Who Do You Love?

For it may be said of men in general that they are
ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers,
anxious to avoid danger and covetous of gain 
--The Prince, Machiavelli 

Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me
--20th Century Man, the Kinks

 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
--Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) 
____________________

Bradley Manning is finally getting his day in court, after 1,000 days of confinement, often solitary, without any charges. Manning's case reminds Ranger of that of Lt. William Calley, in an inverse sort of way.

On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War (that quaint, post-colonial dust-up), the My Lai Massacre was carried out by United States troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr. Lt. Calley was indicted for his role in the murder of 109 Vietnamese civilians and convicted in the murder of 22, but he was revered at home and considered something of a folk hero for many. He was placed under simple house arrest in advance of his trial, and it was well known that his female guests were many, and they came and went in file during his time in house detention. 

Calley was sentenced to time in Leavenworth doing hard labor, but his life sentence was shortened considerably, and he never saw a day in jail; ultimately, he spent 3 1/2 years in house arrest in his quarters in Ft. Benning, Georgia. (Democratic President-to-be and sometime World Humanitarian Jimmy Carter was one of Calley's champions.) Compare the treatment of murderer Calley to that of Manning, who could be described as a whistleblower, and who will take Calley's place in Leavenworth.

Bradley Manning did not pull a trigger or commit any act of violence. Manning did not sell the documents he accused of trafficking, but instead approached The Washington Post and The New York Times; when these newspapers rejected him, he sent the material anonymously to WikiLeaks. He has been charged with aiding the enemy, but the charge is rather Kafkaesque as we cannot define our enemy, nor have we met them on a major battlefield.  Assuming al-Qaeda is the enemy, how can Manning be said to aid the enemy if there is no battlefield?

Just as with Kelly's fellows, the service members shooting civilians from the gunships in Manning's leaked video have never been court-martialed for their actions.  Who aids the enemy more: Manning's Wikileaks or the actions of soldiers in rogue gunships, a President who calls for lethal drone strikes and secret renditions of surmised enemies to foreign prisons for torture, and the whole lot of extrajudicial behavior which has become institutionalized in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©)? 

The recruitment value of torture and illegal policies is high, and they are a better fundraiser for the terrorist's cause than any reasoned response might have been.  Calley's inhumane actions hastened the end of the Vietnam War as Americans were repulsed by the killings of civilians.

Chris Hedges take on Manning's trial is worth a view (here).  In his conclusion, Hedges states:

Manning has done what anyone with a conscience should have done. In the courtroom he exhibited—especially given the prolonged abuse he suffered during his thousand days inside the military prison system—poise, intelligence and dignity. He appealed to the best within us. And this is why the government fears him. America still produces heroes, some in uniform. But now we lock them up.

Today, a mere 45 years later, The U.S. does not seem to care.