How THEY Plan to Break Bradley Manning to Get Julian Assange! How WE plan to Stop THEM Doing That!

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Monday December 20, 2010 07:58 by Ciaron O'Reilly

CONTENTS
1) 18 December 2010: A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning
2) State of Play (according to the English "Independent" newspaper
Sat. Dec. 18th) - "Assange begins mansion arrest but his 'source' feels
the heat".
3) "He's in There for Us, We're on the Loose for Him!"
- Solidarity,the only Way to Counter the Techniques fine-tuned at Guantanamo
& Abu Ghraib Unleashed on Manning!
4) What we can Do To Support the Nonviolent Resistance of Bradley Manning
5) Three Men Who May Spend the Rest of their Lives in Prison Because
of this War!
6) Vid (10 mins) - Daniel Ellsberg of the Vietnam War's Pentagon Papers Speaks in Support of Bradley Manning & Julian Assange Before His Arrest At White House Protest

1) 18 DECEMBER 2010 - A TYPICAL DAY FOR PFC BRADLEY MANNING

PFC Manning is currently being held in maximum custody. Since arriving
at the Quantico Confinement Facility in July of 2010, he has been held
under Prevention of Injury (POI) watch.
His cell is approximately six feet wide and twelve feet in length.

The cell has a bed, a drinking fountain, and a toilet.

The guards at the confinement facility are professional. We are told
that no time
have they tried to bully, harass, or embarrass PFC Manning and given
the nature of their job, however,
they do not engage in conversation with PFC Manning.

At 5:00 a.m. he is woken up (on weekends, he is allowed to sleep until
7:00 a.m.). Under the rules for the confinement facility, he is not
allowed to sleep at any time between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. If he
attempts to sleep during those hours, he will be made to sit up or
stand by the guards.

Article continued....
http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2010/12/typical....html

2) STATE OF PLAY - The U.S. plans to break Bradley Manning to Deliver Julian Assange

ASSANGE BEGINS MANSION ARREST BUT HIS 'SOURCE' FEELS THE HEAT".
By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent
Saturday, 18 December 2010

Bradley Manning, 23, has been in solitary confinement for seven months.

Bradley Manning spent yesterday, his birthday, alone in a tiny, bare
prison cell, without a pillow or sheets on his bed, in weak health and
wracked with anxiety at the prospect of a prison sentence of 52 years.

Article continued .....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/assange-....html

3. "HE'S IN THERE FOR US, WE'RE ON THE LOOSE FOR HIM!" - SOLIDARITY,
THE ONLY COUNTER TO THE TECHNIQUES FINE-TUNED AT GUANTANAMO AND ABU
GHRAIB NOW UNLEASHED ON BRADLEY MANNING!

In truth, over the last 7 months the anti-war movement has failed its
most signifiacnt political prisoner. We are 10 years into this war,
we should have learnt something about nonviolent resistance and the
culture of solidarity that throughout human history has sustained such
resistance.

The imperial state always learns from its experiences, mistakes and
successes. They have learnt how to wage and escalate war on several
fronts while keeping those who populate the imperial centres from NYC
to London to Sydney sedated and silenced. They have learnt how to
marginalise the voices of dissent and sentimentalise the deaths of
the young men and women who they have sent to kill, die and torture
in service of recruiting the next batch of cannon fodder.

From the dungeons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to the "nowhere
to piss" endless kettling in the streets of London, to the long drawn out
legal processes they put us through - they have learnt the techniques of
torture and humiliation with the intention to wear down anyone who
resists them.

Pioneered by the British Army in the 1970's in the early stages of
their war in the north of Ireland, "leave no marks" body stress positions
and self defecation techniques are designed to lead to
self hatred by the prisoner. The aim is to have the prisoner internalise
their anger blaming themselves, their limbs, their bladder not the torturrer
for causing the pain and humiliation, mistaking it for self harm. These
techniques were studied and finetuned by the U.S.military at Abu Ghraib
and Guantanamo. They are employed by the Metropolitan Police in the
eight hour kettling at protests in London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling.
Some Irish Republicans responded to these techniques by using their shit
and piss as a form of resistance in the notorious "dirty protests". The "organic
after shave" treatment for the screw/ torturer coming through the cell door
was not uncommon.
(see the film Hunger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_%282008_film%29 )

There is a possibility protestors in London may develop a similar response,
where "back to the kettled protestor urinating" into a plastic bottle techniques
are developed to provide privacy and anonymity. Waste disposal would then be
undertaken by the pacifist types by hurling the capped bottle
over police lines. I assume the blac bloc would leave the bottle uncapped and
take aim!

