WikiLeaks #5

WIKILEAKS NEWS #5
(I am giving so much attention to WikiLeaks because successful resistance to the US National Security State partly depends upon reduction of secrecy. The increase of secrecy is the rule. See the PBS/Frontline 1-18 program “Are We Safer?” about the trillion dollar expansion of security and secrecy bureaucracies following 9-11, much of which has proven useless, yet receives no or little oversight from Congress, which provided the money quickly and secretly. D)

Contents
US Imperial Lies
Manning and MLKJr., Truthtelling
Assange Extradition
Ron Paul
US Prosecution of WikiLeaks
Subpoenas Against WikiLeaks
GOP vs. WikiLeaks
Paul Buchheit: US Illegal Wars and WikiLeaks
Leaks: How Damaging to US Foreign Policy?
Ann Wright Essay
William Blum Essay
Margaret Flowers Essay
More


(Scroll down for essays by Ann Wright, William Blum, and Margaret Flowers.)

WIKILEAKS’ MOST TERRIFYING REVELATION: HOW MUCH OUR GOVERNMENT LIES TO US [ABOUT ITS WARS]?
http://www.alternet.org/story/149393/wikileaks%27_most_terrifying_revelation%3A_just_how_much_our_government_lies_to_us?page=entire


PFC. BRADLEY MANNING
Margaret Flowers: “Revolution of Values: From MLK, Jr. to Bradley Manning” “Yesterday I stood with 200 activists at the gates of Quantico Marine Base to protest the imprisonment and torture of a young patriot, Bradley Manning, who has not been convicted of any crime. It was the right way to spend the day set aside to remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” For the full essay go to: http://act.commondreams.org/go/4054?akid=346.126591.-xZK5Z&t=28
Or scroll down.

"Try as I may I can not escape the sound of suffering. Perhaps as an old man I will accept suffering with insouciance. But not now; men in their prime, if they have convictions, are tasked to act on them." -- Julian Assange, 2007 blog entry

WikiLeaks Fulfills Pledge to Support Bradley Manning
Bradley Manning Support Network
Intro: "On Monday, WikiLeaks fulfilled its pledge to contribute toward the legal defense of accused whistleblower Bradley Manning by transferring $15,100 to the legal trust account of Manning's attorney."
READ MORE https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d8d65cf7b578f3


JULIAN ASSANGE
Updates in Julian Assange Case
The London extradition hearing for Julian Assange has been postponed until Feb.7-9. Attached are the arguments put forward by Assange's UK attorneys. Of interest are three key points:
First, that the Swedish prosecutor seeking Assange's extradition has only said she wishes to question ["interrogate"] him, not prosecute him, which is unprecedented in extradition cases.
Second, one reason Sweden is reluctant to prosecute is that such an admission would require turning over embarrassing evidence in the form of text messages by the two women charging rape.
Third, Sweden has been found guilty of violating international human rights laws involving rendition, and may yield to a U.S. request for rendition.
Continue reading the arguments... https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d7894f8e41dd2b

Katha Pollitt, “The Case of Julian Assange.” The Nation (Jan. 10/17, 2011). Assesses the rape allegations against Julian and concludes: “WikiLeaks is revealing information citizens need to know—it’s a good thing. Assange may or may not have committed sex crimes according to Swedish law. Why is it so hard to hold those two ideas at once?”

Letters Dept.: Ron Paul on WikiLeaks
Dear Mr. Hayden,
Thank you for your recent message of support for my position on the WikiLeaks issue. I believe, as I am sure you do as well, that what we need is more privacy and freedom from government snooping in our own lives and more transparency from our government. I find it chilling to hear so many U.S. government officials calling for the leader of this organization, Julian Assange, to be labeled an "enemy combatant" and jailed - or worse. Thank you for all you do to promote our civil liberties and the cause of peace.
For Liberty, Ron Paul


US SEEKING TO PROSECUTE WIKILEAKS
Rita Devlin Marier, Agence France-Presse
Rita Devlin Marier reports: "WikiLeaks said Saturday the Twitter accounts of four supporters have been subpoenaed in connection with an espionage investigation into the whistleblowing website led by a secret US grand jury. WikiLeaks, which began releasing 251,287 US diplomatic cables in November, added it had reason to believe Facebook and Google had also received court orders requesting details on users."
READ MORE https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d670f6c304e5dc

