Preliminary Draft
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
2011 Nomination
BRADLEY MANNING,
US ARMY, PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
For his outstanding courage and bravery in exposing war crimes, we the undersigned nominate Bradley Manning, Private First Class of the U.S. Army for the Nobel Peace Prize of 2011. We recognize that throughout history states, organizations and people fearing reprisals are reluctant to confront powerful, militarized states that commit war crimes. But a young man, Bradley Manning, acted on his conscience when others could not or would not do so.
A 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking a video of a US helicopter attack that killed at least eleven Iraqi civilians to the website Wikileaks. Among the dead were two working Reuters reporters. Two children were also severely wounded in the attack. Through the U.S. military’s own documents and records, we have confirmation of war crimes that the U.S. has denied or ignored. Further, this attack was not unique. The “Afghan War Diaries” include 92,000 documents and battlefield reports that explicitly describe civilian deaths and cover-ups, corrupt officials, collusion with warlords, and a failing US/NATO war effort that Bradley Manning is suspected of leaking to the world.
If Pfc. Bradley Manning is the source who provided Wikileaks with the “Collateral Murder” video and/or the 92,000 documents known as “The Afghan War Diary,” then in exposing US war crimes, Bradley Manning, acted in accordance with the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice under which it is his duty to obey lawful orders but likewise he must refuse to obey orders that are in direct violation of the US Constitution. The leaks document war crimes.
The world owes the accused Wikileaks whistleblower, Bradley Manning, a debt of gratitude for his contribution to world peace at grave risk to himself. Awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize will be a way of establishing that no nation-state, regardless of its military might, is above international humanitarian law. We thank him for his courage in bringing the truth to the people of the world.
The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan violate Article 2 of the United Nations Charter as neither Iraq nor Afghanistan presented an acute and imminent threat of war to the United States, the only legally valid basis for war. The illegal wars waged by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan have cost the lives of thousands of U.S. military personnel, the lives of unknown numbers that are estimated by reliable researchers to total well over a million of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, and squandered U.S. treasury, in vain, that could have been used for human needs.
Signatories
Kathleen Barry, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita of Pennsylvania State University
