Manning`s Letter To President Obama Requesting Pardon

September 2013 ● Volume 4 ● Issue 9 ● Free Press Publications
♡ Copying is an act of love. Love is not subject to law.
Chelsea (Formerly Bradley) Manning’s Letter
To President Obama Requesting Pardon
The decisions that I made in 2010 were made out of a
concern for my country and the world that we live in.
Since the tragic events of 9/11, our country has been at
war. We’ve been at war with an enemy that chooses not to
meet us on any traditional battlefield, and due to this fact
we’ve had to alter our methods of combating the risks
posed to us and our way of life.
I initially agreed with these methods and chose to
volunteer to help defend my country. It was not until I was
in Iraq and reading secret military reports on a daily basis
that I started to question the morality of what we were
doing. It was at this time I realized that (in) our efforts to
meet the risk posed to us by the enemy, we have forgotten
our humanity. We consciously elected to devalue human
life both in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we engaged those
that we perceived were the enemy, we sometimes killed
innocent civilians. Whenever we killed innocent civilians,
instead of accepting responsibility for our conduct, we
elected to hide behind the veil of national security and
classified information in order to avoid any public
accountability.
In our zeal to kill the enemy, we internally debated the
definition of torture. We held individuals at Guantanamo
for years without due process. We inexplicably turned a
blind eye to torture and executions by the Iraqi
government. And we stomached countless other acts in the
name of our war on terror.
Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally
questionable acts are advocated by those in power. When
these cries of patriotism drown out any logically based
dissension, it is usually the American soldier that is given
the order to carry out some ill-conceived mission.
Our nation has had similar dark moments for the virtues of
democracy — the Trail of Tears, the Dred Scott decision,
McCarthyism, and the Japanese-American internment
camps — to mention a few. I am confident that many of
the actions since 9/11 will one day be viewed in a similar
light.
As the late Howard Zinn once said, “There is not a flag
large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent
people.”
I understand that my actions violated the law; I regret if
my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States. It was
never my intent to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help
people. When I chose to disclose classified information, I
did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to
others.
If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time
knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to
live in a free society. I will gladly pay that price if it means
we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men
are created equal.
Editor's note: On August 22, 2013 the Army Private convicted as Bradley Manning
stated intentions to transition to a female and be known as “Chelsea.” FPP will
honor that request, though in an attempt to not confuse any readers, will refer to Pfc.
Manning as “Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning.”
A Presidential Pardon for Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning
by: Darryl W. Perry
On August 21, Judge Col. Denise Lind sentenced Pfc.
Bradley Manning to 35 years in military prison (minus
1294 days for pre-trial confinement). Three hours after
Manning’s sentence was announced, attorney David
Coombs said the appeals process will begin in a matter of
days. Coombs said, “I will file a request… that the
president pardon Pfc. Manning, or at the very least
commute his sentence to time served.”
Coombs said, the request includes a statement from
Manning himself, “I understand that my actions violated
the law. I regret that my actions hurt or harmed the US. It
was never my intent to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help
people.”
The truth is Manning’s actions caused no actual harm to
any of the American troops overseas. The only harm was
to the egos of those who want to control other people.
Colonel Morris Davis tweeted that “Manning [will] likely
serve about 8 to 8.5 yrs more in confinement.” That means
Manning will serve nearly 10 years longer in military
prison than the people who commited the war-crimes that
he exposed. As of yet, the apache gunner who appeared in
the ‘Collateral Murder’ video has never faced criminal
charges. Those who slaughtered civilians in Iraq and
Afghanistan have never faced criminal charges. Those who
ordered the troops into combat have never faced criminal
charges.
Bradley Manning is a whistleblower who exposed warcrimes, and for his good deed he is being confined to
military prison for at least the next 8 years of his life. I am
proud to be among the 4,114 who signed the petition to
serve part of Bradley Manning’s sentence, and ask Maj.
Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan to either allow each of the people
who signed the petition to serve 3.1 days in custody so that
Bradley Manning may go free or that the Maj. Gen.
Commute Manning’s sentence upon review. Regardless the
action by Maj. Gen. Buchanan, I formally request that
President Barack Obama grant a full pardon to Pfc.
