Bradley Manning: WikiLeaker, Part 2

 

One of the things that seems clear from the chat transcripts is that Manning was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the military and the mission in Iraq.

In one instance, Manning reportedly wrote: "Hilary [sic] Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format to the public."

He then explained that the repository would comprise: "all kinds of stuff like everything from the buildup to the Iraq War during Powell, to what the actual content of 'aid packages' is: for instance, PR that the US is sending aid to Pakistan includes funding for water/food/clothing...that much is true, it includes that, but the other 85% of it is for F-16 fighters and munitions to aid the Afghanistan effort, so the US can call in Pakistanis to do aerial bombing instead of Americans potentially killing civilians and creating a PR crisis."

Manning apparently believed that the U.S. government was lying out of one side of its mouth, telling the public partial truths to achieve its desired ends.

He wrote: "I think the thing that got me the most... that made me rethink the world more than anything was watching 15 detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police... for printing ‘anti-Iraqi literature’... the iraqi federal police wouldn't cooperate with US forces, so i was instructed to investigate the matter, find out who the "bad guys" were, and how significant this was for the FPs... it turned out, they had printed a scholarly critique against PM Maliki... i had an interpreter read it for me... and when i found out that it was a benign political critique titled ‘Where did the money go?’ and following the corruption trail within the PM's cabinet... i immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on... he didn't want to hear any of it... he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees."

Manning continued, "Everything started slipping. I saw things differently."