WikiLeaks Demands Google, Facebook Unseal US Subpoenas
Peter Beaumont, Guardian UK
The report begins: "WikiLeaks has demanded that Google and Facebook reveal the contents of any US subpoenas they may have received after it emerged that a court in Virginia had ordered Twitter to secretly hand over details of accounts on the micro-blogging site by five figures associated with the group, including Julian Assange."
READ MORE https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d691ec44e196b7



Tortured Logic: It's Clear Where the Secrecy-Obsessed Obama Administration is Headed in Its Pursuit of WikiLeaks http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/361


“WikiLeaks Subpoenas Spill Out to Public Realm”
Pete Yost and Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press
The report begins: "Investigative documents in the WikiLeaks probe spilled out into the public domain Saturday for the first time, pointing to the Obama administration's determination to assemble a criminal case no matter how long it takes and how far afield authorities have to go."
READ MORE https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d6c22544ada89d


Republicans to Target WikiLeaks
Tom Kavanagh, Politics Daily
https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d57995f3c03a65
Published on Thursday, January 6, 2011 by CommonDreams.org



WIKILEAKS NO DANGER TO US SECURITY, BUT REVEAL TRUTHS ABOUT ILLEGAL US WARS
Paul Buchheit
I am a US Air Force Intelligence Veteran of the War in Afghanistan and I support Wikileaks. - http://crushingbastards.org/blog...
Larry Hosken, romanzolotarev, Jeff McNeill and 21 other people liked this
"After reading many of the Iraq/Afghan/Cablegate logs I am compelled to inform my fellow citizens that I saw nothing in these logs that could endanger our troops or public servants. Here’s what I did see: I saw Iraq war logs that painted a very bleak picture of the situation there which doesn’t match up with the “improved security” that’s been reported by the “Defense” Department for years. I saw proof of public officials acting dishonestly and abusing their posts. Overall, I saw an out of control government that is in over its head and does more to endanger the lives of its people than any publishing organization ever could. I volunteered to protect this country under the impression that my government followed the will of the American People and adhered to the US Constitution. As it turns out, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were never constitutionally declared and despite public opinion being against the two wars they continue to grow more destructive. My experiences in these wars differed greatly from the propaganda the American people were sold by America’s mainstream media outlets; many times I would return from a mission to see wild inaccuracies being reported on Fox/CNN/MSNBC about the very operation I had just been supporting. Wikileaks has helped shine light on the true nature of these illegal wars and the policymakers that perpetuate them, for this I am thankful." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

WIKILEAKS CAUSES ONLY “LIMITED DAMAGE”
Internal U.S. government reviews have determined that a mass leak of diplomatic cables caused only limited damage to U.S. interests abroad, despite the Obama administration's public statements to the contrary, Reuters reports. A congressional official said the administration felt compelled to say publicly that the revelations had seriously damaged US interests in order to bolster legal efforts to shut down the WikiLeaks website and bring charges against the leakers. But State Department officials have privately told Congress they expect overall damage to U.S. foreign policy to be containable. Just Foreign Policy News on the Web:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/810


