By Debra Sweet

The judge's verdict in Bradley Manning's case, which was outrageous, came quickly after the guilt phase of the court martial. Bradley admitted breaking some laws in the service of greater good; exposing systemic, widespread abuse, murder, injustice and war crimes by the government, and faces most of his life in prison, while those who run the wars with impunity get called "humanitarians" and become Nobel Prize winners.

We know that above all, the people who run this country want no more Bradley Mannings, Edward Snowdens, Assanges or Greenwalds (on Sunday Greenwald's partner, a non-journalist Brazilian citizen, was held for nine hours by the UK under investigation with the advance knowledge of the US).

As we tensely await Bradley's sentence, which could come from the judge as early as Tuesday afternoon (August 20) or Wednesday, it's more important than ever to let the world know we support him.

Today the prosecution asked for a prison term of 60 years for Bradley.
Government: Bradley Manning Betrayed His Country & Deserves No Mercy from Court of Law by Kevin Gosztola

Let's get out in the biggest public space, or city center, in their areas as soon as possible, alert the news media, and voice the demand: FREE Bradley Manning. Release him now! World Can't Wait adds: Prosecute the War Criminals: Let the Whistleblowers Go! See BradleyManning.org

Download posters.

Supporters gather after court August 14, at Fort Meade.
Photo from bradleymanning.org.

Plans for Protests on Day of Bradley Manning's Sentencing:

NYC: 5:00 pm Times Square - 47th & B'way near the red steps of TKTS. Follow @dsweetwcw for more. Facebook Event

Chicago: 6;00 pm at "The Bean" in Millennium Park

San Francisco: 5-6:30 pm at Bradley Manning Plaza (aka Ferry Plaza), at the foot of Market Street in San Francisco.

Kevin Gosztola writes in There Are People Who Should Have to Plead for Mercy from a Judge—None Are Named Bradley Manning:

“Frank Wuterich led a squad as a Marine sergeant that massacred dozens of unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005. Wuterich and seven others involved were charged with crimes for their role in the attack, but one was acquitted and six others ultimately had their cases dropped. Wuterich was the lone conviction and he was faced with no jail time after pleading guilty to one count of “negligent dereliction of duty.”

“Wuterich and other Marines involved in the massacre should have had to look up at a judge and plead for mercy because they faced a potential sentence of decades in jail for killing civilians, but none of them ever found themselves in such a position.”

You Have Nothing to Be Sorry For: An Open Letter to Bradley Manning by Jill McLaughlin

Shooters Walk Free, Whistleblower Jailed 2011 documentary from Germany featuring Ethan McCord, the soldier seen in the Collateral Murder video rescuing children from a van after US soldiers in an Apache helicopter blow it up.

Compare & Contrast Prosecutions of War Criminals & Whistle-blowers: A Crowd-Sourced Research Project

World Can't Wait is preparing a piece on the contrast between the punishment of Bradley Manning and that of US military and contractors who committed murder, rape, torture and other abuse of civilians in Iraq. If you can help research, providing examples and documentation, post on the World Can't Wait Facebook page, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or tweet @worldcantwait.

For example, from Reuters:

“On Monday, the prosecution and defense attorneys are scheduled to make their final arguments on what they believe is the most appropriate sentence for the 25-year-old Manning.

“The material Manning released that shocked many around the world was a 2007 gunsight video of a US apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in Baghdad. A dozen people were killed, including two Reuters news staff. WikiLeaks dubbed the footage ‘Collateral Murder.’”

And, by comparison, @teacherdude tweeted to me today: "Manning will possibly get x3 the jail sentence that Albert Speer received.  Speer ran Nazi war production."