Bradley Manning; accused of releasing the classified document and video showing killing of Reuter’s journalist and unarmed Israelis is a hero as he has demonstrated courage to show the reality of a government to the people of U.S. and world. Manning’s attempt to blow the whistle and make the people see the truth behind war is admirable. The action of Manning displays the strength of character and a clear conscience.
April 5, 2010 marked a day to be remembered in the history of U.S. with the release of video ‘Collateral Murder’ on Wikileaks. The video, immensely famous and a topic of discussion across the nations display killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists. Immediately after the videos release, Manning was confined by the government accusing him of leaking the video and other documents to the company Wikileaks which has the reputation to work in collaboration with News Company and tamper the original files.
Manning accused of releasing the video commands respect and admiration as being a part of the U.S. federal system, he still had the courage to take the right decision and show the real face of government to the world. As revealed by the chat logs of Manning, his decision was derived by the political agency and pure conscience. The chat logs of Manning mentioned that Manning hoped that release of this video would result in “worldwide discussions, debates, and reforms”.
The documents and video were kept in classified category as they reveal the embarrassing movements of the government. The government killing hundreds of innocent people aggressively is considered unfit to be viewed by civilians as it would reveal the reality. Manning is being called a criminal by the government whereas the actual criminals are the soldiers who are killing the innocent people in the video. The person who tries to reveal this is considered a traitor whereas the courage of this person is remarkable as he took the decision to do the right thing.
The desire to reveal the classified documents and video is not related to Manning’s personal life as has been discussed by Steve Fishman. The article points out that the personal life of Bradley Manning has been a troubled one and he was a loner, had different sexual orientation and was tortured by his colleagues. The article tries to give a different direction to Manning’s action by indicating at his personal life and trying to convince readers that the revelation by Manning is actually driven by his own personality troubles and not by the conscience. However Fishman forgets that every person has some kind of troubles in his/her life and how many of us actually rise to the occasion to reveal something which can save the day or probably face out someone important. People with clear conscience and strength of character can only display such courage.
The issues which Manning’s case raises are related to the government transparency, government’s accountability and role of military in reshaping the foreign policies, approach of Obama’s administration towards whistle-blowers, and the impact of the crimes in war as revealed by document on Wikileaks on the Middle East democracies.
The actions of Manning have helped one to realize the deterioration of the democratic system of Federal government. Decision makers publicize foreign policies, operating procedures of military and the diplomatic strategies which are not in sync with the democratic models of the country. The revelations by the Manning did not have much impact on the government still it has led to the tarnished image of government. The conduct of government with Manning clearly illustrates that government has double standards in relation to the transparency and the war crime is practiced by the government. The citizens of the nation should be informed of the actions of the government since the democratic government is ‘government of the people, by the people, foe the people’. The government has to be more transparent to people to regain the lost confidence as any government which does not even provide valid justification about its wrong conduct is neither transparent nor beneficial for people.
Works Cited
Fishman, Steve. "Bradley Manning’s Army of One." 3 July 2011. New York. 11 July 2011
McCord, Ethan. "PFC Bradley Manning: Conscience and Agency." 11 July 2011. Common Dreams.org. 11 Julu 2011
Richman, Sheldon. "WikiLeaks: Bradley Manning isn't a criminal. He's a hero." 29 November 2010. The Christian Science Monitor. 11 July 2011