[The following essay presents a criticism of Obama and the Army and a defense of Pfc. Manning under Nuremberg Principles. D]
Obama: No Whistleblowing on My Watch
“The US Military Should Be Ashamed of Its Treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning”
by Ann Wright
Candidate Obama said "Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal."
As a U.S. presidential candidate in 2008, in referring to the Bush Administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans, Barack Obama said, "We only know these crimes took place because insiders blew the whistle at great personal risk ... Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal." Candidate Obama was referring to the Bush Administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans.
President Obama says No whistleblowing on my watch!
Yet, Obama, as he has on so many issues as President, is taking a 180 degree turn from his comments as a candidate, comments on which the American people relied and elected him.
Now, the Obama administration's warning to Bradley Manning and to other whistle blowers is this: blow the whistle on government criminal actions and we will put you in solitary confinement before you are charged, much less go to trial. You will be treated as an "enemy combatant," in America's ongoing wars on about everything, including the truth.
Evidence of Murder of Civilians in Iraq by US military helicopter pilots
Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army Private First Class (PFC) intelligence analyst who turned 23 years old in late December, allegedly leaked a video of a US helicopter attack that killed at least eleven Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters reporters, to the website Wikileaks. Two Iraqi children were also severely wounded in the attack.
PFC Manning's alleged actions are just as important as those of the whistleblowers who informed us of the Bush administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans. The video taken from the U.S. military helicopter that fired the killing rounds of ammunition, graphically showed US military pilots firing on and killing innocent civilians in Iraq. In addition to this "Collateral Murder" video, PFC Manning is suspected by the government of leaking the "Afghan War Diaries" - tens of thousands of battlefield reports that explicitly describe civilian deaths and cover-ups, corrupt officials, collusion with warlords, and a failing US/NATO war effort.
Manning had the legal responsibility to disclose evidence, even classified evidence, of criminal actions conducted by government officials
If indeed, Manning did give the video to Wikileaks, his actions show clearly that he reasonably believed that war crimes were being covered up, and that he took action based on that belief. Exposing criminal actions done under the cover of government orders is a responsibility and duty of military personnel as codified in the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as the Geneva conventions and the Nuremberg Principles.
Nuremberg Principle I
Principle I states, "Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment."
Principle II
Principle II states, "The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law."
Principle III
Principle III states, "The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law."
Principle IV
Principle IV states: "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him".
This principle could be paraphrased as follows: "It is not an acceptable excuse to say 'I was just following my superior's orders'".
Classifying the evidence of criminal actions does not make the actions untouchable
Reporting criminal actions done by others and providing evidence of those criminal actions, especially when the evidence of criminal actions have been covered up by "classifying" the evidence, is not illegal, but in fact, is a very brave response.
Punishment before the Trial-Solitary Confinement
Manning has now been in prison in solitary confinement for 7 months and still neither the U.S. military nor the U.S. government has indicted him for any offense. Manning essentially is being treated by the U.S. government as an American citizen "enemy combatant."
Manning's treatment in detention, pre-trial confinement in prison is cruel and unusual. He is being kept in solitary confinement, alone in a cell for 23 hours a day. He is forbidden to exercise in his cell. He is deprived of sleep. He is not given a pillow or sheets for his steel bed, although recently after publicity about he conditions in the prison, he was given a mattress for the bed. Prison medical personnel now "administer regular doses of anti-depressants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation."

US Soldier Treated as Those Detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo
The U.S. military's treatment of Manning is tragically consistent with its treatment of persons detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. America's military uses harsh conditions and torture, physical or mental, for those who have not been convicted of any crimes used to break the person to provide whatever information the military wants to receive. This type of treatment is inhumane, immoral and wrong for those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo and is wrong for Bradley Manning.
Nothing to be Proud of
Nothing in this to be proud of, President Obama. Nothing in this to be proud of, US Military.
If you, the reader, are offended by this, please -- Raise Hell for Bradley, the undeclared American "enemy combatant."
Contribute to Manning's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org
Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience." (www.voicesofconscience.com)





