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Dear CODEPINKer,
Alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning has just been served with 22 new charges by the Department of Defense. One of the charges, “aiding the enemy" allows a military judge to give him the death penalty.
Stand with us in telling Defense Secretary Gates to drop this unjust charge.
Who exactly is “the enemy” anyway? The cables that Bradley Manning is accused of leaking have helped spark democratic uprisings across the Arab world. They have brought us the truth about the brutality and atrocities of our continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have given us a critical look at the underpinnings of our own government. They have created transparency beyond any we had before, and allow us as citizens to make more educated decisions. Of all the beneficiaries of the leaked cables, Democracy itself is the greatest.
Bradley has been held for over nine months in solitary confinement. His current conditions have been deplorable enough to spark an investigation by the UN special office on torture and Amnesty International. He has been denied sheets or a pillow, and has been forced to strip naked at night. The Army's prosecutor has assured the press that they will only recommend lifetime imprisonment. But this far from acceptable.
With the leaked video “Collateral Murder,” Bradley put us in the back of a helicopter gunship in Iraq to show us how our wars are really fought. In his own words, he did it because “I want people to see the truth regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.” Now he is being charged with nothing more than telling us the truth, and it may cost him his life.
Stand with us in calling for Defense Secretary Gates to drop these cruel and unjust charges against Bradley.
Join us and the Bradley Manning Support Network for a rally where Bradley is imprisoned at Quantico on March 20th.
Let's rally for truth at the gates of secrecy,
Medea, Ali, Alli, Chelsea, Farida, Jean, Janet, Jodie, Kristen, Logan, Nancy, Natalia, Rae, Shaden, and Tighe
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