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Bradley Manning's Court Date Finally Set

bs0d3 writes "Bradley Manning has finally been scheduled for a day in court. On December 16, he will have an Article 32 hearing (military pre-trial). Private Manning has been in jail for one and half years. The Article 32 hearing will begin at Fort Meade, Maryland. The primary purpose of the hearing is to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the government's case, as well as to provide the defense with an opportunity to obtain pretrial discovery. Further trial dates and locations are still unknown."

523 comments

  1. spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The primary purpose of the hearing is to instill fear into anyone else who might have access to sensitive information the public might want to know.

    1. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Spin is when someone takes a military personel's violation of his oaths and betrayal of trust as something that should be ignored or lauded. Of course the public wants to know military secrets, that doesnt make it any less against the law, and any less deserving of a military trial.

      Mod me down, but ask yourself this-- if this were 1863, and manning has spilled military secrets to the papers, do you think
      A) he would have been given a medal
      B) he would have languished in a cell until after the war was over, given a trial, and hung as a traitor?

      This is neither new, nor surprising. When you get cleared to handle sensitive information, and when you are in the military no less, violating that trust has really serious implications.

    2. Re:spin. by Nadaka · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bradley Manning is a true American patriot and hero for exposing the malignant corruption infesting and perverting the great American ideal.

    3. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >Duh? Traitors like Manning should be hung to stop more traitors from doing this shit.

      Doing what? Exposing the atrocities and shady dealings of some people who work for the most powerful nation on earth that claims to be a forerunner in democracy and freedom?

      You should be praising Manning for exposing the crooks that are doing bad things in the name of the glorious and just US of A.

      Unless you're against freedom and democracy, of course... What are you, some kind of Muslim terrorist who wants to destroy the US?

    4. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 0, Troll

      The best that people seem to be able to scrape together for "crimes that Manning revealed" is the whole "collateral murder" thing which was the biggest example of bias in reporting Ive seen in my life. Once you remove Assange's whole "make a hero out friendly-fire casualties and bash the US whilst we're at it" commentary, and watch the raw footage, you get a much different picture. I suppose if youve seen the commentaried version first, it will color subsequent viewings, but having seen both, I think that it doesnt take wacky, far-fetched conspiracy theories to explain what seems to be pretty simple-- people obeying the chain of command but making a mistaken ID.

      Or was there a better example of "crimes" that you can come up with out of the leaks?

    5. Re:spin. by jkauzlar · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I wonder if the treatment he received in prison will play into the trial at all? I agree he should of course be punished, as the law is the law, but let's not forget these leaks were a catalyst for the Tunisian uprising, which lead to the revolts in Egypt and Libya, which is leading to the ongoing riots in Syria, etc. Some would argue the Arab Spring was furthermore a catalyst for OWS and the earlier protests in Wisconsin.

      Of course, by the looks of it, he leaked everything he could get his hands on and so had no particular motive in mind except to undermine the classification system, but wittingly or not, the man's a hero. I wish him the best of luck.

    6. Re:spin. by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 4, Informative

      What crimes exactly? Look a few posts below for one example.

      http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2537478&cid=38128690

      In a nutshell, US troops executed at least 10 civilians and then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    7. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      slashdot: where salient and well-thought-out comments take a back seat to kneejerk reaction and uneducated hyperbole.

    8. Re:spin. by apcullen · · Score: 2

      sorry, but what information was that exactly? I still don't get what wrongdoing he was trying to expose. All the thousands of documents, and yeah, there was some embarrassing stuff there, but nothing that shouted "My God! The public needs to know about this!"

    9. Re:spin. by Spectre · · Score: 2

      There were plenty of cover-ups in those documents that needed to be exposed.

      Here's one: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/wikileaks_cables_and_the_iraq_war/singleton/

      --
      "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
    10. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason." -- Ovid

      (Can't believe I just used a quote I first heard in 'JFK', none the less it seems appropriate to me)

    11. Re:spin. by The+Creator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      violation of his oaths

      Against all enemies, foreign and domestic

      How would you interpret the bolded part? Do you think it means unconditional loyalty even when the state begins to commit atrocities?

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
    12. Re:spin. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      This is neither new, nor surprising.

      Doesn't mean it isn't deeply stupid. The whole point of a fair trial etc in civillian circles is to make sure the wrong person doesn't get gaoled. The trouble with suspending it in military circles is that you risk gaoling the wrong person while the original bad guy is still free to run around doing bad stuff.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    13. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The primary purpose of the hearing is to instill fear into anyone else who might have access to sensitive information the public might want to know.

      It fails to do that in spades, because anyone who looks into the case quickly discovers that Bradley Manning, while he may have been well-meaning, was an idiot who revealed his identity after the fact because he wouldn't just shut up and stay anonymous. I mean, Jesus Christ, Adrian Lamo? Lamo?!? Lame-O!

      If that's the best they can do, then nobody with half a brain who has sensitive data that they want to reveal has anything to worry about.

    14. Re:spin. by itchythebear · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Against all enemies, foreign and domestic

      I bolded a different part for you. It isn't about who Bradley Manning thinks is an enemy, it's about who the U.S. government thinks is an enemy.

      --
      If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
    15. Re:spin. by apcullen · · Score: 2
      From the Salon article:

      this incident had been previously documented by the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions...

      The article seems to say that the wikileaks document just brought these allegations back into everyone's mind. So again, embarrassing, but not a smoking gun proving that this was true or revealing something unknown. I can't see anything good that came out of Manning's action. Given that he just dumped everything he could onto wikileaks, rather than just documents that revealed something in particular that he was concerned about, I wonder what motivated him to do this at all.

    16. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He also signed a legal document saying he agreed to be punished for leaking sensitive documents.

    17. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Obviously you do not understand the Oath. It is each soldiers right, duty and obligation to determine that for himself.

      That's why "just following orders" is not a valid defense.

    18. Re:spin. by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What makes 1863 such a good time for comparison? Social norms evolve over time. In 1863, women didn't have the right to vote, and one hundred years later blacks still didn't have equal civil rights. What might have gotten a death penalty or even a simple shot in the back yard without trial response in those days is no longer acceptable today. Should Manning be crucified today, because it was good enough for Jesus back in Roman times?

    19. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about when the U.S. goverment is the enemy?

    20. Re:spin. by unity100 · · Score: 2, Informative

      cia kidnapping people from in the middle of europe and torturing them in syria ? sufficient for you ?

    21. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      as far as I know, he hasn't been convicted which means the year and a half of torture and psychological abuse should be enough to throw the case out. Not to mention your president on public camera claiming you're guilty when you haven't even gone to trial... the US gov't should release him to show it still trusts and respects its people, but obviously it does not, and it is our enemy of free speech.

    22. Re:spin. by DamienNightbane · · Score: 0

      Neither. He'd have been tried and executed immediately, not several years later.

    23. Re:spin. by The+Creator · · Score: 0

      That makes about as much sense as letting Nazi Germany decide for it's prison guards who count as human and not.

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
    24. Re:spin. by jkauzlar · · Score: 0

      As a Manning supporter, I agree that in all fairness he should be punished if found guilty, but the punishment he's endured so far is beyond the law as we know it, and I should hope it's given it's day in court as well. And you're right that it's ridiculous to contend that he did nothing illegal. There's no way around that. However, the issue, for me, is whether what he did was for the greater good. I happen to believe that it was.

      Also, we here on slashdot know a collective thing or two about security. Security by intimidation is not good security. If the information was THAT secret, it should've been more secure. We blame website developers for creating potential SQL injection attacks, but we don't blame the gov't for allowing what they believe to be top-secret information to be retrieved and disseminated so easily?

    25. Re:spin. by liquidweaver · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How do you know he violated his oaths?

      Oh shit, yeah - that's what a trial is for - my bad.

      --
      mov ah, 4ch
      int 21h
    26. Re:spin. by AdamJS · · Score: 1

      I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies

      I dare say that Mr. Manning was only trying to follow his required oaths and spirit of enlistment in expatriating this information.
      That is, to make known grievances and possible gross violations in servitude of the highest law of the land, as per the foundation of his service.

    27. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As it should be! You can't reveal military secrets and expect a hero's welcome. It doesn't really matter what the content is. You can't have a functioning self defense mechanism as a nation if people are allowed to reveal its secrets. If you want to fix the content, you have to do it some other way. Anything else is idiotic and self defeating.

    28. Re:spin. by AdamJS · · Score: 1

      No, it's about who the enemy is.
      If the US military was secretly executing civilians en mass for being, say, Black, then they would certainly be the enemy, no?

    29. Re:spin. by Java+Pimp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Neither is releasing 100K classified documents just because maybe there might be something in there that might be incriminating. If you got specific evidence of something illegal there are proper ways to handle that. Publishing hundreds of thousands of basically unrelated secrets because someone might find something not so nice in there is not a soldier's right, duty and obligation.

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
    30. Re:spin. by gadzook33 · · Score: 1

      I agree completely. The government always needs to be kept in check but the thing nobody wants to talk about here is that none of the cables contained surprising or troubling information. This guy wasn't outing some corrupt system (even if it is corrupt). He just had access to classified information. It's funny to me that google keeps their search algorithm a secret but no one on slashdot seems to have a problem with that.

    31. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK. All documents are classified.

      Now what?

    32. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually as someone who took the oath you are incorrect, the highlighted part is correct, but your logic is flawed.

      As a soldier you are required all LAWFUL orders, meaning that the government itself can be an enemy, therefore you it is not just who the government choses to be enemies, it can be the government itself you must sometimes fight.

    33. Re:spin. by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      Thanks. If you don't mind that's about to become my sig.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    34. Re:spin. by lexsird · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You do realize that when we put the Nazis on trial, they would say "we were ordered to do it" and that didn't cut it with the court? The old "I was ordered to do something horrible, doesn't stand up unless those doing the ordering stay in power."

      From what I gather about Manning is he's a moron. He wasn't doing it because he was some do good crusader, he was just being an idiot tool. The real crime is those who let him in the service and those who didn't keep him on a choker chain the entire time he was there until they could find a way to a. get rid of him, send him home, or b. send him to the front where his stupidity will be a self correcting problem.

      This whole subject reads like a prequel script to Idiocrisy.

      --
      Take the Red Pill.
    35. Re:spin. by zach_the_lizard · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not exactly:

      I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

      Later, of course, you swear loyalty to the President, your officers, UCMJ, etc., but I suppose one could argue that since this part of the oath comes first, if there is a conflict between the former and the latter, this part would be more pertinent.

      --
      SSC
    36. Re:spin. by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Informative
      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    37. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      none of the cables contained surprising or troubling information
      Wut?

      Dude man, have you been under a rock for the past few years? Do you not remember the amount of press and backpedalling that the USA tried to do pretty much shortly after the cables started leaking?

      Sure, it hasn't been on the front page for quite a while, but to say that nothing surprising or troubling was found is just asinine.

    38. Re:spin. by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To LordStrawcat

      You're the only person so far who mentioned Collateral Murder. Someone else mentioned the summary execution of Iraqi women and children by US troops who then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. Another pointed out that we were pimping young boys to Afghani police recruits (it's called "bacha bazi", literally "boy play")

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    39. Re:spin. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Against all enemies, foreign and domestic

      I just bolded a few letters ;-)

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    40. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      there are proper ways to handle that

      such as?

      you might want to read this chatlog of him that was leaked. he tried to go through proper channels, nobody listened.

    41. Re:spin. by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So you want Manning punished for publishing classified info.

      Do you want those who improperly classified info to be punished, as well? For had such info not been classified in the first place, Manning might not have been motivated to release everything.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    42. Re:spin. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Women didn't have the right to vote because their role in the society was different from that of men. What changed since is the role of women in society - they got their right to vote once they became economically active in terms of owning means of production or at least becoming employees.

    43. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And yet there remains a chain of command. Manning can take a risk and go by his own morality, thats true; but to expect the military not to try him in a military court is absolutely insane. A huge part of letting this whole thing work is the fact that their remains consequences if you choose to defy orders for what you see to be the greater good (otherwise, you could never try a soldier for anything, ever).

      And Im still a little fuzzy on what specific atrocities were unveiled by the diplomatic cables that he leaked; care to clear that up?

    44. Re:spin. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      For that matter, these things are not contradictory. Manning has clearly committed treason, according to the law as it stands on the books. One may argue that he did so for a noble purpose, and should be cheered as a hero because of that. But, in the eyes of the law, he is still a traitor.

    45. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So you want Manning punished for publishing classified info.

      I think thats what we're saying, yes.

      Do you want those who improperly classified info to be punished, as well?

      As that is neither a violation of oaths, nor military code, nor US law, I think the appropriate response is to determine who is at fault and hold them accountable through the normal democratic process.

    46. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      And if it were to rain doughnuts we wouldnt have to deal with starvation, but obesity would become a problem. What do either of those scenarios have to do with Manning? Did he discover evidence of such?

    47. Re:spin. by qbzzt · · Score: 1

      The primary purpose of the hearing is to instill fear into anyone else who might have access to sensitive information the public might want to know.

      The primary purpose of military justice is to support the military's missions of deterring wars and winning them. In fact, that's supposed to be the purpose of everything the military does.

      --
      -- Support a free market in the field of government
    48. Re:spin. by Java+Pimp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What specific criminal activity was he trying to expose before he released those documents? Were all 100k classified documents supporting that specific criminal activity? How much of those secrets had nothing to do with the specific criminal activity?

      If you have evidence of a specific crime, the whistleblower act might protect you somewhat for only that evidence. (IANAL). However, if you just decide to release a bunch of classified documents because you are pissed off at the government and you think there might be something in there to give them a black eye, well, you're on your own.

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
    49. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Ok, then we can use World War 1, or World War 2, or the Revolutionary war. All that would change is whether you were hung or shot.

    50. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Incidentally, thats a really really bad example. Jesus crime was that the Jews didnt like him and managed to drum up false witnisses. Thats always been a miscarriage of justice. Crucifixion was always reserved for high crimes, and in Jesus case because the accusations amounted to "insurrection".

      Regardless, we have avoided death penalties that involve torture since the very founding of our country. If youre asking "has treason always gotten a death penalty", the answer is basically "yes".

    51. Re:spin. by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

      Of course, by the looks of it, he leaked everything he could get his hands on and so had no particular motive in mind except to undermine the classification system, but wittingly or not, the man's a hero. I wish him the best of luck.

      If you read his chat logs or other public statements, he has repeatedly said he did it because he saw violations of the law being discussed in the diplomatic cables.

      He knew there was incriminating information in the cables and had a specific motive in releasing them.
      Everyone who says otherwise is either ignorant or actively lying.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    52. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      Its what hes accused of, and what people are defending him for. If youre arguing "if acquitted, Manning should be freed", I would wholeheartedly agree with you.

    53. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

      That was the same person, its the first time ive heard it mentioned, and they didnt label it with a name or give any sort of way to check their facts. It would be like if I accused the UK of having imprisoned an indeterminate number of minorities and torturing them at some point in the past 100 years; how the hell are you supposed to fact check that?

      By the way, name calling? Thats at least as much of a fallacy as what you accuse me of.

    54. Re:spin. by guruevi · · Score: 1

      The Nuremberg trials called, they want their interpretations back.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    55. Re:spin. by couchslug · · Score: 2

      The US wasn't built or expanded on ideals, but by war and conquest and political maneuvering. Any contention otherwise is a deliberate lie.

      If everyone stuck to their ideals they'd be as dead as the insane Nazarene carpenter who thought he was god.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    56. Re:spin. by Catbeller · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In 1863, he would have been instructed to kill runaway negroes and peaceful Indian villages. The past is not a moral high ground. If he had refused either one of those orders he would have been whipped and/or executed.

      His primary oath was to the Constitution of the United States of America, not to his superiors. If your superiors refuse to act on evidence of murder, and the chain of command knows damned well there was a murder, than what can you do? You can: 1) shut up, as three million others with the same clearance did, or 2) obey your oath to the people and the Constitution and expose the murderers and their abettor who are hiding behind the cloak of secrecy which was not intended for hiding criminals. Your choice.

      So who, exactly, are going to bring those who committed murder while representing us, and those who hid it, even with clear evidence, to their hangings?

    57. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure who you and your team of mod point stuffers are, but you sir are trolling on behalf of the US government something fierce. You and those like you are what have contributed to burying this story completely, and while slashdot is certainly not immune to having its system manipulated, I'm hoping that the reverse can be achieved.

      This guy (LordLimeCat) is having his posts modded up so fast that the downmods can't even keep up with it. I'm asking that anyone with additional modpoints that realizes the bullshit he's spewing please spend them. He's at 16 posts on this thread and growing.

    58. Re:spin. by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      Please educate yourself on what was in those messages. Manning specifically was outing a mass murder, done on camera by US soldiers, that his superiors, after being informed by him, ignored. You are being willfully ignorant.

    59. Re:spin. by johnlcallaway · · Score: 0

      In other words .. don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

      Stick his sorry butt in jail for the rest of his life. Or hang him. Whichever is cheaper. I have no sympathy for him and hope he rots.

