WHITE HOUSE PETITION: fully pardon Bradley Manning

[yurbud]

There probably are and will be more of these various places, but posting one on the White House website makes it harder for them to say haven't seen it, and for others who stumble across it on their site, it will be like a scarlet letter.

Who knows, it might even force Obama to act.

Sign at the link:

http://wh.gov/lg7Lo

Pardon Bradley Manning and reduce his sentence to time served.

His 35 year sentence is greater than that given to uniformed members of the military who tortured or massacred civilians, and typically got ten years and served far less.

Bush admin lied about their case for war led to the deaths of thousand of troops and a million Iraqis but weren't even tried.

A prosecution witness in the Manning trial said NO deaths resulted from his leaks.

Manning's leaks exposed war crimes and helped spark the Arab Spring democracy movement.

The only "damage" he did was to the ability of our government to lie to our people about the means and motives of our foreign policy.

Clean up the corruption and moral squalor in corridors of power in Washington instead of punishing the person who exposed it.

http://wh.gov/lg7Lo

[gopiscrap]

1. Done

thank you for the link

[yurbud]

3. I wrote it too.

[gopiscrap]

4. Thank you

[Benton D Struckcheon]

2. Done.

[n2doc]

5. Likely to get the same reaction as the one to pardon Snowden

as in, crickets...

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/petition-to-pardon-snowden-to-receive-white-house-response/

[yurbud]

12. that means that they at least had to read and know there was substantial public support for that

so they cannot claim they are doing the will of the people when they do something else.

[struggle4progress]

6. Bradley Manning pleads guilty to misusing classified data in WikiLeaks case

By Medina Roshan
FORT MEADE, Maryland
Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:50pm EST
... Military judge Colonel Denise Lind accepted the guilty pleas late in the afternoon. Manning pleaded guilty to a series of 10 lesser charges that he misused classified information and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for those offenses ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/us-usa-wikileaks-manning-idUSBRE91R0T720130228

[yurbud]

9. therefore what?

[struggle4progress]

16. He produced a gigantic headache; he pleaded guilty; he's unlikely to win a pardon any time soon

Try again in ten years, if he's not out by then

[yurbud]

20. inconveniencing those in power with the truth shouldn't get more than torture and murder

[struggle4progress]

22. Sloganeering isn't a substitute for analysis of the issues facing us, and mixing together

different issues doesn't help anybody think clearly

The domestic political issues associated with any potential prosecution of Bush Administration members are nontrivial. It's well worth thinking about the problem, but crafting the required political consensus for any such action would actually take some years. As far as II can tell, nobody is willing to devote the time to it. And that means it won't happen. I conclude that the only prospect for such prosecution must come from the international community -- and that can't happen until it's completely clear that US prosecution won't occur

Manning is properly sentenced. The US civilian authority must retain ultimate control of the US military -- and (in particular) individuals in the military are not free to interfere with the diplomatic practices of the civilian authority. To fail to assert this principle, of civilian control, uncompromisingly is an extremely dangerous game, given the fact that the US military is a huge organization, with approximately the fire-power of the rest of the world combined

[yurbud]

25. the problem is the civilians are lying and making policy on fraudulently gained consent of public

that is a far bigger problem than the particulars of the chain of command.

It seems that you are being flexible for those who serve the already wealthy, and demanding we follow the letter of the law for the little people.

[snappyturtle]

28. Bradley Manning revealed the assholes that shot people

as if they were prairie dogs. Hear! Hear! To Bradley. TO HELL WITH
military justice....they're do this in our names. We get a say.

[struggle4progress]

32. Yeah, well, military operations often suck IMO. One should expect that teaching people

to kill, and encouraging them to do so, isn't always going to promote respect for human life; and it won't get better when people can kill through hi-tech means from a distance, when they themselves aren't in danger

[yurbud]

42. civilians should retain control--AND accountability. Privates and corporals shouldn't go to prison

for crimes ultimately ordered by their civilian superiors if those civilians don't end up in prison in short order too.

Neither should those who reveal the crimes and lies of the civilians end up in prison ever.

