Chase Madar, author of The Passion of Bradley Manning, discusses his article “Do the WikiLeaks War Logs Reveal War Crimes — Or the Poverty of International Law;” doubts about whether the “Collateral Murder” video shows war crimes in a legal sense; why the laws of war aren’t easily applied to the asymmetrical, occupation-type conflicts since WWII; how the UN provides “window dressing on great-power politics;” and the selective enforcement of military law (see Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich v....

Chase Madar, member of the National Lawyers Guild, discusses his article “Bradley Manning, American Hero” on tomdispatch.com; why the US government is in dire need of direct supervision/occasional outing by insiders; media campaigns designed to make dissidents and whistleblowers appear crazy (evidenced by Manning hit pieces); and what happened to our free market of ideas – a cornerstone of America’s founding philosophy.

Chase Madar, member of the National Lawyers Guild, discusses his American Conservative Magazine article “Torture’s Comeback;” the US torture lobby’s attempt to credit enhanced interrogation, conducted between 2003-2006, for bin Laden’s location and execution in 2011; the growing American appetite for torture (10 years after 9/11) especially among moderates, the evangelical right, establishment liberals, and the Cheney family; why torture is the most effective at producing false confessions and...

Chase Madar, member of the National Lawyers Guild, discusses his mock 'Opening Statement for the Defense of Bradley Manning, Soldier and Patriot;' Manning’s disillusionment with US 'democracy building' in Iraq, that amounted to repressing free speech and rounding up critics of government for detention and torture; a list of his alleged leaks, from the Collateral Murder video to the State Department 'Cablegate,' that Americans have the right to know about; the obligation of soldiers to take...

New York civil rights lawyer Chase Madar discusses the case of child-soldier-turned U.S. kidnapping-torture victim Omar Khadr, lousy PR victories from convictions of cooks and a chauffeur, bogus 'war crimes' charges against someone accused of throwing a grenade on a battlefield, reasons to disbelieve that the kid threw the grenade in the first place, the tortured confession, the failure of the American people to insist on the old law, why the Canadian government doesn’t want the kid back and...