      He took the coward's way out, dump and run. He hid under rocks hoping no one could find him instead of standing up and being counted, bringing evidence forward through the channels to have it dealt with accordingly. He took the lazy way out, steal a bunch of data, give it to someone else, and hope something comes of it. Which it didn't. No one has brought any charges this way either, and his sorry ass is going to jail.

      What a loser. He deserves everything they do to him for his actions.

      --
      I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
    60. Re:spin. by Taty'sEyes · · Score: 4, Informative

      The reason the Constitution part comes first is because it is the foundation of the law. The orders you swear to obey, must be legal under the Constitution. If the order is illegal, you must NOT OBEY it.

      --
      We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
    61. Re:spin. by Catbeller · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes. Read. You can google it. You can even watch the video, as it was released long ago by Wikileaks. He found evidence of US soldiers murdering a crowd - on camera. He tried for very long to get anyone in the chain of command to care. They did not. He did what he thought necessary when your command is hiding murders - he leaked it. You will refuse to look, as will his prosecutors and judges. This is a travesty.

    62. Re:spin. by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      He release secret information. He knew the penalty for doing that and when he signed up he agreed to safe guard that information. He violated the law willingly and intentionally. Now he'll get the opportunity to do the time for the crime.

    63. Re:spin. by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      The he shouldn't have taken the oath. If he decided after he volunteered that the U.S. Government was the enemy, he should have take the appropriate measures to separate. And yes, there are ways for him to do that without going to prison.

      Instead he decided to betray his country's trust and release secret information. He's fortunate that we don't tend to execute people these days for treason; he'll get to spend a great deal of time in prison. Hope he still believes that what he released, most of which we've already forgotten, was worth his freedom.

    64. Re:spin. by Pseudonym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As that is neither a violation of oaths, nor military code, nor US law, I think the appropriate response is to determine who is at fault and hold them accountable through the normal democratic process.

      The "normal democratic process", in this case, seems to be that nobody is condemned or punished for exercising an power which exceeds constitutional authority if the other side of politics might like to use that power themselves.

      While all of the options for institutional recourse haven't yet been exhausted in this case, there are plenty of recent examples where they have been exhausted and essentially nobody was held accountable. Nobody, for example, will do hard time for the torture of prisoners. My hopes aren't high.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    65. Re:spin. by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      And he'll likely go to prison for it. Release secret information is a violation of the law; period. If that is what he was actually doing, which I strongly suspect he just though Wikileaks 'cool', then he made a significant sacrifice for his cause. More likely however, he got caught up in the propaganda that feeding the easily impressionable people. He took the cookies out of the cookie jar, gave them to Wikieleaks, and they said so-long; without as much as a thank you.

    66. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually I don't think he's an idiot. He uncovered corruption in Iraq, to begin with; then later discovered how deep the rabbit hole actually went. It's a huge mess. The US government has been operating without sufficient oversight for quite some time now.

    67. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw the video where the reporter and some kids were accidentally killed in proximity to hostiles during a military action in a hot zone. That was sad, but don't lie to yourself, that shit happens. What I didn't see are any knowing, murderous executions of friendlies.

      But if he had reason to believe that the event was a crime that was being illegally buried, and released the video, that would've been one thing. What he did was grab a crapload of classified information, much of which was unrelated, and release it.

      That's wrong, potentially dangerous to people that don't deserve to be in harms way and possibly treasonous. A trial is how you sort that stuff out.

      My guess is that he's just incompetent. He just screwed up in a horrible way and the outcome will likely reflect that.

    68. Re:spin. by scot4875 · · Score: 1

      You mean they became real people when they were able to get jobs?

      Your post is in the running for most misogynistic in the history of Slashdot.

      --Jeremy

      --
      Jesus was a liberal
    69. Re:spin. by cmdr_tofu · · Score: 2

      It is my understanding he found considerable evidence of abuse of power.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#Leaks

      Someone who violates trust to expose illegal behavior is indeed breaking the rules, but to expose a bigger rulebreaker. The question that I think is relevant, is specifically, "Are the crimes that Manning exposed greater than the crime he commit?" If so, he should be exonerated.

    70. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Your missing a bit of the line which makes it much more clear

      I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic

      The oath isn't to protect the government it is to protect the constitution... who exactly do you think the domestic enemies of the constitution are?

    71. Re:spin. by IonOtter · · Score: 1

      "Hope he still believes that what he released, most of which I've already forgotten, was worth his freedom."

      Fixed that for you. Speak for yourself, please.

      --
      [End Of Line]
    72. Re:spin. by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      Are you really as blind to the sins of your country as you pretend to be, or are you just a payed shill?

    73. Re:spin. by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Not a moron but a deeply disturbed person; and it's clear his superiors should be chastised or demoted for allowing him to have any significant security clearance, especially after he was reduced in rank to Private for assault.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    74. Re:spin. by the+linux+geek · · Score: 1

      So now something done by a random Texan company falls into the category of "crimes of the US government?"

    75. Re:spin. by the+linux+geek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's expected that if a soldier determines that his orders are illegal, he'll face a court-martial to prove it. A junior enlisted man can't just say "No, Captain, I don't want to do that," and expect "Hmm. Okay. I'll ask someone else." as a response.

    76. Re:spin. by Nursie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      IMHO - routine classification of banal data.

      Governments (including the military) should not be hiding things from their people as a matter of course. It adds to the general picture of subterfuge and malice against their own people.

    77. Re:spin. by lexsird · · Score: 1

      This dude is "Earl", that some how fell through the system and ended in the military. Hello! This guy was a mistake to be let out of the village unattended. Dig?

      --
      Take the Red Pill.
    78. Re:spin. by WCD_Thor · · Score: 0

      I agree that military secrets are important. The thing is, many of the things that he released, that I have heard about (I haven't done much research), shouldn't have been military secrets. Other things that I have heard that he released should definitely been kept secret. So, my point: 1) Bad to release classified information. 2) There needs to be a change in how things are deemed classified, as some of the things that have been released the public had a right, at least in my opinion and many other people's opinion, to know, and wouldn't have endangered people in the field any more than any other negative reports about the US military would.

    79. Re:spin. by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      The legal case is not clear at all. FWIW, it wasn't clear that Daniel Ellsberg committed treason either, though we'll never know because his prosecution was so botched that it was never decided.

      In fact, I strongly suspect that this will result in new case law on precisely what constitutes "treason".

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    80. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 0, Troll

      Or option C, if someone intends to present a statement as facts, they should either source it or be specific enough that someone can tell if theyre just full of crap, as is far too common on slashdot?

      Why is it, in most slashdot threads, when someone is called on uncited, vague, un-backed up claims, their response is inevitably NOT to provide a source or citation, but to lash out as if its everyone elses fault that they cant provide some token of credibility? Good gracious if the poster had a specific instance in mind, he could have given SOMETHING that could have been googled or looked up rather than pouting and acting like a 3 year old about it.

      As for why I dont accept such claims without a source, years of hearing Bush attacked for "2 unauthorized wars", only to find out upon researching it that every one of the Bushs' wars were authorized by congress (In the case of Bush jr, by landslide votes), as well as other similar lies, have made me incredibly cynical of any "fact" posted on slashdot without citation. Until someone gives me some reason to trust them as credible, I assume everything they say is at LEAST out of context or heavily spun, if not a complete fabrication.

    81. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Rather than railing about modding conspiracies and whatnot, can someone please give a specific, google-able example of what we were supposed to see in the leaks?

      Thats really all I was asking for. I have no vested interest in government corruption being hidden; I simply think that 90% of the people on slashdot are unable to simply let facts speak for themselves and instead have to resort to hyperbole, massive spin, and tenuous accusations to prove their point, reality be damned.

      Just a heads up, since this seems to bug you so much-- every time someone leaps to accuse the US government of something, and then it turns out their claim was 90% bullshit, all further such claims have their credibilty hurt. Years of seeing this crap on slashdot have made me realize that as messed up as the government might be, its still a sure thing that most of the accusations leveled against it are bogus and perpetrated by people who have an axe to grind and dont really care if reality is more nuanced than "government is bad" or "leaks are good".

    82. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      You know, myself, I would have reserved the word "atrocity" for "jewish holocaust" or "rape of nanking"; Im not really sure that "classifying data that Nursie thinks should be public" really fits that category.

      If that is really all people were accusing the gov't of, they could have said so, and I simply would never have posted-- because I agree.

    83. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

      Just so you can understand why Im having such a hard time believing anyone here, here are the responses ive gotten to "what were the atrocities?"
      *Mis-classifying data as sensitive that was not (really, an atrocity?)
      *Murdering a group of black people because they were black people
      *Killing a bunch of women and children, and then burying them in a mass grave (would have thought that would have gotten a UN censure or something, but oh well)
      *A crowd of soldiers murdering a crowd

      And all of these in reply to a request for citation-- without anyone actually giving a citation. Somehow, I suspect that most of these posters havent even looked at the source material. And they wonder why I think they have 0 credibility.

    84. Re:spin. by C0R1D4N · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When the US isn't divulging that information to the public, it is an issue yes.

    85. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      Regardless of whatever else he found, he released 24,000 unrelated diplomatic wires that had nothing to do with any atrocities and basically just served to piss a ton of countries off and hurt relations with most of them.

      Specifically, Im still wondering why he released cables about Tsvingarai's discussions with the US. What atrocities were going on there that needed released?

      As for that mass murder, are you speaking of "collateral murder"? Because that wasnt a "mass murder", it was 2 reporters that were mis-identified (as can be confirmed by the soldier's chatter). If its NOT "collateral murder", then I have no idea what youre talking about, as noone seems to want to give a link, a date, a location, or anything else, and the wikipedia article on "mass murders" has nothing.

      So please, enlighten me.

    86. Re:spin. by anagama · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here's a cite for you Mr. Head-in-the-Sand:

      That cable was released by WikiLeaks in May, 2011, and, as McClatchy put it at the time, "provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi." The U.S. then lied and claimed the civilians were killed by the airstrike.

      http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/wikileaks_cables_and_the_iraq_war/singleton/

      Sounds leak worthy to me.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    87. Re:spin. by anagama · · Score: 3, Informative

      Your definition of "not troubling" is pretty fucking evil:

      That cable was released by WikiLeaks in May, 2011, and, as McClatchy put it at the time, "provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi." The U.S. then lied and claimed the civilians were killed by the airstrike.

      http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/wikileaks_cables_and_the_iraq_war/singleton/

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    88. Re:spin. by gadzook33 · · Score: 1

      What the hell about this is surprising to you? That war is hell and sucks??? Grow up!!

    89. Re:spin. by haruchai · · Score: 1

      He's proof that "Military Intelligence" is the ultimate oxymoron. If you look at his record and behavior in uniform, it's clear that those in charge had less respect for official secrets than Manning did. I'm somewhat on the fence with what he did; it's clear he does have some conscience but he's hardly an accomplished criminal mastermind. The officers were asleep at the switch and deserve to be court-martialed as well.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    90. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cia kidnapping people from in the middle of europe and torturing them in syria ? sufficient for you ?

      No way! We want them tortured in Libya as well.

    91. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Instead he decided to betray his country's trust and release secret information.

      I didn't realize he had been convicted and/or confessed. Or does the presumption of innocence not apply to courts martial?

    92. Re:spin. by tftp · · Score: 1

      Well, women held jobs for far longer than a century, of course. But the most basic reasoning in the parent post is probably correct: women became a power in politics after they became power in general and were able to have their voices heard. That required a few changes in the society, all the way from "barefoot & pregnant in the kitchen" to CEO jobs in large corporations.

    93. Re:spin. by lexsird · · Score: 1

      Haha! You think they (the officers) will slip through the cracks after that? Seriously? If they do, they are Teflon coated.

      As far as Manning is concerned, if they throw him in "the fort", they will eat him like candy. That kind of political heat would be uncool to have to deal with.

      It's small potatoes actually. The big potato is the glaring hole in security protocols. If Private Tardsauce can do a core dump onto the net, then even the most fail agent should have a crack at it. I doubt this makes much news, here, or anywhere else we hope.

      Nothing to see here, move along.

      --
      Take the Red Pill.
    94. Re:spin. by anagama · · Score: 1

      You don't think it's bad to execute innocent people and then cover it up? Wow. One can only hope that someday you will be on the receiving end of the same kind of evil you advocate. Sadly, karma doesn't exist.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    95. Re:spin. by Ihmhi · · Score: 1

      Okay, let's use your 1863 scenario.

      Some of the higher ups in the United States Army are raiding Native American settlements, claiming that they are a major threat to settlers living in the territories. Meanwhile, they are seizing land, stealing natural resources, and receiving government money all in order to combat this "threat".

      A small band of Native Americans are angry enough about the constant intrusions on their land that they attack a symbol of American power. A dozen Apache braves fight their way to the Liberty Bell and destroy it with gunpowder barrels, injuring many civilians in the process and shaking the confidence of our young nation. All 12 of the braves die and are lauded as heroes by many Native American nations. Their deaths in the face of an oppressor inspires many other young men from various different tribes to take up arms against the United States, whether it be against a soldier or ordinary citizen. Many innocent people are killed on both sides.

      The government responds to this threat by restricting travel between the states and territories. Many innocent people are erroneously killed due to these restrictions - most of them not Americans. France and Spain are pissed off at their citizens being constantly harassed at the border. Americans are forced to drink from lead cups as any true Native American spy would never drink from it for some "superstitious" reason. The American government ensures the populace that the lead cups are safe and that there's nothing to worry about.

      Meanwhile, a colonel's aide comes across detailed documents relating to a lot of this stuff which he believes is very bad. He leaks it to multiple newspapers under a pseudonym, but a careless mistake on his part makes his identity known. A large portion of the populace lauds him as a hero to freedom for shining light on what amounts to a vast, government-supported (and funded) conspiracy, and the majority of the military and government brands him a traitor.

      What do you think would have happened?

      Personally, I believe he would have been branded a traitor by the government, hastily executed after a "fair" trial, and then named as a hero of the nation many years (if not decades) later. The same thing has happened before, and it will happen again. Just look at how horribly Alan Turing was treated by the Britain. I'm fairly certain he's held in slightly better regard by the British - not to mention every single one of us here on Slashdot.

      Manning will probably end up with a few years in jail - if that. Whether he's dismissed as a traitor or lauded as a hero will depend on many things, including whether or not the current (or future) Presidents pardon him and whether or not we take back our country from the assholes who pull the horrifying, filthy, and underhanded bullshit that they've been getting away with for over 60 years.

      (Side note: I'm a bit tired and generally in a foul mood after being on the road for the better part of 12 hours. Feel free to nitpick any minor (or major!) historical inaccuracies in my post while simultaneously completely misunderstanding or misrepresenting the point.)

    96. Re:spin. by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is if just one document demonstrates evidence of criminal malfeasance that was being ignored. Apparently there were many more documents that demonstrated criminality and collusions to hide and commit more crimes.

      That the administration that purposefully hid existing and ongoing crimes was all to self evident. What is even worse is after the legitimate release of those documents and the evidence of criminal activity they disclose, virtually nothing has been done to prosecute those individuals breaking laws.

      The person who released those documents is entitled to make claim that they were adhering to the principle of law and the requirements of their oath to ensure justice was pursued. No one is ever a slave to the criminality of the temporary supervisor, every individual is always bound by their own sense of justice and morality.

      Also it is abundantly clear in this case that the US military did purposefully and wilfully deny Bradley Manning his rights as a citizen, did knowingly and with intent physically and mentally abuse him in order to criminally extend the case against others and made only token attempts to adhere to the law months after the arrest and detention of Bradley Manning during which time they attempted to manufacture a case. Based apparently on the unsubstantiated betrayal of "Wired Magazine" whose focus was on profits not justice and Adrian Lamo and known criminal employed by "Wired Magazine" for dubious reasons.

      So was Wired Magazine involved in a for profit attempt at entrapment. Did Adrian Lamo himself actual conspire to obtain and release the records (already having a record for criminal computer hacking. Did "Wired Magazine" and Adrian Lamo conspire to shift the charges from themselves to Brian Manning. So was Wired Magazine the betrayer of the worst order or did they collude in criminal activity and then seek to shift the blame to a pasty, either way "Wired" sucks ass' let them know what you think of them http://www.wired.com/about/feedback/.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    97. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    98. Re:spin. by catmistake · · Score: 0

      Your missing a bit of the line which makes it much more clear

      I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic

      The oath isn't to protect the government it is to protect the constitution... who exactly do you think the domestic enemies of the constitution are?

      Just for the record, how many of our enemies have actually attacked or endangered the Constitution? Do we really need... however many... just to protect a document? Couldn't we just put a few guards around it, and have most of the miltary instead take their oaths to defend and protect... citizens and their property?

    99. Re:spin. by JosKarith · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, IF he is acquitted then that would send a wonderful message that following your conscience is more important than slavish obedience to orders.

      So basically he's doomed because they would never let that message be sent.

      --
      'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
    100. Re:spin. by mgf64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The other leaks are about torture, execution of civilians (I find the distinction between citizens and non citizens disgusting but yes, US citizens as well) without due process, involvement of the US in interference with due process and democratic processes of allies (in cases regarding mass murder and war crimes in which the US were involved), trying to rig justice, knowing (and condoning) pollution of poor countries in Africa (the kind of pollution which causes death), corruption, condoning of corruption, small things such as sexual child abuse during "peace operations" and "exporting democracy". Why did they decide to classify instead of PROSECUTE THE GUILTY?

