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Ten Revelations From Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks Documents

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H

hym

Banned
Ten Revelations From Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks Documents

The 25-year-old intelligence analyst admitted earlier this year to passing documents to the whistle-blowing website, though he denies the charge of “aiding the enemy,” an offense that carries a life sentence or the death penalty. Manning said at a pretrial hearing in February that he leaked information, including diplomatic cables and U.S. military war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, in order to “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy.”

Below is a list of 10 revelations disclosed by Manning’s leaked documents that offer insight into the breadth and scope of what he revealed, help explain his motivation for leaking, and provide context for the ongoing trial. The list, in no particular order, is far from comprehensive but encompasses some of the most significant information brought to light by the leaked documents.


  • During the Iraq War, U.S. authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape, and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers, according to thousands of field reports.
  • There were 109,032 “violent deaths” recorded in Iraq between 2004 and 2009, including 66,081 civilians. Leaked records from the Afghan War separately revealed coalition troops’ alleged role in killing at least 195 civilians in unreported incidents, one reportedly involving U.S. service members machine-gunning a bus, wounding or killing 15 passengers.
  • The U.S. Embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country that opposed genetically modified crops, with U.S. diplomats effectively working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto.
  • British and American officials colluded in a plan to mislead the British Parliament over a proposed ban on cluster bombs.
  • In Baghdad in 2007, a U.S. Army helicopter gunned down a group of civilians, including two Reuters news staff.
  • U.S. special operations forces were conducting offensive operations inside Pakistan despite sustained public denials and statements to the contrary by U.S. officials.
  • A leaked diplomatic cable provided evidence that during an incident in 2006, U.S. troops in Iraq executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. The disclosure of this cable was later a significant factor in the Iraqi government’s refusal to grant U.S. troops immunity from prosecution beyond 2011, which led to U.S. troops withdrawing from the country.
  • A NATO coalition in Afghanistan was using an undisclosed “black” unit of special operations forces to hunt down targets for death or detention without trial. The unit was revealed to have had a kill-or-capture list featuring details of more than 2,000 senior figures from the Taliban and al-Qaida, but it had in some cases mistakenly killed men, women, children, and Afghan police officers.
  • The U.S. threatened the Italian government in an attempt to influence a court case involving the indictment of CIA agents over the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric. Separately, U.S. officials were revealed to have pressured Spanish prosecutors to dissuade them from investigating U.S. torture allegations, secret “extraordinary rendition” flights, and the killing of a Spanish journalist by U.S. troops in Iraq.
  • In apparent violation of a 1946 U.N. convention, Washington initiated a spying campaign in 2009 that targeted the leadership of the U.N. that sought to gather top officials’ private encryption keys, credit card details, and biometric data.
Click to expand...

Land of the Deceived, Jailor of the Brave.
 
G

GregLombardi

Member
So glad Monsanto keeps rearing its ugly head. Maybe at some point Americans will come together and do something about them...
 
H

hiryu64

Member
holeup.png
 
S

SD-Ness

Member
All of which begs the question: in Westeros would the United States govt be run by the Starks or the Lannisters?
 
H

HomShaBom

Banned
in order to “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy.”
Click to expand...
Bullshit. He did it because he was a shit soldier and was treated like one so he grabbed any shit he could pass on to his e-buddy so he could get back at daddy. Worthless shit shouldn't have made it pass BCT, thank the surge for him. ADX Florence please.
 
jchap

jchap

Member
He just coppied everything he could from a SIPRNET machine to a CD. There was no targeted intent to reveal specific secrets just to leak as much classified info as he could. He was made fully aware of the consequences of such actions when he got his clearance. I feel no pity.
 
S

Sqrt_minus_one

Member
Why do so many people have a negative view of Monsanto, I get they are patenting genes and the like but loads of other companies are doing the same.

Thought spying on diplomats was par for the course really.
 
C

ConsumerSquare

Member
Monsanto again. Of course. Looking forward to seeing GAF's Monsanto DF spring into action.

HomShaBom said:
Bullshit. He did it because he was a shit soldier and was treated like one and grabbed any shit he could pass on to his e-buddy so he could get back at daddy. Worthless shit shouldn't have made it pass BCT, thank the surge for him. ADX Florence please.
Click to expand...

Does that matter? That dude in Cleveland was a nobody with an arrest history until he busted into that house, and he was (briefly) considered a national hero.

colinisation said:
Why do so many people have a negative view of Monsanto, I get they are patenting genes and the like but loads of other companies are doing the same.

Thought spying on diplomats was par for the course really.
Click to expand...

The U.S. Embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country that opposed genetically modified crops, with U.S. diplomats effectively working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto.
Click to expand...

You okay with this?
 
B

BeerSnob

Member
jchap said:
He just coppied everything he could from a SIPRNET machine to a CD. There was no targeted intent to reveal specific secrets just to leak as much classified info as he could. He was made fully aware of the consequences of such actions when he got his clearance. I feel no pity.
Click to expand...

Listen, you either feel Manning is the square jawed, barrel chested liberator of the oppressed with his brave foot bravely crushing the windpipe of the Illuminati or you're just some kind of authoritarian boot licker. I bet you even follow traffic laws, don't you, you sheeple.
 
C

Chichikov

Member
Most open administration ever!
Why can't the GOP give Obama shit over this?

p.s.
Still no one can point to a single American causality because of that leak.
 
D

Deified Data

Banned
sphagnum said:
And yet people call Manning a traitor.
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Seriously, that word is poison. It can turn even the most well-intentioned action and paint it in sinister strokes in the hearts of the American people. We have such a massive aversion to the word that we automatically assume it's true when it's leveled at someone.

Manning the soldier is secondary to this story (though our treatment of him is of the utmost importance) - the fact is, our country's dirty laundry was aired and we're more upset at having egg on our face than the loathsome bullshit we've been up to abroad. Calling Manning a "traitor" is a defense mechanism people employ so they don't have to recognize that simple fact. They need to place the blame on someone so they blame someone who can actually be convicted of a crime (as opposed to our entire military-industrial complex).
 
H

hym

Banned
jchap said:
He just coppied everything he could from a SIPRNET machine to a CD. There was no targeted intent to reveal specific secrets just to leak as much classified info as he could. He was made fully aware of the consequences of such actions when he got his clearance. I feel no pity.
Click to expand...

Speaking of the consequences:

A leaked diplomatic cable provided evidence that during an incident in 2006, U.S. troops in Iraq executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. The disclosure of this cable was later a significant factor in the Iraqi government’s refusal to grant U.S. troops immunity from prosecution beyond 2011, which led to U.S. troops withdrawing from the country
Click to expand...

The Iraqis and I would suspect a majority of US armed forces would be thankful to him, if only they realized how instrumental he was in ending this horrid occupation even if it was only through sheer luck.

Murdering children in a foreign nation, which never attacked the US and posed no threat, and then covering up the evidence, are these the acts of a country anyone can be proud of?
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
Chichikov said:
Most open administration ever!
Why can't the GOP give Obama shit over this?

p.s.
Still no one can point to a single American causality because of that leak.
Click to expand...

It's one of the few things they seem able to agree with him about.
 
G

Gemüsepizza

Member
BeerSnob said:
Listen, you either feel Manning is the square jawed, barrel chested liberator of the oppressed with his brave foot bravely crushing the windpipe of the Illuminati or you're just some kind of authoritarian boot licker. I bet you even follow traffic laws, don't you, you sheeple.
Click to expand...

Is shit like this really necessary?
 
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