Bradley Manning is all alone in the fight against the US government that has marketed freedom to the world by waging wars against those who oppose democracy; and yet, in a blatant twist of hypocrisy, the US government is out to crucify Mr. Manning who has exercised his rights, the most basic of all, the freedom of speech.

Does the freedom for which the US government has been waging wars against tyranny only apply to the outside world? Does Mr. Manning have any such right?

In its quest to silence those it disagrees with – a common and cruel method used by dictators – the US government, irrespective of the administration in control, has been waging wars against its own citizens, using threat, intimidation and a slew of other tactics.

Bradley Manning, the latest casualty of such war, has been facing the most intimidating, most resourceful, most powerful opponent on this planet, the US government. And he’s all alone.

Mr. Manning is accused of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, an international, online, non-profit organization which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. In other words, Wikileaks’ primary purpose is to expose corporate and government entities that are engaged in despicable wrongdoings.

Since the incident, a flash in the pan in the news media, most of us have been going about our business, completely oblivious that the people we’ve elected, those same people whose primary job is to protect us, the citizens, have been crushing Mr. Manning for revealing the cruelties of our government.

Instead of holding those who ordered and perpetrated those atrocities responsible, the government has been throwing its weight solely on Mr. Manning.

Understandably, it is a delicate situation, both for Bradley and for the government.  Mr. Bradley Edward Manning, born on 17 December 1987, is a United States Army soldier. As such, he took oath to defend the nation at all cost, to abide by rules that, if violated, would get him court-martialed. Mr. Manning was well aware of that before he took the action (leaking classified document) for which he was arrested on May 2010 in Iraq.

Mr. Manning’ action is clearly a matter for concern for the US government, and should have been thought through [by Mr. Manning] prior to acting on it, knowing what the consequences could be. Contrary to impending consequences, which I am sure Mr. Manning may have considered, there was a higher issue at stake; the government feeding the public information contrarian to the actions “in the theater”. Such “deliberate” deception could not have possibly come to light without Mr. Manning’s initiative.

Interestingly however, despite the sheer amount of information passed to WikiLeaks, one in particular has attracted the world attention, an armed chopper riddling civilians, including journalists, of bullets beyond recognition. Those civilians were in the open, seemingly having a conversation, much like when you meet up with your friends to hang out. Thousands of feet above them lured the danger that would end their lives, with no consequence for the perpetrators.

That could have easily been dubbed an unfortunate incident; however, conversation between the personnel in the chopper and the command base let the world hear exactly what happened. It was not a mistake. It was a deliberate act to murder those civilians.

Had it not been for the brave act of Mr. Manning to leak those information, the world would have never known about that massacre. In fact, the US government initially denied such action ever happened before WikiLeaks released the information.

Which is worse:  Bradley’s leak or the government’s flagrant deception and cover up? Although it’s impossible to argue against “no punishment” for Mr. Manning – considering the precedence that would be set – it’s equally impossible to deny that our government’s action abroad carries consequences,  similar to the 9/11 attack on our land. We cannot turn our back on Mr. Manning, for he has done, at the cost of his personal freedom, the most good for the nation since the drafting of the Constitution. Let’s urge the government to reduce Mr. Manning’s sentence to a couple of years.

Mr. Manning deserves everyone’ support if we want to reclaim freedom and demand accountability from the government.

Mr. Manning has stood up for America. It’s time for America to Stand Up for Bradley Manning.