    101. Re:spin. by mgf64 · · Score: 1

      They did, and they were hanged, as this argument DID NOT WORK.

    102. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's nothing surprising about the fact that the US military lied (but then, I'm not from the US so it may differ for a citizen) - it is fucking troubling however that they are killing women and children, destroying evidence then lying about the whole thing...

      No matter how blinded you are by your own flag-humping patriotism and manifest destiny shite - it is at the very least 'troubling' to know that the US thinks they can get away with this shit.

      It's even more troubling to think that they're going to execute the whistle-blower who had the balls to bring us this proof and that their own citizens are screaming for more blood. You lot have gone a long way in the wrong direction since your revolutionary days.

    103. Re:spin. by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      So, if a soldier considers you or anyone a domestic enemy, he can shoot and kill you without fear of prosecution, right? Because, I interpret you post as saying a soldier gets to choose who the enemy is and act according.
       
      Low ranking soldiers do not decide who is the enemy.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    104. Re:spin. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Just because you don't understand the nature and history of people on this planet doesn't make me wrong in any way.

      Suffrage was supposed to be limited by design to those, who are economically active in terms of production, those who pay taxes in the system, otherwise people who are not participating in that way can organize to impose unbearable conditions upon those, who do produce. That's what the problem with the economy is today.

    105. Re:spin. by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      "Just following orders" is a valid defense if it is against an order that would seem to be a legal order. I should I know, I was in the military and saw that exact defense used by junior enlisted were ordered to load some gear into a senior enlisted's car. The senior enlisted told them he was transporting it to storage location. He was actually stealing it and taking it to a recycling center.
       
      One is only allowed to refuse an order that is or appears to be illegal. Manning committed espionage and treason in a time of war, in a war zone. Why don't you look up the penalty for that?

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    106. Re:spin. by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Constitutional authority? Please explain in detail what you are talking about. What "constitutional authority" is being exceeded and by whom? Please show where in the Constitution that authority appears and limits the Constitution puts on said authority. Support ALL your claims.
       
      Or, as many would put it [Citation needed]

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    107. Re:spin. by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Do you want those who improperly classified info to be punished, as well?

      Sure, let's do that. Let's see, the punishment for that is NOTHING. It isn't against any law or oath of office. The moment Manning released that information he violated orders, written standing orders he knew about and signed beforehand btw, and his oath of service. He committed espionage and treason in a time of war in a war zone.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    108. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why we can't have reasonable discussion in this country (the US). Rather than discussing things that reasonable people can disagree on, you go for the sound bite in an attempt to score points. Do you honestly believe there is anyone out there that would advocate this behavior?

    109. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh go away, you're just one of those people who like to be controversial.

    110. Re:spin. by rwhamann · · Score: 1

      And had he leaked that and only that, or that and only specific other examples of crimes, he would still be in jail, but he'd be there for a just act and would be worthy of people's praise. Instead he dumped a lot of stuff with no relevance to that crime that endangered other innocent people. So, in order to achieve justice for the death of innocents, he put other innocents in danger?

      --
      seg fault
    111. Re:spin. by rwhamann · · Score: 2

      I am a retired military officer, and yes, within the confines of the information available to them, even the lowest ranking military member needs to make legal judgments. In most cases they should listen to those appointed above them, but they are always responsible to avoid criminal activity.

      --
      seg fault
    112. Re:spin. by AdamJS · · Score: 1

      Under the suspicion of a higher amount of such crimes.

      That he leaked it to a foreigner that promised that it would be vetted (and nothing more) rather than a domestic organization, that was quite stupid.

    113. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I too wish him luck. If he exposed war crimes, such as torture or murder, he should have even more luck. He had a duty to expose war crimes even if he signed a military agreement.

    114. Re:spin. by rwhamann · · Score: 1

      I've been in the US military and I find the coverup horrendous. Don't pain us all with the same brush.

      --
      seg fault
    115. Re:spin. by AP31R0N · · Score: 1

      Mod Parent Partisan Ignoramus

      Had you been in the military or been read in on classified stuff, such that you would have a clue of what you're talking about, you'd know that individuals don't get to make that decision. There are channels for reporting atrocities. It is in fact illegal to use classification hide criminal behavior. Manning wasn't defending anything or being a whistle blower. He was being a treasonous smart ass. He deserves to spend the rest of his life making big rocks into little rocks.

      --
      Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
    116. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He gave data to an organization that holds little regard for the US Government and is largely non-American in composition. He could have leaked it to the New York Times, Washington Post, etc (though he would STILL be in massive trouble albeit, probably a little less) but that's not what he did. There's no denying that, even if you support what he did, he could have handled this a little better.

      What's more, military law is NOT the same as civilian law. Soldiers don't have the same rights as civilians and many things that a civilian could do, a soldier could be shot for. Not even a hundred years ago, he would seriously have to worry about being put to death. Legally, what he did IS treason.

      And no, I'm not a fan of the fact that the government hides stuff,including atrocities, from the public. I'm just saying there is a price to pay for doing stuff. If you want that subsidized smartphone, you have to be prepared for what that entails, including the privacy concerns. If you don't want to get maced, don't lock arms when the police have received clearance from the attorney general to use it to break up the blockage or whatever. If you don't want to be charged with treason (or whatever it is they've decided to call it) don't join the military, gain top security clearance and then use that clearance to provide unclassified documents to foreign organizations.

    117. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Youre acting like I have an interest in not knowing these things. Why couldnt someone have come out 10 posts ago and just linked to an article like that or simply said "Ishaqi incident"?

      Thank you for providing the link.

    118. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Of course, by the looks of it, he leaked everything he could get his hands on and so had no particular motive in mind except to undermine the classification system, but wittingly or not, the man's a hero. I

      As you say at best he " had no particular motive in mind except to undermine the classification system," you then call him a hero.

      I don't think that word means what you think it means.

    119. Re:spin. by mr.mctibbs · · Score: 1

      It is, actually, quite illegal to improperly classify documents.

    120. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agree completely. He sent "251,287 U.S. state department cables—written by 260 embassies and consulates in 180 countries" to wikileaks. He knew what he was doing was treason, and he knew the penalty.

      The amazing thing is that he knew he was putting his fellow servicemen in risk. With that volume of classified information made public, you know that some will be details of where troops are stationed, and other stuff that will lead directly to deaths of other U.S. soldiers. There is no way to know how many died because of his actions.

    121. Re:spin. by mtthws · · Score: 1

      Do you want those who improperly classified info to be punished, as well?

      As that is neither a violation of oaths, nor military code, nor US law, I think the appropriate response is to determine who is at fault and hold them accountable through the normal democratic process.

      Actually over classification is a federal crime. The same law that set out the classification levels etc also made it illegal to knowing over classify material simply to keep it out of the public eye. Now that aside I still feel from what I know what Manning did was wrong and he should be punished to the full extent of the law.

      --
      "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." -- Mark Twain
    122. Re:spin. by Herr+Brush · · Score: 1

      Er...killing US citizens with drone missile strikes outside of any judicial review or trial process for one. Pre-emptive wars of aggression for another.

    123. Re:spin. by vux984 · · Score: 3

      Youre acting like I have an interest in not knowing these things.

      If you were interested, you could have done your own trivial amount of research.

      Why couldnt someone have come out 10 posts ago and just linked to an article like that or simply said "Ishaqi incident"?

      Because usually when someone on slashdot makes a big deal about there not being any credible specific information about things which are TRIVIAL to find out for oneself it means that someone has no interest in actually knowing the truth.

      I mean, i googled wikileaks atrocities, and the execution mentioned above was the first fucking result. If you are really so interested in the truth... perhaps try looking for it.

    124. Re:spin. by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      How, in the name of reality, could he pick and choose amongst 100K files that he couldn't read if he had all month, esp. since he had minutes, not hours, to download it all. Nope, he did what he could. If you don't know where the papers are in the file cabinet, you clone the cabinet and let others sort it out later. It's about what is possible and what isn't. His other choice was to walk away. He took the braver way, and now he has to explain himself, and if at all possible in this circus, manage to convince rather biased judges that his superiors, possibly their friends, had covered up murder and worse than murder, and that he had no other way to obtain the evidence.

      Free Kevin, and Kick Lamo's Ass. And a nut shot for the Wired editor and his spook buddy who started this all.

    125. Re:spin. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      I spent about 10 minutes looking for "US Mass murder Iraq" and digging on wikipedia around the same subject with no luck.

      But you know what they say about assumptions. Maybe we've all learned something here today.

    126. Re:spin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  2. Honer him! by dbasch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Give his hero ass a medal!

    1. Re:Honer him! by dbasch · · Score: 1

      s/Hone/Hono/g

    2. Re:Honer him! by anagama · · Score: 4, Insightful
      A peace prize is in order if indeed Manning is the leaker. Without the released cables, Obama would have been able to convince Iraq that our troops should have stayed longer. Because of the leaks, Obama failed in his warmongering:

      That cable was released by WikiLeaks in May, 2011, and, as McClatchy put it at the time, âoeprovides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi.â The U.S. then lied and claimed the civilians were killed by the airstrike. Although this incident had been previously documented by the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the high-profile release of the cable by WikiLeaks generated substantial attention (and disgust) in Iraq, which made it politically unpalatable for the Iraqi government to grant the legal immunity the Obama adminstration was seeking. Indeed, it was widely reported at the time the cable was released that it made it much more difficult for Iraq to allow U.S. troops to remain beyond the deadline under any conditions.

      In other words, whoever leaked that cable cast light on a heinous American war crime and, by doing so, likely played some significant role in thwarting an agreement between the Obama and Maliki governments to keep U.S. troops in Iraq and thus helped end this stage of the Iraq war

      http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/wikileaks_cables_and_the_iraq_war/singleton/

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    3. Re:Honer him! by Yunzil · · Score: 1

      You're a fool if you think wikileaks had anything at all to do with the Iraq withdrawal.

    4. Re:Honer him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are so many reasons why animosity towards Manning is an insane response that indicates psychological damage and shows the short circuit irrational reaction to avoid past mental trauma. The arbitrary adherence to select passages of agreements, the tribal fear and xenophobia, the adherence to arbitrarily created laws justified simply by the fact that it is the law, ignoring any connection to axioms of reality, all these desperate attempts at explaining why this particular form of order(which isn't really at all) should hurt this poor man for his courage to do the right thing. It is insane.

      We could talk about the comparison of actions on the part of the 'victim' that is the US military and government, and point out how utterly evil its actions are and dwarf any 'crime' on Mannings part. We could point out the arbitrary nature of oath keeping, or that the oath Manning took included fighting domestic threats. We could point out the result of his actions, which have cast doubt upon an evil organization and given others pause and by our governments own admission has not given people information which they have used to kill informants and the like.

      I understand the value of keeping secrets in a world where people exist that would use them to hurt others. Just remember that there also exist people that would keep secrets to hurt others.

    5. Re:Honer him! by anagama · · Score: 2

      And you're a tard if you think evidence of atrocities committed by US Troops had no impact on the Iraqi government or the feelings of the populace.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  3. About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    cause being held without due process is full of awesome in this country.

    1. Re:About fucking time by artor3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm actually curious about this. Normally, the defendant can assert their right to a speedy trial, and at that point the prosecution has to take the case to court within a short window (like a month or something). Has it taken this long because Mr. Manning has been getting his own ducks in a row before the trial? Or does the military not guarantee the right to a speedy trial? If it's the latter, what's to stop them from just locking someone up and throwing away the key by never actually going to court? The military justice code can't possibly be that fucked up.... can it?

    2. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 5, Informative

      Until a jury says he is guilty, he's fucking presumed innocent.

    3. Re:About fucking time by Scutter · · Score: 2

      It's usually (not always) a defense tactic. Delay, delay, delay. Delay as long as possible.

      --

      "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    4. Re:About fucking time by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Interesting

      cause being held without due process for 18 months under conditions that are considered torture by international observers is full of awesome in this country.

      You're right, you just didn't quite make the point strongly enough.

      One interesting question is whether the treatment of Bradley Manning is better or worse than the treatment of Yaser Hamdi, a US citizen imprisoned for 3 years and then (once the US Supreme Court said that was not OK) deported to Saudi Arabia, all without having been charged with a crime, much less convicted of one.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    5. Re:About fucking time by RingDev · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In the civilian world, yes. In the military world, he could stand before a general, or a tribunal, or a jury of his peers, which is to say, a bunch of active duty military guys who have been told over and over for the last year that this guy is evil.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    6. Re:About fucking time by skine · · Score: 2

      The military justice code can't possibly be that fucked up.... can it?

      You have heard about the Guantanimo Bay prison and the PATRIOT Act, right?

    7. Re:About fucking time by Victor_0x53h · · Score: 0

      After seeing this young chap's smiling face on each news article I've read about him I got curious. Why not a mug shot?
      br? Typically articles about a criminal aren't so kind as to use a nice picture - as if they're painting the criminal in as bad a light as possible. Using his mug shot though raised the same question about how well he's being treated.

    8. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In Canada they used to count time in pre-trial custody as a 2x credit, under the assumption that it made up for the fact you were imprisoned before being guilty. Aside from the obvious problem that it didn't benefit the people who were ultimately proven innocent, it created a huge incentive for guilty folks to draw out the judicial process as long as possible.

    9. Re:About fucking time by Smallpond · · Score: 2

      "Mr Manning has also been charged with "aiding the enemy", a charge that could carry the death penalty."

      Would you want a speedy trial in that case? I would like to see the government's definition of "the enemy" that was aided by this. The chief beneficiaries seem to have been news organizations.

    10. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 4, Informative

      Having been active duty military, you are obliged to enter into any criminal proceedings, as a member (juror), with impartiality the same as in the civilian world.

      People are under the impression that the UCMJ is some oddball, ignores the constitution document. It isn't. The rules make less sense to civilians ,and it is harsher than the average civvy law, but it's also quite fair.

    11. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He was held as a prisoner of war / enemy combatant. He was not afforded the rights dictated by the constitution. The UCMJ treats him as a POW and revokes those rights that would otherwise apply to normal military personnel.

    12. Re:About fucking time by Victor_0x53h · · Score: 1

      Disregard... I believe they're using the wrong Bradley Manning mug shot.

    13. Re:About fucking time by NetNinja · · Score: 2

      He is in the military court system. Been a part of it and cases usually take 1 to 2 years to even start to process. I love when people mouth off about speedy trials, they don't even have a remote clue as to how it works in the military.
      He had access to sensitive information. he became some sort of conscientious objector.
      When you serve in areas where top secret correspondences are being passed arround, just because you have a top secret clearence doesn't give you the right to read the communications. he barely left his whatever small town and now he has a top secret clearence and now he decides that the world is an ugly place and he is going to do something about it. As yoda said 'Ahh the inocence of a child" unfortunately what he did could have caused more damage than good. I suppose everyone wants him to run for the President of the U.S. because we all know his worldy experience and bleeding heart innocense will keep the world safe and secure. Stupid child.

    14. Re:About fucking time by Dale512 · · Score: 1

      Normally I would agree with this. However, the military in general slants a specific way politically which makes it less likely to have a fair and impartial jury relative to what sampling of the general population would provide. The UCMJ is not bad overall. It does have some screwy things that crop up here and there though.

    15. Re:About fucking time by ArcherB · · Score: 3, Informative

      In the civilian world, yes. In the military world, he could stand before a general, or a tribunal, or a jury of his peers, which is to say, a bunch of active duty military guys who have been told over and over for the last year that this guy is evil.

      -Rick

      Juries under the UCMJ are almost always high raking officers and NCO's. It's not a jury of your peers. You may request enlisted, but you'll probably end up with Master SGT and above.

      Note: I was on "Class-A Duty" right before my ETS, meaning I had to do all the details that required the green monkey suit. This included parade detail, charity poker night for the wives of generals, soldier of the month board (I won) and bailiff at court marshals. In the court marshal where I was a bailiff, the lowest ranking enlisted member of the jury was a SGT Major. The lowest ranking officer was a full bird colonel. Every one of those bastards stepped on my highly polished shoes on their way out of the jury box into the deliberation room as I was holding the door.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    16. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 2

      You must have been a Marine, because in the Army, they taught us not to put our feet in other people's paths... ;)

    17. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 1

      Yeah the military is always going to slant on the side that gives the pay increases and other budgets, generally the conservative side. But none the less, if a jury finds him guilty, he can always appeal on the grounds of the jury being biased.

    18. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "quite fair"... is that like being "slightly pregnant"?

      "quite fair" is the same as "not fair"

    19. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So its okay for the US to police the world, kill innocents and then lie to the american people about it? War is not a game.

      If it was not for Mr Manning, and wiki leaks then the american people would never have seen the TRUTH. The US military/US Govt has been lying to us from day 1. We DO NOT need to be in Afghanistan, Iraq etc. WAKE THE FUCK UP!

