More Mannings, substitute Snowdens out there

Uncle Sam may toss Pvt. Bradley Manning in the brig for life after his kangaroo courts martial finds him guilty of leaking classified war crime documents to Wikileaks, and Ed Snowden can suffer a similar fate for outing massive NSA eavesdropping on everyone, but there's one thing our Uncle cannot do. He can't prevent the next Pvt. Manning or the next security contractor Snowden from following his conscience and shining a light on our senseless, criminal wars of empire, or our trashing of the 4th Amendment guaranteeing privacy.  There are over a million government employees and private contractors with national security clearance. A few, possibly dozens, maybe even hundreds are pondering the risks and the consequences of coming forward as I write this, to rid themselves of the haunting guilt of aiding and abetting criminal wars against defenseless civilians, or constructing the post 911 surveillance state ensnaring every single American without their consent. They follow the dictates of the Constitution, international law and common decency infinitely more than governmental officials and their sycophantic defenders in the media who prosecute those wars and demolish 222 years of our sacred right to privacy. They, and not proponents and defenders of these policies represent the best of America.

They remind me of the brooms that came to life in Walt Disney's Sorcerers Apprentice. The more apprentice Mickey broke them, the more they reformed to increase the groundswell of floodwater in the Sorcerer's workshop. But no magical Sorcerer will appear to help Uncle Sam stop the floodgates of truth that must and will come out. We can end senseless war by learning the truth about it. We can regain our right to privacy by uncovering the despicable lies we've been told for years denying its abridgment. Armed with the truth we must work to steer the floundering ship of our fading democracy around. And when we do, lets not forget the pioneers who gave up their freedom to inspire us to salvage ours.