And the Nobel Peace Prize (for treason? or an ethical stand?) goes to...

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PFC Bradley Manning has apparently (operative word apparently) been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Kit Up! Pvt. Manning nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

 

We posted this link last night on our Facebook page and, not unexpectedly, received about 30 responses in less time than it took us to recover from our nausea.

If news reports are correct, then PFC Bradley Manning has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Edit: he was nominated, but not in an official, internationally recognized capacity.]

Our response was WTFO? We respect your right to disagree, of course. We can even maybe sort of see how the committee came to their way of thinking, though we disagree with it completely, and regardless, we think he absolutely deserves his court martial (personally, we don't believe he was motivated by anything altruistic, but that's what trials are for). What do you think?

Here's the alleged letter nominating him. There are several places reporting it so far.

EDIT: For more information on the actual nomination process and who may be nominated:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/nomination/nominators.html

 

We have the great honor of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings. These revelations have fueled democratic uprising around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia.

According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on our foreign policies, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq. 

Bradley Manning has been incarcerated for well over a year by the U.S. government without a trial. He spent over ten months of that time period in solitary confinement, conditions which experts worldwide have criticized as torturous. Juan Mendez, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has repeatedly requested and been denied a private meeting with Manning to assess his conditions. 

The documents made public by WikiLeaks should never have been kept from public scrutiny. The revelations – including video documentation of an incident in which American soldiers gunned down Reuters journalists in Iraq – have helped to fuel a worldwide discussion about America’s overseas engagements, civilian casualties of war, imperialistic manipulations, and rules of engagement.

Citizens worldwide owe a great debt to the WikiLeaks whistleblower for shedding light on these issues, and so I urge the Committee to award this prestigious prize to accused whistleblower Bradley Manning.


Sincerely,

Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Margrét Tryggvadóttir

Þór Saari

Members of the Icelandic Parliament for The Movement

 

 

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The Mad Duo, TDY in Iraq

The Mad Duo is a writing collaboration of several military and LE types. They can be contacted here on Kit Up!, over on Under the Radar or at Breach-Bang-Clear. They’ve also written for Soldier Systems, Officer.com and SWAT Digest. They actually represent the collaborative writing of a half a dozen military and LE personnel from a wide array of backgrounds and every branch of service. High speed, low drag celebrities of the action figure and steely-eyed snaker-eater world, the commentary of Richard “Swingin’ Dick” Kilgore and Jake “Slim” Call has been likened to a .308 op-ed to the head. They don’t like the Taliban, marplots, hippies, sissies or SNCOs and officers who don’t grasp the concept of Noblesse Oblige. Loyalty starts from the top down, assclowns. Please go right now and join them on Facebook, unless you’re a member of the ACLU, PETA or NAMBLA or are an anti-military sissy, own any expensive show cats, are a Marine Corps trombone player or believe Greedo shot first.


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