Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Back In Prison For Refusing To Testify In Secret

Chelsea Manning is a martyr to the 1st amendment.

I don't think that is too strong of a statement. After her complaints about illegal activity by the U.S. military in Iraq were ignored by her chain of command, Manning shared a trove of material on those war crimes including the now iconic "Collateral Murder" video.




U.S. army personnel shooting from a helicopter over Baghdad murdered, not only Reuters journalists engaged in their work, but a father who tried to evacuate the wounded men in a van containing his children. (He was just driving by and was thus rewarded for acting as a good Samaritan.)

In retaliation for leaking evidence of war crimes, Manning was first imprisoned in a cage in the desert in Iraq. There, she believed she would die of exposure and dehydration.

Then, she was shipped home and imprisoned at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia. I demonstrated with others outside Quantico (you can read my account of that here) after news that she was being tortured in detention reached me.

She spent nine months in solitary confinement.

Manning was subsequently imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. My husband and I demonstrated with others outside Leavenworth (see photo above, and you can read my account of that here), calling for her freedom. President Obama had promised to protect whistleblowers, but he did nothing of the kind. 

She was courtmartialed and held for years after that. As soon as that verdict was announced, she came out as transgender and changed her first name from Bradley to Chelsea. 

Finally, Obama gave her clemency for time served as he was leaving office. Her entire imprisonment and torture happened on his watch.

Very sadly, Manning is back in prison again. As the U.S. government continues to pursue the journalist Julian Assange, alleged to have received Manning's leaked war crime evidence, they have convened a grand jury that meets in secret. A subpoena to appear and testify before the grand jury was rejected by Manning on the grounds of secrecy. She has indicated that she will testify, but not in secret.

Both Manning and Assange continue to be targeted by the U.S. empire and its warmongering presidents. Their crime is not gunning down children or torturing innocent men at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. Their crime: telling the truth to the American people.

To support Chelsea Manning you can go here for more information, including how to donate to her defense fund and how to send messages of support. She may be in prison for up to 18 months this time, or as long as the grand jury is impaneled. And the government can repeat their harassment of her.


https://youtu.be/aKj_i4lCfs8  "Chelsea Manning spoke to the press prior to be taken into custody, March 8, 2019, at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia."


Why won't the federal government let Manning testify in public? What are they afraid she might reveal?

The Washington Post, which functions mostly as a mouthpiece for corporate government, has a new, somewhat ironic slogan. It refers to the demagogue with bad hair's attacks on the press; the Post and other corporate media are rightly worried that if the government can go after Assange for publishing inconvenient truths via Wikileaks, it can similarly go after them.

They should stand up for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange now, before there are no journalists left unmuzzled to stand up for them.