Ten years into this war it is questionable whether we have an anti-war movement!
There is no popular support for these wars in Iraq and Afghaanistan, but little
visible opposition in the streets, churches, academies, art scene etc. There is
just wa, like backgorund muzac You will know that we have a movement when
the war mongers like Bush, Blair, Cameron, Obama and Gillard can't go out in
public without at least one voice in the street confronting them with their war
crimes.

What we have presently is an anti-war remnant of commited folks
continuing to speak out and act up in season and out. It does not
matter whether we are from "Iraq Vets Against the War", "Courage to
Resist", the "Catholic Worker", plowshares, "Code Pink", "War
Resisters League", whether we are clerics, punks, hippies, buddhists,
jews, athiests, muslims, rappers,
grannies, kidz, in the military or out in civil society. We celebrate
and transcend our different faith/no faith traditions, musical tastes,
hairstyles, ages, genders and offer solidarity to each other as we
continue to confront the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and the myriad
low intensity conflicts on the imperial rim from Colombia to Nigeria
to the Philippines.

We are small, but we are strong. We have a wealth of experiences and
resources we can bring to Bradley Manning, his friends and his family who have
sustained him these past seven months in his solitary confinement and
torture. We have scores of folks who have served jail sentences and come
out stronger in their resistance, we have English Joe and American
Jeff who have done time in military brigs for anti-war resistance from within
the military, we have Aussie Terry a former Military & Federal Prosecutor,
we have American Joshua a former Abu Ghraib interrogator, we have folks
who survived the torture techniques of Guantanamo and Long Kesh who
can bring their experiences to us to help us understand what Bradley Maning
is going through and how best we can support his continued resistance.

You can bet the servants of empire are employing all the techniques
they have fine-tuned from Abu Ghraib to Guanatanamo to break Bradley Manning.
They hope to soften him up. so he will deliver Julian Assange.

After months of sensory deprivation, physical and mental torture from
the "bad cops" who police Bradley's every movement, the "good cop"
will come in to his cell put an arm around him and offer the plea bargain
(see Independent article above). They will offer Bradley the opportunity
to become Adrian Lamo the "man" who in turn had betrayed Bradley.
Unless we build an anti-war movement that can stop this war and free
all the anti-war resisters presently in chains, 23 year old Bradley
will have to become Adrian Lamo and deliver Julian Assange if he hopes
to see the light of day again. They hope to dehumanise and destroy
Bradley and to make an example out of him for anyone in the military
considering following his courageous path.

You can also bet that every member of the U.S, British and Australian
military currently considering resisting the war that few of
them believe in, are watching how much soliidarity we muster for
Bradley. They will be watching us, and factoring in our
response to Bradley, before they decide whether to resist their
deployment or redeployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

While the F.B.I have been busy harassing Bradley's mother, who has
been in and out of hospital recently after a series of strokes, in
Haverfordwest, Wales - we as a movement have been asleep!
With a few notable exceptions, the anti-war movement has largely
failed Bradley Manning over the last seven months. It has been the friends
and family of Bradley who have sustained his nonviolent resistance and
refusal to co-operate with the Prosecutors.
Bradley's friends are under such surveillance from the
Feds., because the Feds know more about the signifcance of solidarity
than we seem to know.
http://www.bradleymanning.org/13410/bradley-manning-sup...vist/

If they can cut our direct contact with Bradley by military
restrictions that seem to overide the American Postal Service mandate
to deliver, we must be proactive in our solidarity with his friends and
family who are sustaining him at this present time. It is still important
to write to Bradley so his friends who receive the redirected mail can be
lifted by the deluge of support and inform Bradley of it, if not redirect to him
presently. Bradley should receive all the mail we have sent him as his status
changes upon his acquittal or sentencing.

