Emma Cape, member of Courage to Resist, discusses the Bradley Manning support rally at Ft. Leavenworth on Saturday, June 4; the end of Manning’s mistreatment in custody, thanks to the persistence of demonstrators, writers and activists coming to his defense; and the misuse of the Espionage Act against Manning, who’s being treated like a spy instead of a whistleblower.
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Alright, y'all, welcome back to the show.
It's Anti-War Radio.
I'm Scott Horton and our next guest is Emma Cape.
She works with courage to resist.
And they, of course, are part of the support Bradley Manning efforts going on, giant protests this weekend.
Is that right, Emma?
Welcome to the show.
Yes, that is correct.
This is where now?
Fort Leavenworth?
This is in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
After being held at Quantico for nearly a year in solitary confinement, Bradley Manning was, as a result of public pressure, transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he is finally being treated like other prisoners, but still facing life in prison or the death penalty.
Right.
And now, in fact, I hadn't read too much about that.
I should be spending more time at Fire Dog Lake or something.
But so all of the mistreatment that was going on at Quantico is said to have stopped now that he's at Fort Leavenworth?
Yes, it has stopped.
And PBS and another a number of other sources have attributed that to all of the public support that Private Manning was receiving up until that point.
Yeah, right on.
Well, you know, public support for him is so important.
I think if only just so he knows, if it doesn't, even if it wasn't able to, if it hadn't been able to stop the torture, if it's not able to stop his persecution at the hands of Barack Obama, at least he's sitting in that cell and knows that some Americans are on his side.
Some of us support him and are thankful for what he did, grateful for what he did, what he risked in doing so.
Absolutely.
All right.
And now, as far as the legal case, last I heard from the amended complaint against him, he was facing, what was it, 72 years in prison, is that right?
Yes, I believe that's correct.
Life in prison, essentially.
But they've said that they're not seeking the death penalty or they just haven't said whether they are or not yet.
They have said they will not seek the death penalty.
However, his charge, which is aiding the enemy, albeit through indirect means, is punishable by the death penalty.
So that remains a possibility as long as he is still facing that charge.
Right.
Well, and, you know, people should keep in mind that this so-called espionage that they're accusing this guy of was for us.
It was whistleblowing.
It wasn't espionage.
And they're just taking this espionage act, as Daniel Ellsberg said, and they're just twisting it beyond recognition and trying to apply it to him.
This is not England.
It's not Germany or Russia.
This is the United States of America.
And there are no laws like that.
If anything, he's in violation of his signature on his secrecy agreement with them.
But that doesn't cover keeping crimes secret anyway.
So really, he ought to be free to go.
Absolutely.
And certainly those supporting him believe that he is an American hero and that this information should have been public to begin with.
For years, our government has over-classified documents, classified documents, for reasons other than safety, but because they are embarrassed.
And in the chat log that is attributed to Bradley Manning by the FBI, he says that he wants people to know the truth no matter who they are, because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.
And in fact, President Obama has said similar things in his speeches about the Arab Spring in the Middle East.
Well, and in fact, Lamo, the rat who was already working with the government and trying to get as much out of him as he could before they arrested him, even asks him, hey, how come you didn't try to sell this to the Russians or somebody else?
And he says, oh, because this isn't about me.
The people need to know the truth.
He gave, you know, you couldn't, if it was a novel or something, you couldn't have written a better line for, you know, the pure motives of a whistleblower explaining himself.
It's right there in the chat logs at wired.com.
Yeah, we agree completely.
Yeah.
Well, so now tell us all about this demonstration.
I don't know how easy it is for people who aren't in Kansas to get to Kansas, but, you know, maybe.
You never know.
People, it's an extremely important thing.
Why not get on a plane if you got a few hundred bucks and go help support this thing?
Where can they find out about it?
What time is it?
Who all is going to be there?
And you're planning on getting arrested.
And what's the haps?
Well, to find out more, people can go to our website, which is BradleyManning.org.
We have logistics for the event posted on the front page, but it's happening at Fort Leavenworth at 1130 a.m.
June 1 is the gathering, and the rally is at noon, and that is on Saturday, June 4th.
We are expecting hundreds of people coming from around the country to join us.
We'll be holding banners and having about 10 speakers, mostly local activists, talking about why it's so important that we continue to escalate our support for private manning at this time.
Now, Courage to Resist has done a lot of great work in the past.
If people aren't familiar, I suggest you go check out their website.
For that matter, Google all about them and read as much as you can until your confidence is built.
I'm certain it won't take long.
Some of the great work Courage to Resist has done in the past.
And you guys are helping with the whole Bradley Manning Defense Fund as well, BradleyManning.org, where people are donating and the money is going straight to the legal fund for private manning and no one else, nothing else off the top, straight to this guy's lawyer, his legal team.
Is that correct?
Yes, that is correct.
We are doing both public outreach to build support for private manning and for people who prefer they can donate straight to his legal defense.
Does he know how much money has been raised since the beginning of this effort for his legal defense?
I don't know about specifically for his legal defense, no.
See, here's my thing.
I'm thinking that maybe his lawyer doesn't even realize how much more he could do if only he had millions and millions and millions of dollars to hire other lawyers with.
All of a sudden, if he had this giant budget, he could say, wow, my imagination just expanded as to who all I could add to this legal team and we could go in there and Johnny Cochran the hell out of these guys, right?
But he needs the resources to get it done, serious resources.
He's up against the entire empire here.
Well, certainly this is not going to be a cheap trial.
We have done a lot to support the lawyer of Bradley Manning's choosing, but the more help we can get, the better.
Yeah, absolutely.
And now are there any, do you know, and I don't know, obviously don't say anything you're not supposed to or anything like that, but are there any real major donors who have chipped in on this thing?
Are you still working on antiwar.com's type budget of $50 at a time here and there?
Well, we have had a few major donors, but our average donation is in the realm of $50.
We do have a lot of grassroots support with hundreds of people having donated to the campaign at this point.
Yeah, well, and I'm certainly not belittling those efforts.
You know, that's how we get by in the world, and certainly every nickel counts when it comes to something like this.
But, you know, society full of millionaires and billionaires, it seems like one or two of them might have a conscience and throw down a couple of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for this.
Why not, you know?
Come on, everybody, kick down.
Bradley Manning is doing this for you.
All right, thanks very much.
I appreciate it, Emma.
That's Emma Kate.
Look up Courage to Resist.
They're protesting for Manning this weekend in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Be there if you can.
All right.
Thanks very much.
