years, are risking not only deadly and irreversible damage to their bodies, but potential death. Next time you pick up a Diet Pepsi, picture Michael J. Fox in your minds. He was the spokesperson for Diet Pepsi, and was never seen without one in his hands long before being diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Aspartame is in more than 200,000 products on the market shelves, including children’s prescription medicines. READ LABELS, guys, and leave this stuff alone. The FDA does not care about our lives or our quality of life, only about making money. So if you see “sugar-free” on a food product, check and make sure the sugar substitute is NOT Aspartame. Again, this is real. It has been proven. Yet the FDA leaves it out there for consumption by millions who think because the FDA hasn’t removed it, it must be OK and safe. Don’t depend on the FDA (another government agency that is SUPPOSED to oversee our safety!!) to protect us. It doesn’t.
Monsanto also makes Ambien – one of the most controversial sleeping drugs on the market. What I want to know is how a company known for pesticides gets into the pharmaceutical business? Or the seed business? Or the artifical sweetener business?
Our current administration passes a LAW that says that it cannot be sued in court?? The Monsanto Protection Act is truly evil.
People need to start paying attention to what is going on.
Good luck with your class-action suit, Math.
Wow, I didn’t know this, Nancy. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I need to tell my sister this – she uses it to get to sleep at night. My own experience with this drug was around the time of my father’s death. Once did it for me. The stuff is dangerous.
I used 1/2 an Ambien for insomnia for quite a while. When I found out it was made by Monsanto – I quit that very day. It took many days to feel right again. Dreams were really weird, I couldn’t sleep at all, etc. I do think it is a dangerous drug. Anything Monsanto makes is not for the good of the people. Period.
One of our neighbors had taken an ambien and was kicked up by police when she was driving. She has no memory of sleepwalking to her car or getting in it.
Yes, good luck on this, Math.
The forces that brought down the Nixon administration belonged to a more hopeful time, when we were still a democracy, and a more ethical, more empowered people. I no longer believe we have a democracy, and the passivity, or perhaps just impotency, with which one thing after another happens without the seeming “consent of the people”, demonstrates this. Witness the recent passing of the “Monsanto Protection Act” ……. this mega-multi-national corporation, which is in the process of messing with the gene pool of food, doesn’t even bother to be transparent any longer. It’s as if they are saying “We own Congress, and you’ll do what we tell you to eat.”
Bush and his colleagues are responsible for the death of millions of American soldiers and Iraq civilions, not to mention the bankrupting of the economy. I marched with 300,000 people in San Francisco at the advent of the invasion of Iraq – and yet that massive protest, which occured around the world, meant nothing, indeed, it was hardly reported. Very different from the visibility of the Vietnam years.
It is such a profound tragedy that now, when we face a global ecological crisis of unprecedented proportions, a crisis that requires, at the very least, a true paradigm of cooperation and global thinking……….we are devolving into a military regime (shades indeed of Orwell) which is controlled by multi-national corporate interests which have no interest in the future, humanity, or the planet that must sustain all of it……….only profit.
When the media is owned by just six corporations world-wide, you can be assured we know only what those corporations want us to know. People need to do their own research if they want to know what is really going on in the world. Alternative news sites are everywhere and are telling a very different story about what is really going on in the world.
I couldn’t agree more with your assessment. We are devolving into a military regime and Obama has done more than any other president to curtail civil liberties. I’m sorry I voted for him.
In another strange twist in all of this,
maybe you should get use to calling Bradley,Chelsea ?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-23/bradley-manning-says-he-wants-to-live-as-a-woman-named-chelsea/4906888
I was just reading about this weird twist…
If we don’t somehow obtain better, stronger, more focused leadership, we are doomed.
Politics in this country is just a big fat, sloppy mess.
Latest on Miranda on the BBC website – posted about 20 minutes ago. According to Steven Kovats QC “Material taken from the claimant (Miranda) includes material the unauthorised disclosure of which would endanger national security of the UK and put lives at risk” Does that (if true, of course!), therefore justify questioning Miranda for nine hours?
Thanks for the update, Mike. I just read that BBC piece. Where is all this headed?
Wonderful article here. Lately I find turning on the television so depressing I have to turn it off. There is nothing I can do about any of this and it does not further my life one jot by being depressed. Making art helps – as does writing.
X O X
S O S
Adele
it IS depressing.
We are an authoritarian state and we are marching toward fascism. The NDAA sealed our fate.
Nancy – what’s the NDAA??
National Defense Authorization Act
From the ACLU website:
In December 2011, President Obama signed the 2012 NDAA, codifying indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history. The NDAA’s dangerous detention provisions would authorize the president — and all future presidents — to order the military to pick up and indefinitely imprison people captured anywhere in the world, far from any battlefield. The ACLU will fight worldwide detention authority wherever we can, be it in court, in Congress, or internationally.
Under the Bush administration, similar claims of worldwide detention authority were used to hold even a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil in military custody, and many in Congress now assert that the NDAA should be used in the same way again. The ACLU believes that any military detention of American citizens or others within the United States is unconstitutional and illegal, including under the NDAA. In addition, the breadth of the NDAA’s detention authority violates international law because it is not limited to people captured in the context of an actual armed conflict as required by the laws of war.
In other words, American citizens can be deemed a “threat” and will not have due process. They can be taken out of the country, held indefinitely, and do not have the right to a lawyer. For as long as the President deems necessary. And any President from now on…they all have the right to kill, capture, and hold anyone, anywhere, for as long as they like. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Obama passed this right at the beginning of 2012, very quietly, during the Christmas break, just as they pass everything they don’t want the public to take a good look at.
Ad it started with my all time favorite (ha), Bush. And was perpetuated by the guy I voted for, obama. This is truly depressing.
I know what you mean. Scary stuff.
Yeah, I googled it after you left your initial comment. Horrifying, when you think about it for longer than 5 seconds.
It’s happening really fast. All the pieces are clicking together and I don’t think it is in our best interest.