So it turns out that Julian Assange is not really The Most Wanted Man in the World. Julian gets the #2 rating. The Very Most Wanted Man in the World is Pvt. Bradley Manning, whose birthday is today — and today is the international day of solidarity in support of him and his plight. He was arrested in May 2010 and accused of smuggling data to WikiLeaks. The first thing that got the world’s attention were officers aboard a US helicopter exterminating unarmed civilians with the permission of their chain of command. Then came the Iraq War Diaries and then came the leaked diplomatic cables.
To law and order types, Manning is a traitor, and he should be executed. To those who recognize the conduct of the United States as genocidal, Manning is a hero of epic proportions. Or you could say he’s a decent guy who saw something desperately wrong and did what he could to to resolve it. Imagine how many people who had such information and wanted to do something lacked the courage to act. Imagine how many people are still sitting on information right now and are deciding whether they should speak up.
Assuming that he got the information into the hands of WikiLeaks — specifically, the records of a war where human beings have been systematically exterminated in the name of ‘freedom’ (now surely, what other name would you give it, if you want people to fall for it?) — whether he’s a traitor or a hero would depend on what you think is appropriate conduct. My opposition to war is not political. It is religious and humanitarian. It’s based on the understanding that war is always a scam. It is always a scam. It is always a scam. Let me say that again. World Wars I and II were a scam. Just look at who made money off of them. Look at who supported ‘the enemy’. Look at who gave ‘the enemy’ refuge after the war was over.
The wars we just lived through were created to make money for military contractors. And, we hear, Bradley Manning got in the way of that. If those ‘Lady Gaga’ CDs really came from him, then he’s the person who forced the US government to rethink its strategy for profiting Halliburton and the Carlyle Group; he’s the one who exposed the truth and who saved untold lives. WikiLeaks was an act of blatant defiance and it may be what sparked off our era of dissent — Arab Spring, the uprisings in Wisconsin and Ohio, and the Occupy movement. So far, WikiLeaks is as close to justice as we’ve gotten — knowing the truth about those wars, just in case you were doubting the obvious; just in case you had not heard of the Pentagon Papers.
WikiLeaks is as close to an anti-war movement as we’ve had, even as the atrocities have gone on for a decade. Because of WikiLeaks, something akin to the truth has gotten into the newspaper. Do we think we have the First Amendment as an inalienable right so we can read about horse races and Lindsay Lohan?
Let’s take a brief look at Manning’s chart, just to see who might be behind this kind of kinetic energy. Look at all that energy in Sagittarius. What is most striking is how he has the Sun parked exactly between Saturn (the planet of structure, authority, responsibility) and Uranus (the planet of revolution and invention). On the one hand this is someone who understands a command structure. On the other, this is someone who understands that sometimes the most important thing you can do is step outside that structure, if it’s corrupt or if its behavior is criminal. What we learned from WikiLeaks is that the conduct of the United States should have resulted in the entire administration being hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for a war crimes tribunal. Just because ‘they’ got away with it doesn’t mean their conduct was not illegal, immoral and a crime against humanity.
Note also that Manning has a cluster in Capricorn, including Pallas Athene on the Aries Point (2+ Capricorn). He understands full well the nature of authority, structure and ‘the system’. He is not a renegade. His actions were thought out meticulously. He was serving as the one thing that the American government did not have as it prosecuted two illegal wars: a conscience.
One last bit of his chart — to the right, the Scorpio angle. He has a Scorpio Moon tucked between Mars and Pluto, helping him embody both of those warrior energies. This is an astonishing chart. Just as he has the Sun exactly between two deeply meaningful planets, he has the Moon between two as well. When I saw that alignment, the first thing I thought of was omerta — the Sicilian code of silence. Apparently Manning has been subjected to torture for more than 18 months mainly for one reason: he refuses to rat out Julian Assange.
For those of us who have been sicked and disgusted and grieving over the conduct of the United States government, for the murder and torture of innocent civilians, at the destruction of societies, at the sacrifice of our national honor and the lives of our military service members, the chain of events leading into WikiLeaks was nothing less than a miracle.
Does anyone remember the anonymous hold that killed the whistleblower protection enhancement act in the senate last year? Almost exactly last year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act#Whistleblower_Protection_Enhancement_Act
Which sparked npr to get listeners to help find the senator responsible for the hold: http://www.wnyc.org/blowthewhistle/
Then the rules for anonymous holds changed…again.
“Among those who want to look, there can be no doubt. You have to be of the “command structure” mentality, wherein one “never breaks ranks,” to pretend that Bush and Cheney — and now Obama — are anything other than war criminals.”
This is true. It saddens me that Obama is in that list but there it is.
I visited the International Criminal Court the first time I was in The Hague. I had visited the ICJ — the court that mediates between countries — that week, but I had to see the ICC. The place was not open yet; it was still being renovated and furnished.
I arrived and went into the security checkpoint, put all my stuff on the belt, walked through and spoke with the security guys for a moment — who said outright they were expecting Bush and Cheney to be arriving some time soon. They were kidding, but they were serious.
Among those who want to look, there can be no doubt. You have to be of the “command structure” mentality, wherein one “never breaks ranks,” to pretend that Bush and Cheney — and now Obama — are anything other than war criminals.
And I’m pretty sure the existent whistle-blowing laws don’t apply to uniformed members either, just civilian employees of the DOD and other agencies.
You’re always supposed to use the chain of command, even if that ‘chain’ is the one that is at fault. Supposedly you can buck it, but you have to go to the immediate officer above the one you have complained to, otherwise you are not following the chain. Which begs the question: what if the entire chain is against you? A Catch-22 if there ever was one, and Bradley’s in the middle of it. At some point, the Commander in Chief can jump in and stop the entire process, but only if it looks like the process has not followed either the law or established procedure.
