After a public forum on WikiLeaks, Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam made the following comment:
The Australian Government has done the absolute bare minimum above stuff-all to help this Australian citizen in trouble. […] They've attempted to block and delay Freedom of Information requests, they haven't answered straight questions, they've voted against motions, and to me it's starting to look not like indifference but like hostility.
This hostility from the Australian Government is becoming more and more apparent, especially as Julian Assange awaits the UK Supreme Court's decision on whether he'll be extradited to Sweden. Not only is the Government offering little support to its citizen, but it is making derogatory and false remarks against the WikiLeaks organization, refusing to offer timely release of relevant information, and passing new laws which make it difficult for WikiLeaks to continue operating legally and raise safety concerns for its founder.
James Madison once said, "Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives". Madison recognized that accurate knowledge is essential for each person to take charge of their own lives. With the explosive growth of social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, we now have access to more information than any other time in the history of this planet. Through the Internet, pictures, news and ideas travel around the globe like the speed of light. Social networks are creating avenues of free communication that move beyond centralized systems of information distribution.
WikiLeaks's chief editor, Julian Assange pointed to Madison's idea that pertinent information is critical for the public to perform as a check and balance to those in power. Elsewhere he spoke of how concealed information has the greatest potential for just reform because those who hide it spend a lot of energy and resources in that concealment for a reason. He pointed out that this signal of suppression is a sign of opportunity and that exposing this information could lead to reform. The online collective Anonymous is also standing up for freedom of speech and assembly and for the conviction that public control of the flow of information is essential for any society to guard against the inevitability of corruption.
WikiLeaks News:
WikiLeaks News:
Below is a series of drawings sketched by artist, Clark Stoeckley, at the Motion Hearing for U.S. v. PFC Bradley Manning on March 15 and 16, 2012 at Fort Meade, MD.
Stoeckley was situated either in the courtroom gallery or in the media operations center, where a live video feed of the proceedings was broadcast.
Bradley Manning has been held without trial since May 29, 2010. Former State Department spokesperson, P.J. Crowley, described Manning's treatment by the U.S. as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Crowley also said, the "exercise of power in today's challenging times and relentless media environment must be prudent and consistent with our laws and values."
The same week that Crowley was forced to resign for his remarks, Stoeckley adorned a former U-Haul box-truck with the WikiLeaks hourglass logo and signage reading: "Release Bradley Manning" and "WikiLeaks Top Secret Mobile Information Collection Unit".
Stoeckley drove the now world famous WikiLeaks Truck around the White House, and was subsequently arrested and interrogated by Secret Service, despite his never having been charged with a crime.
Stoeckley WikiLeaks Truck has been a staple of Occupy Wall Street since September 17, delivering food and supplies to the revolution in New York, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, and Newark.
Full Transcript March 16, 2012
This transcript was typed from the press pool at Bradley Manning's motion hearing on March 16, 2012 at Fort Meade, MD.
This transcript may have errors and is incomplete in that there was no way for me to capture every word, or every sentence.
Please send corrections to carwinb@hushmail.com.
Bradley Manning's motion hearing is held in same court room as his Article 32 Pretrial Hearing.
You can also read:
Names:
Proceedings were delayed until 13:00 because Defense and Prosecution were in Chambers with Judge Denise Lind hashing out a Court Protective Order.
All Rise.
Court is called to order.
Judge Lind We are starting late today, because the parties and Court were going over a Protective Order regarding the handling of classified information. Both parties had filed orders marked as Appellate Exhibits...
...
This is a list of all rallies scheduled after Julian Assange receives the verdict on his Supreme Court appeal against extradition to Sweden. These rallies are taking place regardless of the outcome.
I recently spoke with Kevin Gosztola, journalist and blogger at The Dissenter at FDL. We spoke about media coverage of Bradley Manning's legal proceedings, as well as the recent demand by a coalition of 46 media organizations for access to Court records. You can find Kevin on twitter @kgosztola.
I recently spoke with Naomi Colvin of the UK Friends of Bradley Manning and Occupy London about the UN Special Rapporteur Report on Torture as it concerns Bradley Manning, as well as European sentiment and advocacy for the U.S. political prisoner and alleged whistleblower. You can find Naomi on twitter at @auerfeld
WikiLeaks News:
Full Transcript March 15, 2012
This transcript was typed from the press pool at Bradley Manning's motion hearing on March 15, 2012 at Fort Meade, MD.
