So... the issue of Brad Manning won't go away. Michael Nagler writes recently for Truthout (the title of the essay is Bradley Manning: Whistleblower or Scapegoat). I quote: "There is such a thing as moral progress. That is why the suicide rate among combatants has steadily increased with Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan... because the moral awareness that war is a very wrong thing to do is increasing. As the social evangelist Kirby Page said in the simplest terms at the beginning of the last century, "War is a sin. It is the greatest social sin we are responsible for." Our refusal to come to use that awareness becomes steadily more problematic, throwing us back onto progressively more outmoded forms of coping. War is becoming an outdated institution. So is scapegoating. The more outdated, the more destructive they become.
Some praise the likes of Manning and Julian Assange for their courage, while others hate and fear them. Both reactions are understandable. But if, as a society, we scapegoat them, we are only trying to shift our own burden of guilt onto their shoulders, and to think we can get away with that for very long is a dangerous delusion."
This subject fascinates me. Who has been involved in the program of torture that Manning has endured? Is it coming from the top? Obama? Biden? Gates? I think we'll know someday, but not soon. In the meantime, please keep your politicians aware of your dissatisfaction with the torture of a national hero, Pfc. Bradley Manning. I see few signs of moral progress in my immediate environment.
Also... you may comment on this blog by writing to
corvallisgadfly@gmail.com
Kirk
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