Filosofi A Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet VT 2012

THE MORAL DILEMMA AND OBLIGATIONS OF BRADLEY MANNING, US MILITARY, US GOVERNMENT AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Author: Alexander Wall N3H Teacher: Kaj Finnstrm

Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 3 Facts......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Reference list ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Introduction
The whistleblower organization Wikileaks has published millions of classified documents. The exposure of confidential information has provided a unique insight into government, agency and military policy. One reaction has been to label Wikileaks and their supporters lawbreakers. In spite of this judgment supporters of Wikileaks attack against confidentiality continue to grow. This study analyzes the moral dilemma that Bradley Manning was confronted with when having access to top secret databases that contained thousands of reports of war crimes. In addition, the roles of different actors such as the US military, US government, and mainstream media will be discussed ethically. Have the different institutions fulfilled their moral responsibility to their people?

Facts by time
In July 2007 the Washington Post published an article describing an US operation in Baghdad. US soldiers in an Apache helicopter had open fire on what they called Iraqi insurgents and had killed 11 civilians in the process, including two Reuters journalists and harming two children (Partlow & Finkel, 2007). Reuter employees requested access to the footage of the operation through the Freedom of Information Act, the Pentagon blocked this attempt (McGreal, 2010). PFC Bradley Manning contacted anonymously as bradass87 ex-hacker Adrian Lamo in May 2010, stating that he had previously leaked a video to the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks, the video is titled Collateral Murder (Zetter & Poulsen, 2010). The video showing US soldiers in an apache helicopter opening fire on civilians, including two Reuters journalists, killing a total of 11 individuals, as well as harming two children (Sunshinepress, 2010), was made public by Wikileaks. Part of the conversation from the video with indication of time in minutes is below. o 04:50 US soldiers open fire. o 06:30 US soldiers comment on the corpses: Oh yeah look at those dead bastards Nice. o 09:02 US soldiers confirm a van approaches to pick up the bodies. o 09:38 US soldier requests permission to shoot: Come on, let us shoot!. o 10:09 US soldiers start shooting at the van. o 12:06 US soldier comment: Oh yeah, look at that. Right through the windshield! Haha! o 14:38 Shows US soldier carrying one of the two children that were harmed during the attack. o 15:27 US soldier comments: Well, its their fault for bringing their kids into a battle. o 15:58 Footage reveals that the US soldiers were fully aware of the presence of children in the van before opening fire. Quotes from Bradleys chat with Adrian Lamo (Hansen, 2011):

o If you had free reign over classified networks and you saw incredible things, awful things things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC what would you do? bradass87. o I want people to see the truthbecause without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public. bradass87. o I prefer a painful truth over a blissful fantasy bradass87. Adrian Lamo reported to the US military about his chat with Bradley Manning. In July 2010 Bradley Manning was incarcerated in Quantico, Virginia where he was denied proper exercise, sunlight and social interaction with other inmates. Also, he was forced to sleep without clothing (Nakashima, 2011). Bradley Manning was held in solitary confinement for nearly one and a half years without any verdict or right to a trial. Bradley Manning has been charged of 22 crimes, including aiding the enemy which could result in life-time imprisonment or capital punishment (Bradley Manning Support Network, 2012). Among the documents leaked by WikiLeaks that Bradley Manning are accused of sharing with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange the following was revealed. o There is an official policy to ignore torture in Iraq. The Iraq War Logs contained thousands of reports of prisoner abuse. The logs also described the existence of Frago 242, which was a direct order to ignore torture of detainees of war (Spillius, 2010). o US officials were told to cover up evidence of child abuse in Afghanistan (Boone, 2010). o Egyptian torturers received training from the FBI in Quantico, Virginia (Tencer, 2011). o The Japanese and US governments had been warned about the seismic threat at Fukushima (Huffington Post, 2011). When asked during a public hearing about the circumstances of Bradley Mannings incarceration President Obama stated He [Bradley Manning] broke the law. This shows that the US government has placed a verdict before trial, completely ignoring the presumption of innocence.
5

For his alleged decision to share this information with WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning had received many supporters for his cause. Including: o Daniel Ellsberg, a former US military analyst at FBI, leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 (Wikipedia, 2012). o Lt. Dan Choi, from the US military. Claims that Bradley Manning did the right thing by making the war crimes known to the public. He is the only soldier in his entire chain of command who stood by the army values (liamh2, 2011) During a preliminary hearing for Bradley Manning, Dan Choi was ejected out of the courtroom in handcuffs and injured by military police without having done anything. During an interview Dan Choi explains that the judge or investigating officer is under the direct command of Barack Obama. President Obama has already called Private Manning guilty, hes already called the entire game, nobody in the military is going to go against their Commander-in-Chief, explains Dan Choi (MOXNEWSd0tC0M, 2011).