This transcript may have errors and is incomplete in that there was no way for me to capture every word, or every sentence.
Please send corrections to carwinb@hushmail.com.
Bradley Manning's Motion Hearing is held in same court room as his Article 32 Pretrial Hearing. You can read transcripts from the first three days of that proceeding, as well as transcript of his Arraignment here.
An AFP reporter informed me that the room where the press pool views the legal proceedings, Smallwood Hall, at Fort Meade, MD is also the location where Press views Guantanamo (GTMO) military tribunals via satellite.
Names:
9:38 a.m. proceedings begin.
All Rise.
Judge Lind: Please be seated. Court is called to order. It appears that all parties are present with the exception of Major Matthew Kemkes [Defense]. Is that correct?
I recently spoke with journalist and author, Denver Nicks, about his upcoming book, Private: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History. Nicks says that he has an agreement with one of his sources to publish the book after the verdict, and that it contains previously undisclosed chat logs. You can find Denver Nicks on Twitter @DenverNicks
Chase Madar is the author of the recently published book, The Passion of Bradley Manning. Madar is a civil rights attorney, who also writes for the London Review of Books, Le Monde diplomatique, The American Conservative (where he is a contributing editor), CounterPunch and TomDispatch. He can be found on twitter at @ChMadar.
Below is a March 1, 2012 United States Department of Defense Press Release for an upcoming Motion Hearing in the legal proceedings for U.S. Government vs. PFC Bradley Manning:
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
NEWS RELEASE
The U.S. Army Military District of Washington
Guardians of the Nation’s Capital
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE#12-06
DATE: March 1, 2012
U.S. GOVERNMENT VS. PFC BRADLEY MANNING MOTION HEARING SCHEDULED
FORT LESLEY J. MCNAIR, D.C. – The military judge has scheduled a motion hearing in the case of United States vs. Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, beginning on Thursday, March 15 at 10 a.m., at Fort George G. Meade, Md.
Pfc. Manning is charged with aiding the enemy; wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy; theft of public property or records; transmitting defense information; fraud and related activity in connection with computers; and for violating Army Regulations 25-2 “Information Assurance” and 380-5 “Department of the Army Information Security Program.”
If convicted of all charges, Manning would face a maximum punishment of reduction to the lowest enlisted pay grade, E-1; total forfeiture of all pay and allowances; confinement for life; and a dishonorable discharge.
Media queries and information on credentialing for the arraignment may be emailed to the U.S. Army Military District of Washington Public Affairs Office at mediadesk@jfhqncr.northcom.mil.
-30-
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Authored By: Nikolas Kozloff
I have always been a bit skeptical about some of the more salacious claims made in John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the story of one man’s life working for the secretive National Security Agency or NSA. When he was a young man, NSA interrogators interviewed Perkins and explored his “frustration about the lack of women, sex, and money.” Perkins’ fit the NSA’s psychological profile, and after being accepted into the organization’s shadowy ranks, he landed a corporate job working as an economist with a major consulting firm. It was all a cover, however, for Perkins’ real purpose: as a self-described “economic hit man,” the youth was dispatched to poor Latin American countries such as Panama and Ecuador where he was tasked with cheating governments out of money and funneling cash from the coffers of the World Bank into the hands of major corporations and wealthy elites.
No doubt, U.S. intelligence agencies partake in such activities all the time, yet some of Perkins’ stories strained my credibility. For example, the author discusses a mysterious woman “consultant” at his firm named Claudine who came to be the young man’s teacher. “My assignment is to mold you into an economic hit man,” she tells Perkins. “No one can know about your involvement --- not even your wife.”
Later, Perkins remarks of Claudine, “Beautiful and intelligent, she was highly effective; she understood my weaknesses and used them to her greatest advantage.” “Her approach,” Perkins wrote, was a “combination of physical seduction and verbal manipulation.” The author adds, “My time with Claudine already represented the realization of one of my fantasies; it seemed too good to be true.”
From Claudine to Stratfor’s Modest Analyst
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