      I would hope anyone in the military that see's these lies and corruption would speak up. It's only classified because THEY ARE LYING ABOUT IT and they want you to keep your mouth shut. When there are people who take there oath seriously and actually defend against domestic terrorists; I applaud them and wish they would get a medal for their bravery.

    20. Re:About fucking time by DriedClexler · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's what she said.

      --
      Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
    21. Re:About fucking time by Hentai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the alternative was being held naked in a jail cell with no access to books, internet, human conversation, or anything other than standing at attention and sleeping?

      Yes, I think I'd rather they take me behind the tool shed already.

      --
      -Hentai [in vita non pacem est]
    22. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like we could use a lot more "stupid children" in the service.

    23. Re:About fucking time by kiwimate · · Score: 2

      conditions that are considered torture

      Link please? I kept reading comments back in the original stories here on /. about all the torture, and they all seemed to revolve around the supposed sleep deprivation. Everything I read said quite clearly that he was allowed uninterrupted sleep throughout the night (between the hours of 11:00 pm and 6:00 am, or something like that).

    24. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot.

    25. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By whom?

    26. Re:About fucking time by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Informative

      He was not afforded the rights dictated by the constitution. He was not afforded the rights dictated by the constitution

      Those rights are human rights which are protected by the Constitution, not granted by it. US jurisprudence does not recognize the right of a person to contract away human rights (e.g. you can't sell yourself into slavery).

      The UCMJ is subordinate to the Constitution, so Manning's constitutional rights still exist. It seems they've been infringed.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    27. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 1

      Tell that to the other "enemy combatants" at Guantanimo Bay that have been there for years without trial.

    28. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "quite fair" is the same as "not fair"

      Not hardly. UCMJ offers most of the same protections as civilian court and in some cases a great deal more. Most people convicted by UCMJ were in fact guilty; there is very rarely (if ever) railroading, as opposed to the wonderful track record of US civilian courts.

    29. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would like to see the government's definition of "the enemy" that was aided by this. The chief beneficiaries seem to have been news organizations.

      I would like to point out that some of the information that came out had personally identifying information for informants in Iraq... at least some of these informants were killed as a result of the information being leaked.

      At this point, I would ask you how that's NOT aiding the enemy?

    30. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until a jury says he is guilty, he's fucking presumed innocent.

      Only by members of the government and only in certain roles. Do you honestly think the prosecutor assumes he's going after an innocent man? Why in the world would you assume that presumption of innocence applies to random people commenting on Slashdot? Now, I'm not in favor of mob justice or capital punishment, but presumption of innocence has nothing to do with that.

    31. Re:About fucking time by microbox · · Score: 0

      Has it taken this long because Mr. Manning has been getting his own ducks in a row before the trial?

      It is highly unlikely that Manning wants to be abused (and is confinement is abusive). I suspect that someone is teaching him a lesson.

      --

      Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
    32. Re:About fucking time by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      I've never seen any proof of this claim, though it certainly is repeated often enough.

    33. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Or does the military not guarantee the right to a speedy trial?"

      Until recently, he was being held in conditions that most *US* legal experts said was unlawful. Somehow I don't think his rights to a speedy trial are being respected much, "guaranteed" or not.

    34. Re:About fucking time by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      [Citation needed]

      Last I heard the official toll of people killed by Wikileaks was 0. If anyone had been killed as a result I'd think it would be headline news that I'd notice. Got a source?

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    35. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't we just ship all the people we don't like to Cuba, or do they need to be communist... er, I mean a terrorist (i.e., part of the current witch-hunt)? At least we don't burn witches anymore.

    36. Re:About fucking time by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      The UCMJ is subordinate to the Constitution, so Manning's constitutional rights still exist. It seems they've been infringed.

      The military has maintained a separate judiciary since this country's inception. That's why Bush pushed so hard to have people he didn't like declared "unlawful combatants" -- military law doesn't deal with the constitution.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    37. Re:About fucking time by DesScorp · · Score: 2

      He was not afforded the rights dictated by the constitution. He was not afforded the rights dictated by the constitution

      Those rights are human rights which are protected by the Constitution, not granted by it. US jurisprudence does not recognize the right of a person to contract away human rights (e.g. you can't sell yourself into slavery).

      The UCMJ is subordinate to the Constitution, so Manning's constitutional rights still exist. It seems they've been infringed.

      When you join the military, you take yourself outside of US civil law. The military is its own world, which is why it has its own judicial system. When you sign those enlistment papers, you limit your rights. You're beholden to the United States Government in a manner similar to the old indentured servitude role for the duration of your enlistment. You're told this upfront when you enlist. Courts have upheld this practice throughout the entire history of the country. If you have a problem with that, then don't enlist. But Manning knew what the rules were, and he flaunted them. And now he's paying the price.

      --
      Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    38. Re:About fucking time by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Both sides often want a delay, more time means you get a better case. But both sides also have pressure to speed things up as well, at the least to reduce costs. If a defendent is jailed and is likely to remain jailed after the trial (ie, the defense is mostly trying to get a conviction on lesser charge) then it's to the defense's benefit to prolong things; if the prosecution feels the need to present a preponderance of evidence in a weaker case then they want to prolong things.

    39. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's been in solitary, which is tantamount to torture. He may not be fully sane.

    40. Re:About fucking time by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      You are unfortunately misinformed. The details are readily available if you Google them. However, do not include Fox News or any of the rightist websites in your searches - they have been aggressively lying for some years and are not to be trusted with the time of sunrise tomorrow.

      Try the Red Cross, or Amnesty International, or any decent law discussion group about the case.

    41. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This isn't even remotely true... how much training in military law have *you* had?

    42. Re:About fucking time by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here's the UN report. It should be pointed out that the UN investigator had to make this report without unmonitored access to Manning because the US government refused 'unfettered' access, which is what the UN expects of all cooperating states.

      Here's a Welsh MP expressing her concern about Manning's treatment, particularly relevant because Manning is apparently a Welsh citizen in addition to being a US citizen.

      Here's Amnesty International.

      If you haven't noticed that there's at least a serious question regarding whether Manning's been tortured, you've probably been limiting yourself to mainstream US media.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    43. Re:About fucking time by RingDev · · Score: 1

      Having been in the military myself (USMC 97-01) I would agree that you are instructed to be impartial, but that the juror selection is limited to such a tiny segment of society with such a specific subset of the political spectrum, which for the most part has a significantly limited exposure to other points of view, the guy is pretty much hosed.

      The odds of him getting a jury with 1 sympathetic juror, and that juror being willing to lose his career over it, is slim to nil.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    44. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what's to stop them from calling someone a POW when it's convenient? Fucking joke country...

    45. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut the fuck up. I hope somebody burns your house down. People like YOU are what is wrong with not only the US, but the world.

    46. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IAWTC times infinity.

    47. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Give him a fair trial.

      Followed by a fair hanging.

    48. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If it's the latter, what's to stop them from just locking someone up and throwing away the key by never actually going to court?"

      Us.

    49. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cause being held without due process is full of awesome in this country.

      He leaked more US secrets than anyone in history - and had the increased accountability that his security clearance came with. "holding him without due process" is likely kindness in this case, he deserves execution and he got to live a bit longer in the meantime.

    50. Re:About fucking time by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 1

      You know, I served with a lot of great people during my time in uniform. Really smart, brave, dedicated, thoughtful, hardworking people who were a credit to the service, the nation, and the Constitution they swore to defend.

      I also served with a lot of shitheads like you.

      Kill yourself now. It's the best thing you can do for your country.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    51. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, I served with a lot of great people during my time in uniform. Really smart, brave, dedicated, thoughtful, hardworking people who were a credit to the service, the nation, and the Constitution they swore to defend.

      I also served with a lot of shitheads like you.

      Kill yourself now. It's the best thing you can do for your country.

      Took a couple blows to the head, did you?

      Calm down, take a deep breath, and show a little dignity, please.

    52. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cause being held without due process is full of awesome in this country.

      Deja vu.

      Didn't Kevin Mitnick also spend a lot of time in jail awaiting trial?

    53. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mr Manning has also been charged with "aiding the enemy"

      Really. The USA now officially considers democracy the enemy?

      Democracy is "rule of the people", and that can only be true if the rulers (i.e. the people) have the necessary information. Otherwise, all you'll be doing is voting for the least evil dictator.

    54. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the Geneva Convention? There are rules as to how you must handle POWs. Surly the UCMJ has in its scope a framework for dealing with the crimes he is accused of? All this enemy combatant crap makes me sick.

    55. Re:About fucking time by Smallpond · · Score: 1

      http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/taliban-study-wikileaks-to-hunt-informants/

      I think you are referring to these reports from Afghanistan. Those have not been connected to Manning, AFAIK, although if he was the source, you would be correct.

    56. Re:About fucking time by rwhamann · · Score: 1

      Funny though, in my two decades plus in uniform, Democrats always gave me better pay raises.

      --
      seg fault
    57. Re:About fucking time by Pionar · · Score: 1

      No, it's a little convoluted, but generally, in military proceedings, the prosecution has 120 days to begin the trial.

    58. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Being Held Naked? --- So he cannot use his clothing to attempt suicide, as he has threatened.
      No Access to human Conversation? ---- When the only people who want to visit you manage to ensure they are never again allowed on a Military base, they won't be visiting you again.
      No Internet? --- Since when has this been normal when in jail, let alone in a military brig - for putting classified info on the internet!
      No Books? --- I doubt he has no access to books. He may be confined in WHAT books he may read. But I'm sure he can have as many copies of the UCMJ as he wishes to read, as well as most military training materials. Not fun, but I'm sure they would give them to him.
      Standing at attention - - - Ummm, he IS in the military. We do that. He is also in a brig run by Marines. They do that more (and they would say better) than anyone else. I'm sure that misbehavior is probably met with extended periods of standing at attention. All he has to do is not misbehave.

      And I'm surprised that they lowered the charge to "Aiding the enemy". I would have thought it would be treason. . .

    59. Re:About fucking time by kiwimate · · Score: 1

      +4 Informative?

      The first link may not have worked properly, but the report it took me to is from 18 May 2006 and is a general report on torture. Nowhere is Manning's name mentioned (unsurprisingly, given the date).

      I watched the YouTube link. Most of it was the lady reading a letter from Manning that described how embarrassing it was to be naked in front of other people, and saying that he was stripped of clothes and found it very cold, and was checked on every five minutes during the day to see if he was all right. Only permitted to one hour of exercise outside his cell every day and sitting alone in his cell most of the rest of the time. Harsh, but her description of it was "degrading and humiliating". Not torture. Oh yes, and the view from inside the U.S. administration that called the treatment "ridiculous". Not torture.

      The Amnesty International link describes "harsh treatment".

      I certainly don't intend to trivialize these things, but calling it torture is stretching things mightily.

    60. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 1

      There is a reason why the votes by jurors are held secret, so that punitive action would not be taken against the juror. But in the end, you have a point in that, he is not going to get a fair hearing. All we can do is hope like hell that the article 32 session pummels the government's evidence into submission and that insufficient evidence is found to proceed with a general court-martial.

    61. Re:About fucking time by Aryden · · Score: 1

      That's the funny part. I damn near got stoned to death for admitting I voted democrat in 2000.

    62. Re:About fucking time by gknoy · · Score: 1

      When the only people who want to visit you manage to ensure they are never again allowed on a Military base, they won't be visiting you again

      Please link a citation for this, as I've never heard that.

    63. Re:About fucking time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol human rights.
      please.

  4. He's still better off than Assange by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least the charges against him are real.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:He's still better off than Assange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoa whoa whoa, Assange started a website that's just... total evil right there man.

    2. Re:He's still better off than Assange by orphiuchus · · Score: 2

      Couldn't the same be said about individuals who start national socialist and eugenics enthusiast sites?

    3. Re:He's still better off than Assange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We don't arrest people for that.

    4. Re:He's still better off than Assange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We need you as a judge somewhere - you obviously have a perfect sense of justice in cases you have no idea what they're about. We need more people like you.

    5. Re:He's still better off than Assange by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      And we need more marks like you here in Vegas.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    6. Re:He's still better off than Assange by dgas · · Score: 1

      At least the charges against him are real.

      Are they? I doubt there is any proof (like a digital signature on every cable).

  5. U.S.Awesome! by sgt+scrub · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the U.S a 1.5 year prison sentence is just part of a speedy trial.

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:U.S.Awesome! by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Or you could just be taken for no reason then released for fake reasons and told to pay a fine for something that never really happened.

      But you'd have to be Chinese to do that.

    2. Re:U.S.Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats the best example you have?

      "Hey we're not as bad as the chinese!"

      And you say that like its a GOOD thing?

      Holy fuck... How far our country has fallen is astounding. Even more amazing is how we're ok with it.

    3. Re:U.S.Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you'd have to be Chinese to do that.

      Tell that to many of the Gitmo detainees who have been detained even though there is no evidence they participated in any activity against the US.

    4. Re:U.S.Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where in the USA (subject of the discussion) did that happen?

      Because I still expect the average american to be smarter than the morons who suggest that being less of a shithole than the worst shitholes in the world is somehow enough to be "land of the free, home of the brave".

    5. Re:U.S.Awesome! by sgt+scrub · · Score: 1

      Or you could just be taken for no reason then released for fake reasons and told to pay a fine for something that never really happened.

      That has happened to me. Back in the CRT days, I was taking a big ol monitor to a friends club. I had to borrow my mother's car because it wouldn't fit in my MR2. She lived in Kansas and the thing had more rust than metal. So here I am driving a hoopdy looking all white trash with a big ass monitor in the car. Of course I'm driving through Farmers Branch TX which is the land of Barny Fife patrols. Needless to say, that Saturday morning I'm going to jail. No reason. Just you look like white trash that stole a monitor. Monday afternoon, when I finally get to see a judge, he tells me I'm in jail for littering and "how do you plea". I know your going to be all "but you didn't get beat on and live in prison for years and all that bullshit" and your correct. However, my mom's car was $800 to get out of the pound, which IMHO is an act of pure brutality. If you grow'd up in the trailer park and cost your mom $800 bucks you would know the horror I endured.

      --
      Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  6. Idealy Idealist by gx5000 · · Score: 2

    Poor fool.... When you sign up you're supposed to understand what you're joining.

    --
    End of Line.
    1. Re:Idealy Idealist by orphiuchus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And when you get a clearance they make goddamn sure that you understand what happens if you misuse it.

  7. Good Luck by RobinEggs · · Score: 5, Funny

    And since it's a military trial, he pretty much has to prove not only that he's innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt but further prove who actually did do it. He also has to prove cold fusion using only a pack of gum, a microwave oven, and the complete MacGyver dvd box set.

    I'm being facetious, of course, but US military justice isn't famous for its fairness or friendliness to the accused. Just thought people should be aware that he's pretty much screwed whether or not there's any conspiracy to get him convicted.

    1. Re:Good Luck by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 1

      It's rigged - the MacGyver dvd box set he was given is missing a whole season!
      Judging by some comments and flag waving going on, a significant number of US citizens (I suspect they are of US origin) would be extremely disappointed if he was found innocent.

      --
      BM3
    2. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Having been a military paralegal, I have to say that the military actually offers many protections that civillian courts do not. Think of the article 32 hearing as a grand jury, but instead of the prosecutor running the show, the accused can actually bring evidence on his own behalf, has full representation by council, and the prosecution must give the defense all the evidence they will use. Full discovery rules apply here, not just at trial.

    3. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't know which tv show you get your wierd ideas about military justice from, but in reality, it has more protections for the individual than any other system. Of course, because of those fewer people actually make it to the trial stage who aren't guilty, thus the higher conviction rate. And there are fewer technical glitches that can be used to escape. So if I were not guilty, I'd rather go through the military system. On the other hand, not so if I were guilty.

    4. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have little hope about how well the accused will defend himself after having been under extreme psychological torture for 1.5 years. He's probably ready now to admit anything just to have it all stop.

    5. Re:Good Luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention, the UCMJ actually provided the equivalent of Miranda rights advisement before the Court ruled in Miranda. By and large, the UCMJ is actually more fair than many state systems.

    6. Re:Good Luck by couchslug · · Score: 1

      I'd rather have a trial by my military peers than by whatever losers failed to evade jury duty.

      It's not a good idea to be "guilty", however. The folks who want Manning to walk don't have a legal argument, they just object to US policy.

      The policy isn't on trial.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    7. Re:Good Luck by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

      Well, I guess I'm wrong. I remember hearing a lot about the harsher sentencing for convicts and the tricky, highly multi-faceted roles Judge Advocates have to play compared to civilian attorneys, and I must have irrationally conflated all those concerns with poor treatment of the accused.

      I do know a guy who's due to start JAG training at UVA this year. I'll be curious to learn more about the real work.

    8. Re:Good Luck by TriezGamer · · Score: 1

      I find it odd that people who otherwise feel our judicial system is a failure turn around and promote the concept that getting out of jury duty is somehow a good thing.

  8. A beard. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I wonder if they let him grow a beard? He could be very bearded after one and a half years.

  9. The Sixth Amendment called... by gman003 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I shudder to think of a world where "one and a half years" qualifies as "speedy". Or have we forgotten the Bill of Rights?

    In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

    I know the government isn't the swiftest thing in the world, but I don't believe it's that slow. And I'm not sure courts martial qualify as "criminal" prosecutions. But I do know that if I were PFC Manning's lawyer, I'd definitely be bringing that up.

