Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dear Mr. President,

While you control the U.S. media, it’s more difficult to control what gets reported elsewhere. A case in point: Der Spiegel’s March 20 issue carrying photos of U.S. soldiers from the 5^th Stryker Brigade, 2^nd Infantry Division holding up their trophy kills by the hair: corpses of Afghan civilians they just murdered. Reportedly, these men from the “Kill Team” made a sport of killing randomly chosen Afghans. When a fellow soldier reported it he was severely beaten for betraying them. The military suppressed the photos until Der Spiegel got their hands on them and published them. No apparent involvement by WikiLeaks there, Mr. President, just a publication doing what it’s supposed to do: publish the truth. Three things are apparent from this episode. One is the extent to which the American press is a propaganda arm of the administration and the military. Second, that U.S. soldiers are no different from any other soldiers throughout history – that they are trained to kill and that killing causes people to lose their moral compass. We have seen it before – My Lai, Abu Ghraib – our army is as brutal as any other army – Hitler’s SS, Qaddafi’s “loyalists”, Caesar’s Roman Legions, et. al. Third is that while Jeremy Morlock, one of the accused Kill Team members. has been held in an Army stockade in solitary confinement since June 2010, Bradley Manning has been in solitary confinement since May 2010 but in a Marine brig under Prevention Of Injury conditions. And while Morlock’s trial starts tomorrow, Manning still has no trial date set. Atrocities seem to carry less severe punishment than the reporting of them. In spite of your campaign rhetoric extolling the importance of whistle-blowers, your actions are just the opposite. Your administration has prosecuted more whistle-blowers than any previous administration in American history. Not a record to be proud of, Mr. President. When are you going to recognize the futility and moral evil of these wars and stop them? They infect every facet of our lives. They are counterproductive, stupid, immoral. Killing and violence does nothing more than foster more killing and violence. And when will you follow the lead of the rest of the civilized world and outlaw solitary confinement, an inhumane punishment without purpose. An estimated 80,000 prisoners are “in the Hole” in U.S. prisons on any given day. This does not speak well of the U.S. or of you that you continue this barbaric practice.

Free Bradley Manning!