Reaction to Obama's War on Whistleblowers leads to creation of Freedom of the Press Foundation which is intended to help groups such as Wikileaks which are doing essentially investigative journalism to publish leaked documents to call those in power to account for their accounts.
New Funding Group Calls for 100 More WikiLeaks to Offset Unprecedented Gov't Secrecy
Published on 5 Mar 2013
http://www.democracynow.org - WikiLeaks is set to receive major new financial support this week from a new group that funds independent journalism organizations dedicated to transparency and accountability in government. This comes as Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal continue to refuse to process payments for WikiLeaks, making it difficult to send donations. "We don't just need one WikiLeaks, we need 10 or 100. We have a situation in this country where government secrecy is at an all-time high," says Freedom of the Press Foundation Co-founder and Executive Director Trevor Timm. We are also joined by Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, who is a member of the foundation's board.
Bradley Manning audio of his statement to the court explaining why he leaked the government documents including videos to Wikileaks.
A short film by Laura Poitras
Today, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization that I co-founded and of which I'm on the board, has published an audio recording of Bradley Manning's speech to a military court from two weeks ago, in which he gives his reasons and motivations behind leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.
Whoever made this recording, and I don't know who the person is, has done the American public a great service. This marks the first time the American public can hear Bradley Manning, in his own voice explain what he did and how he did it.
After listening to this recording and reading his testimony, I believe Bradley Manning is the personification of the word whistleblower.
Secrecy surrounding trial
Manning faces some of exact same charges I faced forty two years ago when I leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and eighteen other papers. The only difference is I was a civilian, so I could stay out of jail on bond while the trial was going on, and was able to talk to the media throughout. I took responsibility for what I had done on the day of my arrest, and I was able to explain why I did it.
But thanks to the judge's rulings in Manning's case, the public has barely heard anything from Manning at all. No official transcripts of the proceeding are released to the public, and when documents like the judge's court orders are released, it is weeks after the fact -- and only in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Now I hope the American people can see Manning in a different light. In 1971, I was able to give the media my side of the story, and it is long overdue Manning is able to do the same. As Manning has now done, I stipulated as to all the facts for which I was accused. And I did that for several reasons, and I suspect that Manning had the same motives.
First, it was to exonerate a number of people who were suspected of helping me, like former Defense Department colleagues Mort Halperin, Leslie Gelb and others. I was able to state flatly they did not know about the release in the midst of President Nixon's anxious desire to indict several of them.
And Manning, in saying he took responsibility for the leaks and describing in great detail how he did it, was able to say Julian Assange and Wikileaks had nothing to do with his decision to leak. WikiLeaks had not giving him any special means beyond what a normal newspaper would do.
Now, there's really now excuse for the grand jury chasing Julian Assange for conspiracy to commit espionage to continue. If they're not going to indict the New York Times--and there is no constitutional basis for them to do so--there's no reason for them to investigate or indict Assange or WikiLeaks.
As the former general counsel of the New York Times James Goodale once said, "Charging Julian Assange with 'conspiracy to commit espionage' would effectively be setting a precedent with a charge that more accurately could be characterized as 'conspiracy to commit journalism.'"
The second thing Manning did with his statement -- which you can finally hear today -- was to explain his motives (he could not do that while he was still putting the responsibility on the government -- by pleading not guilty -- to prove what he had done beyond a reasonable doubt).
They were the same motives I felt 42 years ago. We both felt the horror of reading about deceptive, and even criminal, activity. We both felt the public needed this information and should have had it years ago. So we both released classified documents about a bloody, hopeless war.
Such criminal, dangerous, and deceptive behavior by the government can only be changed if Congress and the public are informed of them. And when official secrecy allows the government to cover these facts up, the only way to bring them to the public is to break secrecy regulations.
Fox News making sense???
Fox News Shep Smith and Judge Napolitano take on Obama's Drone attacks and targeted assassinations for which Obama refuses any oversight and refuses to release information or the details of the process for who is on the kill list. Obama assassinated several American citizens allegedly connected to terrorists.
Glenn Greenwald one of the few investigative journalists who has been following the Bradley Manning case which he believes Obama is deliberately using to stop Whistleblowers and to stop all Journalists from reporting on leaks.
Journalism ethics if there is such a thing outside a few brave reporters is boiled down to securing one's job and position and of course a decent salary -the cost truth , integrity, Free Press replaced by quiescence and showering one's favorite leader ie Obama or Bush with idolization and idealization.
Glenn Green Wald at Democracy Now with Amy Goodman March 6, 2013.
Whistleblowers Warned at Bradley Manning Hearing: You Give Classified Docs to Me
Is this the death of real journalism in the USA as even self-proclaimed Liberals and Progressives are afraid to take on their beloved Obama.
Are they involved in self-censorship ?
