BillHustonBlog: Manning Supporters Interrupt President's Speech in Syracuse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Manning Supporters Interrupt Presidential Speech

Contact:
Amelia Ramsey-Lefevre, amelia@peacecouncil.net, 610-952-5821
Ursula Rozum, ursula.rozum@Gmail.com, (315) 414-7720

SYRACUSE, NY – On August 22, Ursula Rozum and Amelia Ramsey-Lefevre interrupted President Obama's speech at Henninger High School to bring attention to the imprisonment of US Army whistleblower Private Manning. Rozum and Ramsey-Lefevre were escorted off the premises after shouting: "President Obama, you must free Private Maning. With all due respect, sir, Private Manning exposed war crimes. Private Manning exposed torture. Private Manning aided the public, not the enemy. Private Manning is a hero." The two women also held banner which read "Free Bradley Manning."

Below is a joint statement from the two activists:

With all due respect to the President and his supporters, we interrupted the President's speech at Henninger High School because President Obama has the power to pardon US Army whistleblower Private Manning – a young, conscience driven whistleblower who exposed US war crimes. It is unjust that Manning has been sentence to 35 years in prison, while those who are guilty of torture and murdering civilians walk free.

All Americans who value the truth and government accountability should be supporting Private Manning and calling on the President to pardon her.

The Obama administration has prosecuted twice as many whistleblowers under the Espionage Act as every other administration combined since the law was passed in 1917. Why does the President want to hide the criminal actions of the US government?

Instead of prosecuting whistleblowers, we need to go after the real criminals: those who started the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan; those who authorized the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo; and those responsible for the illegal drone wars against the people of Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The US public needs to know what the government is doing in our name so that we can have can informed debate about public policy. All people of conscience need to support Manning and insist that President Obama use his authority to pardon this courageous whistleblower.