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watching democracy now...
Jul. 12th, 2011 07:50 amI'm watching Democracy Now! more often as getting truth from the media is rare. I just watched an interview with David House, founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network, who gave a good insight into how sinister our government has become in this climate of fear that started back under the Nixon regime. I find now is the time for all citizens to become activists, as it is the only way we can restore our country to the ideals on which it was founded.
I worked in military intelligence, I know of the world that Bradley Manning worked in. Information was a commodity, something that was collected, analysed and processed. We (the United States) watched the world, everyone was watched. THis information was then centralized, and further analysed. We needed to know it all so we could find those few bits that would give us the advantage over our competitors in the world. During my time, we concentrated on everything in the Communist world, and on some things I cannot mention, but were of concern to the survival of the capitalist society we supported. In my day we did not have much dissent within the military, we were either too busy trying to stay alive, or just marking time till we could return to our former lives. Yes, some stuff happened that wasn't moral or ethical, it was all part of the spy game. I know where Bradley Manning comes from, as then we did have a lot more respect for conventions of decency and the conduct of war. Now we have descended into a time where body count means more than morals, where a kill is rewarded and a soldier has to become a cold blooded killing machine as he has no clear enemy, so everyone is a target. I feel for the intelligence analysts who handle these bits of information today, it must be hard at times to see atrocities and not feel as if you are betraying your own moral values in supporting this work. I think we should be praising Bradley Manning for exposing these war crimes and other acts of treason and violations of international law, rather than trying to kill the messenger.
Posted on Dreamwidth
I worked in military intelligence, I know of the world that Bradley Manning worked in. Information was a commodity, something that was collected, analysed and processed. We (the United States) watched the world, everyone was watched. THis information was then centralized, and further analysed. We needed to know it all so we could find those few bits that would give us the advantage over our competitors in the world. During my time, we concentrated on everything in the Communist world, and on some things I cannot mention, but were of concern to the survival of the capitalist society we supported. In my day we did not have much dissent within the military, we were either too busy trying to stay alive, or just marking time till we could return to our former lives. Yes, some stuff happened that wasn't moral or ethical, it was all part of the spy game. I know where Bradley Manning comes from, as then we did have a lot more respect for conventions of decency and the conduct of war. Now we have descended into a time where body count means more than morals, where a kill is rewarded and a soldier has to become a cold blooded killing machine as he has no clear enemy, so everyone is a target. I feel for the intelligence analysts who handle these bits of information today, it must be hard at times to see atrocities and not feel as if you are betraying your own moral values in supporting this work. I think we should be praising Bradley Manning for exposing these war crimes and other acts of treason and violations of international law, rather than trying to kill the messenger.
Posted on Dreamwidth