Are the CEOs at the media outlets threatening them?
What's the deal?
We see it these days with other issues of Obama's policies in which these so called champions of democracy , freedom of speech and Human Rights defend Obama's "Kill List" and "Targeted Assassinations and the war crimes he commits every day as he drops bombs from drones on innocent civilians.
The liberal and progressive line is that fewer US troops are being killed and this is their standard for upholding human rights, the rule of law, international law, ethics, morality and common decency .
Over and over again we have seen the so-called liberals and progressives accept as facts the propaganda that Obama or the Pentagon or CIA feed them .
So if the powers that be say only 100,000 Iraqis died in the Iraq war they take it as fact.
While many journalists and human rights groups outside the overarching influence of the squeamish US media put the figures of Iraqi dead at 650,000 to 1.5 million .
Journalist not towing thew party line also are reporting on the US military's use of "Death Squads" in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan , in Yemen , Somalia . At their height in Iraq they were abducting, torturing and murdering civilians at a rate of 3,000 per month.
When the Death Squads were working in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras etc. the US media then often as not ignored or defended the use of Death Squads. And now since the Obama/Clinton Coup d'etat in Honduras in 2009 the Death Squads are at it again and they are trained, armed and supervised by the USA per usual-but Americans don't give a shit -cause all that matters is America's interests as it is in Afghanistan as it was in Iran 's CIA staged coup in 1953, CIAs staged Coup in Gautemala and the infamous Coup orchestrated by the CIA and Henry Kissinger aka the Butcher of Latin America in Chile putting Dictator Pinochet in power replacing as in the other countries mentioned democratically and popularly supported leaders.
America has the arrogance and hubris to believe that they will decide the fate of nations based upon America's interests especially its corporate and Wall Street interests.
What good for United Fruit INC. is good for the world? as an old saying goes .
MSNBC , Maddow? et al Part of Cowardly Liberal Progressive Media Ignore or Defend President Obama 's Persecution Of Whistleblower and People's Hero Bradley Manning
It is astonishing ,appalling and disturbing that Obama's persecution of Whistleblower and Hero Bradley Manning is either ignored, buries or defended . Why because the liberals and progressives those self-described are too enthralled and adoring and idolizing of Obama to criticize his policies even if they are as bad as or in this case worse than George W. Bush.
The Bushites also idolize Bush and defended all his policies no matter how immoral, unethical or illegal, Now Obama makes up the laws as he goes along and all the liberals and progressives act as his official cheerleaders .
Al Jazeera's 'Listening Post' asks why have the US media shied away from covering the source of the WikiLeaks material yet gouged on his information?
During his hour-long plea, Manning told the court that he first turned to the national press. Before approaching WikiLeaks, Manning says he contacted the New York Times, the Washington Post and Politico - neither of which returned his calls. His testimony raises the question of whether the mainstream press was prepared to host the debate on US interventions and foreign policy that Manning had in mind.
Media outlets went on to draw on WikiLeaks for some of the biggest news stories of the decade. Manning’s leak meant millions of papers sold and pages viewed yet the story of the man himself has been pushed to the margins. Is this just ingratitude or something more sinister? Are important parts of the fourth estate signing up for a system of government-media relations that sees whistleblowers as enemies of the state?
Humanitarian Crisis as Refugees from Syria increase dramatically to over 1 million this week while President Obama and his Western lackey offer little substantial aid and are more interested in sending hundreds of millions in weaponry and funds to aid the Jihadist extremists who now control the Rebels in Syria.
Americans especially are very reluctant to give any sort of humanitarian aid to their fellow citizens whether in the form of disaster relief or welfare or medical care or housing or food stamps and so forth believing each individual is in essence entirely alone and on their own and must provide for themselves or slowly die from hunger , exposure or disease . Such a truly Christian nation they trumpet believing all the lies they tell themselves.
According to America's Real Hero who is not MLK or FDR but rather is Ayn Rand (typified by the Soulless Greedy CEOs and Wall Street Thugs ) who argued that charity and altruism and caring about your neighbors or even strangers is a sign of moral and mental weakness. Whereas war for Americans is a cleansing the natural hygiene and the only real thing that matters that is proving America can kick ass and as Obama tells us kill anyone anywhere no matter how powerless or powerful.
Or to put it simply America's real Idol is not Jesus but the All Mighty Dollar and doing onto others before they do unto you.
Once again this time in Syria as the Western Nations led by the US declared war on a nation or at least its leaders the resulting humanitarian crisis is ignored. Now millions of Syrians are refugees who are in need of Humanitarian aid but the West is more concerned with funding, training and arming the rebel forces in Syria without any concern for the Syrian people. Though the West claims it is interfering in Syria on behalf of the people as they also said when they attacked Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. but each time the words ring hollow as the displaced people and refugees who have fled to neighboring countries are virtually ignored. The US and the West are willing to commit Billions to fund the Rebels but are unwilling to ensure the health and safety of internal displaced persons or the refugees in neighboring countries.