Manning gave concrete evidence for something we all already but don't have direct evidence for: our government feeds us a steady stream of embarrassingly childish lies to justify how they deal with and even overthrow foreign governments. If we don't have accurate information about why things are done, we can't give informed consent, and therefore, our participation in our democracy is based on a fraud.

That's a little more important than procedural niceties, which Washington proved in the Bush era and continues to prove that they don't give a rat's ass about when they are doing their corporate masters' business.

[Gravitycollapse]

33. Your entire demeanor on this is gross and sadistic.

[struggle4progress]

34. You should be able to tolerate views other than your own without resorting to angry name-calling

I don't consider Manning a hero: to my view, he's a rather bright but terribly confused young man, who decided that his access to documents conferred on him some right to interfere with the civilian diplomacy of the US, something which I regard as quite dangerous coming from military quarters

I suspect most people who regard Manning as a hero do so because his case can serve them as a surrogate for other issues: anti-militarism, the failure of DADT, the great lies of the Iraq war, or whatever

That's not sadism: it's a different PoV than yours -- and the inability to make such distinctions can prevent people from thinking clearly about political matters

[Gravitycollapse]

35. I beseech you grant me leave from your bullshit.

That you think his headache is justification for a 35 year prison sentence is EXTREMELY telling. I'm not sure you understand how transparent you've incidentally made your agenda in the process of conveying your arguments.

This is a man who helped reveal gross war crimes by the US government. The man who you call confused as if to marginalize his contribution to some sort of justice, however small that may be.

So you taunt and you act like a sadist all in the spirit of mockery of a man who's done more than you will ever accomplish.

[struggle4progress]

39. You can't coherently oppose war and support smashing diplomacy, cuz it's the alternative to war

[Just Saying]

51. I'm very much enjoying your posts.

Thank you for the thoughtful point of view. I particularly agree with your assertion that many people cheer these type of stories because it reiterates their distrust and dislike of the government and military.

[JustAnotherGen]

57. +1

[bvar22]

7. Has ANY petition,

or overwhelming public opinion ever mattered at all to this White House?

Feels like I'm just spinning my wheels.



You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[yurbud]

10. if they ignore it, they can't claim ignorance of our opinions if we make them known

on their own website.

[HardTimes99]

8. Done! Thanks for posting - nt

[90-percent]

11. sig #17 here

100K here we come

-jim

[yurbud]

13. awesome!

[90-percent]

14. and also

posted the link on my FB page

-jim

[limpyhobbler]

15. Cool thanks. Amnesty International made a White House petition too.

I've got to get my password reset so I can log in, but here's a link


This one has got more than 3500 signatures in 1 day so it seems pretty popular

Short link: http://wh.gov/lgG58

Restore the United States’ human rights record and grant clemency to Pvt. Bradley Manning!

The prosecution of Bradley Manning starkly contrasts to the US govt's repeated failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations committed during counter-terror operations of the past decade.

Manning, who released classified information exposing potential breaches of international humanitarian law by US forces, was sentenced in military court on Aug 21st to 35 yrs in prison.

Manning's severe sentence contrasts with the leniency given those responsible for torture and other types of grave human rights violations he revealed.

To reduce this blight on the US human rights record, President Obama should grant Manning clemency for time served, protect whistleblowers, and provide accountability for crimes like those Manning exposed.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PARDON.BRADLEYMANNING.ORG

[yurbud]

26. ackk! I didn't realize that was Amnesty International's!

I tried to be more specific about both the good he did and the bad that hadn't been prosecuted or punished as severely.

[limpyhobbler]

29. oh that's cool

Yours is awesome. I'm always impressed when anyone cares about something enough to start an official petition.

Amnesty is able to get lots of exposure so it has 5,180 signers already. I guess it will end up being the big one.
Short link: http://wh.gov/lgG58

[Scuba]

17. Done.

[Cali_Democrat]

18. Rec'd and signed

I support this. Manning should get out based on time served IMO.

35 years is excessive.

[whistler162]

19. Need to add

the Walkers and Aldrich Ames to that petition.