The following essay is a broad analysis of WikiLeaks in the context of the “build-up of the American police state and the public’s need to know for a democracy. D
The Anti-Empire Report by William Blum
January 1st, 2011
www.killinghope.org
http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer89.html
Wikileaks, the United States, Sweden, and Devil's Island
December 16 ... I'm standing in the snow in front of the White House ... Standing with Veterans for Peace ... I'm only a veteran of standing in front of the White House; the first time was February 1965, handing out flyers against the war in Vietnam. I was working for the State Department at the time and my biggest fear was that someone from that noble institution would pass by and recognize me.
Five years later I was still protesting Vietnam, although long gone from the State Department. Then came Cambodia. And Laos. Soon, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Then Panama was the new great threat to America, to freedom and democracy and all things holy and decent, so it had to be bombed without mercy. Followed by the first war against the people of Iraq, and the 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia. Then the land of Afghanistan had rained down upon it depleted uranium, napalm, phosphorous bombs, and other witches' brews and weapons of the chemical dust; then Iraq again. And I've skipped a few. I think I hold the record for most times picketing the White House by a right-handed batter.
And through it all, the good, hard-working, righteous people of America have believed mightily that their country always means well; some even believe to this day that we never started a war, certainly nothing deserving of the appellation "war of aggression".
On that same snowy day last month Julian Assange of Wikileaks was freed from prison in London and told reporters that he was more concerned that the United States might try to extradite him than he was about being extradited to Sweden, where he presumably faces "sexual" charges. 1
That's a fear many political and drug prisoners in various countries have expressed in recent years. The United States is the new Devil's Island of the Western world. From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th, political prisoners were shipped to that god-forsaken strip of French land off the eastern coast of South America. One of the current residents of the new Devil's Island is Bradley Manning, the former US intelligence analyst suspected of leaking diplomatic cables to Wikileaks. Manning has been imprisoned for seven months, first in Kuwait, then at a military base in Virginia, and faces virtual life in prison if found guilty, of something. Without being tried or convicted of anything, he is allowed only very minimal contact with the outside world; or with people, daylight, or news; among the things he is denied are a pillow, sheets, and exercise; his sleep is restricted and frequently interrupted. See Glenn Greenwald's discussion of how Manning's treatment constitutes torture. 2
A friend of the young soldier says that many people are reluctant to talk about Manning's deteriorating physical and mental condition because of government harassment, including surveillance, seizure of their computer without a warrant, and even attempted bribes. "This has had such an intimidating effect that many are afraid to speak out on his behalf." 3 A developer of the transparency software used by Wikileaks was detained for several hours last summer by federal agents at a Newark, New Jersey airport, where he was questioned about his connection to Wikileaks and Assange as well as his opinions about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 4
This is but a tiny incident from the near-century buildup of the American police state, from the Red Scare of the 1920s to the McCarthyism of the 1950s to the crackdown against Central American protesters in the 1980s ... elevated by the War on Drugs ... now multiplied by the War on Terror. It's not the worst police state in history; not even the worst police state in the world today; but nonetheless a police state, and certainly the most pervasive police state ever — a Washington Post study has just revealed that there are 4,058 separate federal, state and local "counterterrorism" organizations spread across the United States, each with its own responsibilities and jurisdictions. 5 The police of America, of many types, generally get what and who they want. If the United States gets its hands on Julian Assange, under any legal pretext, fear for him; it might be the end of his life as a free person; the actual facts of what he's done or the actual wording of US laws will not matter; hell hath no fury like an empire scorned.
John Burns, chief foreign correspondent for The New York Times, after interviewing Assange, stated: "He is profoundly of the conviction that the United States is a force for evil in the world, that it's destructive of democracy." 6 Can anyone who believes that be entitled to a full measure of human rights on Devil's Island?
The Wikileaks documents may not produce any world-changing revelations, but every day they are adding to the steady, gradual erosion of people's belief in the US government's good intentions, which is necessary to overcome a lifetime of indoctrination. Many more individuals over the years would have been standing in front of the White House if they had had access to the plethora of information that floods people today; which is not to say that we would have succeeded in stopping any of the wars; that's a question of to what extent the United States is a democracy.
One further consequence of the release of the documents may be to put an end to the widespread belief that Sweden, or the Swedish government, is peaceful, progressive, neutral and independent. Stockholm's behavior in this matter and others has been as American-poodle-like as London's, as it lined itself up with an Assange-accuser who has been associated with right-wing anti-Castro Cubans, who are of course US-government-supported. This is the same Sweden that for some time in recent years was working with the CIA on its torture-rendition flights and has about 500 soldiers in Afghanistan. Sweden is the world's largest per capita arms exporter, and for years has taken part in US/NATO military exercises, some within its own territory. The left should get themselves a new hero-nation. Try Cuba.
There's also the old stereotype held by Americans of Scandinavians practicing a sophisticated and tolerant attitude toward sex, an image that was initiated, or enhanced, by the celebrated 1967 Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow), which had been banned for awhile in the United States. And now what do we have? Sweden sending Interpol on an international hunt for a man who apparently upset two women, perhaps for no more than sleeping with them both in the same week.
And while they're at it, American progressives should also lose their quaint belief that the BBC is somehow a liberal broadcaster. Americans are such suckers for British accents. The BBC's Today presenter, John Humphrys, asked Assange: "Are you a sexual predator?" Assange said the suggestion was "ridiculous", adding: "Of course not". Humphrys then asked Assange how many woman he had slept with. 7 Would even Fox News have descended to that level? I wish Assange had been raised in the streets of Brooklyn, as I was. He would then have known precisely how to reply to such a question: "You mean including your mother?"
Another group of people who should learn a lesson from all this are the knee-reflex conspiracists. Several of them have already written me snide letters informing me of my naiveté in not realizing that Israel is actually behind the release of the Wikileaks documents; which is why, they inform me, that nothing about Israel is mentioned. I had to inform them that I had already seen a few documents putting Israel in a bad light. I've since seen others, and Assange, in an interview with Al Jazeera on December 23, stated that only a meager number of files related to Israel had been published so far because the publications in the West that were given exclusive rights to publish the secret documents were reluctant to publish much sensitive information about Israel. (Imagine the flak Germany's Der Spiegel would get hit with.) "There are 3,700 files related to Israel and the source of 2,700 files is Israel," said Assange. "In the next six months we intend to publish more files." 8
Naturally, several other individuals have informed me that it's the CIA that is actually behind the document release.

