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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/22/how-pentagon-punished-nsa-whistleblowers
[There] is another man whose story has never been told before, who is speaking out publicly for the first time here. His name is John Crane, and he was a senior official in the Department of Defense who fought to provide fair treatment for whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake – until Crane himself was forced out of his job and became a whistleblower as well. His testimony reveals a crucial new chapter in the Snowden story – and Crane's failed battle to protect earlier whistleblowers should now make it very clear that Snowden had good reasons to go public with his revelations.
During dozens of hours of interviews, Crane told me how senior Defense Department officials repeatedly broke the law to persecute Drake. First, he alleged, they revealed Drake's identity to the Justice Department; then they withheld (and perhaps destroyed) evidence after Drake was indicted; finally, they lied about all this to a federal judge. The supreme irony? In their zeal to punish Drake, these Pentagon officials unwittingly taught Snowden how to evade their clutches when the 29-year-old NSA contract employee blew the whistle himself.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 23 2016, @12:18PM
Correct. Manning is not a whistleblower. Despite all the propaganda you have heard on the subject, Manning did NOT release any details of one single "illegal" action. He may or may not have educated any number of people about how fucking ugly war is - but that "collateral murder" video shows nothing of the sort. Go back, download the video again, dismiss all of your preconcieved notions, turn the volume up, and listen to the radio chatter. That cameraman and his driver were "embedded" in an insurgent unit, just like some of our own reporters have been "embedded" in some of our units. That is to say - all of the people who were seen WITH the cameraman were enemies, who had just been shooting at our ground troops. They were killed in a legitimate action of war. The cameraman took his chances, and he lost.
The people who arrived in the van were unfortunate losses. Apparent good Samaritans who showed up at the wrong place, at the wrong time. They APPEARED to be allied with the insurgents already lying on the ground. They died. Sucks - but that's one of the aspects of war that most civilians cannot comprehend.
Listen to that radio chatter. Every action taken by the men in that helicopter was JUSTIFIED under the rules of war.
Manning is a sleazeball, plain and simple, who broke the faith and trust of his fellow soldiers, for childish reasons. He was trying to "get even". He had nothing to blow a whistle about, so he decided to take the traitor's route. Manning should have faced a summary court martial in Iraq, and he should have been executed, then dropped into a latrine.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 23 2016, @12:55PM
While it's irritating how you insist on misgendering Manning, you do have valid points about that video. The one time I watched it carefully, it looked like there was somebody with an RPG on the ground who aiming at the helicopter. I'd encourage others to also give the video a good watch and not just the parts from the media narrative.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 23 2016, @01:21PM
I'm not sure about any RPG. I can say for certain that at one point in the video, you see an individual who APPEARS TO BE aiming an RPG toward something on the ground. From the chatter, you can tell that it is aimed in the direction of US troops on the ground. And, I marked that particular screenshot in my mind, because that is the cameraman, with his shoulder mounted camera. That moment in time sealed the fate of him, and all the men with him. The flight crew believed that he was abour to fire an RPG at the troops whom they had come to help.
I never identified any rocket launcher of any type, for myself, but I did count at least three AK's. Others have claimed to count more, but three is all that I have been able to count for sure.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Monday May 23 2016, @08:02PM
I also agree with the video being mis-characterized. You really have to watch the unedited footage to really get that though. The edited footed presents a very anti-US view. The Apache was very aggressive with the van but the van was trying to rescue enemy combatants. If it had a red cross or other neutral symbol then it wouldn't (in theory) have been targeted. The US troops that got up to the damaged van and saw children inside quickly evacuated the kids from the fighting. War sucks.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 23 2016, @09:27PM
If it had a red cross or other neutral symbol then it wouldn't (in theory) have been targeted.
Remember that time they hit a doctors without borders hospital that was foolish enough to give the army their coordinates to avoid being accidentally hit? They might as well paint a target on the van.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Monday May 23 2016, @10:58PM
You didn't get much past a headline then. All the airmen involved were relieved of command (or removed from duty), reprimanded, counselled, and sent to retraining. The US President apologized and allocated money to rebuild the hospital, pay the wounded, and pay the family of the killed. The report said it was an avoidable mistake. The aircrew was given a target and they didn't check their list of coordinates to avoid. The target request was generated by afghans on the ground (though i am not pointing the finger at them, it was the gunships fault for not checking the coords). The gunship didn't look up the coords for the doctors without borders hospital and just decide to blow it up, as you accused. But i don't want to get trapped trying to defend the stupid shit my military does. Just wanted to say your remark is conspiracy theory stupidity.
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