Because of Bradley Manning, we have Edward Snowden, who was inspired to come forward by Manning’s example;
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that most of the prisoners held at Guantanamo are innocent or low-level operatives and we have the identities and pictures of the prisoners held at Guantanamo who are now hunger striking (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we have the “Collateral Murder” video which allowed Reuters to finally find out how their reporters were killed, in the face of years of Pentagon lies and stonewalling, and allowed the world to see the attitudes and actions of the U.S. soldiers who commit war crimes and laugh about it, and by implication, the brass and public officials who expect and encourage this barbaric behavior;
Because of Bradley Manning, “U.S. defense contractors were brought under much tighter supervision after leaked diplomatic cables revealed that they had been complicit in child trafficking activities. DynCorp — a powerful defense contracting firm that claims almost $2 billion per year in revenue from U.S. tax dollars — threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment. DynCorp had already faced human trafficking charges before this incident took place” (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we have the Tunisian Revolution which in turn inspired Arab Spring which in turn inspired Occupy Wall Street which in turn showed the reservoir of mass support for radical/revolutionary changes here in the U.S.;
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that Egyptian torturers received training from the U.S.: “According to a leaked diplomatic cable from Cairo, the head of Egypt’s notorious State Security Investigative Service (SSIS) thanked FBI Deputy Director John Pistole for the ‘excellent and strong’ cooperation between the two agencies. In particular, the FBI’s training sessions in Quantico, Virginia were of ‘great benefit’ to his interrogators. Another cable documented what the US embassy considered ‘credible’ allegations of human rights violations by the SSIS, including torturing prisoners with ‘electric shocks and sleep deprivation to reduce them to a “zombie state.”’ (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that the State Department under Hillary Clinton secretly sought to strong-arm the UN: “According to the ‘National Humint Collection Directive,’ a secret document that was signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and published by WikiLeaks, US diplomats were authorized to collect ‘biometric’ and other sensitive information from top UN officials as well as UN representatives from other nations. The leaked documents show that ‘biometric data’ specifically included samples of the officials’ DNA, among other forms of personally identifying information. They also ordered diplomats to collect credit card information and secure passwords. These activities contravene the 1946 UN Convention.” (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that the Japanese and U.S. governments were warned about the dangers of a nuclear disaster at Fukushima three years before the 2011 catastrophe but ignored the warnings. Fukushima has now been ranked as bad as Chernobyl and TEPCO officials recently admitted that the damaged plant has been leaking radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean ever since (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that in December 2009 President Obama authorized a secret drone campaign in Yemen. “A year later, WikiLeaks revealed that Yemen’s President Saleh had agreed that his regime would ‘continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.’” (BradleyManning.org);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that hundreds of civilians in Iraq were executed at checkpoints (Iraq War Logs);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that Obama’s administration handed over thousands of detainees to the Iraqi authorities with the knowledge that they would be tortured (Iraq War Logs);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that 15,000 civilian deaths that were previously unknown were uncovered in the leaked files, in contrast to the denials of the U.S. government that they had figures on civilian deaths (Iraq War Logs);
Because of Bradley Manning, we know that detainees were humiliated, tortured, and killed by US Special Forces, the CIA, and military contractors (Iraq War Logs);
Because of Bradley Manning, the public is informed of things the government would never have let us know about, and would have continued to categorically deny with straight faces; and
Because of Bradley Manning’s conscience, bravery, and sacrifice on behalf of the interests and future of humanity, the world is a different place, a world in turmoil but with a chance now to turn things aright.
Dennis Loo is a member of the Steering Committee of World Can’t Wait. His website is dennisloo.com. This article was written and published before Manning announced her preferred name (Chelsea), and gender (female), which World Can’t Wait respects and has used following that announcement.