What is it about us as a people, a country, as proud Americans that causes us to prefer to listen to lies but to turn a tin ear to truth?

Shades of The Pentagon Papers! Echoes of Gulf of Tonkin!

Our “now” example of self-imposed hearing loss is the revealing of thousands of pages of secret U.S. military files which show a harrowing, “boots-on-the-ground” view of the Afghanistan war. And it is ugly.

In it, we discover that coalition forces have killed 100’s of citizens in unreported incidents, soaring (and also unreported) Taliban attacks, and evidence that the insurgency is being actively supported by neighbors Pakistan and Iran.

As expected, this violation of secrecy was met with outrage.  As those on the right could not attack the veracity of the material – they chose to attack the newspaper that, albeit selectively, printed the documents. You know, their favorite demon, “radical left’s” institutional organ, the New York Times.

The government’s response was equally predictable.  These wonks deplored the “serious damage to national security.”  The Afghan government found it “shocking.”

“Serious damage to national security”

Hasn’t this country, quite well on its own, quite successfully damaged our national security?  How does $300 BILLION of our treasure and the loss of 1,207 American lives stack up in comparison to the “dangerous” 9,000 pages of documents of any kind…if truth is revealed?

“Danger to our National Security!”  This has got to be the most abused patriot-phrase of all time, perhaps second only to “This gives aid and comfort to our enemies.”   I do remember the latter as a favorite Bush tactic – which allowed our government to prohibit the photographs of military coffins on their way back to the U.S. 

But, Obama?  The leader promising to provide us change that we can believe it?  Show me the change.

And, I must ask my fellow Americans – just how “dangerous” is truth when it leads to understanding?  I would think that we would welcome any segment of socieity or the press whose goal it is to publicize information that otherwise would never see the light of day.  If these people are our enemy…what does this say about the people who foster and further lies?  Which are the patriots?

Pfc Bradley Manning is the person who delivered these documents via a third-party to Wikipedia.  He is in military detention in Kuwait and faces up to 52 years of imprisonment.

Why Wikileaks?

A PressThink reporter answered the question correctly. “If you’re a whistle blower with explosive documents, to whom would you rather give them? A newspaper with a terrestrial address organized under the laws of a nation that could (editor: and does) try to force the reporters you contacted to reveal your name…or to Wikileaks which has no address, answers to no subpoenas and promises to run the full cache if they can be verified as real?

What does it mean for this Whistle Blower?

What does it mean for Pfc Manning, who is an extreme example of individuals who are rightfully and righteously motivated by the public’s right-to-know?  A class of citizen that believes publicizing secret documents and classified material in order to expose corruption, deception and crimes against humanity is absolutely necessary in a society that fancies itself as ‘free?”

As I pointed out in a previous blog, “Whistle Blowers – Where are you when we need you?”, our true national security calls for more – not fewer – such people.

Daniel Ellsberg, the 1971 leaker of the “Pentagon Papers,” calls this “the greatest leak in 40 years.” Could this be our government’s version of the BP Gulf Disaster? An outing of a government that has drilled too deep and with no plan – other than keeping reporters at a distance?  Do you want actual diplomatic cables exposing massive corruption of both U.S. and puppet government officials to be kept secret?  Will that make America safer?

These are not just documents…they are worse than dry words, however horrifying.  Actual videotapes show U.S. soldiers chortling with glee as they gun down unarmed civilians, including children, and even a Reuter’s camera crew.

All this in a military action we call “Operation Enduring Freedom.”  Which “enduring freedom” here at home is being sacrificed to keep Lies on the throne?  If we stand by to see Pfc Manning convicted of “violations” that may actually lead us to an open and lively AND HONEST debate on our presence in that God-forsaken middle eastern country, of what violation are we guilty?  The answer?  Of not supporting the truth above all else.

Because, we can’t handle it.

(For more: www.bradleymanning.org)