Between The Lines - Kevin Gosztola: Update on Accused WikiLeaks leaker Army Pfc. Bradley Manning Military's Court Martial (Week Ending Jan. 27, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

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Bradley Manning Defense Team and Support Network Prepare for Court Martial

RealAudio MP3

Posted Jan. 18, 2012

Interview with Kevin Gosztola, a civil liberties blogger with FireDogLake.com, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On Jan. 13, the officer in charge of an evidentiary hearing investigating allegations that Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, 24, leaked classified government documents to WikiLeaks, determined that he should be court-martialed on all 22 charges. Manning stands accused by the U.S. government of being the source of 260,000 diplomatic government cables, more than 90,000 intelligence reports and a video of a U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad, later distributed to the press by WikiLeaks.

Among the most serious charges are “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense, although government prosecutors have said they will not pursue the death penalty. But if convicted on all counts, Bradley Manning could spend the rest of his life in prison. His trial is expected to begin in the next few months.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kevin Gosztola, a civil liberties blogger with FireDogLake.com, a website that has championed Manning's cause from the beginning. FireDogLake and the Bradley Manning Support Network have exposed the inhumane treatment they say Manning was subjected to at the Quantico Naval Brig, that included solitary confinement and being stripped naked for extended periods of time. Here, Gosztola describes the decision to move to a court martial, and the strategy of both the defense team and the government in pursuing the case.

KEVIN GOSZTOLA: The latest news is that all of the charges that were being deliberated on – the investigative officer had to make a decision after the pre-trial hearing whether or not those would be charges that went into a court martial – he decided that all of them, and there's 23 different charges, including an aiding the enemy charge which is a capital offense and carries the possibility of the death penalty – and those charges are all going to carry into the court martial. This was the job of the investigative officer – to decide what to do with the charges. That was the whole point of the hearing, that the prosecution would come and make their case and show the evidence they had for all these charges, and the investigating officer seems to think there was plenty of evidence.

BETWEEN THE LINES: How does Bradley Manning seem? Do you know anything about his state of mind?

KEVIN GOSZTOLA: What I've been telling people about what I thought and how he looked...he's been held in detention for more than 550 days and I said, you know for being in detention that long, he actually looked pretty normal. It's very hard to detect that he has any sort of issues from being confined. I'm not saying that he has no problems. I'd say he's very happy and pleased. From an aunt we have a bit of a note that came out around Christmas time that he was very pleased with all the support he received during the hearing and he wanted all his supporters know he was doing well and was getting along fine.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Kevin Gosztola, please just remind our listeners the defense Manning's lawyer plans to present.

KEVIN GOSZTOLA: I think that their case is going to be built around, one, the mental state of Bradley while he was there; certainly the way he was dealing with...he believes he's actually a different gender, so, a woman and has had gender identity issues, and they're going to push that angle. And they're also going to push the angle of the place where he worked, the facility where he was doing his intelligence analyst work, they're going to push how the information security in that area was lax and how people were able to get away with downloading stuff from their computers, taking information in and out of the facility without having too many superiors asking questions about what was being done – playing games, movies, listening to music on the drives, just bad information security. And the final thing I would say is they are going to say that there hasn't been any risks to national security. But the one obstacle that he's had – and you can see that in his request for depositions in the aftermath of the Article 32 hearing, or the pre-trial hearing – is he wants the original classification authorities to have to testify under oath or on the record. They submitted unsworn statements that claims there's been harm, and they assert there's been harm, but they haven't been under oath, so it's just what they say. And he really wants to put these people under oath and force them to say that there's been a risk, because it's not clear what that risk is.

BETWEEN THE LINES: But they probably wouldn't specify the harms because they'd say that would compromise national security, like they have in other cases, no?

KEVIN GOSZTOLA: Well, so, they would do this under classified information. So all these depositions that the lawyer, David Coombs, wants to do, this is his request and on the same day that this came out that these 23 charges would proceed to court martial, David Coombs made a request for on the record depositions, and he wanted to get these all from individuals and they would be classified. Classified testimony would be offered, so that would mean that the public would never really know what sort of information was shared with the defense, but at least he would get the evidence he needed to make his case for Bradley Manning.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Say a little more about the aiding the enemy charge, which potentially carries the death penalty, even though government lawyers have said they won't seek it.

KEVIN GOSZTOLA: So, the aiding the enemy charge is very, very...it's just terrible that the government is going this far and it is over-reaching, and I believe this is the government going way too far. And the biggest issue is they're claiming that Bradley Manning knew he was going to give the information to Al Qaeda indirectly through Wikileaks. That's what was said during the hearing. And if you think about this argument, it's a really bad one for people who like to cover national security issues, because in a sense what they're saying is, if you put something out there that can be available to terrorists, then you could be considered someone who deserves to be criminalized, depending on your effect. So Bradley Manning has been very effective in what he has done, and it seems like the aiding the enemy charge is all about making an example out of Manning. His lawyer says it's also about trying to flip him and get him to testify against Julian Assange and other people in Wikileaks. So this aiding the enemy charge is entirely all about intimidation, and so far there's no justification to show that he was working or operating for terrorists.

Kevin Gosztola blogs at Dissenter.firedoglake.com. Learn more about the charges against Bradley Manning by visiting the Bradly Manning Support Network at www.bradleymanning.org.