America has historically enjoyed the unofficial title of "the greatest military power in the world" since the end of WWII, and no other power in the world has seriously considered an invasion of our North American stronghold. And our propaganda also creates a fortress, a fortress of ideas, designed to keep out unwanted influences, as was the case with the long cold war campaign against communism. Both of these forces have historically worked hand in glove to perpetuate the military industrial complex and our seemingly endless chain of needless conflict that only succeeds in creating and sustaining a near universal hegemony, a global schoolyard bully. It almost defies logic and credulity to suggest that any one man has the power to stop such a powerful entity, whether a US president or the Pentagon and their many war contractors. With millions of Americans taking part in the anti-war campaign, many putting their lives and freedoms on the line in countless demonstrations and actions across the country, the one action that had the most impact was as simple as transferring some files. Well, it wasn't that simple, Ellsberg had to copy the several thousand documents known as the Pentagon papers the old fashioned way, one at a time.
But in our modern world of fast paced technological wizardry it's truly remarkable how much information can be leaked in the time it takes to illegally download the latest Lady Gaga release. And in fact, that's exactly what Bradley Manning (allegedly) did, sort of. If the allegations are true, Bradley Manning, a 23 year old analyst in the US Army, while stationed in Iraq in 2009 and 2010, with access to a confidential government internet network, passed over a half a million secret documents to a personal computer using a CD-RW from which he had erased Lady Gaga tracks to free up storage space. Some of these documents may have also been transferred through a wireless network to an un-secure location, but many of them passed completely under the radar as an ordinary compact disc. Though Bradley Manning has been held in military detention without trial for 18 months, he has been declared guilty by the commander in chief, and is widely recognized by supporters as the source of the leaked documents. Once again, a single, average, non-threatening, non-violent individual is the most dangerous man in America. And this time, to make for an irony rich story, he is an openly gay man who came out to his commanders during the legacy of 'Don't ask, Don't tell'.
Why is information so threatening to such powerful people and even the US government itself? If something as simple as a computer file can cause so much damage to the legitimacy and integrity of our government, it's no wonder we live in such a state of Homeland Insecurity. One of Bradley Mannings many charges is "aiding the enemy," but if blowing the whistle on the unconstitutional behavior of our government officials happens to aid the enemy, the true fault lies with those corrupt officials. And when you begin to look at the information leaked it becomes clear that there is an altogether different war going on along side the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an information war. And in this war, information is the only weapon and the only shield, and our ignorance of this wars existence, in an information war, is the equivalent of not bearing arms. And when you don't know there's an information war going on, you don't even know if you're in it, or which side you're on, you don't even know what information is being kept from you or why. You might assume the enemy is some evil bad guy over there somewhere, when in fact the enemy just might be you. In the Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote "It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."
Though I cannot know exactly who has declared this war, nor on whom they have declared it, I believe that Bradley Manning is a hero in this world wide information war and I declare myself on his side, the side of truth and transparency, the side that believes and practices the use of sunlight as the greatest disinfectant. I declare myself on the side of Wikileaks and it's founder Julian Assange who believes that all intelligence should be open source and 100% accessible to all. I am on the side of John F. Kennedy who declared his intention to scatter the CIA to the four winds and I will work towards the goal of ALL intelligence apparatus to be completely dismantled and all secret information to be revealed in full. Our intelligence model was taken from the Russian and Nazi models during WWII and those military enemies justified our dark and shadowy underworld of secrecy that has created a moral blind spot for our nation in which crimes greater than any overt war crime, have consistently occurred and continue into the foreseeable future with absolute impunity. When this information war is finally over, the CIA, DIA, NSA, and so many other organizations will be but a pile of ruin, and in that ruin we will finally have the pieces of the puzzle whose complete picture will ultimately disintegrate any semblance of validity for this criminal empire, of , by, and for the 1%.
The basic systems of Checks and Balances in our government is nothing but a corrupt back scratching circle without that original promise of transparency, informing we the people to do our part to check our government. It has been largely due to our intelligence apparatus as well as the corruption of the FBI that we are being intentionally kept in the dark, and this has created the environment in which whistle blowers have become the only true check on our highest officials. Without Daniel Ellsberg leaking the Pentagon Papers, how many more would have died in Vietnam? How much more damage would Nixon have gotten away with if he hadn't met up with this most dangerous adversary? Ultimately the Pentagon papers led to a new era of public skepticism about being led into wars on false information, an awareness that represents an unquantifiable victory for the people in this information war waged by our government. Bradley Manning is a hero to all of those who believe in transparency, who distrust power, who know their enemies all too well. Bradley Manning has done more for the greater good in his prison cell than Barack Obama has done, or will do, no matter how many more years we let him pretend to lead.
And with the new National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 and it's section on indefinite military detention of US citizens, we are all becoming Bradley Manning, we are all in this prison without trial, without transparency, without liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. Now is the time for an army of Bradley Mannings, an army of whistle blowers, we need a lot more people considered to be as dangerous as Ellsberg and Manning by those who violate their oath to uphold the constitution as Nixon and Obama have done. We need a lot more ammo for the epic battle ahead, but our ammo is info. And if we are to fight this battle, if we are to put our life, liberty, and happiness on the line, we will declare our enemy, we will make it known that truth is on our side, and the day will soon come when our enemies are named and forever placed on the wrong side of history as the enemies of democracy itself. Those in the intelligence communities who have done little or no wrong, we compel you to come forward with your piece of the puzzle. We cannot guarantee your safety or freedom, we cannot promise you riches or power, we can only give you what your soul itself will soon cry out for: forgiveness. There may be no object of value that can compare to the redemption of your very soul.
President Obama, if you are half the man that Bradley Manning is you will free him immediately and honor him as the hero that he is for keeping his oath to uphold the constitution, may I remind you that you also took that oath.
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