Does the Bradley Manning trial set a dangerous precedent?

[JoeB131]

Arguments are one thing, the petulant whining of children something else. Children whine, that's just part of growing up. When adults or even adolescents do it, it goes beyond mere irritation.

You haven't made an argument yet.

Frankly, most of your arguments involve calling everyone who disagrees with you a communist or some other name.

Even other Wingnuts are embarrassed by you.

Next time he calls somebody a communist just tell him to grow up, and quit his whining.

I really like when he disses Chicago, a city he has never visited, because he thinks that's clever or something.

 

[Meathead]

Because that's how "grown ups" dismiss arguments.

Arguments are one thing, the petulant whining of children something else. Children whine, that's just part of growing up. When adults or even adolescents do it, it goes beyond mere irritation.

You haven't made an argument yet.

Frankly, most of your arguments involve calling everyone who disagrees with you a communist or some other name.

Even other Wingnuts are embarrassed by you.

I will admit to not suffering fools gladly if you admit to being one.

Espionage cannot be ignored and doing so would set a precedent no one in their right mind would sanction regardless of whatever whining it elicits.

 

[Meathead]

Arguments are one thing, the petulant whining of children something else. Children whine, that's just part of growing up. When adults or even adolescents do it, it goes beyond mere irritation.

You haven't made an argument yet.

Frankly, most of your arguments involve calling everyone who disagrees with you a communist or some other name.

Even other Wingnuts are embarrassed by you.

Next time he calls somebody a communist just tell him to grow up, and quit his whining.

Karl Marx was a communist.
Joe and Aaron are whiners.
See how this works?

 

[blackhawk]

Manning a PFC decided it was his right to take classified information and release it to wiki leaks a decision tha was never his to make anything he gets he earned.

 

[aaronleland]

Manning a PFC decided it was his right to take classified information and release it to wiki leaks a decision tha was never his to make anything he gets he earned.

Fair enough. Would you say that it's NEVER okay to leak classified information, even if you thought you were exposing wrongdoing?

 

[JoeB131]

Manning a PFC decided it was his right to take classified information and release it to wiki leaks a decision tha was never his to make anything he gets he earned.

Then the Army never should have issued him a security clearance.

Let's be clear here. This information was not classified to keep it from the enemy. The enemy knows what we've been up to.

It's been classified to hide it from Joe Sixpack sitting at home flipping past the news channels on the way to more reality TV.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

The Obama administration allows leaks all the time, only leaks that make the President look good or tough. As Manning's leaks did the opposite, he must be punished to dissuade anybody from attempting to make the government look bad by exposing their crimes in the future.

 

[Indofred]

It strikes me that if Manning had leaked information that assisted the enemy in a material way, he is guilty of espinoge.

If he just leaked information that made the Army look bad, then he's a whistleblower. He should still get a bad conduct discharge. The fact the Army has waited 3 years to bring him to trial, long after the last troop left Iraq, tells me they have a weak case.

I do find it amazing that the same people who think that Holder should resign because he tried to follow Congress' instructions as to who was leaking information to the press, think Manning should be hung.

From what I understand, the "aiding the enemy" charge stems from the testimony of an anonymous member of Seal Team 6, who claims they found information obtained from Wikileaks during the bin Laden raid. I haven't heard of any instances where any specific information was actually used against our troops though. Manning is guilty of putting classified information out there. For a charge of "aiding the enemy" they should have to prove intent. From what I can tell his only intent was to make the military look bad, not to get them killed.

Gosh - I read a load of wikileaks stuff as well.
I wonder if seal team six has enough men to raid every house where there's a computer with wiki stuff on it.

It hardly assists an enemy but it does make the US military look a bit bad.
More so when you know they tried to cover up the murders exposed by wiki.

As I said, expose a crime and you're a hero (unless it's a U.S. Government crime).

 

[deltex1]

Bradley needs a hug........no homo.....

 

[deltex1]

Or maybe a slap on his limp wrist...

 

[aaronleland]

Bradley needs a hug........no homo.....