Bradley Manning.
Manning Found NOT GUILTY of
"Aiding the Enemy"
by: Darryl W. Perry
Judge Col. Denise Lind found Chelsea (formerly Bradley)
Manning not guilty on aiding the enemy,. The Guradian
reported, "Manning has been found not guilty of the most
serious charge of aiding the enemy. However the private
has been found guilty on five counts of violating the
espionage act."
RT reported, Manning was found "guilty on 19 other
counts including 'wantonly cause to be published on the
internet intelligence belonging to the US government.' He
could yet face a maximum of more than 100 years in jail...
He was found not guilty of violating the espionage act for
the collateral murder video."
Community Calendars
CONCORD
Second Saturday - Concord Porcupines: Tandy's Top Shelf
in Eagle Square - Noon-1:30pm.
DOVER
Last Tuesday - The Dover Liberty Book Club:
Kaleo Coffeehouse, 83 Main St - 7:00pm
KEENE
Every Sunday - Social Sunday:
Sports, 12 Emerald St - 6:00pm
McCue's Billiards &
HAMPTON / PORTSMOUTH
Every other Thursday - NH Seacoast Liberty Meetup:
Coat of Arms, 174 Fleet St – 7:30pm
MANCHESTER
First Saturday - Merrimack Valley Porcupines: The Quill,
Amory St - 11:00am
NASHUA
Wednesdays - Freedom Forum discussion: Barnes & Noble
- 7-9pm
NASHUA
First Sunday - Liberty Social: Nashua Garden, Main St. 7pm
Submit your events to [email protected] – please send event
information by the final Sunday of each month.
by: Darryl W. Perry
Chris Christie and Rand Paul Are Both Wrong!
There has recently been a war-of-words in the Republican
Party between NJ Governor Chris Christie and people he
considers to be “libertarian.” During a recent panel
discussion at the Aspen Institute, Christie said the strain of
liberarianism is a "very dangerous thought." Someone
asked Gov. Christie if he was referring to Rand Paul; he
responded, “You can name any number of people and he’s
one of them.” Adding that he wanted the people having
“esoteric, intellectual debates... to come to New Jersey and
sit across from the widows and the orphans” of the attacks
on September 11, 2001. Christie added “[t]he next attack
that comes, that kills thousands of Americans as a result,
people are going to be looking back on the people having
this intellectual debate and wondering –”
Rand Paul responded by telling Sean Hannity, “The Fourth
Amendment says it has to be a specific person, a place,
and you have to name the items and you have to go to a
judge and you have to say there's probable cause. And
here's the thing, I'm all for getting terrorists. I’m all for -if I were the judge, absolutely, say yes. Get the records.
But I’m for spying on terrorists; I'm not for spying on
every American.”
Many of Rand Paul's supporters are saying things such as,
“see, Rand isn't bad, he only wants the government to spy
on terrorists!”
Allow me to ask: how do you know if someone is a
“terrorist” or even a potential “terrorist” unless the person
is being spied on?
Secondly, what happens when the government labels YOU
a potential “terrorist”?
It isn't that far fetched. In 2009, the MIAC Report put out
by the Missouri Information Analysis Center said that
members of the Campaign for Liberty, Constitution Party
and Libertarian Party were to be considered “potential
threats.” More recently, t
he Concord, NH Police Department cited “Sovereign
Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire” in
their grant application to purchase a BearCat (Ballistic
Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck).
NHCLU Executive Director Devon Chaffee said, “It’s far
from clear to us why an armored vehicle would be violent
continued on page 3
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We believe that copying is a form of flattery and do not abide by the copyright laws. Those laws serve to restrict the flow of ideas, which no one can really own.
♡ Copying is an act of love. Love is not subject to law.
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The Internet, Secrecy and Spying
By: Darryl W. Perry
distribution of legally protected communications.”
Speaking to a group of staff and families at the US
Embassy in Brasilia on August 14, John Kerry said, “this
little thing called the internet and the ability of people
everywhere to communicate instantaneously and to have
more information coming at them in one day than most
people can process in months or a year... makes it much
harder to govern, makes it much harder to organize
people.”
