From the cramped prison cell that has become his home, 23-year-old Army Private Bradley Manning is cut off from the world. He has had no opportunity to share his side of what could be the biggest whistleblowing story the world has seen.
What we do know of the alleged US war crimes whistleblower comes from the authority of friends and family — or from Adrian Lamo, the man who reported Manning to US authorities for allegedly leaking classified military documents to WikiLeaks.
Manning was born and raised a short distance outside the tiny town of Crescent in the southern American state of Oklahoma. Crescent is home to just over 1200 people and more than 10 churches.
In alleged online chat logs with Manning released to the media and US authorities by Lamo, Manning told Lamo: “I was the only non-religious person in town, more pews than people.”
Despite growing up in a conservative town, Manning was free-thinking. During school he would avoid reciting parts of the United States Pledge of Allegiance that reference God. He now says he identifies as a humanist.
In the Manning/Lamo chat logs, Manning said that while stationed in Iraq he wore custom-made dog tags attesting to his humanist beliefs.
When Manning was in his early teens, his parents separated and he moved with his mother to Wales.
Just before moving from the US, Manning told his best friends he was gay. School mates from his high school in Wales said Manning was not open about his sexuality, but was bullied at school for being “different”.
When Manning finished high school, he moved back to the US. He moved in with his father, who reportedly kicked him out of home because he was gay.
In 2007, Manning joined the United States Army and completed basic training in Missouri. In 2008, he underwent specialist training in Arizona to become an intelligence analyst.
Upon successful completion he was sent to Fort Drum in New York where he awaited deployment to Iraq.
Manning was active in rallying for gay rights and in 2008 attended a protest in New York to oppose Proposition 8, a measure making same-sex marriages illegal in California. This Land Press reported on September 23 that at this rally, Manning told a local news website: “I was kicked out of my home, and I once lost my job [because I am gay].
“The world is not moving fast enough for us at home, work, or the battlefield.”
Manning arrived in Iraq in October 2009. According to the Manning/Lamo chat logs, it was Manning’s experiences in Iraq that made him feel compelled to blow the whistle on the crimes he witnessed.
Explaining his disillusionment at the treatment of Iraqi civilians by Iraq Federal Police in collaboration with US forces, Manning said in the alleged chat logs: “I think the thing that got me the most ... that made me rethink the world more than anything, was watching 15 detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police … for printing ‘anti-Iraqi literature’.”
The offending literature, Manning said, was a scholarly critique of Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki. The political essay, titled “Where did the money go?”, explored claims of corruption within the PM’s cabinet.
“I immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on… he didn’t want to hear any of it… he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the [Iraqi police] in finding *MORE* detainees…
“Everything started slipping after that … I saw things differently
“I had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth … but that was a point where I was a *part* of something… I was actively involved in something that I was completely against.”
Manning allegedly said that he had leaked the classified documents because “it belongs in the public domain, information should be free”.
“I want people to see the truth … regardless of who they are … because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”
Manning said he hoped that the release of the information would create “worldwide discussion, debates and reforms”.
March 7 marked the 100th day since WikiLeaks began releasing the diplomatic cables that Manning is alleged to have leaked. The leaked information has been reported and editorialised in major news outlets around the world.
In May 2010, Manning was arrested in Iraq on suspicion of leaking classified information.
After his arrest, he was imprisoned in Kuwait for a month before being sent to the United States and held in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico, Virginia. He has remained in solitary confinement for more than nine months awaiting a pre-trial hearing.
[For more information, or for how to support Manning, visit http://www.bradleymanning.org .]