The utterly f*cked up priorities of the U.S. military - and Barack Obama who is doing nothing to intervene - has yet again been highlighted. (NOTE: The photo at right is graphic, but it represents what is being done in the name of Americans.) As NBC News is reporting, Bradley Manning has been charged with 22 new charges, some of which arguably could lead to a death sentence even though the military reportedly has not been able to link Manning to information leaked by Wilileaks. Meanwhile, the atrocities in Afghanistan continue and the most one hears is "I'm sorry" from those who murdered civilians - or in this case, nine boys all under the age of 15. I suspect that because the victims were (1) non-Christian and (2) non-white, in the racist mindset of far too many in the military, somehow the deaths are deemed to not really count. Tell that to the boys' families as they deal with lives wrongly snuffed out. First, here are highlights on the increased crusade against Manning:*
The Army on Wednesday filed 22 new charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks, military officials told NBC News.
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The charges filed Wednesday include 16 specifications of wrongfully causing classified material to be published on the Internet and knowing that the information would be accessed by the enemy; theft of public property or records; transmitting defense information and computer fraud.
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Like the earlier charges, the charges made no specific mention of WikiLeaks. Pentagon and military officials also report that investigators have made no direct link between Manning and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
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Anti-war groups, a psychologist group as well as filmmaker Michael Moore and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg have called for Bradley to be released from detention. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have condemned the Obama administration's imprisonment conditions.
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I suspect Manning's real crime, if you will, was exposing the wrongs being done by the military and the fools errand nature of the war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, here are highlights from the New York Times on the murder of the Afghan boys:
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Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake.
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The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived.
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The only survivor, Hemad, 11, said his mother had told him to go out with other boys to collect firewood because “the weather is very cold now.”
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“We were almost done collecting the wood when suddenly we saw the helicopters come,” said Hemad, who, like many Afghans, has only one name. “There were two of them. The helicopters hovered over us, scanned us and we saw a green flash from the helicopters. Then they flew back high up, and in a second round they hovered over us and started shooting. They fired a rocket which landed on a tree. The tree branches fell over me and shrapnel hit my right hand and my side.”
*
The tree, Hemad said, saved his life by covering him so that he could not be seen by the helicopters, which, he said, “shot the boys one after another.”
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“As soon as we heard about the attack on the village’s children, all the village men rushed to the mountains to find out what really happened,” said Ashabuddin, a shopkeeper from Manogai, a nearby village, whose nephew Khalid was among those killed. “Finally we found the dead bodies. Some of the dead bodies were really badly chopped up by the rockets,” he said. “The head of a child was missing. Others were missing limbs.”
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More than 200 people gathered in Nanglam on Wednesday to protest the boys’ deaths, witnesses said. Waving white flags, they shouted “Death, death to America!” and “Death to Obama and his colleagues and associates!”
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More victims of the cowboy mentality too often encouraged in the U.S. military. There are days that I am ashamed to be an American. Today is one of them. So many atrocities done in the name of national security in a war that cannot be won. We daily give our Islamic extremist enemies new propaganda material.
The Army on Wednesday filed 22 new charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks, military officials told NBC News.
*
The charges filed Wednesday include 16 specifications of wrongfully causing classified material to be published on the Internet and knowing that the information would be accessed by the enemy; theft of public property or records; transmitting defense information and computer fraud.
*
Like the earlier charges, the charges made no specific mention of WikiLeaks. Pentagon and military officials also report that investigators have made no direct link between Manning and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
*
Anti-war groups, a psychologist group as well as filmmaker Michael Moore and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg have called for Bradley to be released from detention. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have condemned the Obama administration's imprisonment conditions.
*
I suspect Manning's real crime, if you will, was exposing the wrongs being done by the military and the fools errand nature of the war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, here are highlights from the New York Times on the murder of the Afghan boys:
*
Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake.
*
The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived.
*
The only survivor, Hemad, 11, said his mother had told him to go out with other boys to collect firewood because “the weather is very cold now.”
*
“We were almost done collecting the wood when suddenly we saw the helicopters come,” said Hemad, who, like many Afghans, has only one name. “There were two of them. The helicopters hovered over us, scanned us and we saw a green flash from the helicopters. Then they flew back high up, and in a second round they hovered over us and started shooting. They fired a rocket which landed on a tree. The tree branches fell over me and shrapnel hit my right hand and my side.”
*
The tree, Hemad said, saved his life by covering him so that he could not be seen by the helicopters, which, he said, “shot the boys one after another.”
*
“As soon as we heard about the attack on the village’s children, all the village men rushed to the mountains to find out what really happened,” said Ashabuddin, a shopkeeper from Manogai, a nearby village, whose nephew Khalid was among those killed. “Finally we found the dead bodies. Some of the dead bodies were really badly chopped up by the rockets,” he said. “The head of a child was missing. Others were missing limbs.”
*
More than 200 people gathered in Nanglam on Wednesday to protest the boys’ deaths, witnesses said. Waving white flags, they shouted “Death, death to America!” and “Death to Obama and his colleagues and associates!”
*
More victims of the cowboy mentality too often encouraged in the U.S. military. There are days that I am ashamed to be an American. Today is one of them. So many atrocities done in the name of national security in a war that cannot be won. We daily give our Islamic extremist enemies new propaganda material.
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