Discussion
The aim of this discussion is to concentrate on the moral dilemma that Bradley Manning was confronted with when having access to top secret information. The numerous reports of war crimes that were kept secret, including the Collateral Murder video, describe a military policy that sees humanitarian resources as expendable in war, how is this ethically justifiable? Can the treatment of Bradley Manning and his supporters be constitutionally and morally accurate? Lastly, what role has mainstream media played in describing these events, have they fulfilled their moral responsibility of serving truth to the public? A hypothetical questionif you had free reign over classified networks and you saw incredible things, awful things things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC what would you do? bradass87. This statement from Bradley Mannings chat with Adrian Lamo describes the moral dilemma that Bradley is confronted with. I want people to see the truthI prefer a painful truth over a blissful fantasybecause without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public bradass87. Can these reasons be righteous motives for leaking classified information? Analyzing the situation, what was treated as truth and what was kept secret until WikiLeaks published the Collateral Murder Video? Before the video became official the circumstances surrounding the attack were unclear, was the attack provoked by Iraqi insurgents? Were the soldiers in the helicopter aware of the presence of civilians, Reuters journalists and 2 children? When the footage was accessible to the public it revealed how the US soldiers had continuously asked for permission to open fire, although no direct threat was presented towards the attackers. The video also reveals that the soldiers commented and laughed about the corpses, showing disrespect for the victims of the attack and that they were fully aware of the presence of children when they opened fire. Undoubtedly, the truth was more painful than the lie that was told to the Reuters employees. Does this truth allow us to make informed decisions? Absolutely, the circumstances surrounding this attack and other military operations in Iraq are of huge importance when deciding for war or peace between USA and Iraq. When the Iraqi government learned about the military conduct in Iraq, they refused to renew the Status of Forces pact that allowed US soldiers to be immune to law during their service in Iraq, thus bringing the war to an official end in December 2011 (Bradley Manning Support Network, 2011)(Brook, 2011).
7

During his incarceration, Bradley has been reading Immanuel Kant (Nicks, 2010). Considering Kants categorical imperative Bradley should have acted in a manner that he wanted to implement as law. A common motive for whistleblowers is that they think the people deserve to know, in other words, we have a right to information, especially if it tells a different story than what we have been told by our governments. To prevent that such information is kept from public knowledge, the classification of documents falls under certain restrictions. In no case shall information be classified in order to: conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; prevent embarrassment to a person, organization or agency--- or prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of national security (Office of the Press Secretary, 2009). In this sense, Bradley Manning followed the teachings of Kant, he felt a moral responsibility to inform the public about what was happening and followed the law. In this regard Bradley was legally and morally justified to do what he did. In war, truth is always the first casualty Aeschylus (525-456 BC) (The Quotations Page, 2012). This quote can be related to how the Pentagon blocked the attempt from Reuter employees to obtain footage from a military operation by the Freedom of Information Act. By denying the newspaper access to the video the Pentagon refused them the truth, as well as hiding knowledge from the American public. The Collateral Murder Video shows a completely disregard for human life by the US soldiers. The Iraq War Logs describe numerous cases of torture, a direct violation of human rights. The following quote comes from Charlie Chaplins Monsieur Verdoux One murder makes a villain, millions a hero (RedUmbrellaUnite, 2009). This comments on the absurdity of sentencing a murderer to prison but giving medals of honor to soldiers from war, who are most likely responsible for more deaths than a murderer. The common way to justify this from an ethical perspective is by believing in the myth that sometimes violence is necessary, but always as a last resort. I dont believe in good guys versus bad guys anymoreonly a plethora of states acting in selfinterest bradass87 (Hansen, 2011). If this was the image that Bradley Manning perceived from the top secret databases, that the war was unnecessary bloodshed, would it not be absurd and immoral if he ignored what was known to him? Instead of being treated as a whistleblower, Bradley Manning is considered a criminal or spy and sentenced under the 1917 Espionage Act, which has been used more times by the
8

Obama administration than all other Presidencies combined (Madar, 2011) (Goodman, 2012). Obama himself has shown a clear and simple judgment of Bradley Manning He broke the law. Which is a very interesting statement since Obama himself denied Bradley Manning the right to a trial for nearly one and a half years. Obama must also have known about the information kept hidden in FBI that the Pentagon refused to share with the Reuters journalists. Being aware of this and still not using his authority as President to prevent it is a form of hypocrisy only outmatched by his conviction to sentence Bradley Manning to life imprisonment. We should pursue the truth, not its messengers (Goodman, 2012). Has mainstream media fulfilled its moral responsibility to the people? The American author Helen Thomas believes that ever since the events of 9/11, and even before then, journalism has given up their only weapon, skepticism. They [the press] went along with everything the White House saidafter 9/11 they rolled over and played dead, explains Helen (humbleguy2, 2010). Considering the quote from above by Amy Goodman (2012), what has mainstream media focused on? To my knowledge, the events portrayed in the leaked documents have thus far not been subject to discussion in Western media. Yet, there has been an intense focus on Julian Assange and whether or not he is a threat to the world. But there is a lack of discussion regarding the morals behind his actions and it seems the thing that will ultimately decide whether or not Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are guilty of treason is the US government. The same government who lied to its people about circumstances regarding the war, the same government who allowed war crimes in Iraq and the same government who imprisoned and tortured a whistleblower in his early twenties, without having presented any evidence. In other words; a government to be questioned. To summarize this philosophical analysis on moral dilemmas, lets compare Bradley Mannings ordeal to that of a Greek philosopher Socrates (469 BC 399 BC). He believed he was blessed from the Gods to tell the people of Athens the truth about their rulers, he saw them unfit to rule as they were either cruel tyrants or ignorant democrats. Also, he rejected the notion of might makes right that was very common in Greece during his lifetime. For speaking against the rulers credibility, he was sentenced to death (Wikipedia, 2012). The willingness to eliminate any threat to their credibility is equally shared by the US government today. By supposedly releasing classified information to WikiLeaks Bradley
9

