7/27/2019 Letter From Chelsea Manning

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August2013 FromChelseaManningtoPresidentBarackObama

ChelseaManningisformerlyBradleyManning.

ThedecisionsthatImadein2010weremadeoutofaconcernformycountryandthe

worldthatwe live in.Sincethetragiceventsof9/11,ourcountryhasbeenatwar.

We'vebeenatwarwithanenemy thatchoosesnot tomeetusonany traditional

battlefield,andduetothisfactwe'vehadtoalterourmethodsofcombatingtherisks

posedto

us

and

our

way

of

life.

I initially agreed with these methods and chose to volunteer to help defend my

country.ItwasnotuntilIwasinIraqandreadingsecretmilitaryreportsonadailybasis

that Istartedtoquestionthemoralityofwhatweweredoing. Itwasatthistime I

realized that (in)ourefforts tomeet the riskposed tousby theenemy,wehave

forgottenourhumanity.Weconsciouslyelectedtodevaluehuman lifeboth in Iraq

andAfghanistan.Whenweengaged those thatweperceivedwere theenemy,we

sometimeskilledinnocentcivilians.Wheneverwekilledinnocentcivilians,insteadof

acceptingresponsibility

for

our

conduct,

we

elected

to

hide

behind

the

veil

of

national

securityandclassifiedinformationinordertoavoidanypublicaccountability.

Inourzealtokilltheenemy,weinternallydebatedthedefinitionoftorture.Weheld

individualsatGuantanamoforyearswithoutdueprocess.We inexplicablyturneda

blind eye to torture and executions by the Iraqi government.Andwe stomached

countlessotheractsinthenameofourwaronterror.

Patriotismisoftenthecryextolledwhenmorallyquestionableactsareadvocatedby

those in power. When these cries of patriotism drown out any logically based

dissension,it

is

usually

the

American

soldier

that

is

given

the

order

to

carry

out

some

illconceivedmission.

Ournationhashadsimilardarkmomentsforthevirtuesofdemocracy theTrailof

Tears,theDredScottdecision,McCarthyism,andtheJapaneseAmericaninternment

camps tomentionafew.Iamconfidentthatmanyoftheactionssince9/11willone

daybeviewedinasimilarlight.

AsthelateHowardZinnoncesaid,"Thereisnotaflaglargeenoughtocovertheshame

ofkillinginnocentpeople."

Iunderstandthatmyactionsviolatedthe law; Iregretifmyactionshurtanyoneor

harmedtheUnitedStates.Itwasnevermyintenttohurtanyone.Ionlywantedtohelp

people.WhenIchosetodiscloseclassifiedinformation,Ididsooutofaloveformy

countryandasenseofdutytoothers.

Ifyoudenymyrequestforapardon,Iwillservemytimeknowingthatsometimesyou

havetopayaheavypricetoliveinafreesociety.Iwillgladlypaythatpriceifitmeans

we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the

propositionthatallwomenandmenarecreatedequal.