    1. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by Aryden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Court martial is very much a criminal prosecution. They got away with avoiding the 6th amendment by not filing charges against him until they felt like it. he's been kept as a prisoner of war for 1.5 years so that they could circumvent the rest of the constitution and federal laws.

    2. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by oracleguy01 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your assuming he tried to assert that right and was denied. The defendant doesn't have to assert that right if they don't want to. For all we know the defense has been getting their ducks in a row and have been using the extra time.

    3. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by RingDev · · Score: 2

      by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed

      There's one rub - He commited his crime in Iraq.

      Thus the reason this is a military trial, not a civilian court trial. He enjoys the rights provided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which differ significantly from the Bill of Rights.

      That is to say... he's screwed.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    4. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by Aryden · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, it doesn't matter where the crime is committed, you are first and foremost covered by the UCMJ then any applicable civil laws. Usually, the military will defer prosecution until local/state/federal trials have run their course, THEN they will try you under the UCMJ.

    5. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've seen you claim this POW thing elsewhere in comments. Got any evidence to support this?

      Because the UCMJ Article 10 also promises a speedy trial. In fact, the courts have found that Article 10's Speedy Trial is more exacting than the Sixth Amendment.

      United States v. Thompson, 68 M.J. 308 (when a servicemember is placed in pretrial confinement, Article 10, UCMJ, provides that immediate steps shall be taken to inform the accused of the charges and to either bring the accused to trial or dismiss the charges; Article 10 creates a more exacting speedy trial demand than does the Sixth Amendment).

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    6. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      I mentioned this elsewhere.

      Article 10 of the UCMJ creates a more exacting speedy trial demand than the Sixth Amendment (United States v Thompson)

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    7. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      I can't say for the US but in Canada, "speedy trials" are determined by the jurisdiction that the case will be tried in, and the scope of the crime. 1.5 years for a criminal prosecution here? That's fairly reasonable. 1.5 years for a DUI charge or parking ticket, not so much. I get the feeling that US case law mirrors this as well.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    8. Re:The Sixth Amendment called... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pffft...

      You should try my country: We've had people accused of murder dying of OLD AGE before coming to trial decades after the crime. Going scott-free due to our statute of limitations annulling the proceeding mid-trial is also quite common.

  10. Speedy Trial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I guess the right to a speedy trial doesn't apply to the military.

    1. Re:Speedy Trial by Aryden · · Score: 1

      Yes, it does.

    2. Re:Speedy Trial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [citation needed]

    3. Re:Speedy Trial by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/ucmj/blart-10.htm

      Any person subject to this chapter charged with an offense under this chapter shall be ordered into arrest or confinement, as circumstances may require; but when charged only with an offense normally tried by a summary court-martial, he shall not ordinarily be placed in confinement. When any person subject to this chapter is placed in arrest or confinement prior to trial, immediate steps shall be taken to inform him of the specific wrong of which he is accused and to try him or to dismiss the charges and release him.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    4. Re:Speedy Trial by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Article 10 of the UCMJ.

      When any person subject to this chapter is placed in arrest or confinement prior to trial, immediate steps shall be taken to inform him of the specific wrong of which he is accused and to try him or to dismiss the charges and release him.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    5. Re:Speedy Trial by Aryden · · Score: 1

      833. ART.. 33. FORWARDING OF CHARGES When a person is held for trial by general court-martial the commanding officer shall, within eight days after the accused is ordered into arrest or confinement, if practicable, forward the charges, together with the investigation and allied papers, to the officer exercising general court martial jurisdiction. If that is not practicable, he shall report in writing to that officer the reasons for the delay.

  11. Leaking Secret documents... not OK by orphiuchus · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I know a lot of people here like to live in a fantasy land where the military doesn't need any secrets, but the fact is that some things are secret for good reason. Troop deployment schedules for instance, can allow the enemy to effectively target less experienced units and kill more Americans.

    Manning had this all explained to him when he got his clearance, and assuming that he really is guilty, he deserves what is coming to him. Like it or not, loose lips really do sink ships.

    1. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some things are secret for good reason. Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret. On the whole, the country is better off having this information public than not.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I doubt people have a problem keeping secret things that will get troops killed. I think the problem comes in when classifying things as secret that do nothing but make someone look bad, and then treating that info as though it was the same as that which causes troop deaths. It's the over use of classification for things that don't need it, and then prosecution when people make you look bad that tends people toward that fantasy land where military doesn't need secrets.

    3. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Manning revealed war crimes. He did reveal more, but there's no evidence anybody's life was put in danger. Also, if troops had been put in danger, well that's their fault for committing war crimes that force heroes like Manning to publish secret information.

      This is like committing murder, then complaining that the police investigation is harming your business.

    4. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Aryden · · Score: 1

      If he is guilty, sure. he deserves the punishment awarded, and I would hope it would be harsh. In this case, death.

      However, he has not been tried, he has been denied rights as a US citizen and as military personnel because they labelled him as an enemy combatant.

    5. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Larryish · · Score: 2

      Reporting murder of civilians... not O.K.?

      Wait, what?!

    6. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So true.....and to top it off he leaked the info to foreign sources.

      When he is found guilty I hope he gets a firing squad and not lifetime in Leavenworth.

    7. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some things are secret for good reason. Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret. On the whole, the country is better off having this information public than not.

      Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide. 1 person never has the right to make a decision like that, especially one that had the possibility of costing other people their lives (Notice I said possibility, not did) And there was no way he could have known what was in those thousands of documents. If he did, then he was spending all his time reading them instead of his job, in which case he is still guilty of dereliction of duty. He is already guilty of accessing documents without authorization. These 2 charges alone probably merit forfeiture of pay and rank, as well as several years imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge. And he is probably lucky that he is being tried at court martial. Besides being supplied legal counsel that is an officer (and therefore bound by oath to the law, oath as an officer, and by honor to do the best job they can) and more than likely working solely on this case, a defendant in court martial can also bring in civilian counsel and assistance. Especially in a high profile case like this, his right are probably more protected in a court martial than in a civilian court.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    8. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Sedated2000 · · Score: 2

      Did anyone else read the Manning/Lamo chat logs? After reading them you get a very different picture of Manning (and Lamo). In my view, Manning was revealed to be a troubled and hurt kid with really strong gender identity issues. He even expressed worry to Lamo that if he was caught, he'd be referred to as "He" instead of "Her". He had anger problems stemming from his confusion and a fight he had that ended in him being demoted (he punched a co-worker). He was definitely not stable and I just don't believe he released this stuff out any desire to serve the "common good". He simply made a grab for as many files as he could get, never actually reviewing them himself.

      Lamo came across as a selfish user, begging Manning to sponsor him so he can have a .mil account, even during the times when Manning was trying to share his worries with him. Clearly Lamo just egged him on, and he probably knew he was going to turn this all over in the end. If you haven't read them, you might find them informative.

      http://http//www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/

    9. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Nadaka · · Score: 3, Informative

      Loose lips also reveal war crimes.

      He did violate his oath. And perhaps he should face the death penalty.

      But his defiance of criminal acts suppressed through secrecy in spite of the risk also makes him an American patriot and hero.

      And the illegal treatment he has received, that as circumvented the lawful process of justice is also a reprehensible failure of the system and an act of treason against the United States of America.

    10. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm sure you'd feel differently if some foreign army came into your country, killed your grandmother and 5 month old child before destroying the evidence. I'm all for secrets that help keep soldiers alive, but not for secrets that help soldiers escape justice.

      Source: http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/wikileaks_cables_and_the_iraq_war/singleton/

    11. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      guess what? no one cares what private manning has to think about data classification. he was JUST a private, and obviously couldnt even handle that level of responsibility without cracking up.

      tl;dr, he's a pussy and chose a pussy's method of righting what he saw as a wrong. fuck him.

    12. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Java+Pimp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      People with clearance do not have the authority to just decide something should be declassified and released publicly regardless of their reason for doing so. It does not matter if you feel the country is better off or not, who knows, it very well may be. It is not up to you or a random PFC to make that determination.

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
    13. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret.

      More exactly, no legitimate reason to be kept secret. The reasons they were kept secret are:
      1. The military nowadays reflexively declares almost all records of what they to be a secret of some kind unless it's something they want the US public to know. This is in part because a major lesson that US military leaders got from Vietnam was to do their utmost to prevent the US public from ever knowing what the military really does to the countries it attacks or occupies.

      2. Much of what Manning leaked was incriminating.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    14. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does not matter whether you feel it should be classified or not, it was classified and not available to the public. He violated his oath, he was not in the position to release the data to the public, he got caught, and now he has to pay the price.

      You are living in a fantasy world where you think you can get away with something like this because you disagree on it.

    15. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 0

      Actually, one person does, but Manning is not the President.

      The President delegates his classification authority in a very detailed way, and that delegation filters down to someone like Manning. He read the rules when he got his clearance, and probably several times since then. He knew what he was and wasn't allowed to do, and he did one of the things they told him not to do. He broke laws and violated a spoken oath and a signed agreement.

      Anyone judging this fairly will conclude that he's guilty and deserves the maximum penalty for being so brazen about it. His behavior and expression of remorse since he did it is the only mitigation they'll consider. His excuses will probably be thrown back in his face.

      Whether it's a military or civilian court shouldn't matter. The only difference will be the amount of emotion you're likely to find coming from the bench when they toss away the key.

    16. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lamo is just an attention seeking criminal.

      I have yet to see any evidence presented that the chat logs were unedited.

    17. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide.

      Whose duty was it to correctly classify documents? Why are they not being tried for dereliction of duty?

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    18. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Men make decisions every day that cost people their lives, when are they going to be tried? How many people in 3rd world nations are killed daily as a result of some conflict created by U.S. industries? How many U.S. citizens had their lives ruined as a result of mortgage scams? How many people are subjected to poisons that companies know very well impact someones health and could cost them their lives but never see even a suggestion of justice?

      Seriously this country has bigger problems than private Manning. Hey did U.S. citizens a favor by asking them to wake up - we are all guilty of refusing to and letting business as usual continue. Its a shame.

    19. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Leaking Secret documents... not OK" is not a true statement because it is not complete.

      Leaking Secret documents that contain no crimes is not OK, but leaking Secret documents that contain evidence of crimes committed by the military should be mandatory because no authority has the right to keep crimes secret.

    20. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 0

      Some things are secret for good reason.

      True.

      Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret.

      False. Very little deserved to be declassified without some sort of redaction to protect those named or otherwise made identifiable by it. Much of it deserved to remain secret to protect methods of operation from interdiction, infiltration, and exploitation. What little of it should have been declassified should have been declassified properly, and the fact that it should have been declassified in no way mitigates Manning's crime.

      The enemy thanks you for your attitude, though. It makes their job so easy we might as well never have come up with the idea of keeping secrets.

    21. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You my friend, scare the bejesus out of me. I can only hope against hope that there are fewer of you in the world than the rest of us, who would never consider strict application of the orders and "the law" without taking into account the circumstances, as anything resembling "fair".

    22. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Manning didn't leak any details of troop deployments or anything else of similar sensitivity. Additionally, he only leaked the cables to Wikileaks, who have a proven history of redacting information that would likely put people's lives at risk.

      You're condemning Manning for crimes that you've invented in your own mind. I find that rather disturbing.

    23. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      And he is probably lucky that he is being tried at court martial. Besides being supplied legal counsel that is an officer (and therefore bound by oath to the law, oath as an officer, and by honor to do the best job they can)

      The same sort of oath to protect the USA against all enemies, foreign and domestic?
      Yeah, I'm thinking a civilian court would have a better shot at justice. You know, with a lawyer of his choosing and his best interests at heart. One who knows what he did and thinks it was the right and legal thing to do. Someone well funded and well respected. You know... someone.

    24. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So...whose duty was it to decide when every higher ranking official was actively perpetrating fraud by consistently deciding to the contrary?

      I mean, given that the public has decided the vast majority of documents were not legitimately classified. Given that some of them may have been. Given that it wasn't in the interest of the US to have them released--but most citizens don't seem to care about that. Given that he could not have reviewed all of them without arousing suspicion and getting shut down.

      Given that without actually publishing them outright there'd be no such activity... no judgement...just him locked up in a cage with nobody believing him.

      Manning. Furnished Proof. Of our warcrimes.

      Where's the prosecution under RICO for criminal collusion to ignore federal law for all of his superiors?

      Oh -- that's right, you're going to prosecute him because it's *nobody's* duty to declassify.

      What's that--you say there exists an organization for that lawful purpose? But they do their job with no oversight? Yeah.. I'm afraid your "rule of law" is worthless in the above scenario where your rules are expressly constructed in such a manner as to violate higher laws.

      Manning should go scott free with a medal of honor for valorously risking his name and life in going against the most powerful enemy of the United States. Itself.

      The only reason this guy's going to court martial is because the government is terrified a legitimate jury would acquit him.

    25. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm thinking a civilian court would have a better shot at justice. You know, with a lawyer of his choosing and his best interests at heart. One who knows what he did and thinks it was the right and legal thing to do. Someone well funded and well respected. You know... someone.

      He is still free to do this. Like I said, in a court martial the defendant can bring in outside, civilian counsel. There is nothing prohibiting him from going out and getting whatever attorney he can retain/offers services to him. They would work alongside and in tandem with his military counsel.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    26. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by guspasho · · Score: 1

      Except Manning isn't accused of leaking military secrets, he's accused of leaking state department secrets. The idea that he could have exposed troop movements or anything remotely close to that is, quite simply, a lie. No ships were sunk, no lives were lost. Can the military that is accusing Manning say the same thing of itself? They slaughter innocents daily, and frequently cover it up, astor leaks proved.

      Which brings me to my other point. Isn't it the responsibility of everyone, especially those in the military, to refuse to obey unjust orders? That "only following orders" could not be used as a defense to commit atrocities, or permit them to occur? Atrocities were most certainly committed, as we learned from the leaks. Manning, if he is the leaker, is no criminal, but a hero, the bravest soldier in the US military.

    27. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And who's job is it to decide? Oh, that's right, the people who have everything to gain by making EVERYTHING secret. They have chosen to protect themselves and their cushy jobs over the American people, they deserve to have all their dirty laundry out in the open. If lives are at risk it's because they PUT THEM AT RISK. They are at risk regardless of Manning because our military has been criminally co-opted as a tool of corporate interest; interests that are directly opposed to the well-being of the people of the USA and the world. Since it's clear no one in government has the testicular fortitude (or female equivalent) to right things it becomes the responsibility of every citizen (in the military or not) to right these wrongs and the first step is making as many people as possible aware of these wrongs. Bradley Manning is a fucking hero and should be treated as such.

    28. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the oath that all American military personnel must take:

      "I, [Name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me, God."

      When Manning discovered that his government was suppressing evidence of American soldiers slaughtering civilians, who do you think his greater loyalty should have lied with — the government that committed that crime and suppressed the evidence of it, or the Constitution, and by extension, the people of the United States?

      Who do think should have decided whether to leak the evidence of civilians being slaughtered by American soldiers instead of Manning? I'll remind you of what should be obvious: there is no official procedure for exposing crimes committed by the government.

    29. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With a lack of accountability and widespread corruption, it seems only natural to avoid making actions public knowledge. The less people know, the happier people will be to pay their tax dollars.

    30. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People with clearance do not have the authority to just decide something should be declassified and released publicly regardless of their reason for doing so. It does not matter if you feel the country is better off or not, who knows, it very well may be. It is not up to you or a random PFC to make that determination.

      Are you suggesting that if he was an General or even Sec Def leaking the classified documents it would be fine?

    31. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The enemy thanks you for your attitude, though. It makes their job so easy we might as well never have come up with the idea of keeping secrets."
      It's shit like this that makes it impossible to take you Chicken-little Hawks seriously. The enemy, what the FUCK ever you retard. The only people who are interested in harming us are the people we have BOMBED TO FUCKING OBLIVION and back ten fucking times and the fall-out of which is exactly what we fucking deserve, if not more. Maybe we should stop murdering people around the globe, maybe then they might not want a little justice to rain down on our heads. That's the shit that is being kept secret: just how badly we're fucking over everyone else on this rock. And that's why it must be made public so maybe the fat American cows will stop chewing their cud, wake up and start acting like civilized human beings for a change.

      And the notion that Americans came up with the idea of keeping things secret is ridiculous and arrogant. Go choke on some shit.

    32. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by guspasho · · Score: 1

      So much about this is wrong. It is a soldier's job to make decisions every day that could put many lives af risk, even a PFC. That's what the military is. And as for that risk, how many people died? And how many people has the military killed? The argument that Manning put lives at risk couldn't be more absurd. It's like the devil accusing Jesus of tempting people to sin.

      Furthermore, Manning knew what was in many of those documents, it was his job to read them.

    33. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I understand there is still a very large libertarian population here, but the fact that this petulant comment got modded +5 insightful shows how disconnected from reality so many of you are.

      Let me explain this as clearly as possible: when you take an oath, you may NOT break it and expect there to be no consequences. Independent of any other point (and I agree, some good points exist on both sides) there is no valid refutation to this. That's a life lesson there kids; take responsibility for your actions, and do not attempt to hide from the consequences if you go back on your word.