What I find to be quite disturbing is not that the NSA
violated it's own privacy rules, but that the information
was only revealed after it was released by a whistleblower.
The people in charge of the NSA wanted to keep their
“mistakes” a secret, and actually lied to Congress about the
severity of the violations.
Jason Ditz of Antiwar.com wrote, “ it is hard to hear this
from US officials and not immediately think about the
Internet’s role in facilitating whistleblowers like Bradley
Manning and Edward Snowden.”
On August 15, Barton Gellman of the Washington Post
released information provided to the Post by Edward
Snowden. Gellman says that according to an internal audit
the NSA “counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12
months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or
Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith, referring to sworn
congressional testimony about the domestic programs
from senior intelligence, FBI and Justice Department
officials, told the Washington Times, “We were being told
there were ‘some’ errors, like a few. They gave everyone
the impression these [errors] were very rare. If [my
colleagues] had realized how many [violations of privacy
protection or legal rules] there were, I think more than
seven of them would have switched.”
The “seven” mentioned by Griffith is a reference to a
House vote in July on the Amash amendment that would
have cut funds for domestic data gathering by the NSA
except where based on individualized suspicion. That vote
failed 217-205, with 12 not voting. Had seven people who
voted against the amendment voted for it, the amendment
would have passed. Before that vote, White House press
secretary Jay Carney said, “We oppose the current effort in
the House to hastily dismantle one of our Intelligence
Community’s counterterrorism tools.
This blunt approach is not the product of an informed,
open, or deliberative process.”
It seems to me that withholding such valuable information
related to the numerous violations of privacy by the
National Security Agency is “not the product of an
informed, open, or deliberative process.” It seems to me
that Jay Carney, John Kerry and the many supporters of
the NSA want an uninformed populace blindly following
the words and whims of whomever may be President.
Is Syria the Next Front in the Never-Ending “War on Terror”?
by: Darryl W. Perry
In early August, CIA Deputy Leader Michael Morrell
declared Syria to be the “top current threat to US national
security,” a spot usually reserved for someplace the US is
directly militarily involved in. Jason Ditz of Antiwar.com
wrote, “The declaration is even more significant the deeper
you get into Morrell’s comments, as he makes clear
exactly what about Syria the CIA sees as a threat, saying
the risk is that the Assad government 'collapses and the
country becomes al-Qaeda’s new haven.'”
After a chemical weapons attack on August 21, Doctors
Without Borders (MSF) reportedly treated 3600 patients
displaying neurotoxic symptoms in less than three hours,
355 patients reportedly died. MSF general director
Christopher Stokes said, “MSF hopes that independent
investigators will be given immediate access to shed light
on what happened.”
for a possible attack by the US military.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested the Pentagon is
moving naval forces closer to Syria in preparation for a
possible decision by President Barack Obama to order
military strikes. Hagel said "the Defense Department has a
responsibility to provide the president with options for
contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces,
positioning our assets, to be able to carry out different
options — whatever options the president might choose."
The Associated Press reports that defense officials said the
Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic
missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without
immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria.
There are conflicting reports on who was responsible for
the attack. The Syrian state media accused the rebels of the
attack, while other reports put the blame on the Syrian
military.
Jason Ditz of Antiwar.com writes, “any military
intervention that seriously changes the situation on the
ground will run into the same problem that has repeatedly
been pointed to, that of the rebels’ dominance by al-Qaeda
allies. This means that any attack that harms the Assad
government too much risks bringing a jihadist faction into
power that will be even more hostile toward the US.”
The Russian government has urged the Syrian government
to cooperate with UN investigations into the attack. That
chemical weapons attack is now being used as justification
Which means that Syria, much like Iraq & Afghanistan,
would be another endless battle in the never ending War on
Terror.
Paul
continued from page 2
movements that in fact provide little or no threat to the
security of our state.”
FSP President Carla Gericke issued a statement which
reads, “I am alarmed and appalled at the cleverly worded
insinuation that the FSP is a domestic terrorist threat.”
I now have a question for Rand Paul, since the Concord
PD claims that Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and
Occupy New Hampshire are potential terrorists, would you
support spying on individuals associated with these
groups?
