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PFC Bradley Manning: Conscience and Agency
The following is a response to last week's New York Magazine article, Bradley Manning's Army of One.
Serving with my unit 2nd battalion 16th infantry in New Baghdad Iraq, I vividly remember the moment in 2007, when our Battalion Commander walked into the room and announced our new rules of engagement:
"Listen up, new battalion SOP (standing operating procedure) from now on: Anytime your convoy gets hit by an IED, I want 360 degree rotational fire. You kill every [expletive] in the street!"
We weren't trained extensively to recognize an unlawful order, or how to report one. But many of us could not believe what we had just been told to do. Those of us who knew it was morally wrong struggled to figure out a way to avoid shooting innocent civilians, while also dodging repercussions from the non-commissioned officers who enforced the policy. In such situations, we determined to fire our weapons, but into rooftops or abandoned vehicles, giving the impression that we were following procedure.
On April 5, 2010 American citizens and people around the world got a taste of the fruits of this standing operating procedure when WikiLeaks released the now-famous Collateral Murder video. This video showed the horrific and wholly unnecessary killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists.
I was part of the unit that was responsible for this atrocity. In the video, I can be seen attempting to carry wounded children to safety in the aftermath.
The video released by WikiLeaks belongs in the public record. Covering up this incident is a matter deserving of criminal inquiry. Whoever revealed it is an American hero in my book.
Private First Class Bradley Manning has been confined for over a year on the government’s accusation that he released this video and volumes of other classified documents to WikiLeaks — an organization that has been selectively publishing portions of this information in collaboration with other news outlets.
If PFC Bradley Manning did what he is accused of doing, then it is clear—from chat logs that have been attributed to him—that his decision was motivated by conscience and political agency. These chat logs allegedly describe how PFC Manning hopes these revelations will result in “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms.”
Unfortunately, Steve Fishman's article Bradley Manning's Army of One in New York Magazine (July 3, 2011) erases Manning’s political agency. By focusing so heavily on Manning's personal life, Fishman removes politics from a story that has everything to do with politics. The important public issues wrapped up with PFC Manning’s case include: transparency in government; the Obama Administration’s unprecedented pursuit of whistle-blowers; accountability of government and military in shaping and carrying out foreign policy; war crimes revealed in the WikiLeaks documents; the catalyzing role these revelations played in democratic movements across the Middle East; and more.
The contents of the WikiLeaks revelations have pulled back the curtain on the degradation of our democratic system. It has become completely normal for decision-makers to promulgate foreign policies, diplomatic strategies, and military operating procedures that are hostile to the democratic ideals our country was founded upon. The incident I was part of—shown in the Collateral Murder video—becomes even more horrific when we grasp that it was not exceptional. PFC Manning himself is alleged to describe (in the chat logs) an incident where he was ordered to turn over innocent Iraqi academics to notorious police interrogators, for the offense of publishing a political critique of government corruption titled, "Where did the money go?" These issues deserve “discussion, debates, and reforms” — and attention from journalists.
Fishman's article was also ignorant of the realities of military service. Those of us who serve in the military are often lauded as heroes. Civilians need to understand that we may be heroes, but we are not saints. We are young people under a tremendous amount of stress. We face moral dilemmas that many civilians have never even contemplated hypothetically.
Civil society honors military service partly because of the sacrifice it entails. Lengthy and repeated deployments stress our closest relationships with family and friends. The realities, traumas, and stresses of military life take an emotional toll. This emotional battle is part of the sacrifice that we honor. That any young soldier might wrestle with his or her experiences in the military, or with his or her identity beyond military life, should never be wielded as a weapon against them.
If PFC Bradley Manning did what he is accused of, he is a hero of mine; not because he's perfect or because he never struggled with personal or family relationships—most of us do—but because in the midst of it all he had the courage to act on his conscience.
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24 Comments so far
Show AllI'm voting for Manning in the upcoming election and appreciate the words of McCord.
The basic dynamic of an economy researched and advertised for decades to generate loyalty to THINGS for the profit of producers, based on constant expansion which is the cause, to a historical and shameful extent, of the oppression and extermination in many cases, of peoples not of the US and historically through the Doctrine of Discovery, of a distorted form of christianity, has resulted in a demand that citizens of the US live in a state of denial on an ongoing basis. This the root of a form of trauma and psychological damage that must be named and described. If this is not done, we face a form of social dissolution that, as a global power now threatens the ecological sustainability of the planet.
