Tag Archives: Horrors

Birgitta Jonsdottir nominated Manning for a Nobel Peace prizeafter he shed light on a long history of “corruption, warcrimes, and imperialism by the United States in its internationaldealings.”She also helped with producing the notorious Collateral Damagevideo that Manning admitted to have leaked, even though it was notclassified.In an interview with RT Jonsdottir pointed out that WikiLeaks,the whistleblowing website, was the only media outlet willing totake the files Manning had in his possession, for which he is nowbeing prosecuted. In his guilty plea Manning revealed that he hadapproached mainstream corporate press outlets like The New YorkTimes and the Washington Post with materials of “enormous valueto the American public” – but they ignored his submissions.RT: Why do you think Private Manning deserves aNobel?BJ: Because he dared to do what many others need to do,and that is to blow the whistle on war crimes and to basicallybring into the comfort of our homes the horrors of war and whatpeople have gone through. And I do not think it would have matteredto him which nationality was doing the crime.And I’m really pleased with the result of his statement today,and it is obvious that his intention was never to aid the enemy butto inform the general public in the United States and all the othercountries that have been involved with the wars in Afghanistan andIraq what is really going on in our name in order to try to stopit. And just from what I’ve heard from the statements, the onlythought that I have in my mind is this person is a hero.RT: Will his actions ever berecognized?BJ: I think so, yeah. I’ve been following his case eversince I heard about it for the first time in the news, and I’veco-produced the Collateral Murder video in order to make sure thatit would be brought to the general public, because I felt obligedto do that.And from seeing the development of the attention to his case,both in the United States and globally, that has been radicallychanging. In a sense it is a relief for me to hear him plead guiltyto leaking this particular video, so I know I may not be harminghis case by saying that what he did was indeed what he did, becauseI did know.RT: The Pentagon bowed to pressure from human rightsgroups and posted over 80 unpublished rulings on Manning’s trial.How much of a breakthrough is that?BJ: I think that in general, this case has shown us theinfluence and the ability of individuals to transform our world.Manning is one of these people, and all the activists that had madesure that he would not just be forgotten in jail.And now finally the mainstream media in the United States can’tignore his story and what he has been going through.And I think it is very important and of course, it is incredibleto hear that he had tried to take this to other media before hetried to get it to WikiLeaks and that WikiLeaks was the only placethat would actually acknowledge the significance of the documentsthat he was handing over. … Read More