[yurbud]

30. they got less time didn't they?

[wild bird]

50. Not really.

Jerry Whitworth got 365 years in federal prison, Arthur Walker sentenced to life in prison, John Walker will be eligible for parole in 2015 and his son, Michael, was released on parole in 2000.

[wild bird]

49. The Walkers?

Why them? They sold top secret Naval codes to the Soviets which could have had dire consequences during wartime.
John Walker, his brother, Arthur, his son, Michael and a friend, Jerry Withworth, weren't exposing any crimes, they were committing the crimes, treason.

They did it for selfish and monetary reasons only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Walker

Aldrich Ames? Maybe.

Chelsea Manning? Ok, but the Walkers? Never and they should spend the rest of their traitorous lives in prison.

[NorthCarolina]

21. Signed. K&R

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. K&R&Done.

99,944 to go.

[Half-Century Man]

24. Signed em both

[snappyturtle]

27. #83 Kerrville,Texas Proud to sign. Thanks for posting. nt

[yurbud]

31. you're welcome

[Enthusiast]

36. Done..............nt

[uponit7771]

37. Putting people in harms way deserves a pardon?! Unnnn, I haven't changed then or now...

...there was a better way of going about doing what he did and getting better results.

[yurbud]

43. no one was harmed according to the PROSECUTION's own witness. By contrast...

Bush/Cheney and unfortunately now Obama put our troops in harm's way with unnecessary military actions justified with lies.

In the Bush/Cheney case, it led to the deaths of over 4,000 US troops, about 1 million Iraqis, and who knows how many Afghans.

We have yet to get the bill in lives for Obama's drone policy and foot-dragging on leaving Afghanistan.

[uponit7771]

44. "no one was harmed" is not the point, he goes to jail by putting them NEEDLESSLY in harms way...

...and your full of shit with the "now Obama" and equating it with what Bush did in Iraq...that's condescending at best.

Come on, I've been half ass'd paying attention

[yurbud]

45. he didn't do it needlessly--our government lies to us about why it does what it does

and Obama's foreign policy sins differ from Bush's only by degree.

He is still better than Bush on some issues, but we can't pretend his shit doesn't stink when it does.

[uponit7771]

46. He did there were other ways

[ileus]

38. put my name on that list and have the locals come down on me

or draw the NSA's attention to me....No thanks.

[yurbud]

40. if enough people let them know they are pissed off, they will be more afraid of us

than we of them and rightly so.

[yurbud]

41. I should have added, "Look forward not back," Obama's talking point for excusing anything.

[oxymoron]

47. Done. Thanks for posting this. (nt)

[yurbud]

48. You're welcome

[treestar]

52. Does he meet the standards for a pardon?

Bet that is not even being considered. This is just a set up to say "see, that bad Obama won't pardon St. Manning!"

Oh and by the way you are transphobic - you used Bradley.

[railsback]

53. No. No way. No how.

Not.

[NaturalHigh]

55. My opinion too.

He's lucky he didn't get the maximum.

[NaturalHigh]

54. Not going to happen...

and I won't be signing. In my opinion, he got a fairly light sentence considering the crimes for which he was convicted.

[yurbud]

56. those who actually spied for money got lighter sentences, and war criminals who actually

killed, raped, and tortured often got lighter sentences--or weren't even tried.

But if you like foreign policy and wars based on lies to serve the already very wealthy, I suppose his crimes are pretty bad.

[NaturalHigh]

58. I'm not defending anyone who has committed war crimes...

and I know that we have plenty of problems with our foreign policy. I also spent six years in the Air Force, though, and I know that everyone is well-briefed about the consequences of divulging classified information. In fact, I gave many quarterly security briefings on the subject.

Manning was not ignorant of the fact that he was breaking the law and that there were serious consequences for his crime.

[yurbud]

59. if more people in the military followed their consciences, it would be tougher for civilians withou

conscience to give immoral orders and start immoral wars.

Manning did those in the uniformed military at least as big a favor as he did our democracy, but making it a little harder to start more bullshit wars that will kill, maim, and psychologically cripple our troops.