Thus the circle starts all over, and Nuremburg comes to the fore once again. Time for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al, to have appointments in the Hague. We helped create the Nuremburg process, we need to uphold it.
And I forgot to clarify that; the law that protects whistle blowers didn’t work for him because the folks in power manipulate these. Hit “send” too soon there.
So that is a double Sun/GC effect on Arab Spring — Manning’s chart Bouazizi…studying many of these kinds of effects is how you gradually delineate these points for yourself.
Whatever happened to the protections whistle blowers are supposed to have under the law? Oh I forgot, the law doesn’t apply to those in power, only to the little guys like Manning.
btw – yesterday was also the 1-year anniversary of Mohamed Bouazizi setting himself on fire in Tunisia (he later died Jan 4, 2011), setting off the domino effect of “Arab Spring.”
Mike Moore draws the same conclusion, Eric, that Manning kicked the domino that ignited the global rebellion and deserves our gratitude and support:
“The Pentagon and the national security apparatus are hell-bent on setting an example with Bradley Manning. But we as Americans have a right to know what is being done in our name and with our tax dollars. If the government tries to cover up its malfeasance, then it is the duty of each and every one of us, should the situation arise, to drag the truth, kicking and screaming if necessary, into the light of day.”
In his article he asks us to do something: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/man-tunisia-movement-wall-street-and-soldier-who-ignited-fuse
And we can support Manning here: http://www.bradleymanning.org/
While it is true that pivotal people are often disposable in the larger narrative, and Manning might end up as one of those, we will not be on the right side of history … or heart … unless we raise our voice in his defense. As the government covertly tightens its security systems against a disenchanted population, Bradley is a visible and disturbing ground zero.
I’m surprised the Nuremberg Principles have not come up, that I’ve seen, any time during The Wars. Nuremberg is where some of the Nazi leaders were tried after ww ii. They amounted to the moral victory of the war; the fair trials of those who had perpetuated crimes against humanity. These trials were the demonstration of why we (the allies) fought and why it was so good that we won. They are supposed to have drawn a line of demarcation in the decency of humanity; a step taken. The right thing happened and we’re not going back.
Nazi leaders at these trials gave the defense that in doing what they did, they were just following orders. That whole concept was rejected by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal in favor of: the individual soldier or officer is responsible for breaking ranks when the ranks are committing atrocities. Now, in order to acknowledge this vis a vis Manning, his tribunal at Court Martial would have to implicate the command structure and in effect, indict the whole war as a criminal act.
Thanks for this stunning piece, Eric. Yes – war is a scam, a grotesque, moneymaking scam. Just look at what’s going on at the moment with the F 35 fighter jet programme – it’s all about big buck – just obscene.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Canada+will+joint+strike+fighter+matter+cost/5868742/story.html
Bradley Manning’s natal Jupiter at 19 Aries 46 is stationing direct and closely trines his Mercury and his other Sagittarian planets, including his Sun, all of which fall under the rulership of Jupiter. He would have had his Jupiter return this year on April 20th, when the transiting Moon’s north node was at 24+ Sagittarius, just between his Sun and Saturn and just beyond the GC. Yes, you are right. . he did understand.
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Great analysis, Eric. With Bradley’s Moon and Mars conjunct my natal Saturn . . .and his Sun, etc. conjunct my natal north node. . . I understand more fully why I admire him so much. When people asked me why I was entering the military back in the late 70’s I always responded by saying “tools for the revolution.” Bradley’s definitely a member of the team. And, as an ex-Army officer, I salute him. 🙂
OMG the Galactic Core vanished behind all those planets! In Manning we have the absolute expression of the GC — which you could describe as “that which is behind everything” — especially a spiritual or ethical force.
Long live Daniel Ellsburg. He was on Olbermann as well the other night and eloquent and beautiful as ever.
wow — that is a helluva chart! no wonder i liked him from the moment i’d heard of him: not only do i think his actions were honorable and his (un-sentenced) punishment horrific, his saturn-sun-uranus are conjunct my moon & the GC. it’s like i can feel his higher purpose every time his name gets mentioned.
btw, i’d wanted to post about this Friday but couldn’t get to it after hearing about his birthday yesterday. Dem Now! had daniel ellsburg on as a guest talking about manning; he’s been very outspoken in his support.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/16/bradley_manning_famed_whistleblower_daniel_ellsberg
Ellsburg:
“It’s kind of symptomatic of the present state of law in the United States, sort of like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland: punishment first, trial afterwards, sentence after that. He’s been effectively punished now ten-and-a-half months in Quantico in isolation, a kind of torture, according to the U.N. standards and to our own domestic law, that he couldn’t be sentenced to under our amendment to the Bill of Rights against cruel and unusual punishment. He couldn’t be assigned to that, but he has already. That, in itself, makes a travesty of this continued trial.”
(emphasis mine)
Amazing article about an amazing individual. Thank you for bringing such concise and clear attention to bear on Bradley Manning for the past two days. As you have done so many times in the past year, PW again is focusing us your readers on the issues of most relevance to us not only politically, but also personally
I had been wondering if he was a pawn that had been set up to take the fall for others when I first heard about this case. It seems from his astrology however that he was almost born to do what he did. May all of our soul energy support him all the way through this ordeal, as it will continue to bring public attention to what people just do not want to pay attention to and believe.
Thank you, Bradley Manning.
Thank you, PW.
Eric: Thank you. Absolutely in agreement with you. It can’t be said enough – war is a scam. Our evolution as beings depends on moving beyond accepting the idea that any war is just, or inevitable, or justifiable, or necessary in any way (except for profits). There is another way. Not seeing that is not seeing a future.