Disgrace

A couple weeks ago, this graphic video surfaced of U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was quick to condemn the acts and the United States as a majority expressed disgust. There were some who said it was normal, acceptable and even important that Marines disgrace their enemies - but they were a minority.

I agree with Clinton and the U.S. government in condemning the acts, but I am confused by the fact that they refuse to condemn other acts and even persecute the ones who bring light to far more horrific acts, like this one:



In April 2010, Bradley Manning (allegedly) released a pile of documents and media to Wikileaks including this video from 2007 which features American soldiers in an Apache helicopter firing on unarmed civilians (including journalists and children). No legal action was ever taken against the men who reported lies about the civilians carrying AK-47s and an RPG, who while pointing their guns at a group of 9 men who aren't paying any attention to them say "Light 'em all up. Come on, fire!" and following unprovoked deadly fire say "Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards. Nice." and as a van comes to pick up the wounded (no weapons in sight) the gunner is pleading "come on, let me engage." They ultimately engage and kill those inside the van and the wounded.  "The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths ocurred." (Wikileaks)

So now, with this out in the open, how does the United States Government and military respond? The do not prosecute the murderers. They imprison (in solitary confinement for about a year) Bradley Manning (now aged 24) for releasing sensitive documents.

Well, with my limited power and status as a Canadian citizen, I condemn the actions of the United States government and military. Shame and disgrace surrounds your entire establishment.

FREE BRADLEY MANNING*!

*Bradley Manning was listed as a candidate for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Both China and Burma are chastised for imprisoning former peace prize winners Liu Xiaobo and Aung San Suu Kyi.