Julian Assange is a journalist who changed the way journalism gets done. He was arrested in London this week at the behest of the U.S. government. Chelsea Manning is whistleblower who is back in prison for a second time, because she refuses to testify to a secret grand jury about Assange.
Their most famous revelation is probably this U.S. Army video of helicopter troops laughing and firing on Reuters journalists, a dad who went to their rescue, and the children riding in his van in Baghdad in 2007.
(If the embedded video doesn't work for you, see it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0)
Wikileaks released the video with supporting documents on April 5, 2010 at http://collateralmurder.com.
Between the two, Assange and Manning have shone the light of public scrutiny on many dark dealings.
The U.S. government appears to be persecuting them, not because you can close Pandora's box, but as a lesson to other journalists and whistleblowers.
Stand up for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange now, before there are no journalists left unmuzzled to stand up for them.
Free Chelsea Manning (again!) resources at Courage to Resist.
1 comment:
The original sin of the Iraq Invasion, as shown in the video that Manning and Assange heroically brought to the world, will never be expunged, until we as a society decide to hold the murderers accountable instead of punishing the messengers.
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