Manning has exposed the American government as a hypocritical institution that acts out of self-interest instead of national interest. As David Rovics, musician and activist, puts it in his Song for Bradley Manning Now its all out on the table and everybody knows, the emperor is naked hes not wearing any clothes (Pisquethethird, 2011). In war, it seems, the first casualty is truth and the second are its messengers.

10

Reference list
Boone, J. (2010) Foreign contractors hired Afghan 'dancing boys', WikiLeaks cable reveals, Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hireddancing-boys [13 May 2012]. Bradley Manning Support Network (2011) Truth enables peace. [Online], Available at: http://www.bradleymanning.org/learn-more/truth-enables-peace [6 May 2012]. Bradley Manning Support Network (2012) Bradley Manning, [Online], Available at: http://www.bradleymanning.org/learn-more/bradley-manning [7 Apr 2012]. Brook, T. V. (2011) U.S. formally declares end of Iraq War, Available: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/story/2011-12-15/Iraq-war/51945028/1 [5 May 2012]. Goodman, A. (2012) Stratfor, WikiLeaks and the Obama administrations war against truth, Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/01/stratforwikileaks-obama-administration [7 May 2012]. Hansen, E. (2011) Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed, Available: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/ [11 May 2012]. Huffington Post (2011) Japan Earthquake 2011: WikiLeaks Reveals Government Warned About Nuclear Plant Safety In 2008, [Online], Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/japan-earthquake-nuclear-warningwikileaks_n_836529.html [13 May 2012]. Humbleguy2 (2010) Helen Thomas- an American hero 911 truth exposed, [online video], Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cotjfDfcPw& [14 May 2012]. Liamh2 (2011) Lt. Dan Choi: "Bradley Manning is a Good Solider!", [online video], Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2dVA_V5CXQ& [13 May 2012]. Madar, C. (2011) Why Bradley Manning Is a Patriot, Not a Criminal, Available: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/02/10-6 [14 May 2012].

11

McGreal, C. (2010) Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians, Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack [13 May 2012]. MOXNEWSd0tC0M (2011) Lt Dan Choi Thrown Out Of Bradley Manning Courtroom In Handcuffs & Injured By Military Police, [online video], Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQx63-JduXU& [13 May 2012]. Nakashima, E. (2011) In brig, WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning ordered to sleep without clothing, Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2011/03/05/AR2011030503624.html. [5 May 2012]. Nicks, D. (2010) Bradley Mannings Life Behind Bars, Available: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/12/17/bradley-manning-wikileaks-allegedsources-life-in-prison.html [14 May 2012]. Office of the Press Secretary (2009) Executive Order 13526, Sec. 1.7. Classification Prohibitions and Limitations, [Online], Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/executive-order-classified-national-security-information [7 May 2012]. Partlow, J. & Finkel, D. (2007) U.S., Shiite Fighters Clash in Baghdad, Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071202357.html [13 May 2012]. Pisquethethird (2011) David Rovics Song for Bradley Manning (official video), [online video], Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljh5RRrPHsQ [14 May 2012]. RedUmbrellaUnite (2009) Monsieur Verdoux Charlie Chaplin, [online video], Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8NBHNG9Dsw [14 May 2012]. Spillius, A. (2010) Wikileaks: Iraq War Logs show US ignored torture allegations, Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/8082223/Wikileaks-IraqWar-Logs-show-US-ignored-torture-allegations.html [5 May 2012]. Sunshinepress (2010) Collateral Murder WikiLeaks Iraq [online video], Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5rXPrfnU3G0 [11 May 2012].
12

Tencer, D. (2011) Cables: FBI trained Egypts state security torturers, Available: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/09/cables-fbi-trained-egypt-torturers/ [13 May 2012]. The Quotations Page (2012) Aeschylus Quotes, [Online], Available at: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Aeschylus/ [7 May 2012]. Wikipedia (2012) Daniel Ellsburg, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg
[14 May 2012].

Wikipedia (2012) Socrates, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates [14 May 2012]. Zetter, K. & Poulsen, K. (2010) Army Intelligence Analyst Charged With Leaking Classified Information. Available: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/manning-charges/. [28 Apr 2012].

13