Corporate Media constantly side-stepping the Issues
by Glenn Greenwald via fay - The Guardian UK Saturday, Dec 1 2012, 9:09pm
international / prose / post

The following story by former alternative journo, Glenn Greenwald, is typical, symptoms and appearances are covered but God forbid we focus directly on the CAUSE, let alone emphasize and run with the TRUTH until it is addressed en masse and the problem RECTIFIED in the same way saturation (constant) coverage of the criminal Vietnam war brought it to an END! Have we forgotten the power and art of REAL journalism?

Bradley Manning, hero of our time

Why is the world's FOREMOST prisoner of conscience given scant regard and infrequent shallow coverage by the mainstream media? In whose interests is it to do this, Glenn, obviously not the public's? The REAL issue of the Manning case is American war crimes, COVER IT; spell it out on a DAILY BASIS until the GUILTY are brought before the PEOPLE!

Has it not occurred to competent journos everywhere that Bilderberg and CFR attendees(?) Obama and Clinton are PUPPETS to the Plutocrats? All outcomes are designed to favour ruling elites that dictate policy to 'our' politicians -- address and name THEM, the REAL controllers of Washington and other western 'democracies,' or are we feeling a little stifled by the editorial policy of the Guardian, Glenn? Beware you do not lose what integrity you have left!

Do YOU think it appropriate that the accused of HEINOUS war crimes (US military) should sit in judgement of the accuser, Mr Greenwald? This tragic theatre of the absurd must end and JUSTICE must be served, or are you ALSO incapable of seeing the forest for the media distractions/trees?

At great cost to himself, Bradley Manning EXPOSED American war crimes to the WORLD; he has since been systematically tortured by the US military in order to break him and to implicate others -- he has NOT broken to date BUT has maintained his INTEGRITY -- a heroic effort by any measure! Why haven't his torturers been held to account, why hasn't a mistrial -- on NUMEROUS grounds -- been declared?

Ask some basic questions, Glenn, and address/NAME the REAL criminals/torturers in this case then EXPOSE the case for what it is, a legal FARCE! Become a champion for Truth and Justice, Glenn, lest YOU too become tainted by the moneyed, CRIMINAL cabals.


Mass Media story follows:

Bradley Manning: a tale of liberty lost in America

Over the past two and a half years, all of which he has spent in a military prison, much has been said about Bradley Manning, but nothing has been heard from him. That changed on Thursday, when the 23-year-old US army private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks testified at his court martial proceeding about the conditions of his detention.

The oppressive, borderline-torturous measures to which he was subjected, including prolonged solitary confinement and forced nudity, have been known for some time. A formal UN investigation denounced those conditions as "cruel and inhuman". President Obama's state department spokesman, retired air force colonel PJ Crowley, resigned after publicly condemning Manning's treatment. A prison psychologist testified this week that Manning's conditions were more damaging than those found on death row, or at Guantánamo Bay.

Still, hearing the accused whistleblower's description of this abuse in his own words viscerally conveyed its horror. Reporting from the hearing, the Guardian's Ed Pilkington quoted Manning: "If I needed toilet paper I would stand to attention and shout: 'Detainee Manning requests toilet paper!'" And: "I was authorised to have 20 minutes sunshine, in chains, every 24 hours." Early in his detention, Manning recalled, "I had pretty much given up. I thought I was going to die in this eight by eight animal cage."

The repressive treatment of Bradley Manning is one of the disgraces of Obama's first term, and highlights many of the dynamics shaping his presidency. The president not only defended Manning's treatment but also, as commander-in-chief of the court martial judges, improperly decreed Manning's guilt when he asserted in an interview that he "broke the law".

Worse, Manning is charged not only with disclosing classified information, but also the capital offence of "aiding the enemy", for which the death penalty can be imposed (military prosecutors are requesting "only" life in prison). The government's radical theory is that, although Manning had no intent to do so, the leaked information could have helped al-Qaida, a theory that essentially equates any disclosure of classified information – by any whistleblower, or a newspaper – with treason.

Whatever one thinks of Manning's alleged acts, he appears the classic whistleblower. This information could have been sold for substantial sums to a foreign government or a terror group. Instead he apparently knowingly risked his liberty to show them to the world because – he said when he believed he was speaking in private – he wanted to trigger "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms".

Compare this aggressive prosecution of Manning to the Obama administration's vigorous efforts to shield Bush-era war crimes and massive Wall Street fraud from all forms of legal accountability. Not a single perpetrator of those genuine crimes has faced court under Obama, a comparison that reflects the priorities and values of US justice.

Then there's the behaviour of Obama's loyalists. Ever since I first reported the conditions of Manning's detention in December 2010, many of them not only cheered that abuse but grotesquely ridiculed concerns about it. Joy-Ann Reid, a former Obama press aide and now a contributor on the progressive network MSNBC, spouted sadistic mockery in response to the report: "Bradley Manning has no pillow?????" With that, she echoed one of the most extreme rightwing websites, RedState, which identically mocked the report: "Give Bradley Manning his pillow and blankie back."

As usual, the US establishment journalists have enabled the government every step of the way. Despite holding themselves out as adversarial watchdogs, nothing provokes their animosity more than someone who effectively challenges government actions.

Typifying this mentality was a CNN interview on Thursday night with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conducted by Erin Burnett. It was to focus on newly released documents revealing secret efforts by US officials to pressure financial institutions to block WikiLeaks' funding after the group published classified documents allegedly leaked by Manning, a form of extra-legal punishment that should concern everyone, particularly journalists.

But the CNN host was completely uninterested in the dangerous acts of her own government. Instead she repeatedly tried to get Assange to condemn the press policies of Ecuador, a tiny country that – quite unlike the US – exerts no influence beyond its borders. To the mavens of the US watchdog press, Assange and Manning are enemies to be scorned because they did the job that the US press corps refuses to do: namely, bringing transparency to the bad acts of the US government and its allies around the world.

Bradley Manning has bestowed the world with multiple vital benefits. But as his court martial finally reaches its conclusion, one likely to result in the imposition of a long prison term, it appears his greatest gift is this window into America's political soul.

Copyright applies to external text.

Glenn Greenwald

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/bradley-manning-liberty-lost-america