Letters and postcards to:

Bradley Manning
c/o Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
USA

*Letters will be opened, "contraband" discarded and then mailed weekly
to Bradley via someone on his approved correspondence list.

4) WHAT CAN WE DO TO SUPPORT THE NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE OF BRADLEY MANNING

- Tell others who Bradley is, why he is being detained and tortured.
He is being detained and tortured because of this clip. Cut and paste
it with the Bradley Manning support website and his prison address....
http://www.collateralmurder.com/
- Scrawl "Free Bradley Manning on a wall.

- Hold a vigil, pray for him out loud at your church, speak about him
out loud on street corners or on campus, hold a meeting. show the
leaked clip (above), spread the word via your networks, make links
with other whistleblowers

- If you are a person of faith, consider pausing for prayer at your
local time for Bradley and an end to the war, coinciding with when
Bradley is forced to start the day and/or end the day in sensory
deprivation and detention at Quantico Marine Base Detention,
Virginia, USA (5 a.m. and/ or 8 p.m. Virginia, USA time).

- Consider a monthly public solidarity with Bradley Manning/ anti-war
vigil on the 5th. of the month - the anniversary of when he was
formally charged in July 2010 - or on the 12th. of the month the
anniversary of the U.S. helicopter airstrike that massacred unarmed
civilians and children on July 12 2007.
http://www.collateralmurder.com/

- Experiment with street speaking about Bradley Manning and the war in
shopping malls, on campus, in crowded train carriages It's cheap,
effective and interactive. It can be as short as making an
announcement just before you get off at your station (nothing like a
captive audience!) or as long as you like.

Street speaking is like like skateboarding. You fall off the first few
times and then get better at it.
See here.....(note, the altitude in relation to the audience, cigar
for stimulation - bring water and lollies for the throat, encourage
questions from the crowd etc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tw98tv0sso&feature=youtu.be

- Keep updated through the Bradley Manning Support website
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

- Here are some resources...
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/873/1/

- We need to speak to Welsh peace groups about adopting, educated in
Wales imprisoned in the U.S., anti-war prisoner Bradley Manning.

- We need to talk to groups in the Gay community who are anti-war about
adopting Bradley Manning, a gay anti-war resister.

- We need to talk to members of Amnesty International about getting their
organisation to adopt Bradley Manning as a prisoner of conscience.

- We need to talk to people in Humanist organisations who are anti-war
about adopting Bradley Manning a military resister who identifies as "humanist"
on his military dog tag.

- We need to talk to Catolic peace organisations about adopting Bradley
Manning as an anti-war resister and support for his Catholic mother recovering
from a series of strokes in Wales.

- We need to carefully and sensitively approach Bradley Manning's family in
Wales, lsiten to them and ask them what support do they need at this time?
The London Catholic Worker www.catholicworker.org will be doing this through
a priest based at "Giuseppe Conlon House". So leave that to us, so the family
is not overwhelmed by strangers at this trying time.
If you would like to work on support for his family, contact us and we will tell you
what support Bradley's family in Wales have requested.

5. THREE MEN WHO MAY SPEND THE REST OF THEIR LIVES IN PRISON
BECAUSE OF THIS WAR.

- Bradley Manning, born in in the U.S. raised in Wales, arrested in
Iraq, imprisoned in Virginia, USA
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

- Julian Assange, born and raised in Australia, arrested in London/
England, facing possible/probable extradition directly to U.S. (or via
Sweden).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange

- Shaker Aamer born in Saudi Arabia, was married & living in London
(wife & four children still here), arrested in Afghanistan, imprisoned in
Guantanamo.
www.cageprisoners.com

At Giuseppe Conlon House, the London Catholic Worker have these faces
framed and hanging on our wall. We take them to vigils, put a candle
in a jar and place it along side the photo.
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6719
We are only limited by the extent of our imagniation, and sense of solidarity,
in our response to these three brothers in jeopardy before the courts and in
jail for resisting the war.

6. Vid (10 mins) - Daniel Ellsberg, Whistleblower of the Vietnam War's "Pentagon Papers", Speaks in Support of Bradley Manning & Julian Assange Before His Arrest at the White House.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Daniel-Ellsberg-Ray-Mc....html