    34. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like Dick Cheney did regarding Valerie Plame?

    35. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arguing that Manning had a right to disclose *anything* when it was clearly NOT within his authority to do so is akin ... no, it's the EXACT SAME as saying a couple of military personnel manning a missile silo could off and launch at some country, if they really believed it to be a good idea.

            "Hey, Jim, let's nuke North Korea! They suck! "
            "Great idea, Bob!"

      Or arguing that pilots at an airbase near China could just go and fly a bombing mission to protest China's treatment of dissidents.

      You are arguing for anarchy and chaos, and a military where we can't trust anyone with the capability to do anything, lest they immediately do something incredibly stupid and short-sighted.

      There is a reason authority to do things with serious consequences is limited to personnel judged to have the strength of character, reliability, and wisdom to handle the responsibility and to do so in full consideration of the consequences.

      Private Manning was not that man. Period. You can like him, admire him, whatever but please don't argue for anarchy in these matters. It just underscores your own inability to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

    36. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Cl1mh4224rd · · Score: 1

      Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide.

      First, let me say that the only problem I have with Manning releasing all that information is the lack of focus. It hasn't been dangerous yet, but that might change. I also have no problem with his arrest, generally speaking.

      That said... sometimes the wrong person needs to make the right decision.

      --
      People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
    37. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Java+Pimp · · Score: 1

      Copying and pasting from Wikipedia does not all of the sudden make it OK for anyone to just decide that something should not be classified and release it publicly.

      there is no official procedure for exposing crimes committed by the government.

      Wrong, please refer to the Office of Special Counsel.

      If Manning had specific evidence that the US government was suppressing evidence of American soldiers slaughtering civilians, there are proper channels for reporting that information. The Office of Special Counsel provides "a safe conduit for the receipt and evaluation of whistleblower disclosures from federal employees, former employees, and applicants for federal employment." If he gets no resolution from there he could if he wanted to (at great risk to himself) go public with that information. ALL the information must be related to the SPECIFIC issue at hand. Any classified information NOT RELATED to the alleged activity is NOT subject to whistleblower protection.

      Unless ALL 100K diplomatic cables were related specifically to the US government suppressing evidence of American soldiers slaughtering civilians, Manning is toast. Manning has no more authority than you do or I do, to just decide something should be declassified, regardless how we feel about it.

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
    38. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Java+Pimp · · Score: 1

      Please... I'm suggesting that NO ONE has the authority to leak classified documents. Nice straw man though...

      --
      Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
      Kull: She told me she was 19!
    39. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Bob9113 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide.

      It is not his job until his superiors, whose job it is, fail in their duty. Then it is his obligation to do so. Our executive branch has chronically deprived the citizens of the information necessary for us to make informed decisions about how we wish our military to be employed. When those with standard authority are failing in their duty to keep us informed, it is only those without standard authority who can make the decision.

      It is a further failure to satisfy their oaths of office that we have ceased to recognize whistleblower protection. The authoritarians have decided that the notion of citizens as sovereigns is far too inconvenient, and that we can't handle the truth.

    40. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No its up to some random unaccountable bureaucrat who classified them to non-secret documents in the first place. LOL IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS IN THE LAW YOU KNOW. The torture and violation of human/constitutional rights is justified. ITS THE LAW! Without it we may spiral into anarchy! OH LORD.

    41. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Might not have been his job, but the person who's job it was wasn't doing their job and not only that, they were abusing their authority to go avoid doing their job and to cover their own failings and that of their friends instead.

      Sorry, but I hail his actions as a good thing, regardless of his motives behind it.

      I honestly think that anyone who classified all that material that shouldn't have been needs to be court marshaled as well and locked away for treason with how they broke their oath to uphold the Constitution and actually went against it and broke the rules further to hide that act as well as the people who the documents point out for breaking their oath to the constitution. But doubt that will happen, if that had happened, Bush Jr would have been hung as a traitor years ago.

    42. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting that you bring up "loose lips sink ships."

      In hindsight, it's quite likely that the phrase and the wartime propaganda campaign behind it - don't talk about what you see off the coast - were not so much about saving American ships but to prevent demoralizing and panic by concealing the fact that the military officials responsible for naval policing of the east coast had been so wrong for so long in their assessment of the U-boat threat that the Germans were basically operating with impunity within US coastal waters.

      The difference between then and now, of course, is that while the propaganda campaign bought time back then they were getting their house in order to repel the threat. Today there's no intention what so ever to fix the problem; All good little authoritarians know that if you deny the problem exists, it goes away.

    43. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some things are secret for good reason. Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret. On the whole, the country is better off having this information public than not.

      Really? Really? Including the information that the Chinese were willing to throw the North Koreans to the wolves as long as US troops stayed south of the 38th parallel? Which the Chinese have now had to publicly back away from?

      Or all of those disclosures that were made in private from countries in the Middle East about how privately, they all hate Iran but can't say it openly...But that they would be willing to help rein Iran in?

      You think the people in Iran and North Korea are better off now that their neighbors are willing to feed them into the meat grinders that their societies are?

      Manning is a fucking traitorous bastard...And a stupid one at that.

    44. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      I don't think you get to decide what is secret and what isn't secret or why it was classified to begin with. It is very easy to stand on the sidelines saying that; but if it was your butt on the line I would hope you would give it more than 33 words worth of consideration.

    45. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      He should get the punishment he deserves, yeah. Which is a Medal of Honor.

      I think he'll get it in the end, but most likely posthumously.

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    46. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 0

      The real enemy of the American people is the American government. That enemy thanks YOU for your attitude.

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    47. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 0

      Let me explain this as clearly as possible: when you take an oath, you may NOT break it and expect there to be no consequences

      Really? What about an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution? Subject the President to the same treatment as Manning, and your little lecture about oaths might mean something.

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    48. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whose duty was it to correctly classify documents? Why are they not being tried for dereliction of duty?

      Then what would the scapegoat be for?

    49. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then who is it up to? This government which was supposedly founded By The People, For The People is now out of control. And it is killing. It is killing women, children and other non-combatants in lands that haven't even attacked us. It is kidnapping people, holding them against their will and torturing them without trials and as far as anybody knows without even good reason. (There may be reason but who can know?)

      I would agree, in a functional society one person should not be making such large decisions for the whole. We do not seem to have such a society currently. I don't know which things came from Bradly Manning and which came from elsewhere but I do know that the things I have read on Wikileaks are sickening.

      I don't think there is any question that what he did is against the law. I don't think he has much hope of ever seeing the light of day again. His publicity might just keep him alive. I don't know. But I doubt he has much left to live for. That does not change the fact that the law is protecting people far more guilty. People who grow fat off their spoils and will go free.

    50. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Monchanger · · Score: 1

      Whose duty was it to correctly classify documents?

      Simple answer: nobody's. There isn't a guy in every military office going over every piece of paper and marking it with the absolute minimally-necessary classification. That would be s a terrible waste of time and money.

      Documents are classified based on their pedigree, as well as their content. Was it generated on SIPR? Automatically secret. A memo written by a diplomat intended for use internally within the State department? Also secret. Plus, it's cheaper to err on the side of caution- you can always declassify a document later.

      This isn't to say that's the way it should be in the future, but that's how processes work. The same thing happens in businesses. If you want to change the current status quo, and pay higher taxes so that government can waste money to share more generally useless information with a public which has no interest in that information when it's not related to a scandal, go right ahead.

    51. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are actually people trained to do this who are designated "classifiers".

      I wish people realize that Manning did a bad thing. Even if some of what he leaked was "good", its clear he didnt bother to really screen anything he leaked. He just decided to leak everything he had acees to (or at least some huge block of data he couldnt have possibly read). So dont give me this bull thatnhes some hero. Thats like a cop that shoots everyone ina restaurant and manages to also hit the bad guy. That action is reckless and harmful to innocent bystanders, and what Manning did was no sifferent. Hes not a hero, hes a reckless idiot at best, and a traitor to all the innocent people he harmed.

      That informations was classified for a good reason, sure maybe some of would be nice to make pulic. But most of it had no positive effect on the world by being leaked. And those leaks may have hurt people, and if it did I doubt we will ever hear about it. But if not a single persom was hurt, can you really sAy nothing is worth keeping a secret? Really? Nothing? If you believe that then you need to get out and see the real world. Secrets save lives.

      Why is it so hard for people to understand that sometimes its a good idea not to tell people who want to kill you the names of people that are trying to prevent that by spying on those people? Seriously? Do you all live in such a world of privilege that you can be so callus as to not realize that people can die when stupid arrogant people like Manning wantonly and without any clue just blindly publish tons and tons of sensitive information? So the cop didn't kill any innocent bystanders, but he wasn't aiming either, everyone just got lucky. So would you want that kind of callous reckless cowboy protecting you? Manning is a deluded cowboy at best.

      And if you don't care if people helping governments die, then you're a fucking sociopath or a goddamn child and you need to grow up. The real world isnt so simple, there are very bad people in it and sometimes you need secrets to stop them from doing more bad things. Shold it have been public information that the CIA knew where Osama Bin Laden was living? That people we on the eay to kill him? Should it be pulic information who helped find Bin Laden and who killed him? If you say yes to then, then seriously just end your life now. You are beyond saving. But if you even for ne second can say "well, maybe", then think about how little care Manning ut into his actions. How his recklessness could have killed people and may have done so. How many operations he may have screwed up, and how many people may have died due to lack pf tose operations suceeding, or people that just disappeared for helping NATO forces.

      Bradley Manning is not a hero, he's a childish rebel being cheered by people that want to belong to something bigger to themselves and pat themselves on the back and say "Yeah! Fuck the man! I'm a hero too!". Your heart is the right place but for gods sake, stop and think about the world we really love in. The world isn't the place you think it is, and people like Manning aren't helping. At best, they missed some innocent bystanders, but that wasn't because they were aiming. They just got lucky and didnt kill anyone.

      No thinks, I don't want "heros" like that protecting me by with such obvious reckless abandon. He's a reckless moron at best, and if there was malice,he's a traitor to everyone he hurt because he just didn't fucking care about them or the consequences. That's no hero, that's a monster.

    52. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by tftp · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the responsibility of everyone, especially those in the military, to refuse to obey unjust orders?

      He leaked, say, 100K documents, out of which one (or ten) depict war crimes. The prosecution will charge him with leaking of 99,990 documents - all other documents, those that he had no business leaking and that don't reveal any atrocities.

      It will be a tall order to explain why he had to disclose so many diplomatic cables that cite names and private opinions that were told in secret, tete a tete. The harm caused to the prestige of the USA can be easily demonstrated; but that would be not even required because Manning violated his orders. If you take a rifle, fire it randomly and manage to not kill anyone it doesn't make you innocent; quite the opposite. So by the letter of the law he will be found guilty. And absence of the war crime documents in the prosecution's package will make it impossible for him to refer to those war crimes for justification of his act.

    53. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm glad to break this to you but PFC dumbass is in the military and is subject to UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) which means he is subject to laws that people in the military are not subject to. At the same time he didn't realease any documents about war crimes he released diplomatic cables which were wtill marked as TOP SECRET. The documents could have been a recipe for chocolate chip cookies or our war planes for Afghanistan, either way they were marked as TOP SECRET which means he is in a lot of trouble. So please do us all a favor and don't make this dumbass look like a saint because he isn't one. Either way he is going to be spending the rest of his natural life in a military prison which I'm sure you will say is torture.

    54. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 1

      Whose duty was it to correctly declassify and release documents?

      FTFY

      Good question.

      It matters not if documents are incorrectly classified higher than what they need to be. It only matters who, or what, has the authority or delegation to declassify them; and who, or what, has the authority to distribute them.

      In this case, on both counts, obviously not Private B.M.

      If they can prove he distributed documents.. of any kind.. then he's sunk. The only question is.. what will his punishment be.

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    55. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some things are secret for good reason. Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret. On the whole, the country is better off having this information public than not.

      Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide. 1 person never has the right to make a decision like that, especially one that had the possibility of costing other people their lives (Notice I said possibility, not did) And there was no way he could have known what was in those thousands of documents. If he did, then he was spending all his time reading them instead of his job, in which case he is still guilty of dereliction of duty. He is already guilty of accessing documents without authorization. These 2 charges alone probably merit forfeiture of pay and rank, as well as several years imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge. And he is probably lucky that he is being tried at court martial. Besides being supplied legal counsel that is an officer (and therefore bound by oath to the law, oath as an officer, and by honor to do the best job they can) and more than likely working solely on this case, a defendant in court martial can also bring in civilian counsel and assistance. Especially in a high profile case like this, his right are probably more protected in a court martial than in a civilian court.

      It was most certainly his job if anything in those papers was in his opinion contrary to the oath he swore which reads

      I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

      See the domestic part it does not need to be foreigners you are bound to protect against by that oath it can be your own people as well.

    56. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Sloppy · · Score: 1

      Some things are secret for good reason. Very little in what Manning released had any reason to be secret. On the whole, the country is better off having this information public than not.

      One of the disappointing things (not) happening, is that there has been virtually no followup on that issue. There was plenty of stuff that was leaked, which should have been part of government press releases on the day it happened, but instead was treated as secrets. The existing politicians in power aren't saying they intend to change that, and rivals running against them aren't running on the platform of fixing the problem. This should have been a 2010 campaign issue, and wasn't. 2012? Well, no one is talking about it yet.

      The public shouldn't have to count on people in Manning's position to .. er .. effectively de-classify information (yes, I realize this publicly-available information is still classified, and that's just another example of the law being comically out-of-touch with reality). I don't trust corporals to do that job well, and you shouldn't either. (And many Manning/Wikileaks critics will happily point out some things which indicate that he didn't do it well.) And yet, illegal leaks are the public's only recourse right now, and that means someone has to risk

      • nobly sacrificing themselves to America's government for America's people
      • getting caught doing shitty things, identified as the commie spy scumbag

      (pick whichever you think applies -- it really doesn't matter!) just for the information to get out. Right now, American voters need people like Manning, and that is fucked up and dangerous.

      As you say, America was better off for what happened. But that was dumb luck. Had the ratio of stuff-which-should-remain-secret to stuff-which-should-have-been-release been different, Manning's actions would have been overall harmful. Similarly, if Manning hadn't felt like risking his life/liberty and had done nothing, that would have been harmful too. America was lucky this time, and luck is a stupid thing for people to rely on in order to have government accountability.

      This isn't how things should be working. Saying so, and putting a plan for rapid or preemptive declassification of (let's put this as nicely as possible) mistakenly-classified information, would be a way for political candidates to distinguish themselves from the status-quo assholes who can't be trusted with power.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    57. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      hmmm. Well that's interesting. Is there any reason he wouldn't go get a civilian lawyer?

    58. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 1

      The circumstances are taken account of in the law, and include the fact that Manning ignored the law and the large provision it made for legally accomplishing what he tried illegally to accomplish.

      You're the scary one, here, blathering from a place of total ignorance, trying to get the rule of law subordinated to the rule of excuses.

    59. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 1

      The only people who are interested in harming us are the people we have BOMBED TO FUCKING OBLIVION and back ten fucking times

      We never bombed bin Laden. We trained him and armed him and helped him beat the Soviets.

      We then walked away and went back to being free.

      That's what pissed him off.

      You idiot.

    60. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 1

      The American government is the American people.

      Or did you think you were living in Iran?

      Wouldn't be surprised, with a schizo attitude like that.

    61. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Boy are you naive. The American government would theoretically be the American people if our election and legislative processes were completely unbiased.

      However any engineer can tell you that there's a rather large difference between theory and practice. We haven't even given lip service towards validating our electoral system as an assay of the will of the people.

      For instance, what is the linear range of our government? How many people have to want something to get a proportional response from our government? Obviously it's nonsensical to even ask the question of our current system. But that's the kind of questions we need to have good answers for before we can assert that our government is actually expressing the will of the people.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    62. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by blair1q · · Score: 1

      The American government may not represent every American equally, but it represents citizens, not a king, and not a god.

      Of course, some of the people you're complaining about are trying to change that.

      Saying things like "the American government is the enemy of the people" is exactly what they're doing to make it happen.

      Their primary goal is to tear down the current system entirely. Then, because they have the money and an infrastructure of mind control (you know, religion) in place, they will buy and bully their way in to be the new government.

      One based on assets, inheritance, and Ghawd. You know. Like the one we kicked out in 1776.

      So go ahead. Keep disenfranchising yourself through apathy and self-denial. You're making their job easier.

    63. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Hatta · · Score: 1

      The American government represents no one but the wealthy and powerful. The forces you fear have already co-opted our system entirely. By failing to recognize this, you disenfranchise yourself.

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      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    64. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re:”Except, as a private in the US military, that was not Bradley Manning's job or duty to decide”

      It is EVERY CITIZEN'S job and duty to hold their government accountable.

    65. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wake up and smell the shit you're eating, moron. We've bombed thousands of people in the middle east. You think Bin Laden was the only person who had a grudge against us? Also, you're completely wrong, as usual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHspzNEkX7U

      He didn't actually take action against us until we occupied Saudi Arabia AND went back on our promise to leave after "liberating" Kuwait which was really just a pretense to getting bases in the region. You neocons are so fucking stupid it's amazing you managed to not kill yourselves brushing your teeth in the morning.