 

[aaronleland]

Bradley Manning court-martial opens Monday at Fort Meade - baltimoresun.com

When WikiLeaks and several news organizations began publishing the materials in 2010, government officials said the candid political assessments and battlefield information they contained would compromise U.S. diplomacy and put American and other lives at risk.

Manning's attorneys say the release endangered no one. Damage assessments the government performed after the leak remain classified, and prosecutors have argued to keep them out of the court-martial.

So they are arguing that Manning endangered people and aided the enemy, but are unwilling to provide evidence that supports their claim. I'm convinced...

 

[ba1614]

Reporting a crime... now punishable by death....

Traitors can flail at the end of a rope all day long for all I care.

Obama promised a transparent administration. Bradley Manning was just offering a helping hand.

Why sure, and leaking that information to a foreigner would be about right for this bungling administration.

 

[NYcarbineer]

If a man exposed a police murder that had been covered up, he would probably be rewarded.
Expose army murders and you're a traitor.

There might be a greater good in exposing classified information to the public, but it still has to be illegal.

 

[Esmeralda]

I loved Ron Paul's take on the subject.

Ron Paul: Bradley Manning Deserves Nobel Peace Prize More Than Barack Obama - US News and 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."

""While President Obama was starting and expanding unconstitutional wars overseas," Paul loses all credibility here. What war did Obama start overseas?

 

[longknife]

It isn't a matter of what he leaked, it's a matter of his not following the regulations he swore to uphold when he enlisted in the army.

When he was screened and granted the level of security clearance allowing him to access the material he did, he also signed a document attesting to the fact that he understood the information was not to be disseminated to anyone not authorized to receive it.

An extensive Article 32 investigation - equal to a Grand Jury - was conducted and reached the conclusion that he had violated a number of articles of The Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

So, exactly what precedence is being set?
That he violated his oath?
That he ignored and disobeyed the orders he was given?
That he broke faith with his superiors?

Yes, it IS the duty of military personnel to disobey illegal orders. But, WHAT "illegal orders" did he disobey.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Manning a PFC decided it was his right to take classified information and release it to wiki leaks a decision tha was never his to make anything he gets he earned.

Then the Army never should have issued him a security clearance.

Let's be clear here. This information was not classified to keep it from the enemy. The enemy knows what we've been up to.

It's been classified to hide it from Joe Sixpack sitting at home flipping past the news channels on the way to more reality TV.

Really? So you think that our military transmits in code because they don't want you and I to know what's going on?

 

[blackhawk]

Manning a PFC decided it was his right to take classified information and release it to wiki leaks a decision tha was never his to make anything he gets he earned.

Fair enough. Would you say that it's NEVER okay to leak classified information, even if you thought you were exposing wrongdoing?

No I'm saying if you do it be prepared to accept the consequences for that action.

 

[aaronleland]

It isn't a matter of what he leaked, it's a matter of his not following the regulations he swore to uphold when he enlisted in the army.

When he was screened and granted the level of security clearance allowing him to access the material he did, he also signed a document attesting to the fact that he understood the information was not to be disseminated to anyone not authorized to receive it.

An extensive Article 32 investigation - equal to a Grand Jury - was conducted and reached the conclusion that he had violated a number of articles of The Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

So, exactly what precedence is being set?
That he violated his oath?
That he ignored and disobeyed the orders he was given?
That he broke faith with his superiors?

Yes, it IS the duty of military personnel to disobey illegal orders. But, WHAT "illegal orders" did he disobey.

And he pleaded guilty to a handful of lesser charges relating to leaking classified information, and was already facing up to 20 years in prison. What did he do that deserves the death penalty or life in prison?

 

[g5000]

Bradley Manning is a weakling loser who was used and spit out by Julian Assange. Assange took no precautions to protect the leaker's identity in his haste to damage as many western governments as he could.

Julian Assange flew false colors, pretending to be someone standing up for transparency in government and freedom of the press. However, he revealed his true colors when he chose to seek shelter with an oppressive, secretive, Marxist state which has no freedom of the press and kills reporters who dare challenge their regime.

Assange's one and only goal is to bring down the West, period.

Manning is a useful idiot who deserves a long time in prison.