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Corporate responsibility and accountability is commensurate with the Supreme Court assertion of rights. This must be demanded.
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Persons who document the criminal negligence and lies of omission contributing to this cannot be held hostage as the blood sacrifice for a constitutionally abusive and profoundly destructive economic system that now claims supremacy in policy.
We are being held as human shields on the assumption that the system cannot be changed for equity, dignity and truth.
DN! taped interview this morning with David House of the Bradly Manning support network should be basic viewing. House's grandfather was a career detective in Alabama while the Freedom Marches were going on and Dr King was jailed - and experienced a transformation. This legacy and the principles instilled in House are a further dimension of this struggle for government accountability that should be known.
"Civilians need to understand that we may be heroes, but we are not saints."
You are certainly not "heroes" by any stretch of the imagination; American troops are plane old mercenaries committing war crimes for a genocidal elite. Baghdad Bob was right after all. Murdering an "insurgent" isn't any less of a war crime, either; they are freedom fighters trying to repel a foreign invasion.
I have nothing but respect for soldiers who realize their crimes and speak out against war, as this author appears to be doing; and yes I realize there is an extraordinary amount of brainwashing going on; but let's drop it with the hero nonsense. The author may also wish to drop the patronizing term "civilians". I didn't ask for anyone for "protect my freedoms" by bombing faraway countries.
Perhaps a little tough love is in order. If it is true that soldiers like Bradley Manning should be granted moral agency when they do the right thing, then I see no reason why we shouldn't grant the same to those who do the wrong thing.
I accept the argument that these kids are brainwashed, but at what point does one start to insist that they take a modicum of responsibility for their actions? It's not as though it's painstakingly difficult to learn the truth. Anyone with access to the internet can google PNAC. Are we really doing these war addicts a favor by pretending they don't have a problem?
Or is it all just political PR? We must "support the troops!" Bill Hicks had a rather amusing take on this stance -- he said with respect the Gulf War that he was put into an uncomfortable position because "I was for the war but against the troops...it was not the most popular stance I've ever taken on an issue.”
I can't think of any other "profession" where saying "I was poor and brainwashed" or "sorry, I'm just an automaton and don't actually have the capacity to make decisions" is actually considered an excuse for committing a crime, let alone mass murder.
Native Canadian musician Buffy St. Marie wrote in "Universal Soldier"
And he's fighting for Democracy,
He's fighting for the Reds,
He says it's for the peace of all.
He's the one who must decide,
Who's to live and who's to die,
And he never sees the writing on the wall.
But without him,
How would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone,
He's the one who gives his body
As a weapon of the war,
And without him all this killing can't go on.
He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,
His orders come from far away no more,
They come from here and there and you and me,
And brothers can't you see,
This is not the way we put the end to war.
Wow ! Es verdad ! Those who speak out loudly like Manning are tortured and imprisoned, while the murderers walk free....bush/cheney, obomber, and on and on ! And the sick calls of support, or worse, pray for the troops, echos down the slippery slope of the abyss that fascist amerika IS rapidly falling into !
Superb comment, Durrutix.
"Universal Soldier" appreciates over time.
DURRUTIX: Thank you for a post that resonates with me, too.
I have a woman friend who uses that same schizophrenic line... "I support OUR troops, but not the war." Finally I called her on it. Believe me, when I throw truth at my friends it's not something that makes me popular. I told her flat out that it makes no sense... since that means one would be supporting WHAT the troops are doing, which is an illegal WAR against largely unarmed innocents.
She smokes like a chimney, but tries to eat health food. A typical Gemini, she has to negotiate those twins and their polarized perspectives in all areas of her life.
I have decided, from 40 years of astrological counseling, that those born to charts with a lot of emphasis on the dual signs (Pisces, Gemini, & Sag) came into this life essentially inwardly divided, experiencing at every moment the cognitive version of a civil war withom themselves. I believe this is the result of activities in at least one prior lifetime where they portrayed one identity to the public, while harboring in private beliefs to the absolute contrary. One could understand how during say the Inquisition, such a strategy might mean saving one's own life. Society's injustices force mortals to adapt in not always honest ways.
In any case... my cosmic opinion.
Fuck you. You have obviously never been in the military or never been made a refugee by your idological interaction with the real world. People who perceive the world as simply as you do must unequivocally be judged simpletons, simply on the basis of your mode of perception.