The right to secrecy, the public’s need to know
Many of us are pretty tired of supporters of Israel labeling as "anti-Semitic" most any criticism of Israeli policies, which is virtually never an appropriate accusation. Consider the Webster Dictionary definition: "Anti-Semite. One who discriminates against or is hostile to or prejudiced against Jews." Notice that the state of Israel is not mentioned, or in any way implied.
Here's what real anti-Semitism looks like. Listen to former president Richard Nixon: "The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality. ... most of our Jewish friends ... they are all basically people who have a sense of inferiority and have got to compensate." This is from a tape of a conversation at the White House, February 13, 1973, recently released. 9 These tapes, and there are a large number of them, are the Wikileaks of an earlier age.
Yet, as the prominent conservative Michael Medved pointed out after the release of Nixon's remarks: "Ironically, though, no American did more to rescue the Jewish people when it counted most: after the 1973 Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack destroyed a third of Israel's air force and killed the American equivalent of 200,000 Israelis, Nixon overruled his own Pentagon and ordered immediate re-supply. To this day, Israelis feel gratitude for this decisiveness that enabled the Jewish state to turn the tide of war." 10 So, was Richard Nixon anti-Semitic? And should his remarks be kept secret?
In another of his recent interviews, Julian Assange was asked whether he thought that "a state has a right to have any secrets at all." He conceded that there are circumstances when institutions have such a need, "but that is not to say that all others must obey that need. The media has an obligation to the public to get out information that the public needs to know." 11
I would add that the American people — more than any other people — have a need to know what their government is up to around the world because their government engages in aggressive actions more than any other government, continuously bombing and sending young men and women to kill and die. Americans need to know what their psychopathic leaders are really saying to each other and to foreign leaders about all this shedding of blood. Any piece of such information might be used as a weapon to prevent yet another Washington War. Michael Moore has recently written:
We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a Wikileaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.
And, dear comrades, let us not forget: Our glorious leaders spy on us all the time; no communication of ours, from phone call to email, is secret from them; nothing in our bank accounts or our bedrooms is guaranteed any kind of privacy if they wish to know about it. Recently, the FBI raided the midwest homes of a number of persons active in solidarity work with Palestinians, Colombians, and others. The agents spent many hours going through each shelf and drawer, carting away dozens of boxes of personal belongings. So what kind of privacy and secrecy should the State Department be entitled to? [End of essay by Blum.]
Revolution of Values: From MLK, Jr. to Bradley Manning
by Margaret Flowers
Yesterday I stood with 200 activists at the gates of Quantico Marine Base to protest the imprisonment and torture of a young patriot, Bradley Manning, who has not been convicted of any crime. It was the right way to spend the day set aside to remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Manning, 23, is alleged to have provided Wikileaks with documents that expose war crimes and other unethical behaviors being committed by the United States. He reportedly first went to his commanding officer when he saw that Iraqis were being imprisoned and tortured at the behest of the US military for simply publishing a document which questioned where the money went in Iraq. He was told to get back to work. Apparently when he saw more evidence of war crimes, he felt that the American public must know what is being done in its name. Manning is said to have joined the military because he believed in his country.
Many of us held photos of Manning and signs that said, "I am Bradley Manning." In essence, each of us who love our country and who speak out for the betterment of the United States are brothers and sisters of young Manning. And sadly, each of us who does speak out risks consequences of imprisonment like Manning.