    66. Re:Leaking Secret documents... not OK by orphiuchus · · Score: 1

      I love how far this was modded down. Not a single thing I said wasn't common sense, but that fantasy land where so many slashdotters live is hard to escape.

  12. Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Says someone who has never carried a clearance.

    He signed his right to due process as we know it in the civillian world when he accepted the responsibility to access classified information. And he knew damn well the risks associated with that responsibility if somebody were to actually think that he violated that trust.

    1. Re:Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like hell he knew. Just paper work to sign that was never read, nor were copies given to him. All he had to know was a patriotic song.

  13. Obama is the warmongerer??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, I am willing to entertain arguments that Obama could have done more to get our troops out quicker... but honestly he had a ton of opposition due the warmongering of the previous administration. To claim that Obama is a warmongerer and the reason for all the evils done in Iraq, Afgan, and Libya is rather illogical. The freaking quote in your reply states it was done in 2006... do you know when Obama took office?

    Are you a super Right-Wing Republican, a racist, super anti-government or just horribly misinformed?

    1. Re:Obama is the warmongerer??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you a super Right-Wing Republican, a racist, super anti-government or just horribly misinformed?

      Nothing so sinister. Consider:

      1. Is the cause of the Iraq war within the attention span of the most vocal of Slashdot users? Note that said attention span is limited to the next time one of them sees a shiny object. This can therefore be anywhere from five seconds to, at the extreme, one month.
      2. If not, use Logic(tm): If the Slashdotter can't remember that far back because of the shiny object, consider the immediate evidence with no regard for history. This is largely the same thought process that super-right-wing Republicans and blindly anti-government types use, but this is a Slashdot poster. They're good with computers, which means they're smart, so their knee-jerk reactions are better!
      3. Immediate evidence shows the current president of the United States.
      4. Immediate evidence does NOT show the previous president (longer than one month) or the congressional decisions hamstringing all his decisions due to extremely polarized political bullshit (would take too long and too much effort with not-shiny objects to discover, and besides, Skyrim was just released!).
      5. Conclusion: The current president of the United States MUST be responsible for all of this, and since it's not done yet, he MUST be trying to prolong it. He and he alone. The world can obviously be simplified to child-like logic because the most vocal of Slashdot users live life like man-children anyway.
      6. To check over results for any inaccuracies, enter echo chamber.
      7. Echo chamber agrees, conclusion holds. THIS IS SCIENCE, PEOPLE.

      So, the GP's post was not made out of extreme right-wingism, racism, wild anti-government sentiments, horrible misinformation, or anything so evil. It was by willing lack of information, as information proves inconvenient to the point being made. Vital difference.

    2. Re:Obama is the warmongerer??? by anagama · · Score: 2

      There is so much BS in your post I need a front end loader to get through it. Citations on my website.

      1) While the war crime happened in 2006, Assange's cache of cables was only decrypted this summer. So while the news is old so to speak, it is fresh to the public.

      2) Obama is a warmonger. For example,

      (a) Bush launced 52 drone attacks. Obama has, in a much shorter period, launched 254. You think the GOP twisted his arm to do that?

      (b) When Bush left office, there were about 30k troops in Afghanistan. Obama bumped that up to 112k at one point. That was Obama's choice?

      (c) Obama is working hard to undermine the Convention on Cluster Munitions even though we aren't even a signatory? You gonna blame that on the GOP?

      (d) And then there is Libya. Our founding fathers were well aware of the dangers posed by leaders who could both decide to go to war and then decide how to fight it. They all came from Europe which had suffered greatly under its kings. So they separate the war powers -- Congress got the right to declare it, the President the right to decide how to fight it. Since Korea, this has been ignored and then institutionalized in the War Powers Act. The crime in Libya is that Obama didn't even live up to his duties of the War Powers Act setting a precident that the President can unilaterally declare war. That is fucking huge. And no, his arm wasn't twisted by the GOP, but when future President Cheney arbitrarily attacks Iceland, remember to thank Obama.

      3) Recognizing Obama as a neocon warmonger has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with his behavior. Bush was, until Obama embraced and extended his policies, the worst piece of shit this country had had for a president. The fact that Obama is African American however, cannot excuse him for being worse than Bush. Racism is supporting Obama DESPITE everything he has done just because he's not white.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  14. That's not the only thing by Quila · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I may have some sympathy if he knew of specific illegal acts and divulged the information about those acts in order to bring about justice.

    But that's not what he did. He just released a huge amount of classified information, some of which could get people killed.

    1. Re:That's not the only thing by del_diablo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I keep hearing people saying that. Can you at the least link me to a news story about some squad of soliders that has gotten killed DIRECTLY because of the leaks?

    2. Re:That's not the only thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      “Some information is classified legitimately; as with military hardware, secrecy sometimes really is in the national interest. Further, military, political, and intelligence communities tend to value secrecy for its own sake. It's a way of silencing critics and evading responsibility - for incompetence or worse. It generates an elite, a band of brothers in whom the national confidence can be reliably vested, unlike the great mass of citizenry on whose behalf the information is presumably made secret in the first place. With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science.”
        Carl Sagan

    3. Re:That's not the only thing by LanMan04 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But that's not what he did. He just released a huge amount of classified information, some of which could get people killed.>/b>

      [Citation Needed]

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    4. Re:That's not the only thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America is quite capable of killing masses of people in the absence of leaks.

    5. Re:That's not the only thing by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      some of which could get people killed.

      That sounds an awful lot like the argument used by the government during the pentagon papers trial (New York Times Co. vs. United States). How about showing us the innocent civilians, human rights activists, informants, etc. who have been killed as a result of the leaks?

      Meanwhile, Reuters has the video that shows its journalists being killed by a US helicopter strike. The people of the United States have been given a glance at their government's activities, which includes information on the enormous intelligence power that the DEA has amassed. In the middle east, the documents were a catalyst for revolutions that ousted tyrants from power.

      Manning broke the law, and it is hard to feel sympathy for someone who knew the danger and chose to leak the documents and videos anyway. However, the leak has been a boon for democracy and a reminder that the US government keeps far too much information secret.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    6. Re:That's not the only thing by anagama · · Score: 1

      Given that we won't be staying in Iraq in large part due to the leaks, the leak SAVED countless lives.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    7. Re:That's not the only thing by guspasho · · Score: 1

      Could get some people killed? You realize this is the US military we are talking about, right? To defend them on that basis is quite possibly the most absurd argument one could possibly make, in any context.

    8. Re:That's not the only thing by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      Manning released nothing to the press. The New York Times and the Guardian had control of review and release. And the "getting people killed" thing? If government lies had been exposed ten years ago, we'd have no soldiers in Iraq to *be* killed.

      And what Manning specifically wanted to be released was the tape of civilians actually being killed by rogue US soldiers - murder. If you are worried about "people killed", I believe Manning has you covered.

    9. Re:That's not the only thing by anagama · · Score: 1

      Yep. I should have mentioned that. The fact that he lobbied Iraq to stay, really pours a big bucket of irony on the "change you can believe in" slogan.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    10. Re:That's not the only thing by Rebestein · · Score: 1

      Thanks to Wikileaks cables it was revealed that the U.S. spied on the German government. US-Ambassador John Murphy cratered his reputation when he didn't resign as it is customary in Germany.

    11. Re:That's not the only thing by CodeReign · · Score: 0

      I think this sums up my opinion nicely. You have a criminal trying to be a baddass not considering the consequences. And you have some consequences that instead of hurting anyone actually enable some resolution to issues, as well as bringing new unrelated issues to light. What he did was wrong, but the outcome was far from it.

    12. Re:That's not the only thing by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      No cite needed; He said "some of which could get people killed". Some of which could get people promotions, tried by Courts Martial, demotion, a new hair do and a hangbag, some webbed feet, and could even turn someone into a budgy.

      I very much doubt it, though.

      This comment could turn into a pack of Lambert and Butler cigarettes. Please exercise due caution.

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      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  15. bit of a puzzler by jwijnands · · Score: 1

    You'd have expected the government to get the fix in quicker than 18 months. Wonder why it took so long.

  16. That's not how the law works. by mosb1000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course the public wants to know military secrets, that doesnt make it any less against the law, and any less deserving of a military trial.

    Yes it does. Laws are written around public opinion. Also, there's whistleblower protection. If you are uncovering corruption, rather than giving aid to the enemy, your actions are not criminal. That may well be the case here. The information released was not of a tactical nature. It didn't disclose troop strengths and numbers, positions, weaknesses, or anything like that. Rather, it exposed a bunch of dirty laundry. Information that shouldn't be classified.

    1. Re:That's not how the law works. by ImprovOmega · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes it does. Laws are written around public opinion. Also, there's whistleblower protection.

      Not military law, which he is under. Military law lets you execute traitors and other fun stuff and it often very, very different than civilian law.

    2. Re:That's not how the law works. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      A traitor is someone who gives aid to the enemy.

    3. Re:That's not how the law works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it does. Laws are written around public opinion.

      No, laws written around public opinion are what's known as "mob justice". By your definition, the Salem Witch Trials were legal, lynch mobs are legal, and riots are legal. Try again, but this time, avoid convenient oversimplifications.

    4. Re:That's not how the law works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean like dumping the names of informers to the US so they can be assassinated?

    5. Re:That's not how the law works. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      By your definition, the Salem Witch Trials were legal, lynch mobs are legal, and riots are legal.

      I know it's hard to believe, but all these things have been legal at various times and places throughout history.

      I'm sure I don't even need to cite examples of modern laws that are a result of moral panic.

      Laws are obviously written around public opinion.

    6. Re:That's not how the law works. by gadzook33 · · Score: 1

      What dirty laundry? Are you mistaking diplomacy for a conspiracy? Welcome to the last ten thousand years of human history.

    7. Re:That's not how the law works. by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about the video of the airstrike that killed two journalists in Iraq? Or the information on how the DEA has vast signals intelligence capabilities that it can use in both foreign and domestic operations (which other member of the law enforcement/intelligence community can do that?)? Or the information on the US army executing civilians in Iraq?

      At the very least, the citizens of the United States should be aware of what their government is doing. How can we decide who to vote for if we do not even know what our government is up to?

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    8. Re:That's not how the law works. by ralewi1 · · Score: 1

      There is very serious whistleblower protection in military law - if someone in the U.S. military reports wrongdoing, and then faces retribution by their chain-of-command, then it becomes a matter of the DoD Inspector General.
      In this case, however, even if Manning had intended to blow the whistle on an act or a number of acts, that was an impossible case to make considering the volume of classified material he sneaked out of his work and released. He did not attempt to report anything through his superiors before spewing classified information all over the internet. In his own words, he wanted to spread "[a]narchy in CSV format", which means he will go to federal prison for the remainder of his days. He maliciously damaged the country he swore to defend, bragged, and got caught. He's done.

    9. Re:That's not how the law works. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      In the U.S., treason is a crime defined in the Constitution, so it's not necessary to be a part of military law to be punished for it.

    10. Re:That's not how the law works. by gadzook33 · · Score: 0

      Give me a break, that's war. You want to compare losses in the surgical operations of today to the millions of civilians killed in the wars of yesteryear?

      The US has signals collection capabilities?? Since when, the early 1900's?

    11. Re:That's not how the law works. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Also, there's whistleblower protection. If you are uncovering corruption, rather than giving aid to the enemy, your actions are not criminal.

      Problem is, the vast vast vast majority of what Manning uncovered was NOT corruption, it was just classified. Even if you say "this document's leak was protected, and so was that one", hes still in pretty deep trouble.

    12. Re:That's not how the law works. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Lynch mobs continued to exist even after congress made them illegal, because on a local level there was heavy support for them. I think thats what parent was going after.

    13. Re:That's not how the law works. by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Treason is defined, but the details (including punishment) are still laid out in law.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    14. Re:That's not how the law works. by Jibekn · · Score: 1

      Mob justice is democracy.

    15. Re:That's not how the law works. by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Reuters had a right to know what happened to their journalists; the fact that they were killed in war is not relevant. They asked politely, and the US army refused to give them the video. This is not a matter of defending the army's actions, or comparing their actions to more barbaric wars, it is a matter of whether or not people have a right to know how two journalists wound up dead.

      As for the DEA, it is not just that the US government has signals intelligence capabilities -- which it has had since World War I, by the way. It is that until recently, intelligence agencies either operated within US borders (e.g. the FBI) or beyond US borders (CIA, NSA, etc.). Now we have the DEA, which can operate inside or outside of the United States, which has more sophisticated signals intelligence capabilities than the FBI, and which has been pressured by "cooperative" governments to assist in the surveillance of political opponents. This is made worse by the fact that the DEA is not charged with protecting our national security in any way, shape, or form; the DEA is supposed to enforce drug laws.

      At the end of the day, people in a democracy have a right and a need to know what their government is doing. This is not about what the US government does or can do, it is about what the citizens of the US are permitted to know.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    16. Re:That's not how the law works. by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      Iraq is not a "war". It is an invasion, under false pretense, as a prelude to conquest. The people we are shooting cannot even fight back. We stole the oil after yattering about terrorism. Those people had been under embargo - by US - for ten endless years. Then we slaughtered them. Then we tortured them. Then we imprisoned them in their own country. They had no animus towards us, and no involvement in any military action against us. It was an attack against an almost helpless nation, with 60+ thousand burned, exploded, and shot to death in days for the crime of existing. We are not the heroes, and Iraq is not a "war". Every action we take there is a further crime piled on the original crimes. Th people there are helpless against giants in armor who can kill them at will, and have. This must be ground into the souls of Americans, or this will happen again and again.

    17. Re:That's not how the law works. by Rebestein · · Score: 2

      Who is the enemy?

    18. Re:That's not how the law works. by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Please give an example of one assassination of an informer caused by the release of the cables.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    19. Re:That's not how the law works. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      Appearantly, the western media is the enemy.

    20. Re:That's not how the law works. by Isaac-1 · · Score: 1

      Why do you think Reuters "HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW"? , where is this right? I don't remember anything in the bill of rights saying the government is responsible for telling anyone what it knows, certainly not a foreign news organization.

    21. Re:That's not how the law works. by gadzook33 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's not even close to an actual right. I love when people make assertions like this. What else do you have a right to know?

    22. Re:That's not how the law works. by skine · · Score: 1

      The American people are the enemy.

      Did you not realize this?

    23. Re:That's not how the law works. by tftp · · Score: 1

      There is a simple test for that. If Reuters can sue the US Government and win then they indeed have that right; otherwise they don't.

    24. Re:That's not how the law works. by Xest · · Score: 1

      "Reuters had a right to know what happened to their journalists; the fact that they were killed in war is not relevant. They asked politely, and the US army refused to give them the video. This is not a matter of defending the army's actions, or comparing their actions to more barbaric wars, it is a matter of whether or not people have a right to know how two journalists wound up dead."

      It's not just the Reuters journalists either, during the Iraq invasion a US A10 pilot strafed British forces killing and wounding some. We recognised that shit happens in war and accepted that yes the US isn't going to prosecute it's pilots over this, however we'd like a copy of the A10's gun camera for our inquest so we could judge what went wrong. America, being America, outright refused even this simple request.

      This is precisely the sort of problem at the core of this issue - this attitude in the US military and government of closing ranks when they fuck up rather than learning from their mistakes. It gives US military personnel this idea that they can commit these acts and not worry because their superiors will cover it up and so they have no reason to be careful anymore.

      America has created a culture where it's troops aren't accountable, where it doesn't matter who they kill intentionally or not, and this is why the leaks were important - they acted as a balance against this culture of no blame. They brought accountability back to the US military and the US government such that if the US isn't going to force it's soldiers to start acting with some degree of competence in warzones in which both civilians, journalists, and allies are at risk of harm, then they're going to have to face being publicly embarassed on the international stage instead.

  17. No timeframe is required by Quila · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Everything can be waived upon request. However, this is the period where the government conducts its investigation. A big, complex case would mean a long investigation.

    Here the soldier is at an advantage over a civilian, because he actually gets to be involved in the hearing and present and cross examine witnesses. A civilian prosecutor can (and often does) hold a grand jury without the interests of the defense being presented, thus the saying about indicting a ham sandwich.

    This is one reason why courts martial have a high conviction rate. Most cases that wouldn't result in a conviction don't get referred for trial after an Article 32 hearing. This is how our civilian grand jury system is supposed to work.

  18. Just a liar by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1, Informative

    Manning is just a liar.

    When he got is clearance he made an oath knowing what the penalty would be were he to break it, and he broke it.

    He released more than 100K classified documents, did he check each one of those documents to see if there was evidence for a specific crime of the US?

    I don't think so. He grabbed absolutely everything he could and sent it out.

    Contrary to ignorant claims, Manning is no martyr, he's just a lying creep, who should hope that they shoot him rather than lock him away in the USDB forever.

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
    1. Re:Just a liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well done for presuming innocent until proven guilty.

    2. Re:Just a liar by blair1q · · Score: 3, Informative

      He believed there was one specific crime, and he actually did expose evidence of it.