Keene PD’s National Night Out Taser Demonstration to Prove “Safety”
by: Eric Freerock
On August 6th, the Keene Police Department participated
in the National Night Out (http://www.natw.org/). The
National Night Out is basically a giant proaganda-fest for
the local chapter of the Thin Blue Line gang, though
Keene’s police department have opted for the military
black for their jerseys. They bring out all their toys which
they bought by stealing money from Keene inhabitants just
to parade them to all the kids. They show off their tank,
the Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter
Attack Truck (BEARCAT), which the overwhelming
majority of those living in Keene did not want, and they
get to strut out their giant sheriff’s mobile command center
which looks extremely excessive for such a small
population. Between the two of those vehicles you’d think
Keene was experiencing bombings everyother day or was
in the middle of a violent turf war.
Never one to waste a good propagandizing opportunity
they seized the time to show that, contrary to recent news
stories, tasers are safe and non-lethal. Forget about the
story of Israel Hernandez, a Florida teen who was killed by
a taser and had cops high fiving each other after sending
jolts of electricity through his body. Nevermind the story
of Danielle Maudsley who was handcuffed when she was
tasered which caused her body to go limp and her head to
go full force into the pavement which has left her brain
dead. Forget that over 500 people have died in the US due
to being tasered. No, the KPD were determined to
demonstrate the safety of these “non-lethal” devices which
they’re all too itching to use.
by: Darryl W. Perry
While I enjoy watching correctional officers zap each
other, the demonstration was essentially a controlled fraud
and pretty much all risk factors were mitigated for the best
possible result that they were looking for. 1. Each of the
people they used the taser on were plenty healthy and
probably medically cleared to be able to take the shock. 2.
Each person was shot in the back thus avoiding any
chance of sending the jolt across the heart, neck, brain,
etc... 3. Each person was held up by two other individuals
and in the grass over a padded mat so there was no chance
of them incurring any injuries from going limp. While
number 4 is speculation on my part, I also doubt that the
tasers were turned up to full capacity. This is not a
representative sample group. It’s a selected sample with
the best possible chance of the desired results. Ergo, the
demonstration was a complete fraud.
After the hundreds of people who have died from tasers it
is probably time for the police and the populace to
consider that tasers are a form of deadly force. Any time a
cop deploys a taser they have no idea what the person on
the receiving end’s medical conditions are and neither may
the recipient. If you’re saying to yourself that they
shouldn’t have broken the law, you might want to ask
Prospero Lassi who was tasered 11 times because he was
having a diabetic seizure. Tasers are not a “safe”
alternative and are definitely not “non-lethal.” By that
definition firearms are non-lethal as well because not
everyone who gets shot dies, therefore it’s non-lethal. No,
if over 500 people have been killed by its intended use, it
is a lethal weapon.
The Green Badge of Courage
It takes a lot of courage to admit when you were wrong. It
takes even more courage if you were very outspoken when
you were wrong.
On August 8, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical
correspondent, wrote an article for CNN.com which states,
“Over the last year, I have been working on a new
documentary called 'Weed.' The title... may sound cavalier,
but the content is not.
I traveled around the world to interview medical leaders,
experts, growers and patients. I spoke candidly to them,
asking tough questions. What I found was stunning.”
Gupta added, “Well, I am here to apologize.
I apologize because I didn't look hard enough, until now. I
didn't look far enough. I didn't review papers from smaller
labs in other countries doing some remarkable research,
and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate
patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis.”
Gupta said he “lumped them with the high-visibility
malingerers, just looking to get high” and mistakenly
believed the DEA had sound scientific proof that cannabis
has “no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for
abuse.”
I applaud Dr. Sanjay Gupta for admitting that he wrong
about cannabis. I also applaud him for saying that he wants
to set the record straight. He began to “set the record
straight” by explaining his research, which included a
careful reading of a letter from the Assistant Secretary of
Health, Dr. Roger O. Egeberg in 1970, “Since there is still
a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and
effects of the active drug contained in it, our
recommendation is that marijuana be retained within
schedule 1 at least until the completion of certain studies
now underway to resolve the issue.”
