Ron Paul: Bradley Manning Deserves Nobel Peace Prize More Than Obama

Reason

It's tempting to say, "well, who isn't?" when former congressman Ron Paul remarks that military whistleblower and current guest of Uncle Sam, Bradley Manning, is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than is actual recipient Barack Obama. After all, olive branches tend to get a bit singed by missile exhaust when you try to mount them on killer drones. Manning, on the other hand, has done a nice job of exposing often-lethal government actions to deep and even embarrassing scrutiny.

From U.S. News & World Report:

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is accused of providing an enormous stash of classified government documents to WikiLeaks for publication, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize more than President Barack Obama, according to former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

"While President Obama was starting and expanding unconstitutional wars overseas, Bradley Manning, whose actions have caused exactly zero deaths, was shining light on the truth behind these wars," the former Republican presidential contender told U.S. News. "It's clear which individual has done more to promote peace."

Manning was nominated for the award in 2011, 2012 and again earlier this year. Obama won the award in 2009.

The WikiLeaks documents Manning allegedly leaked "pointed to a long history of corruption [and] war crimes" and "helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements," according to the Icelandic, Swedish and Tunisian politicians who nominated Manning.

For his part, frequent critic of overseas adventures and authoritarian excesses, Glenn Greenwald, agreed with Paul's assessment, saying, "Bradley Manning epitomizes what the Nobel Peace Prize was supposed to reward, while Barack Obama is the antithesis of it."

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