The military may call the espionage trial of Pvt. Bradley Manning a prosecution, but its more truthful to call it a persecution. Manning was the 22 year old Army private arrested in Iraq in May, 2010, for transmitting information about our Iraq and Afghan wars to Wikileaks. Tossed in solitary confinement under harsh conditions that included sleep and sensory deprivation, forced nudity, and lack of all contact with outside world, Manning's treatment brought world wide condemnation from human rights advocates. It took 11 months but that outcry got Manning transferred to humane conditions in Leavenworth, KS. It still took another 26 more months for Manning to get his day in court. Alas, the criminality of the wars he was exposing to the world and the morality of his following international instead of US law were not allowed in his defense, resulting in his conviction on 21 of 22 counts. Manning faces decades in jail when sentenced later this year.
Most of the civilized world and a sizable chunk of America view Manning as the hero he is, with some prominent individuals and groups promoting him for the Nobel Peace Prize. The American war party which relishes Manning's torture for 11 months and his likely decades ahead in prison, should go back to moral school and read up on the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of 1945-6. They established the principle that leaders who launch criminal war are the worst of the worst who will hunted down to the ends of the earth to bring justice to their victims. Lower level participants, such as guards at death camps were not allowed to use the "I was just following orders" excuse. Manning looked at the military code of obedience he swore to uphold, looked at the criminality of the war he was participating in, and did the right thing. He violated the military code to serve a higher code; the code of international and moral law. Had he been a Nazi functionary in WWII who defected to the Allies to spill the beans about Nazi war crimes, he'd be hailed as a hero.
While Manning awaits his fate, the real criminals, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld who lied and threatened and fear mongered America into launching a criminal war that caused millions of dead, injured and homeless, live large with the millions they've salted away from their public service and books glorifying their despicable conduct. Wouldn't it be appropriate for Manning to be freed and this unholy foursome investigated, tried and convicted of the war crimes they've skated away from? A fitting end to this loathsome episode would be if Pvt. Manning could be the one to turn the key that locks the prison door on them. If by some miracle that happens, it would not be a persecution. It would be justice. It would also allow the ghosts of Nuremberg, hovering over Manning's persecution, to rest easier.