ACLU on the Militarization of Police Forces Across The USA. Police forces treat average citizens as all being potential terrorists so it is no wonder that police are so eager to try out their new shiny toys to teach civilians who has rights and who does not. During the Occupy Movement we saw how America now treats wide-spread protests with draconian militarized police actions to send a chilling message to any who are thinking about taking part in such activities.
The right to assembly, to freedom of expression, the freedom to protest and air one's grievances in a peaceful manner are no longer absolute rights because it depends on one's message .
Being anti-Wall Street and Bank bail outs and insisting on the rule of law applying to the rich and powerful President Obama by not interferring in the brutal crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street Movement showed where his sympathies and loyalties lie that is with the rich and powerful and he appears to regard these protesters as being unAmerican and treasonous .
As we have said before if Obama had been around during the Civil Rights movement he would have been one those conservative African Americans warning his fellow Blacks to calm down and just wait and to of course stop breaking the law even the Jim Crow laws. We keep waiting for Obama to take one brave action to prove us wrong.
Irony abounds as former extreme right winger and former Islamophobe converts to Islam.
Arnoud Van Doorn of the Netherlands "Freedom Party" Former far right Islamophobe and friend and confidante of anti-Islam bigot and Crusader notorious Geert Wilders surprises many as he Converts to Islam.
This refugee crisis in Syria is nothing new since the US has done all this before claiming to be on the side of the people of a nation even though they are against the Regime itself until it comes to coughing up some real money not just a few million that might only last a couple of weeks as in the first Gulf War against Saddam by George Bush Sr. and the second Gulf War by George Bush Jr. in which millions of Iraqi Displaced Persons within Iraq and the 3 million Iraqis who left their homes and crossed the borders received little or no help .
In the first Gulf War thousands if not tens of thousands died waiting for military help to prevent Saddam from committing mass murder which he in fact carried out or waiting for aid which never arrived and left them as sitting ducks to be murdered or transferred to various parts of Iraq in some cases left to die in concentration camps while the leaders of the so called Free World and superior civilization were too busy playing politics as if it were all a game without serious consequences for the ordinary people caught once again in the cross fire .
In the first Gulf War it was the Kurds and Shia of Iraq who were encouraged to rise up against Saddam and that the US would give them military and financial support but for political reasons they were abandoned to the brutality of Saddam so Kurds and Shia Iraqis were butchered by the tens of thousands as they were abandoned by the US and the West and even the Western Media.
So it is as usual mere rhetoric and an attempt to justify a regime change in Syria by military force when President Obama and the West claim they are intervening in Syria because of their concern for the people of Syria . Instead this is just all part of the US and the Western Powers geopolitical agenda as part of The New Great Game. Bashar Assad is a brutal dictator who has no hesitation or qualms about killing his own people in order to maintain power.
Humanitarian Catastrophe in Syria
Published on 9 Mar 2013
Omar Dahi: Western Powers and GCC countries fail to provide aid at levels needed, in spite of professed interest in the Syrian people
Irony abounds as anti-Islam politician and top level leader of Geert Wilders far right Dutch party after years of condemning Islam and all Muslims converts to Islam.
We can wish him well now that he has seen the error of his ways that Islam is not a religion which primarily teaches the necessity of violence to spread Islam . Jihad is meant to be primarily applied to one's personal struggle as a believer to become a better Muslim. The other side of Jihad is meant to be an armed struggle when Islam and the Muslim community are under physical attack .
If one looks at and studies the history of Christianity it is readily apparent how the religion and theology have been misappropriated or hijacked to justify various unChristian agendas from murdering Jews over the last thousand years or so to mass murdering Muslims or aboriginal or indigenous peoples in the Americas or in Africa or elsewhere to Christians killing other Christians over doctrinal theological differences. If we look at the history of Judaism and the Israelites as depicted in the Old Testament the Israelites on entering the Promised Land committed genocide in order to remove the so called unbelievers, pagans and so forth from the land. But this sort of violence was not part of the Jewish Diaspora for almost 2,000 years the Jewish people were in fact persecuted mercilessly by the European Christians more so than they were in Pagan or Islamic lands at least until the modern era.
According to the Prophet Muhammad Muslims were instructed to treat the peoples of the Book which includes Christians and Jews with respect unfortunately there have been supposed followers of Islam of the Prophet Muhammad who ignored such instructions and would comb the Holy Qur'an for a justification (proof texting)for persecuting Christians and Jews.
AMSTERDAM – A leading member in far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ party has reverted to Islam after an extensive study about the Islamic religion and Muslims.