We started the day at the FBI headquarters in Washington to protest the treatment of peace and justice activists who have had their homes raided, their private property stolen and who are facing an investigation by a Grand Jury. In some cases, these social justice groups had been infiltrated by undercover FBI agents for as long as 2 ½ years. This is what our tax dollars fund: domestic spying on peaceful social justice activists.
It takes courage to speak out against the great corporate interests in this nation be they the military-industrial complex, the financial institutions or the healthcare-industrial complex. Not everyone has the courage to do so. I am driven by the words of Dr. King when he said "to be silent is to be complicit."
I cannot be silent when tens of millions of people in the US have no health insurance. I cannot be complicit when tens of thousands are suffering, when tens of thousands die of preventable causes, when families go bankrupt and lose their homes because of medical illness. I cannot be silent when health professionals are being driven out of practice by the insatiable greed of corporate health care.
I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone and that there is strength in numbers. Yesterday we were told that we could only protest across the street from the base at Quantico. We chose not to obey that order and instead marched across the street and right through the gates chanting "Free Bradley Manning!" There were a few marines and police officers stationed at the street and gate to stop us. They held up their hands and told us to stop but we did not hesitate and marched on through.
Likewise, there is strength in numbers if the peace and social movements join together to speak out against the concentrated corporate power that controls our government and our media. Together we can create the changes we so desperately need. Together we can raise our voices so high that we cannot be ignored.
Let us remember that Dr. King was more than a leader of the civil rights movement. He also advocated for those living in poverty and spoke out against the Vietnam War. When he began to speak out against the war, he was questioned why he did that instead of focusing on civil rights. King responded in his speech at the Riverside Church in New York City:
"And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live."
Dr. King went on to link all of the movements for peace and justice at home and abroad and to call for a radical revolution of values. He said that we must move from a "thing-oriented society" to a "person-oriented society."
I urge you, in the days following this great day of remembrance, to hear the words of Dr. King and to do what you can to create a just society and world. Speak out against injustice wherever you see it. Use your money wisely to support local goods and services rather than multinational corporations who rob us of our health and wealth. Join in protest when you are able.
To reach the revolution of values of which Dr. King speaks we must build a culture of non-violent resistance to the status quo. We must not be silent. We must not be complicit. We must join the movements for peace, health care, jobs, education, housing and human rights. We can succeed together.
Visit www.bradleymanning.org
Margaret Flowers M.D. is a Congressional Fellow for the Physicians for a National Health Program. She can reached by email at: margaret@pnhp.org





OTHER US WARS
DRUG WAR/DEA
Ginger Thompson and Scott Shane (NYT). “Cables Reveal Far Reach of Drug Agency.” ADG (12-26-10). “The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics,” with “87 offices in 63 countries. “In far greater detail than previously seen, the cables, from the cache obtained by WikiLeaks…offer glimpses of drug agents…”

MEXICO
“How They See Us: WikiLeaks Reveals a Desperate Mexico.” The Week (Dec. 24, 2010-Jan. 7, 2011). Cables from US envoys disclosed by WikiLeaks “paint a devastating picture of a nation losing its battle against drug cartels and corruption.” “Worse, the cables reveal that Calderon ‘”puts no limits on U.S. involvement’ in this country.”


WikiLeaks: US Planned 'Retaliation' Over Opposition to Genetically Modified Crops John Vidal, Guardian UK
John Vidal reports: "The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show."
READ MORE https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12d4d42b20e8ace6

END OF WIKILEAKS NEWS #5