In March of this year an unnamed ‘Rogue soldier’ had been reported to have killed sixteen and wounded five civilians, which soon grew to six, in two villages in Kandahar Province. Military officials front-loaded the idea that he was alone during the massacres; some witnesses have claimed that several other soldiers were involved. Patrick Martin at wwsw.org has written that nearly every fact the US military has asserted is false according to witnesses and the Karzai government. Nine of the dead were children; in one house eleven bodies were placed in a pile and burned. Eleven of the total dead consisted of one entire family.

Pfc Bradley Manning will likely face court martial – and if we don’t act now, he could be tried on charges that he ‘aided the enemy.’ That would threaten the foundation of investigative journalism, e.g., by criminalizing the publication of intelligence information. We’re calling the Department of Defense to demand they drop the “aiding the enemy” against Manning.