General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution ... [View all]sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)were Reuters employees covering the war, the video should have been handed over to their families and to Reuters as requested. I agree with you that the military probably viewed the killings of those people as an 'error' they were embarrassed by. Or maybe they knew that what they did was wrong. Several soldiers other than Manning, have stated that these kinds of killings were 'par for the course' but were rarely publicized.
Two children were wounded in that horrible event, another apparently 'common occurance', the deaths of children. Kevin Benderman eg, another soldier who refused to ignore these war crimes, refused to return to Iraq after being ordered to shoot at children among other things, which he refused to do. People do not have to lose their humanity because they are given orders to do something that they know is wrong. People like Benderman and Manning are the conscience of this country who refute the notion that it is impossible to refuse to follow orders they know are wrong. We are supposed to exonerate those who 'are just following orders' AND apparently we exonerate those, like Cheney, who give the orders.
We have to start somewhere to end these atrocities. And it will take a lot more Mannings and Bendermans to make those changes, along with public opposition to the crimes being committed in our names. No one is obliged to follow legal orders if those orders require committing war crimes. That was established after WW11.
Manning was very disturbed when