http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-P3OXML00s
GIPGAP, the Group on International Perspectives on Governmental Aggression and Peace (http://engagingpeace.com/?p=2836 ) http://engagingpeace.com/?p=2836, has built on Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement to identify forms of reasoning characteristic of moral engagement (http://engagingpeace.com/?p=1893 ). Today we give examples of those within Bradley Manning’s statement in his pre-trial hearing.
Attending to the negative consequences of inhumane or unjust behavior
In regard to his assignment as an intelligence analyst: “I knew that if I continued to assist the Baghdad Federal Police in identifying the political opponents of Prime Minister al-Maliki, those people would be arrested and in the custody of the Special Unit of the Baghdad Federal Police and very likely tortured and not seen again for a very long time — if ever.”
Exonerating or pardoning victims of aggression (rather than “blaming the victim”)
“I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan are targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people who were struggling to live in the pressure-cooker environment of what we call asymmetric warfare.”
Humanizing the other
Regarding the video he released to Wikileaks, showing American military personnel killing Reuters reporters and Iraq civilians and wounding two children (http://engagingpeace.com/?p=1609 ), he says:
“The most alarming aspect of the video to me…was the seemly delightful bloodlust they [the American servicemen] appeared to have. They dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote “dead bastards” unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers.”
Telling it Like it is
Regarding detaining and interrogating prisoners at Guantanamo, he says:
“The more I became educated on the topic, it seemed that we found ourselves holding an increasing number of individuals indefinitely that we believed or knew to be innocent, low-level foot soldiers that did not have useful intelligence and would be released if they were still held in theater.”
Like other whistle blowers and rebels against arbitrary authority, Manning has detractors as well as admirers; nevertheless, his reasoning and actions are consistent with a “diagnosis” of moral engagement, and America needs moral engagement to combat moral disgrace.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology