Bradley Manning has been ACCUSED of leaking clasified data to wiki leaks ( he leaked the footage of a military gunship blowing away civilians. Seemingly, the gunners knew they were not killing combatants ( no real proof of this though ) , and did it anyways. Bradley Manning thought that this was a terrible act of war crimes. He reported it to his superiors ( if I remember correctly ) and they refused to acknowledge his complaint. So he leaked it to Wikileaks. At least that was my understanding. He has been in prison since that day without ANY access to lawyers, or a court system of any kind. What SHOULD happen to him?
How about nothing? He was simply demonstrating the the US military does not give a (*)(*)(*)(*) about civilian causalities and blatant human rights violations.
And here is a video of the United States military murdering unarmed and innocent civilians with a 30mm cannon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1fXc6_56Xo If this does not bother you, then please, go play Russian Roulette with a Glock.
That video is far from all he is accused of leaking though. There was more information that he could have possibly assessed himself so he could have no idea whether there was a legitimate reason to leak all of it nor whether anyone would have been put at risk by it's release. The lack of apparent harm was luck, not judgement. I gather the report to his superior was after Wikileaks published (or at least after they had) the video. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the attack the video depicted, it appears Manning went the wrong way about addressing it. I believe the legal principals are quite simple and a Military trial would be the correct action, where the true sequence of events would be established and any defence or mitigation Manning wants taken in to account could be presented. The process is clearly long overdue, I can only assume for political reasons. I'm against the death penalty anyway but it seems a ridiculous suggestion in this case. I assume the range of punishments for the offences he could be charged with are defined and probably involve imprisonment. Regardless though, it does seem that he has psychological issues he should get help with.
I think he should be convicted. Given a sentence of 25 years. Serve 3-5 more years then paroled with conditions that he may not benefit financially from the crime or associate with political campaigners
I voted for military trial with prison if convicted, but at this point I just want him to be brought to trial. The continuing delay puts him in the same legal limbo as a Guantanamo prisoner, but he is an American serviceman on American soil and both he and our system of rights and freedoms deserve better. Personally I think he's a treasonous s - - thead - why this would negate our usual justice system (military or civilian) is not obvious to me.
This case seems to belong within the military's criminal justice system. If he is not found guilty on any counts, let him go without any further punishment. If guilty, prison seems appropriate, and I would enthusiastically support the issuance of a Presidential pardon. Though I do not know all the fine details of what Mr. Manning is accused of right now, at the moment I think he is a hero who is a victim of the system because he followed his conscience rather than strictly adhering to the regs. If the military opts to hand him down a dishonorable discharge, it may be proper for authorities to bestow upon him some form of civilian honor.
Military Trial...discharged While I can appreciate the act, and even support the idea of exposing what is wrong....I cannot support a soldier attacking his own force, it is a very bad precedent to set.
I couldn't either but then again Manning didn't attack anyone. - - - Updated - - - I don't think he was.. There's no indication of malicious intent or trying to get any information to any enemies.
Yep.. He leaked pretty much all State Dept. messages, battlefield intel, and so much more.. And there's the problem. Why would Manning have access to ALL of that confidential top-secret info? Especially because he's a low rank AND had previous discipline occasions. What kind of security clearance could he possibly have that could allow this universal access? Moreover, why would all that juicy information not be write protected or copy protected, to the tune he can smuggle it all out! Why would the names of "confidential" informants be included? They are supposed to be treated as anonymous! The US military have only themselves to blame for this retarded negligence. I believe that's why they are vigorously pursuing Manning. To distract from their own ridiculous failure and shift the blame, scapegoat if you will. Like Abu-Ghraib, it's always the low rank fodder whose heads ever roll. Has anyone even mentioned any concern at all for the irresponsible storage of information? Have the military since learned their lesson and changed their systems to be more secure?
Interesting that you had to ad the homo part. The crime he is already accused of, isnt enough for you? Are you a homphobe? Sure looks like it. Cause it sounds to me like you would want him executed just for being a homo ( which you have no basis of proof ), and not for the crimes he commited. If he was a hetro ( again, just going along with your post here ) would you suggest a different penalty? Or are you just another run of the mill homphone who's antiquated ideas were best left behind several decades ago?
He released a hell of a lot more than one video and most of what he released was classified. As part of his security clearance, he signed an NDA that stated he would not do exactly what he did. He should be prosecuted for illegally releasing classified information and imprisoned.
He's as much as a hero as Daniel Ellsberg was for releasing the Pentagon Papers. Release him, no trial. He's suffered enough.
Military trial, and then prison if found guilty. The guy was a traitor. Why on Earth would we ever forgive a traitor and encourage others to do the same by setting him free? Durr Durr Durr!
I still haven't seen a good explanation for why Manning has been locked up without trial for so long. Whatever happened to the principles of Habeas Corpus and the right to a trial within a reasonable time limit? Could someone explain this to me in a way that won't cause me to lose my breakfast?
See, these people who don't have an answer for this, and don't care, are the same people who call for military spending because cave dwellars are coming to get us. They have no critical thinking skills. They are like emotional women, they are right, because they feel like they are right!
