In a time when George W. Bush is responsible for making America less safe and empowering Iran (or so I'm led to believe), Bradley Manning needs to be credited with getting the U.S. out of Iraq. I mean, allegedly (if found guilty, you know, in the trial that's finally happening). Glenn Greenwald explains (here):
In other words, whoever leaked that cable cast light on a heinous American war crime and, by doing so, likely played some significant role in thwarting an agreement between the Obama and Maliki governments to keep U.S. troops in Iraq and thus helped end this stage of the Iraq war (h/t Trevor Timm). Moreover, whoever leaked these cables — as even virulent WikiLeaks critic Bill Keller repeatedly acknowledged — likely played some significant in helping spark the Arab Spring protests by documenting just how deeply corrupt those U.S.-supported kleptocrats were. And in general, whoever leaked those cables has done more to publicize the corrupt, illegal and deceitful acts of the world’s most powerful factions — and to educate the world about how they behave — than all “watchdog” media outlets combined (indeed, the amount of news reports on a wide array of topics featuring WikiLeaks cables as the primary source is staggering). In sum, whoever leaked those cables is responsible for one of the most consequential, beneficial and noble acts of this generation.Oh, wow, he also gets partial credit for Occupy Wall Street then. Sweet.
Shit is fucked up and bull shit. And I have never done anything as brave as Manning (allegedly) has.
Happy birthday dude. Good luck. Rock on. Stay strong.
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