--
DETAINED AT QUANTICO:
David House and Jane Hamsher held for 2 hours while attempting to visit
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Bruce -
Bradley Manning's friend David House and I were detained at Quantico Marine base for two hours yesterday while David attempted to visit Bradley. David was not allowed to visit Bradley, nor was he able to deliver our petition signed by 42,000 people.
David has visited Bradley for more than five months at Quantico, and I drove him there once before. But this time, we were detained for more than two hours as Marines prevented David and I from entering or leaving the base. The Marines who detained us said their orders came "from the top."
Our detention at Quantico was part of the government's goal of abusing Bradley Manning and keeping him in complete isolation. But we won't back down.
Bradley's friend David is leading the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund - a new, independent public advocacy effort that will aid Bradley's case by funding media advocates, legal researchers, expert witnesses, psychiatrists, and more. It's an independent effort we think is worthy of your support.
There is no doubt in my mind that the primary objective of everything that happened yesterday was to keep Bradley Manning from having the company of his only remaining visitor: Bradley's friend David House.
David House -- a 23-year-old who just graduated from college -- has been traveling from Boston to Quantico for five months to visit Bradley on his own. Everyone but David has stopped visiting Bradley; only once has a member of Bradley's family seen him in Quantico.
Just last month, David broke the news that Bradley's physical and mental well-being were deteriorating in solitary confinement, and he was the first to challenge the Pentagon's version of Bradley's treatment. Because of his work for Bradley, David has been harassed by the FBI, and has had his computers and phones confiscated for several months without explanation. He recently returned from overseas, where he was raising funds for Bradley's defense in the interim.
David is leading the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund in order to give Bradley's supporters a way to contribute to Bradley's public defense. 100% of contributions to this fund will be used to pay expenses related to the advocacy and defense of Bradley Manning.
Without these efforts, Bradley will be tried and convicted long before he ever gets his day in court. That's why we think this advocacy fund deserves your support.
This advocacy fund is critical for Bradley. There's an aggressive and active disinformation campaign that is going to try and convict Bradley in the court of public opinion, and the government has made people terrified to help him. The lies and disinformation out there about what Bradley allegedly did and didn't do is positively malignant in the media.
Already, people with the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund are working to re-educate journalists who have had their heads filled with misinformation by various arms of the intelligence-industrial complex. Through David's tireless work for the last five months, more people are becoming aware and outraged at the government's abuse of Bradley Manning. And Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture have called for investigations of Bradley Manning's conditions.
But Bradley himself cannot advocate for himself from solitary confinement. As David and others continue their campaign to speak out for Bradley, they need support to travel, organize events, issue press releases, recruit spokespeople to speak out on Bradley's behalf, and assemble researchers and witnesses to help with Bradley's case.
The government's goal is to break down Bradley through a campaign of complete isolation. Bradley needs strong advocates to stand up on his behalf. Bradley needs loud voices telling the truth about the conditions of his detention. Bradley Manning needs you.
Thank you for standing up for humane treatment of Bradley Manning.
Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake.com
Firedoglake's community of 350,000 activists is supported by small donations from people like you. Can you chip in to keep us strong? Click here to contribute:
This email was sent to:
majors.bruce@gmail.com
To unsubscribe, go to:
http://action.firedoglake.com/unsubscribe![]()
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment