[Peace-discuss] An appeal from Ethan McCord for Bradley Manning’s defense

[Karen Medina]

Dear Discuss,

I cannot be there for "AWARE on the Air" Tuesday at noon, but I wish
someone would read this on the air.

The following is an appeal from Ethan McCord one of the people who
appears in the “Collateral Murder” video  released by WikiLeaks. Ethan
McCord went against orders and tried to save people. McCord tells his
story in the 2012 Academy Award nominated short documentary “Incident
in New Baghdad.” In all of these, McCord appeals for truth.

>From Ethan McCord. March 15, 2012

Serving with my unit 2nd battalion 16th infantry in New Baghdad, Iraq,
I vividly remember the moment in 2007, when our Battalion Commander
walked into the room and announced our new rules of engagement:

“Listen up, new battalion SOP (standing operating procedure) from now
on: Anytime your convoy gets hit by an IED, I want 360 degree
rotational fire. You kill every [expletive] in the street!”

We weren’t trained extensively to recognize an unlawful order, or how
to report one. But many of us could not believe what we had just been
told to do. Those of us who knew it was morally wrong struggled to
figure out a way to avoid shooting innocent civilians, while also
dodging repercussions from the non-commissioned officers who enforced
the policy. In such situations, many of us fired our weapons into
rooftops or abandoned vehicles, giving the impression that we were
following procedure.

On April 5, 2010, American citizens and people around the world got a
taste of the fruits of this standing operating procedure when
WikiLeaks released the now-famous Collateral Murder video. This video
showed the horrific and wholly unnecessary killing of unarmed Iraqi
civilians and Reuters journalists.

I was part of the unit that was responsible for this atrocity. In the
video, I can be seen attempting to carry wounded children to safety in
the aftermath. I carried a young girl and a young boy away from the
horrible scene. Both were shot and severely wounded. Much later, after
WikiLeaks released the video, I saw both of them interviewed on
television—they both survived. But they lost their father. The video
released by WikiLeaks belongs in the public record. Covering up this
incident is a matter deserving of criminal inquiry. Whoever revealed
it is an American hero in my book.

Private First Class Bradley Manning has been confined for nearly two
years on the government’s accusation that he released this video and
volumes of other classified documents to WikiLeaks, and ultimately to
the public.

If PFC Bradley Manning did what he is accused of doing, then it is
clear—from the chat logs that have been attributed to him—that his
decision was motivated by conscience and political agency. These chat
logs allegedly describe how PFC Manning hopes these revelations will
result in “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms.”

The contents of the WikiLeaks revelations have pulled back the curtain
on the degradation of our democratic system. It has become completely
normal for decision-makers to promulgate foreign policies, diplomatic
strategies, and military operating procedures that are hostile to the
democratic ideals our country was founded upon. The incident I was
part of—shown in the Collateral Murder video—becomes even more
horrific when we grasp that it was not exceptional. When soldiers have
a hard time swallowing the horrors of the realities we are regularly
ordered to operate within, we are told to toughen up—and there are
repercussions if we don’t.

When I spoke with my sergeant after the incident, he berated me,
telling me that I needed to suck it up, and a lot of other horrible
things. There aren’t adequate mechanisms for soldiers to take issues
higher up the chain of command. Bradley Manning allegedly described
(in the chat logs) an incident where he was ordered to turn over
innocent Iraqi academics to notorious police interrogators, for the
offense of publishing a political critique of government corruption
titled, “Where did the money go?” His commander told him to shut up
and do his job.

We have to change these kinds of policies and operating procedures. To
do so, we need to know the truth about what’s really happening. We
need information. That’s why we need whistle-blowers.

We all need to speak out for Bradley. We can’t let our government
punish a true hero because they are embarrassed by the truth.