Jailed Soldier Has Support of Resisters

[groovedaddy]

The small office of Courage to Resist, a nonprofit group in Oakland, is full of items featuring the smiling face of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of passing secret government documents to WikiLeaks. Bradley Manning T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers — even whistles — are for sale.

Jeff Paterson, the project director of the organization, which has supported dozens of service members who have refused deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan, said the group began to raise money for Private Manning’s legal defense after he was arrested in May.

WikiLeaks was not supporting the 23-year-old private first class “who gave them all this information,” said Mr. Paterson, 42, a lanky former Marine, who was himself jailed for refusing to board a plane bound for Saudi Arabia after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has said he has never spoken with Private Manning and does not know who is behind the leaks. WikiLeaks technology was “designed from the very beginning to make sure that we never know the identities or names of people submitting us material,” Mr. Assange told ABC News.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/us/26bcmanning.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a22

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Good.