by Coleen Rowley and Robert Parry
Almost four decades after Defense Department insider Daniel Ellsberg leaked
the Pentagon Papers - thus exposing the lies that led the United States into
the Vietnam War - another courageous "national security leaker" has stepped
forward and now is facing retaliation similar to what the U.S. government
tried to inflict on Ellsberg.
Army Intelligence Specialist Bradley Manning is alleged to have turned over
a large volume of classified material about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to
Wikileaks.org, including the recently
posted U.S. military video showing American helicopters gunning down two
Reuters journalists and about 10 other Iraqi men in 2007. Two children were
also injured.
The 22-year-old Manning was turned in by a convicted computer hacker named
Adrian Lamo, who befriended Manning over the Internet and then betrayed him,
supposedly out of concern that disclosure of the classified material might
put U.S. military personnel in danger. Manning is now in U.S. military
custody in Kuwait awaiting charges.
Though there are historic parallels between the actions of Manning today and
those of Ellsberg in 1971, a major difference is the attitude of the
mainstream U.S. news media, which then fought to publish Ellsberg's secret
history but now is behaving more like what former CIA analyst Ray McGovern
calls the "fawning corporate media" or FCM.
In the Ellsberg case, the first Pentagon Papers article was published by the
New York Times - and when President Richard Nixon blocked the Times from
printing other stories - the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers picked
up the torch and kept publishing articles based on Ellsberg's material until
Nixon's obstruction was made meaningless, and ultimately was repudiated by
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today, the major response of the Times, Post and other tribunes of the FCM
has been to write articles disparaging Manning, while treating Lamo as
something of a patriotic hero. . . .
The FCM also has shown little interest in the U.S. government's apparent
attempts to hunt down Julian Assange, the Australian-born founder of
Wikileaks.org which decrypted the video of the Iraq helicopter attack and
posted it on the Internet under the title, "Collateral Murder." . . .
The Obama Administration has even instituted criminal prosecution of
government employees who blew the whistle on prior unlawful actions of the
Bush regime by daring to reveal, for instance, that Bush's NSA was
warrantlessly monitoring American citizens.
The final step in the U.S. government's continuing foray to the "dark side"
has been Obama's signing off on the proposed targeted assassination of an
American citizen - who had been linked to support for Islamic terrorism -
without any judicial due process. . . .
FULL TEXT
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the
Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous
Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat,
and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy &
Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost
History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' are also available
there. Or go to Amazon.com.
[The unfolding secret story of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre
and the Pentagon is being told today when more than 500,000 intercepted
pager messages, many
from US officials, are published online in the order in which they were
sent.--"9/11 re-enacted: Wikileaks publishes September
11 pager messages," Guardian, November 25, 2009]
Muriel Kane, "Daniel Ellsberg fears a US hit on Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange," rawstory.com, June 11, 2010
[The Garani massacre, which we are still working on, killed over 100 people,
mostly children.
Mr. Manning allegedly also sent us 260,000 classified US Department cables,
reporting on the actions of US Embassy's engaging in abusive actions all
over the world. We have denied the allegation, but the US government is
acting as if the allegation is true--David Heath, "WikiLeaks is asking for urgent
help," itwire.com, June 15, 2010]
"With
Rumored Manhunt for Wikileaks Founder and Arrest of Alleged Leaker of
Video Showing Iraq Killings, Obama Admin Escalates Crackdown on
Whistleblowers of Classified Information," democracynow.org, June 17, 2010
[As usual, government concern over leaks is about avoiding embarrassment and
other accountability; national security harm is but the fear-mongering
excuse.--Glenn Greenwald, "The motive behind whistle-blower
prosecutions," democracynow.org, July 14, 2010]
Chris Floyd, "Leaky Vessels: Wikileaks 'Revelations' Will Comfort Warmongers,
Confirm Conventional Wisdom," chris-floyd.com, July 26, 2010
[When you read Mr. Assange's output, you are looking at one of the Mossad
games, nothing more. They send some stories to Fox News, some to CNN, some
to the Washington Post or London Times. They have their pick as their
friends and co-workers own those outlets and so many more. The game today
is using Wikileaks, given its 15 minutes of fame for trashing the US in Iraq
with the helicopter video, to spread imaginary stories about Pakistan, the
only nuclear power in the Middle East capable of standing up to Israel and
the enemy of India.--Gordon Duff, "Wiki-Leaks is Israel, Like We All Didn't
Know," veteranstoday.com, July 29, 2010]
[The evidence suggests however that far from an honest leak, it is a
calculated disinformation to the gain of the US and perhaps Israeli and
Indian intelligence and a cover-up of the US and Western role in drug
trafficking out of Afghanistan.
. . . a closer examination of the public position of Assange on one of
the most controversial issues of recent decades, the forces behind the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center shows him
to be curiously establishment.--F. William Engdahl, "Something stinks
about Wikileaks," vheadline.com, August 11, 2010]
[Nobel Prize committee officials say they have received a petition claiming
some 100,000 signatures that endorses awarding the peace prize to U.S. soldier Bradley
Manning--"Petition backs Manning for Nobel Peace
Prize:," Associated Press, August 12, 2013]