Gupta cited a study from 1944 that found “marijuana did
not lead to significant addiction in the medical sense of the
word... By comparison, cocaine, a schedule 2 substance
'with less abuse potential than schedule 1 drugs' hooks
20% of those who use it. Around 25% of heroin users
become addicted.”
“Keep in mind,” Gupta wrote, “that up until 1943,
marijuana was part of the United States drug
pharmacopeia. One of the conditions for which it was
prescribed was neuropathic pain.” Most of the prescription
medications for neuropathic pain don't work very well.
Additionally, Gupta says, “someone dies in the United
States every 19 minutes from a prescription drug overdose,
mostly accidental... I could not find a documented case of
death from marijuana overdose.”
Gupta added, “I promise to do my part to help, genuinely
and honestly, fill the remaining void in our knowledge.”
Again, I applaud Dr. Gupta for admitting that he was
wrong about cannabis. However, I would like to know if
he supports full legalization of cannabis. It is not enough
to simply admit, “I was wrong,” when you had previously
been so vocal about “Why I Would Vote No On Pot!”
I support full legalization of cannabis for the same reasons
I believe there should not be laws regulating raw milk,
lemonade, prostitution or crystal meth; no one has a
legitimate right to dictate to another person what they
consume or do with their body.
Open Letter to the Concord City
Council & Concord PD
Dear Concord City Council & Concord PD,
I understand that your Police Department has requested grant
from the Department of Homeland Security to recive a
BEARCAT truck made by Lenco. In Section B of the grant
application, you state, “Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens,
Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present
daily challenges.” In an interview with The Union Leader,
Chief Duval attempted to explain away the statement by saying
it's not so much organized groups that concern police, instead
it's “fringe people who attach themselves to these groups” that
are a potential risk.
The Washington Post reports, “New Hampshire is one of 15
states and territories that the Department of Homeland Security
and U.S. intelligence agencies assess as having no specific
foreign or domestic terrorism threat; is one of 15 states that
have had no terrorism convictions since Sept. 11, 2001,
according to the Justice Department; and is one of 18 states that
have no metropolitan area that has been designated by the
federal government as 'high-threat, high-density' with regard to
acts of terrorism.”
I would to remind the City Council of the many dangerous
individuals who affiliate themselves, not with the Free State
Project, Occupy NH or any group of supposedly “sovereign
citizens”; rather I would like to remind this Council of the
dangerous individuals affiliated a group known as law
enforcement. I know that whenever one, two or twelve law
enforcement officers are found to have committed horrible acts
of violence, we are told these are simply actions of a “few bad
apples.”
On July 11, a Staten Island Police Officer was arrested for
attempting to rape a 16-year-old on July 4 at his home.
A former Philadelphia police officer, who was praised for his
bravery, is behind bars accused of raping two women at
gunpoint.
A police officer in Delaware County is being accused of trying
to force women to have sex with him in the back seat of his
police cruiser.
Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Miami Regional Operations Center, arrested of German Bosque
on charges of kidnapping. Bosque illegally handcuffed and
detained the victim at the Opa-Locka Police Station after he
tried to file a complaint. Earlier the same day, Bosque allegedly
punched the victim while responding to a domestic call.
“Cannibal cop” Gilberto Valle was convicted by a federal jury
found of conspiring to kidnap women, then cook, kill and eat
them.
There are countless other stories of cops, both on duty and off,
who have committed heinous acts. Countless stories of police
officers killing the pets of innocent individuals. There are
countless stories of police raiding the wrong home, often times
killing an innocent home owner, and also their beloved pets.
Whenever a police officer commits a horrible act against
another individual or their pet, we are told you can't judge all
cops because of a few bad apples.
With that in mind, I must ask: why is it that the public image of
law enforcement is supposed to be immune from judgment
because the corrupt cops are “just a few bad apples” yet the
public image of peaceful individuals can be tarnished by
government agents by simply stating that they “may pose a
threat” without any evidence?
I would like to close by saying that IF the Concord PD receives
this BEARCAT from the DHS, that I believe every man,
woman and child will be less safe, and should be allowed to
obtain their own armored personnel carriers in order to protect
themselves from the dangers of law enforcement.
In Peace, Freedom, Love & Liberty,
Darryl W. Perry