Manning's Verdit on Kill List Tuesday a Warning to Snowden

Dear Mr. President,

It’s fitting that Bradley Manning’s verdict is read on Kill List Tuesday—as much justice in Manning’s trial as in your selection of those to be killed this week. The Manning verdict was a foregone conclusion months ago, maybe years ago. Guilty as charged on all counts (except the over-the-top aiding the enemy). 130 years. You’re putting that boy away for life, sending a clear message to any other Bradley Mannings out there that the consequences of exposing war crimes and government malfeasance is life in prison. The secret findings and secret memos justifying the assassination of both foreign and American citizens is not unlike the trial of Pfc Manning. Held in a military courtroom next to NSA headquarters at Ft. Meade, the judge had a reputation for handling—i.e., controlling—the press. Armed guards wanded, searched and intimidated the small press corps, isolated in a media center away from the courtroom, watching the trial on a video feed. There was little resemblance to a real court of law—no court transcripts, no recorded video or other court documents, and only 70 press credentials issued (more than 350 were requested). The photos of Manning being led to and from the courtroom tells the story. There’s one in today’s NYT (p. A12); he’s in handcuffs, a burly guard on each side, the top of his beret barely reaching the guards’ shoulders. As Kay Rudin, a sketch artist covering the trial says, “He is tiny…. He's literally the size of a 12-year-old. The tiniest little man is also the biggest in the room in several ways… Manning is surrounded by huge fullbacks who really hate him [because] he's also the smartest guy in the room.” (http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/localnews/ci_23729839/kay-rudin-local-activist-journalist-sues-feds-over) In the epilogue of Dreams from My Father, you make this statement: “The study of law can be disappointing at times, a matter of applying narrow rules and arcane procedure to an uncooperative reality; a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power—and all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition.” This seems to be your guiding principal as president—the manipulation of law to protect power and then explain the wisdom and justice of your power to those who have none. Stay safe, Edward Snowden, and out of reach of the American juggernaut for there is no justice in the land of the free or the home of the brave.