Manolo Luna
Chelsea Manning, who bravely exposed atrocities committed by the U.S. military, is again imprisoned in a U.S. jail. On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019, she was incarcerated in the Alexandria, Virginia federal detention center for refusing to testify in front of a secretive grand jury. Her imprisonment can extend through the term of the grand jury, possibly 18 months, and the U.S. courts could allow formation of future grand juries, potentially jailing her again.
Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army soldier and former U.S. intelligence analyst, has testified in court about how she downloaded and disseminated government documents revealing classified information she believed represented possible war crimes committed by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2013, she was convicted by court martial and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison for leaking government documents to Wikileaks. On January 17, 2017, President Obama commuted her sentence. In May of 2017, she was released from military prison having served seven years.
Working as an analyst with the U.S. military, Channing saw, on her screen, civilians being killed, and was unwilling to ignore what she witnessed. She made available to the world black and white grainy footage and audio content depicting a U.S. helicopter gunship indiscriminately firing on Iraqi civilians. Twelve people were killed, including two Reuters journalists.
Following is a transcript of a dialogue, shared on Democracy Now, of classified U.S. military video footage from July 12, 2007 in Baghdad:
US SOLDIER 1: Alright, firing.
US SOLDIER 4: Let me know when you’ve got them.
US SOLDIER 2: Let’s shoot. Light 'em all up.
US SOLDIER 1: Come on, fire!
US SOLDIER 2: Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’. Keep shootin’.
US SOLDIER 6: Hotel, Bushmaster two-six, Bushmaster two-six, we need to move, time now!
US SOLDIER 2: Alright, we just engaged all eight individuals.
Amy Goodman describes how, in the next portion of the video, U.S. forces watch a van pull up to the scene, in the words of one soldier, “possibly picking up bodies and weapons.”
“Let me engage. Can I shoot?” asks another. Several tense seconds ensue while the soldiers “request permission to engage.” Then,
US SOLDIER 4: Bushmaster seven, roger. This is Bushmaster seven, roger. Engage.
US SOLDIER 2: One-eight, engage. Clear.
US SOLDIER 1: Come on!
US SOLDIER 2: Clear. Clear.
US SOLDIER 1: We’re engaging.
US SOLDIER 3: I got ’em.
US SOLDIER 2: Should have a van in the middle of the road with about twelve to fifteen bodies.
US SOLDIER 1: Oh yeah, look at that. Right through the windshield! Ha!
“What were the criteria,” former U.S. whistleblower Dan Ellsberg asked after the video’s release, “that led to denying this to the public? And how do they stand up when we actually see the results? Is anybody going to be held accountable for wrongly withholding evidence of war crimes in this case…?”
Chelsea Manning’s releases also disclosed details of the Granai massacre in Afghanistan. On May 4, 2009, Taliban forces attacked U.S. and Afghan forces in Afghanistan’s Farah province. The U.S. military called for U.S. airstrikes on buildings in the village of Granai. A U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber dropped 2,000 and 500 pound bombs, killing an estimated 86 to 147 women and children. Ellsberg called for President Obama to post a video the U.S. Air Force took of the bombing, rather than waiting to see if Wikileaks would release it. To this day, the video hasn’t been released. Apparently, a disgruntled Wikileaks employee destroyed the footage.
Chelsea Manning’s courageous disclosures exposed U.S. military atrocities that might have remained secret to the U.S. public. Her revelations were also key to exposing U.S. approval of the 2009 coup against the elected government in Honduras and U.S. dealings with dictators and oligarchs across the Middle East, which helped spark the Arab Spring rebellions.
Prior to her arrest in 2010, Chelsea Manning wrote: “I want people to see the truth, regardless of who they are. Because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”
Chelsea Manning’s principled and courageous actions provide guidance for us to control our fears. We must seek an end to war crimes wherever the U.S. terrifies and kills civilians.