"He's fighting because he can't find a fucking job in this fascist nation."
I have been in the military and I DO KNOW what it's like to refuse an illegal order. As an office, I was ordered to be prepared to move out to Washington D.C. on riot control during the Vietnam era. I refused, as the order was illegal. The next day I found out that some 30 other officers had done the same. Faced with a political disaster of monumental proportions, we were congratulated for our moral values and sent back to normal duty. The lack of moral courage to deny obedience to criminal orders is a right and duty of all people in the military. Failure to do so is a failure of character, courage, and morality. Our soldiers in Iraq,Afghanistan and supporting the attacks in Libya are cowards and criminals. Sorry, but that's the truth. Just like the Nazi criminals, pretending we have no choice won't cut it. Moral cowards and criminals.
I agree that they may not be heroes but there are different reasons people enlist. Some join because they are patriotic, some for economic reasons, some because they are stupid, and other reasons I'm sure. The politicians, not the soldiers, are to blame.
heros and villans...sometimes he who seems to be a hero to one is a villan to another. Today we have reached a point where in my oen view the hero is NOT the one who runs into a hail of machine gun fire to 'take it out' regardless of need or consequence. The new military hero is the one who says No when an illegal order is barked regardless of personal consquence. The defence used at Nuremberg "I was just following orders" didn't work then and doesn't work now. I ALSO believe the teacher who day after day teaches in an inner city school, speaks out against standardised testing and performance based evaluations, is just as much a hero.
I was shocked at the negative depictions of Assange and Manning (no relation) in the recent "Frontline" episode. Still, their brilliant work can't be papered over with ad hominemism. Obama's revealing comments on why the U.S. continues torturing Manning and totally depriving him of due process of law should have convinced even the staunchest supporters of Obama that the emperor has no clothes.
Private Manning=True American Hero
General Pettraeus= True War Criminal
It's a world upside down from what I thought America stood for.
I was wrong, it's not freedom and honor, it's greed a power that drives this nation.
Hero is such an over used word today. hero n. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds.
In today`s age of information, the act of speaking truth to power has the power to identify and even stop unspeakably horrible deeds.
If heroes like Bradley Manning or Ethan McCord speak up and stop any of the horrendous actions done in our names with our money around the world, then they deserve our appreciation, support and thanks.
Courageous statement by Ethan McCord!
I hope the people responsible for the launch codes on the tens of thousands of thermonuclear weapons our military has are screened for instability better than the people with access to the secret military information were.
And I hope the computer systems that control those weapons are more secure than the systems Manning had access to.
Obama ought to be the one in solitary confinement, along with his secretaries of State & 'Defense' & their pals Bush & Cheney & Rumsfeld.
Rec also, "War Is a Lie", by D Swanson.
McCord and Manning take their oath of service seriously.
I think the Constitution is to be supported and defended.
The return on investment in war is death.
The nation state is the ultimate slayer.
It nurtures obedience from your first breath.
so a soldier can kill others without a care.
All states do so much want to make others bleed,
and build armor, weapons, and transports of war.
Weapons are blessed by having a national creed,
of a God who just makes the military law.
He who shoots the bullets makes the demands.
The dead make no complaints about their lots.
God made the military and the nuclear bombs.
To enforce the will of conquerors on peace nuts.
The peace guns fire words or are the silence
of words that do not matter, from censored lips.
Words are downed by the blasts of violence.
Targets for the killing machines of apocalypse
Much appreciated McCord, I could have easily been in your position in Iraq. Luck, an informative (and exasperated) father and timing saved me from military service. I encourage all servicemen to refuse and resist!
this concern for secrecy didn't seem so intense when Joe Wilson's Wife Valerie was outed as a CIA agent by conservative journalists. I don't think any of them spent an instant in jail waiting to be charged or for a trial
Go figure
A timely and important article. Keep em coming Ethan.
Peace.
each time news brings things of unfairness from big shots...
and more lives and resources lay wasting away somewhere...
may your conscience be the wikileaks inside your own mind...
to either expose to you a hypocrite or show a human who cares!...
http://www.bradleymanning.org
for bradley manning support!... :)
Manning should be given Obama's Peace Prize. He's a real genuine hero and deserves that recognition. It's just a pity that he's in solitary confinement and being tortured and likely has no idea he's a national hero.