An all American hero who deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom or a traitor to his country? Amongst his fellow Americans, supporters and detractors of Bradley Manning fall squarely into either camp, whilst so called ‘liberals’ in the US wag a stern finger, revert to their one dimensional collective consciousness of ‘sage paternalism’ and reproachfully state: ‘He broke the law’.
Private First Class Bradley Manning is recognised as the source of hundreds of thousands of documents that have appeared on the Wikileaks website, including the so called ‘Afghan War Logs’, the ‘Iraq War Logs’, the ‘Guantanamo files’, the ‘State Department Cables’. He faces twenty two charges in front of a military court, including violation of the Espionage Act (1917) and aiding and abetting the enemy, an indictment that permits use of the death penalty.
New York based attorney and writer, Chase Madar tells the story of Private First Class Bradley Manning, with careful attention to those details carelessly or purposely omitted by a mostly one sided US media. Madar’s book gives a glimpse of Manning’s early years and his exceptional scholarly potential- winning prizes at science fairs and representing his school in intellectual competitions, designing his first website aged ten and enjoying the admiration of his young peers. These details are purposely smudged out by those wishing to portray him as a loner with a chip on his shoulder, an anarchist, an attention seeker, or of unsound mind.
Read the full article in the London Progressive Journal