Bradley Manning case begins as debate continues: whistleblower or traitor?
The court-martial for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning begins today in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of military and State Department documents that ended up being published by online organization WikiLeaks, in what has been described as the most extensive leak of classified information in U.S. history.
US Army photo Bradley Manning
Manning, now 25, faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. The trial is expected to last three months.
In the three years since first being detained during a combat deployment to Iraq, the former Army intelligence analyst has become a quasi-celebrity for civil liberties and anti-secrecy advocates who consider him a whistle-blower.
The Independent is running a story with the headline: “The United States should be in the dock, not Bradley Manning” with the tagline that “The whistleblower has allowed us to scrutinise the hidden realities of US power”
Army prosecutors consider him a traitor. The most serious of the 22 charges he faces is for aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence. Prosecutors chose not to pursue the death penalty for the charge.
The additional charges include wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy; theft of public property or records; transmitting defense information; fraud and related activity in connection with computers.
Manning pleaded guilty in February to 10 of the lesser charges that carried a 20-year prison sentence. At a pre-trial hearing, Manning read for an hour from a 35-page statement in which he explained his motivations in providing 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.
WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT Ricin letters BEING SENT TO THE KENYAN AND OTHER POLITICIANS, I IMMEDIATELY BECAME INTERESTED IN THE TOPIC. I HAVE SPENT SEVERAL HOURS IN ONLINE RESEARCH ON Ricin AND OTHER POTENTIALLY-FATAL SUBSTANCES. BUT, I WOULD SEE EITHER “POLITICAL MUMBO-JUMBO” DESIGNED TO FEED THE CURIOSITY OF death-fantasy freaks , WITHOUT PROVIDING THE NEEDED INFORMATION; OR, I WOULD SEE, “Internet Explorer Can Not Display This Webpage.” SO, THE KEY TO KNOWING ABOUT POTENTIALLY-FATAL SUBSTANCES IS TO DO RESEARCH – NOT, ON THESE SUBSTANCES; BUT, ON CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS WHICH CAN F-O-R-M FATAL SUBSTANCES. AND, THIS RESEARCH MUST BE DONE OFF-LINE. [The internet is designed to fool the foolish].
THE FACT THAT I HAD PROBLEMS FINDING ONLINE INFORMATION ON SUBSTANCES, LIKE Ricin, IS MY CORRELATION TO THIS Bradley Manning Story.
WHY DO PEOPLE JOIN THE ARMED FORCES? ….. BELIEVE ME, IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY “LOVE” THEIR COUNTRY. PEOPLE JOIN BECAUSE THE MILITARY GUARANTEES [OR, IS ASSUMED TO] JOB-TRAINING AND MONEY FOR COLLEGE. [ I KNOW – WITHOUT A DOUBT – this is why Negro males join].
MY POINT IS, THIS NATION HAS EXECUTIVE, JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES. TOP OFFICIALS IN THESE THREE AREAS SHOULD BE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE ACCESS TO AMERICA’S “secrets.” BLAME SHOULD NOT BE ON Mr. Manning, BUT, ON THOSE OF HIGH RANK WHO HAVE ALLOWED ACCESS TO THE “LITTLE PEOPLE.”
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON