Michael Whitney

Dennis Kucinich again spoke out against the US Government’s refusal to allow him to have an “official visit” with Wikileaks whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning, saying that Manning’s treatment “is more consistent with Kafka than the US Constitution.”

On Twitter last night, Crowley renewed his campaign against the Pentagon’s torture of Manning. In two tweets, Crowley contrasted the State Department’s push for human rights for an American held by North Korea with the Pentagon’s decision to “play by its own rules” in denying the UN Special Rappoteur on Torture an official visit with Bradley Manning.

The US Government appears to be sweating from the heat brought on by the United Nations after the international organization’s lead torture investigator publicly criticized the United States’ decision to deny official visits to Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning. Sign our letter to Quantico and Pentagon leaders: follow your own rules and allow official visits to PFC. Bradley Manning. Click here to add your name.

SEIU came out against the Colombia “free trade” agreement today, slamming the deal as a product negotiated by George W. Bush with an “action plan” that does nothing to actually reduce the number of assassinations of union members in the country.

Seven Eight Democratic Members of Congress spoke out against the Obama Administration’s proposed Colombia “free trade” agreement and its onerous assassination stress tests. They were joined by the United Steelworkers Union, the first major union to speak out against the deal after the AFL-CIO labor federation. Each centered their opposition on the laughable “Action Plan” to [...]

Government officials and Quantico Marine base have blocked official visits to PFC. Bradley Manning by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Amnesty International, and the UN Special Rappateur on torture.

The AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka comes out swinging against the NAFTA-style Colombia trade deal and its Assassination Stress Tests, rightly suggesting that, “we have no doubt that if 51 CEOs had been murdered in Colombia last year, this deal would be on a very slow track indeed.” Oh, snap. Good for the AFL-CIO for coming out [...]

The Obama Adminstration announced today it intends to move to Congress a NAFTA-style trade deal with Colombia (better known as Colombian “Free Trade”). The hold up for the last five years has been the little issue of union members being assassinated in Colombia. Specifically, 2,850 trade unionists have been assassinated in Colombia in the last 25 years, including 52 murdered in 2009.

Good news! The Obama Administration and Colombia have agreed to an “Action Plan” to reduce those assassinations in the next 3 months before Congress ratifies the NAFTA-style trade deal. As Marcy Wheeler noted, those checkpoints are essentially “assassination stress tests” – a meaningless series of goals without real enforcement, and without a requirement that the number of murders is actually, you know, reduced.

In a debate last night in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, British Foreign Office minister Henry Bellingham said that the UK Government will renew its pressure on the US State Department concerning the abuse of PFC. Bradley Manning. Bellingham also confirmed that Bradley Manning can be considered a British citizen.

It was one year ago today – April 5, 2010 – that Wikileaks released a video it titled “Collateral Murder,” that the organization described as “shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers,” and the injury of two children. None of us had heard the name Bradley Manning one year ago. Indeed, 365 days ago, PFC. Manning was in Baghdad, serving as an Army intelligence specialist. Today, Manning sits in almost total solitary confinement at the Quantico Marine Brig, having been charged with allegedly leaking the Collateral Murder video and other documents currently in Wikileaks’ possession.