Akashma Online News

By Marivel Guzman | Akashma News

“Empires are never defeated by bombs. They’re unraveled by truth.”
— Akashma News, 2025

For every general who sold his soul, there was a private who refused an order.
For every president who signed a war, there was a journalist, a dissident, a whistleblower who stood between silence and complicity.

This is their chapter—the unbought voices.

I. The Whistleblowers Who Paid the Price

Edward Snowden

In 2013, this former NSA contractor shattered the myth of democratic oversight.

Exposed NSA mass surveillance, PRISM, XKeyscore and in a corporate collusion with the U.S. intelligence apparatus unveiled a global surveillance network that targeted not only terrorists, but ordinary citizens, allies, and journalists.

Labeled a traitor by the state, a hero by the people.

From the Akashma News article, “Are Whistleblowers Heroes or Traitors?” (2017):

“What Snowden revealed was not a single violation—it was a culture of abuse. The United States had quietly converted its intelligence apparatus into a planetary panopticon.”

Snowden once said:

Now exiled in Russia, with global surveillance programs still using the infrastructure he exposed.

“Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American.”

On February 10, 2017, he posted a tweet that said it all:

“Break classification rules for the public’s benefit, and you could be exiled. Do it for personal benefit, and you could be President.” @Snowden

Forced into exile in Russia, Snowden is still hunted—not for falsehood, but for truth.

Chelsea Manning

Leaked the Iraq War Logs, Afghan War Diaries, and the Collateral Murder video—exposing war crimes and civilian deaths covered up by U.S. forces.

Imprisoned. Tortured. Silenced. Yet she never recanted.

Daniel Hale

Revealed the inner workings of the U.S. drone assassination program.

His leaks showed that 90% of drone deaths were not intended targets.

Imprisoned under the Espionage Act for telling the world the truth.


These are not criminals.
They are mirrors held to a government that has forgotten its own reflection.

Daniel Hale and The Drone Papers

“The public should know what is done in its name.” — Daniel Hale

In the pantheon of modern whistleblowers, Daniel Hale stands as a quiet but unwavering voice of conscience. A former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, Hale leaked classified documents exposing the stark reality of America’s drone assassination program.

The documents—later published by The Intercept as “The Drone Papers”—revealed that nearly 90% of those killed in targeted strikes were not the intended targets.

Hale showed us the system’s true face: algorithmic kill lists, metadata-driven “signature strikes,” and the bureaucratic normalization of civilian deaths. For this truth, he was not hailed as a hero. He was sentenced to **45 months in prison**.

The Espionage Act was used to punish him, even though he passed information to journalists—not enemies. The Whistleblower Protection Act didn’t apply. In the eyes of the government, exposing war crimes is more criminal than committing them.

Daniel Hale’s sacrifice is a reminder: transparency is treason in an empire built on lies. But through his courage, a new chapter in resistance was written—one where memory and morality still have defenders.

For more, read the original court records: o

II. The Journalists Who Refused to Be Bought

Julian Assange

Founder of WikiLeaks.

Published war logs, diplomatic cables, CIA hacking manuals.

Now imprisoned—not for lying, but for publishing classified truths that embarrassed empire.

Abandoned by mainstream media, yet hailed by global civil society.

Gary Webb

Exposed the CIA’s role in funneling drugs into U.S. cities to fund Contra rebels in Latin America (Dark Alliance).

Smeared, blacklisted, and driven to a suspicious “suicide.”

His findings were later confirmed—but too late to save his reputation or life.

Michael Hastings

Exposed Gen. McChrystal’s toxic command culture in Rolling Stone.

His death in a car explosion remains questioned by many.


In a media world built on corporate funding, these few told the truth without permission.

III. The Soldiers Who Said No – And Never Looked Back

Camilo Mejía, Brandon Neely, Clifton Hicks, Erik Edstrom—all former U.S. military personnel who turned against the wars they fought, and spoke out.
Each served the system, then exposed its rot. But among them, one voice thundered louder across borders:

Ken O’Keefe

Former U.S. Marine turned international activist.

Renounced his U.S. citizenship and declared himself a “world citizen” in opposition to empire.

Vocal critic of Zionism, neocolonialism, and U.S. foreign policy—long before it was fashionable.

Participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, risking his life to break the Israeli blockade.

Called out not just U.S. policy but the entire system of financial parasitism behind war and media manipulation.

On record stating:

“We, the people, must demand the end of the military-industrial-complex… the bankers’ wars… because they do not fight for our freedom, they fight for their power.” (@KenOKeefe1TJP)

He wasn’t just a soldier who defected in principle.
He became a symbol of radical conscience—a truth-teller across Palestine, Iraq, London, and beyond.
And while censored and demonized by media and state agents alike, his message resonated because it was never for sale.

They told stories of:

Dehumanization of civilians,

Illegal orders,

Suicidal deployments,

War as trauma without purpose.

These voices rarely make the news—but they make up the soul of resistance: those who went, and came back unwilling to lie.

Part VIII: Blood Money and Broken Oaths — The Patriot Act’s Children – Surveillance, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Dissent