The military has been trying to pull out all the stops in its prosecution of Pfc. Bradley Manning for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks releases. The Bradley Manning Support Network, operators of the website Bradleymanning.org and founded in 2010 with the goal of supporting the jailed whistleblower, has apparently found itself under military scrutiny as well.
According to a US Army response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, there is “an active investigation” ongoing against the network. The details of the investigation were kept secret by the Army, which, by way of declining the FOIA request, offered to provide documents after the “undetermined completion date.”
One can only imagine that the group’s efforts to aid in Manning’s defense, as well as their high profile criticism of the secrecy surrounding the trial, had the military hoping they could find some dirt on the group.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is the revelation that the army is doing the investigating directly against the private civilian organization. Though the army clearly has a vested interested in the prosecution of Manning, moves against antiwar groups have usually been done by the FBI under the guise of anti-terror investigations.
Thanks for the coverage, but you missed the important part which was the U.S. Army CID’s use of the (b)(7)(f) exemption. (b)(7)(f) can only be used if the release of records will endanger lives. In short, CID is saying that the BMSN is a violent threat.
So are the fires out west, a violent threat. So is global warming. But the military picks on an idealistic patriot instead. The military is way out of shape, mentally and strategically, unless they are working for some other entity than the US.. And maybe their job is just to make war and trade weapons, and not protect US citizens.
Of course Bradley Manning is a traitor – whether he did it for cash or idealism is inconsequential and it resulted in American citizens being murdered in Lebanon and Iran.
Manning is charged with handing classified information to the enemy of the United States during a time of war.
If evidence finds him guilty, he will spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement – along with Robert Hansen – who did the same thing Manmning did.
"Manning is charged with handing classified information to the enemy of the United States during a time of war."
Really? When did Congress declare war, and upon whom? The last time I've heard that that happened was in the early 1940s.
Huh. Looks like they don't have enough to do to investigate themselves. Sure, there is some manpower left to sit on the peons. That will teach them. It's not like all these rape cases and containers of disappeared money and guns are still open.
How is it normal that armed forces start digging in the civilian sphere?
Because the United States is transforming into a corporate/military dictatorship. They do what they have always done, only now with little need to disguise it or their motives.
Who would have thought that the New-Left /Neo-Con partnership would devolve into an openly fascist entity exhibiting such extreme hostility toward dissenters?
The US is more and more like the dumb blonde that the Mafia boss tells to sit down and shut up or else…and grinding in the background is the sound of the cement mixer.
The US Army is no longer a patriotic entity. The don't believe Citizens should dissent, seek redress of grievances, freely associate or engage in free speech activities.
This is what happens when a Republic degenerates into Empire.
Criminally insane psychopaths with an Anti American agenda is what the "National Security" apparatus has become.
This is precisely why our founding fathers, people like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, viewed 'standing armies' as one of the greatest possible threats to the liberties that they had just fought so hard to win. The Army plainly views anyone who opposes them politically as a 'threat'.
If Jefferson and Madison were alive today, the Army would be investigating them as dangerous threats to the US Army. That is if Jefferson and Madison weren't already in a cell in Gitmo or taken out in a drone strike.
Happy Independence Day