“I can understand people are skeptic, especially that it is unexpected for many of them,” Arnoud Van Doorn told Al-Jazeera English satellite channel.
“This is a very big decision, which I have not taken lightly.”
The news about Doorn’s reversion first came to the surface last month when he tweeted “new beginning”.
He later posted a tweet in Arabic pronouncing the Shahadah (proclamation of faith).
The politician later announced that he reverted to Islam, giving no more information about the reasons behind the decision.
“In my own close circle people have known that I have been actively researching the Qur’an, Hadith, Sunnah and other writings for almost a year now,” he said.
“In addition, I have had numerous conversations with Muslims about the religion.”
Driven by his party’s anti-Islam discourse, Doorn decided to dig in for the truth about the religion himself.
“I have heard so many negative stories about Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research,” he said.
“Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of the Islam out of curiosity.
“My colleague Aboe Khoulani from the City Council in The Hague has brought me further into contact with the as-Soennah mosque, which has guided me even further.”
A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague city council, Doorn’s name has long been associated with Wilders’ anti-Islam, far-right PVV party.
Wilders himself is known for his rants against Islam, Muslims and the Noble Qur’an.
New Beginning
Doorn’s decision to embrace Islam has won mixed reactions in the Netherlands.
“According to some people I am a traitor, but according to most others I have actually made a very good decision,” he told Aljazeera.
“The reactions are generally positive and I also received quite some support via twitter.
“It feels good that people who do not know me personally have understanding of my situation and support me in my choice.”
For the Dutch politician, finding Islam was finally guiding him to the true path in his life.
“I have made mistakes in life as many others. From these mistakes I have learned a lot,” Doorn said.
“And by my conversion to Islam I have the feeling that I finally found my path.
“I realize that this is a new start and that I still have much to learn as well.”
Departing from his earlier life as a PVV member, Doorn expects much resistance in his political life.
“The expectation is that I will continue to face much resistance, also from certain government institutions,” he said.
“I have all faith in Allah to support me and to guide me through these moments.”
During the brutal crackdown in the US of the Occupy Movement in various cities across the country we saw how militarized local police forces have become and how their tactics were more suitable for an armed insurrection by citizens using terrorist tactics than would be more suitable to mostly peaceful protests. Just because protests spread across the nation and in some cases as many as 250,000 protesters took part in a single day's event does not give the police the right to gas and use brute force without any constraints short of killing protesters. This is the only difference one can see between how the US police treat peaceful protests and how other nations such as Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, Libya , Saudi Arabia etc. treat peaceful protesters.
In those cases where there was some push back by Occupy protesters including violence and vandalism these acts were committed by a small minority including mostly the violent prone Anarchist organization known as Black Bloc . In dealing with the Black Bloc the police in such cases are supposed to separate this groups from the majority and then round them up rather than attacking everyone who was taking a part in the protests.
So the ACLU intends to launch a nation wide investigation of these military style tactics combined with military style weaponry to put pressure on the local police , the American public and the federal and state governments to re-evaluate this militarization of police forces.
NEW YORK - March 6 - American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 23 states today simultaneously filed more than 255 public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.
"Equipping state and local law enforcement with military weapons and vehicles, military tactical training, and actual military assistance to conduct traditional law enforcement erodes civil liberties and encourages increasingly aggressive policing, particularly in poor neighborhoods and communities of color," said Kara Dansky, senior counsel for the ACLU's Center for Justice. "We've seen examples of this in several localities, but we don't know the dimensions of the problem."
The affiliates filed public records requests with local law enforcement agencies seeking information on the use of:
Special Weapons and Tactics teams, including:
- Number and purpose of deployments
- Types of weapons used during deployments
- Injuries sustained by civilians during deployments
- Training materials
- Funding sources.
Cutting edge weapons and technologies, including:
- GPS tracking devices
- Unmanned aerial vehicles, or "drones"
- Augmented detainee restraint, or "shock-cuffs"
- Military weaponry, equipment, and vehicles obtained from or funded by federal agencies such as the Departments of Defense and/or Homeland Security.
Affiliates filed a second request with state National Guards seeking information regarding:
- Cooperative agreements between local police departments and the National Guard counter-drug program
- Incidents of National Guard contact with civilians.
"The American people deserve to know how much our local police are using military weapons and tactics for everyday policing," said Allie Bohm, ACLU advocacy and policy strategist. "The militarization of local police is a threat to Americans' right to live without fear of military-style intervention in their daily lives, and we need to make sure these resources and tactics are deployed only with rigorous oversight and strong legal protections."
The affiliates which filed public records requests are: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Once the information has been collected and analyzed, if needed, the ACLU will use the results to recommend changes in law and policy governing the use of military tactics and technology in local law enforcement.
More information can be found here:
www.aclu.org/militarization
