Bradley Manning: "Sometimes You Have to Pay a Heavy Price to Live in a Free Society"

"It was at this time I realized in our efforts to meet this risk posed to us by the enemy, we have forgotten our humanity. We consciously elected to devalue human life both in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we engaged those that we perceived were the enemy, we sometimes killed innocent civilians. Whenever we killed innocent civilians, instead of accepting responsibility for our conduct, we elected to hide behind the veil of national security and classified information in order to avoid any public accountability."

 “In our zeal to kill the enemy, we internally debated the definition of torture. We held individuals at Guantanamo for years without due process. We inexplicably turned a blind eye to torture and executions by the Iraqi government. And we stomached countless other acts in the name of our war on terror. 

“Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power."

read full declaration
Bradley Manning: "Sometimes You Have to Pay a Heavy Price to Live in a Free Society" | Democracy Now!: I