March, 12 2013, 03:22pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Trevor Timm
Co-founder and Executive Director
trevor@pressfreedomfoundation.org
Rainey Reitman
Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer
rainey@pressfreedomfoundation.org
Glenn Greenwald
Board of Directors
glenn.greenwald@guardiannews.com
John Cusack
Board of Directors
@johncusack
Journalistic Rights Organization Publishes Leaked Audio of Bradley Manning's Statement
Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation, a progressive journalistic rights organization, published the full, previously unreleased audio recording of Private First Class Bradley Manning's speech to the military court in Ft. Meade about his motivations for releasing over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.
Due to a prohibition against journalists recording the proceedings, this is the first time the general American public has been able to hear Manning's voice.
WASHINGTON
Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation, a progressive journalistic rights organization, published the full, previously unreleased audio recording of Private First Class Bradley Manning's speech to the military court in Ft. Meade about his motivations for releasing over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.
Due to a prohibition against journalists recording the proceedings, this is the first time the general American public has been able to hear Manning's voice.
Emma Cape, International Organizer for the Bradley Manning Support Network, said,
"It was incredibly moving sitting in the courtroom, hearing Bradley explain in his own words why he decided to reveal government wrongdoing via WikiLeaks. Given this is one of the most important trials in America right now, I'm glad others can now listen in firsthand."
In the audio file, Private First Class Manning explains to the military court in his own words how and why he gave the Apache helicopter video, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars Logs, and the State Department Diplomatic Cables to WikiLeaks. Manning explains his motives, noting how he believed the documents showed deep wrongdoing by the government, why he believed releasing the documents could not endanger U.S. National Security, and how he hoped that the release would "spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan."
In conjunction with the statement, Private First Class Manning plead guilty to 10 lesser offenses of the 22 charges against him, but did not plead guilty to "aiding the enemy" or "espionage."
Daniel Ellsberg, famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower as well as a founder and board member for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said, "I believe Bradley Manning is the personification of the word whistleblower."
John Cusack, famed actor and activist who is also a founder and board member for the organization, said: "Growing up with the living legacy of the Berrigan brothers and fellow board member Daniel Ellsberg, I deeply and profoundly respect the sacrifice made by those heroic individuals who speak their truth no matter what price they may pay. We hope this recording inspires more participation in a broad-based movement to restore and protect the First Amendment."
Listen to the audio, watch a short video, or read more here:
https://www.pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2013/03/fpf-publishes-leake...
Learn about Freedom of the Press Foundation here:
https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/about
The Chelsea Manning Support Network was a coalition of groups and individuals engaged in supporting the U.S. Army whistleblower.
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[image or embed]
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This is a breaking story… Please check back for possible updates...
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To the Feds, I'll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn't working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it. My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it. Obviously the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.
Common Dreams has not independently verified its authenticity.
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