Hear Bradley Manning’s Full Audio Statement HERE
On Tuesday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation released Pfc. Bradley Manning’s full court statement — a one-hour, seven-minute speech to a military court, in which Manning explains why he shared hundreds of thousands of government documents with WikiLeaks.
Below is an edited clip of Manning describing his reaction to a 2007 video. He eventually gave this to WikiLeaks. The footage shows American soldiers killing civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists.
HERE is the full unofficial transcript
“At first I did not consider the video very special, as I have viewed countless other war porn type videos depicting combat. However, the recording of audio comments by the aerial weapons team crew and the second engagement in the video of an unarmed bongo truck troubled me …
It was clear to me that the event happened because the aerial weapons team mistakenly identified Reuters employees as a potential threat and that the people in the bongo truck were merely attempting to assist the wounded. The people in the van were not a threat but merely “good samaritans.” The most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have.”
