“Bradley Manning Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!?”

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“Bradley Manning Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!?”

March 1, 2012

At first, it seems incredible that an American soldier who has been charged with “aiding the enemy” by leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks – a charge that carries life in prison, or death – could be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, on second thought, it is in keeping with an organization that in 2009 awarded the prize to newly-elected President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people” and in 2007 to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Gore “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundation for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Popularity with the political left, apparently, is more important than promoting peace, when it comes to deliberations by the Nobel Committee.

With Iran on the verge of getting a nuclear bomb; Afghanistan is in such disarray that the Taliban have returned; Pakistan is no longer the ally they were; Iraq is being subjected nightly to car bombs, killing and maiming their own people. It is hard to see how President Obama has strengthened our Mid-East relations. Mr. Obama snubbed our oldest and closest ally, England. He recently signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. He waged war on Libya without consulting Congress and escalated the CIA Drone war in Pakistan. In January, Reporters Without Borders released its annual World Press Freedom Index and the U.S. fell from 20th place to 47th. What were Mr. Obama’s “extraordinary efforts” before he became President? We know what they have been since he has been in office.

While no one denies that man has affected, to some degree, the climate, but as to whether change is purely anthropogenic is debatable. Those like Al Gore and Michael Moore who have made millions preying on the gullibility of the people, have been shown to be the charlatans they are. Their purpose was not to educate nor elucidate. It was to get rich. And they did. There is nothing wrong with getting rich, but their sanctimonious attitudes are offensive.

There have been other Nobel Peace Awards that have been questionable to say the least: Former President Jimmy Carter who has spent more time with the world’s nastiest dictators than anyone was awarded the prize in 2002; Yasser Arafat, a killer, shared the prize in 1994; Roberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala in 1992, and Gorbachev, but not President Reagan or Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in 1990. The Committee, though, has made some great selections: Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010; Aung San Suo Kyl of Burma in 1991; Elie Wiesel in 1986 and Lech Walesa in 1983.

The Oslo-based committee that awards the peace prize, named after Alfred Nobel, ironically the Swedish inventor of dynamite, has apparently received 231 nominations this year, including President Bill Clinton, if what we read is true. The Committee reviewing the nominations does not reveal who has been nominated, but those with nomination rights can announce their selection. Nominations cannot come from just anyone. According to Investor’s Business Daily Manning’s sponsor was the Movement of the Icelandic Parliament. As previous recipients are eligible to make nominations, Mr. Clinton’s sponsor might well have been his former Vice President. In any case, he is known to all potential sponsors. The same, I am sure, cannot be said for Private Manning.

To some people the nomination of Private Manning is a moral one. Their argument goes that, yes, he did technically break the law, but that the U.S. was committing war crimes and not being held accountable, and they claim that what the U.S. does with taxpayer money should be public information. It’s hogwash. Morality is not simply in the eyes of the beholder. It must function within the confines of society. We may all, individually, disagree with some of the laws we are asked to obey; nevertheless, most of us abide by them. Nations of laws demand respect, so that society can function civilly. In releasing classified documents, Private Manning may have, deliberately or inadvertently, placed other soldiers in harm’s way. He is responsible for his actions.

As a soldier working in Intelligence, he was certainly aware of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, under which he has been charged, and he had to be aware of the consequences of what he did. The Code is drilled into every man and woman who enters the service. I went through basic training fifty years ago and I still remember aspects of the Code. Private Manning’s security clearance provided him access to the classified material he released. The amount of material he provided WikiLeaks is astounding. It includes 100,000 field reports from military officers in Afghanistan, 250,000 confidential State Department cables, along with classified and sensitive military videos.

Apparently Private Manning was upset with the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. If the Courts find that was his motive he should be shown no mercy, for he knew the policy when he entered the service, and if it was spite that made him act the way he did he deserves no mercy.

Nevertheless, whatever his excuse, a soldier with access to classified information, no matter one’s personal political inclinations, carries with it the responsibility to protect the security of the U.S. To conclude, as the Nobel Committee has overtly done in accepting the nomination, that Private Manning was right and our military wrong is a moral judgment that deserves reconsideration by those involved. It’s a disgrace.

…………………………………………………….

From a personal perspective, it makes me angry that Private Manning has damaged the reputation of the 10th Mountain Division, a storied Division that in World War II rousted German mountain troops from the Apennines, thus paving the way for Allied forces to Italy’s breadbasket in the Po Valley. It was the unit in which my father served.