From: http://nlgmltf.org/...
OPINION: Who is really on trial — Bradley Manning or America itself?
By James M. Branum
Chair of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild
February 22, 2012
Growing up in small-town Oklahoma, one of my greatest influences was
the Boy Scouts. I learned some of my first lessons in civics through
the Boy Scout Handbook. The Handbook told me that the United States
was a different kind of nation, a nation composed of people with roots
from around the world, but united by certain shared ideals — democracy
and due process of law. I took that message to heart because I thought
it was proven by the history I learned in school.
Later, I learned that the Handbook and History class didn’t tell the
whole story. America’s history wasn’t always so noble. We as a nation
have not always been on the side of “liberty and justice,” and
sometimes our noble words have really been “bounced checks on the Bank
of Justice” (to paraphrase Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech).
But I believe that our collective failure to always live up to those
ideals does not negate their value to the soul of our Union, always
striving to be “more perfect.”
These ideas have been pressing on my mind lately as I think of the
case of accused Wikileaks whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning.
Read More