      Problem is, that was illegal. Releasing every other document in the database was just piling on.

      There's a procedure for getting criminally classified documents declassified. In fact, it might not even be necessary, since all he had to do was show certain people within the system that they existed, and the crime would be dealt with without declassifying the documents.

      if for some reason he didn't like the result, his recourse was to take it another step up the chain. He's got a dozen commanders and a dozen Inspectors General (who checks-and-balances his associated commander) between him and the Commander-in-Chief, plus he can write his Congressmen (all three of them) or a number of officials in the Defense security apparatus whose sole job is to deal with illegal classification, and he's completely within his rights -- and encouraged -- to do those things, and told (probably on a poster in the classified storage area) that it is illegal for anyone to retaliate against him.

      Instead he decided he knew that there were no honest men or women anywhere in that system, so he was above the law, and glory would shine on him for his actions.

      I think he had help coming to that belief, and that encouragement constitutes a violation of law itself.

    3. Re:Just a liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless they find him not guilty, of course.

    4. Re:Just a liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wasn't aware he'd already been convicted. Or does 'Innocent until proven guilty' no longer apply?

    5. Re:Just a liar by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 0

      Instead he decided he knew that there were no honest men or women anywhere in that system,

      and most of us know, deep down, he was right.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    6. Re:Just a liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See previous posts, sucks to carry a clearance.

    7. Re:Just a liar by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1

      Instead he decided he knew that there were no honest men or women anywhere in that system,

      and most of us know, deep down, he was right.

      You may freely speak for yourself, but DO NOT speak for "most of us", because you don't.

      --
      "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    8. Re:Just a liar by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      The man is a hero revealing war crimes, you however are a fucking govt toady and creep!

    9. Re:Just a liar by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      No the term fair minded would have been better. Remeber that "most of us" is not all ignorant patriotism spewing Us citizens. It is so obviously true i cant decide if you are an idiot or a shill.

    10. Re:Just a liar by formfeed · · Score: 1

      Contrary to ignorant claims, Manning is no martyr, he's just a lying creep, who should hope that they shoot him rather than lock him away in the USDB forever.

      Yes. Or execute him. Than in about 20 years we can build him a memorial on the mall. And school kids can do reports about him.

  19. And something people need to remember by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Military laws are different than civilian laws. When you sign up for the military, you agree to be subjected to the Uniform Code of Military Justice when you are on duty or deployed. It is related to US civilian laws, but not the same. So if you want to sign up to be a solider, you need to be aware you are held to a different legal standard. A simple example would be that insubordination is against the law in the military.

    Then there's the matter of revealing classified data. Military or not when you are given a security clearance, you agree to not reveal classified information. I don't mean they say "You agree to this," I mean you actually sign an agreement, an NDA. It is very much a full disclosure kind of situation in that you understand and agree not to reveal the things you'll be shown.

    So you can certainly say he did the morally right thing leaking the information, if you believe that (though I would then ask you to show what information leaked you believe was so important for the public to know) but you can't argue it was legal or that he didn't know it was illegal. Since it was done in military service, that also makes it a military trial.

    1. Re:And something people need to remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...Then there's the matter of revealing classified data. Military or not when you are given a security clearance, you agree to not reveal classified information. I don't mean they say "You agree to this," I mean you actually sign an agreement, an NDA. ...

      For the record, if you indicate you can't they will also READ the NDA to you. Line by painful line.

    2. Re:And something people need to remember by copponex · · Score: 5, Informative

      Though I would then ask you to show what information leaked you believe was so important for the public to know

      After Disclosures by WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera Replaces Its Top News Director

      "CAIRO -- Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news network financed by Qatar, named a member of the Qatari royal family on Tuesday to replace its top news director after disclosures from the group WikiLeaks indicating that the news director had modified the network's coverage of the Iraq war in response to pressure from the United States...

      In at least one instance, involving a report on the network's Web site, Mr. Khanfar said in the cable that he had changed coverage at the American official's request. He said he had removed two images depicting wounded children in a hospital and a woman with a badly wounded face."

      The fact that American officials are censoring the media, including Al Jazeera, may not be news to you, but it does further explain why the Iraq War looked nothing like Vietnam as far as news coverage was concerned. It wasn't because it was a good war. It was because reporting was limited to what American officials wanted Americans to see.

    3. Re:And something people need to remember by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      The other part of the puzzle is that you are only supposed to be using classified information that you need to use. I suspect he'll have a difficult time explaining why he was access that much classified information unless he had the specific intention of releasing it.

    4. Re:And something people need to remember by Rebestein · · Score: 1

      Right but given his rank he should not be able to cause much harm. That is a simple fail-safety principle in intelligence. And beeing imprisoned for over one year for a suspected crime without trial doesn't appear like rule of law to me.

    5. Re:And something people need to remember by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      Military laws are different than civilian laws. When you sign up for the military, you agree to be subjected to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

      Fixed that for you.
       
      When one joins the military, one is subject to the UCMJ while one is a member of the military, regardless of location, duty, or deployment status. Convicted of theft while on vacation and you can come back and be charged, tried, convicted, and punished by the military as well. And, if you come back late because you are in jail, you will be tried for being UA or AWOL.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    6. Re:And something people need to remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re: “I would then ask you to show what information leaked you believe was so important for the public to know”

      How's this for an example, with current news relevance; something that could cost more lives both foreign civilian and potentially US military personnel. Something which indicates that the US under Obama is continuing to follow the same long tradition that Bush upheld so well – the bending of “facts” to justify starting a war?

      “The shift in tone at the I.A.E.A. seems linked to a change at the top. The I.A.E.A.’s report had extra weight because the Agency has had a reputation for years as a reliable arbiter on Iran. Mohammed ElBaradei, who retired as the I.A.E.A.’s Director General two years ago, was viewed internationally, although not always in Washington, as an honest broker—a view that lead to the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. ElBaradei’s replacement is Yukiya Amano of Japan. Late last year, a classified U.S. Embassy cable from Vienna, the site of the I.A.E.A. headquarters, described Amano as being “ready for prime time.” According to the cable, which was obtained by WikiLeaks, ... said, he was solidly in the U.S. court on every strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.” The cable added that Amano’s “willingness to speak candidly with U.S. interlocutors on his strategy bodes well for our future relationship.”
      (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2011/11/iran-and-the-iaea.html)

      The article goes on to quote individuals in positions to know that the latest IAEA report contains NO NEW INFORMATION. So ask yourselves if everything in this report has been known since the middle of the last decade – why the hype? Why now?

      Without WikiLeaks, we would have less information indicating that am impartial head of the IAEA was replaced with a US lackey and we would be in a weaker position to see through the latest fear mongering in the pursuit of war. I encourage you to read the full New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh.

    7. Re:And something people need to remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that American officials are censoring the media, including Al Jazeera, may not be news to you, but it does further explain why the Iraq War looked nothing like Vietnam as far as news coverage was concerned. It wasn't because it was a good war. It was because reporting was limited to what American officials wanted Americans to see.

      The US influencing Al Jazeera is quite a stretch to censoring what Americans see.

      Propaganda is an important element of any war, it's as old as war, go read some Sun Tzu.

  20. That's another fun thing by jwijnands · · Score: 1

    About the US of A. Doesn't matter how heavy handed the government acts, there's always a queue forming to defend the actions.

    1. Re:That's another fun thing by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      This isn't heavy handed, these are the known consequences of the actions someone took. And as I keep saying Manning and everybody else knows what will happen if they violate their clearance.

      When you get a security clearance you know that you will be fucked really hard should you violate that trust. Learning that is part of getting the clearance.

      Its like getting a put through a known process process for robbing a bank, (Different than a security violation, but still a known process); especially if you go around bragging about it. No amount of whining about how the CEOs are crooks and deserved it will get you out of the trouble that you've made for yourself.

      --
      If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
    2. Re:That's another fun thing by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      What happens to the people who improperly classify documents?

      Nothing?

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
  21. He's 23! by bigsexyjoe · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    So that video of a bunch of soldiers killing people for no reason was put in the hands of some random 23 year old. He released it, and now they want to charge the 23 year old with "aiding the enemy" which is a capital crime, along with 22 other charges. And they put him in solitary confinement while awaiting trial.

    Well at least they are giving him a trial instead of just executing him.

    1. Re:He's 23! by blair1q · · Score: 2

      yes they are. and he deserves whatever he gets as a result of that trial. no matter how old he is.

    2. Re:He's 23! by Quila · · Score: 1

      It was only SECRET. The storage of that information doesn't have to enforce the need to know aspect of access to classified information. However, someone was a bit lax with the permissions in any case. There's no reason to give everybody everything.

      Now if it were various higher-level programs he would be required to have an operational need to have access to that specific information even to be told it existed.

    3. Re:He's 23! by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People in Obama's administration have leaked classified info (bin Laden raid, anyone?)

      That info was actually TOP SECRET, and not just SECRET. So someone in Obama's administration is leaking more serious info than Manning did.

      Don't hold your breath waiting for that investigation, though.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    4. Re:He's 23! by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      That info was actually TOP SECRET, and not just SECRET.

      TOP SECRET means it'll be in the papers maybe 2-3 days after it happens.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  22. So that's how long it took to break him. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Solitary confinement and constant monitoring and harrassment will drive anyone insane eventually. So now that he's been thoroughly broken, the "trial" can begin.

  23. I'd prefer a military jury by Quila · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, if I were innocent. You don't get a group where the two sides have tried to produce the most ignorant jury possible. They're not likely to be swayed by the pretty charts and rhetoric of the prosecution if they have no real basis.

    You get career military people who are generally well-educated and know the military laws themselves. The average officer on the jury is field-grade, and he'll have a military-oriented master's degree at minimum. Enlisted normally don't rise to the ranks that get put on juries without having at least a batchelor's.

    1. Re:I'd prefer a military jury by Aryden · · Score: 1

      and in this day and age, you won't get passed E-8 without a master's degree. Education levels have been playing a huge part in promotion acceptance above the grade of E-7 for more than a decade.

  24. Weak sauce by SuperKendall · · Score: 0, Troll

    Do you think it means unconditional loyalty even when the state begins to commit atrocities?

    Then why did he not JUST leak the "atrocities"?

    What were the "atrocities" anyway? In the end it seemed like a big bowl of nothing, with only downside for the poor bastards that provided some intelligence to the U.S. who had names exposed.

    There should not be unconditional loyalty. But neither should loyalty be abandoned for nothing whatsoever. Somewhere in the middle is the right point to accept death and dishonor for what you are about to reveal. He came nowhere near that point.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Weak sauce by Darri · · Score: 2, Informative

      What were the "atrocities" anyway?

      What about committing the supreme international crime, a war of aggression against Iraq?

      Is that an "atrocity" enough for you?

    2. Re:Weak sauce by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In the end it seemed like a big bowl of nothing

      How about the fact that the DEA -- supposedly a law enforcement agency -- has amassed such vast signals intelligence power that dictators are demanding DEA assistance in spying on political opponents? We knew that the war on drugs was out of control before the leak, but this gives a clear indication of just how out of control things are, and shows us why the government considers the DEA to be a member of the intelligence community. It is also a warning sign, because unlike the CIA, FBI, or NSA, the DEA is allowed to engage in both foreign and domestic operations, including intelligence gathering.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    3. Re:Weak sauce by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      What were the "atrocities" anyway? In the end it seemed like a big bowl of nothing,

      How about various bullshit, lies, and war crimes. I'd point to some specifics but it's so widespread that it's a systematic problem and I don't know where to begin.

      But hell, off the top of my head, we were lied to about the state of affairs in Afghanistan, it was a lot worse then reported. We killed a lot more civilians in Iraq then they let on. A US contractor, Dyncorp, that trained cops in Afghanistan paid for child prostitution to said cops. Monsanto is an evil corporation that politically retaliates against business opposition. McDonald's uses political pressure to evade lawsuits abroad. The state department used diplomats to spy on the Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general of the UN (which is kind of their job, until they're asked to get DNA, fingerprints, passwords, and encryption keys).

    4. Re:Weak sauce by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Would you people please READ instead of using talking points?

      US troops committed summary execution of Iraqi women and children, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence.

      DynCorp pimped young boys to Afghani police recruits ("bacha bazi").

      If that's a "big bowl of nothing", then I'd like a helping of "bullshit" to go with it.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    5. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      You mean that war that was agreed to in a landslide congressional vote? Yes, its TOTALLY our military's fault for following the Commander in Chief's orders which were grounded on a Congressional declaration of war.

    6. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      According to Wired Magazine, "WikiLeaks may have just bolstered one of the Bush administration’s most controversial claims about the Iraq war: that Iran supplied many of the Iraq insurgency’s deadliest weapons and worked hand-in-glove with some of its most lethal militias. The documents indicate that Iran was a major combatant in the Iraq war, as its elite Quds Force trained Iraqi Shiite insurgents and imported deadly weapons like the shape-charged explosively formed penetrator bombs into Iraq for use against civilians, Sunni militants and U.S. troops."[

      Thats damning stuff right there.

      Seriously, did you even read that list? The first 10 or so talk either about interesting statistics that may have been misreported, and several issues of the Iraqi security forces. The worst you can really pin on our military (at least from the first several bullets there) is that we classified the reuters reporters killed in the gunship incident as enemy combatants.

    7. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 1, Troll

      People still havent answered this:
      Even if we were to assume your statements were 100% accurate, it STILL doesnt answer the question, "why release the other 99,000 documents?"

    8. Re:Weak sauce by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Point of fact: Germany declared war on the US first. That allowed the US to legally respond in kind and undertake overt hostilities.

      • 07 Dec 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, declaring war later that day
      • 08 Dec 1941: US declares war on Japan
      • 11 Dec 1941: Germany and Italy declare war on the US; US declares war on Germany later that day.

      With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US's full entry into the war went from an eventual likelihood to a guarantee.

      I agree with you on the invasion of Iraq and the apprehension of Saddam Hussein. I disagree that Afghanistan should be vacated right now, as it's still not nearly stable enough and we'd just end up back there sooner or later.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    9. Re:Weak sauce by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      No war was ever declared against Iraq. The only times war has been declared by the US were the War of 1812; the Mexican-American War; the Spanish-American War; and both World Wars. Iraq was a congressionally-authorized military action. There's a significant legal difference.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    10. Re:Weak sauce by Catbeller · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The war was a lie. The President and Cheney declared that Iraq had attacked us. We went there and slaughtered 60K+ people outright, destroyed their electrical generator plants, water systems, gas lines, highways and outright stole their only national resource, the oil under their feet. We did it against the advice of almost every country on earth. We've led to the deaths and torture of almost two million people. We've emptied the country of its people as they fled a 120+ degree hell that now has no jobs, no air conditioning, barely food, and has a government consisting of the son of a bitch, Chalabi, who told Bush and Cheney anything they wanted to hear. He is now in charge of the oil fields and is essentially the secret service. We have installed another bunch of thieves, and you want to "bring our boys home", like they just fought Adolph. That country could not, would not, did not want to attack us. but it had lovely oil, and we stole it.

    11. Re:Weak sauce by Catbeller · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1) Manning DID NOT release the documents, as you keep asserting. He transmitted them to Wikileaks, a trusted organization that kept secret whistleblowers secret.

      2) Wikileaks DID NOT RELEASE a blessed thing; the New York Times, the Guardian of London, and two other papers were given the block of documents, and they and they *alone* released what they thought safe to release after careful review, in which Wikileaks did not participate. If you have a problem, take it up with the newspapers, not Manning, not Wikileaks.

      3) The full documents got out after a reporter from the Guardian, I believe, idiotically published the password in an article. Go hang him.

      4) Manning and Wikileaks exercise due diligence and made sure that they released nothing harmful to the troops by giving control of the release to responsible reporters who were supposed to know what they are doing. That is precisely how responsible leakers have always done it.

      5) The reporters let us see that our troops had committed a savage murder, on camera, and the chain of command had refused to investigate.

      6) Large number of stories are now known to us about immoral and illegal acts committed by our government and others. One of those reports triggered the uprising called the Arab Spring. Perhaps you've heard of it.

      7) The US government in the past ten years has extended secret classifications to even mundane domestic reports. We even have secret laws that we cannot see, and no-fly lists that cannot be seen or contested. We have a country run in secret down to our police departments. A country that does not know, CANnot know, by law, what is actually happening in their name cannot possess the knowledge to govern themselves, making democracy itself impossible, even illegal. To become informed is to break the law. To break this blockade on truth is to spend 18 months in solitary without charge while they try to get you to falsely implicate others. To try to keep your country free and murderers tried for their crimes, they will lock you up for years without charges and then give you two weeks to get ready for trial after your mind is half gone and you haven't talked to a sane human for so long you can't construct sentences, let alone argue, against the full might of a national secrecy state that likes power and ain't about to give any up to lippy men with notions of right and wrong.

      This is not about oaths and laws. This is about what is right, and what is wrong. And knowing enough to understand the different.

    12. Re:Weak sauce by thomasw_lrd · · Score: 0

      Points well taken.

    13. Re:Weak sauce by thomasw_lrd · · Score: 0

      I love the oil argument with gas being well over $3.00 a gallon still, with highs predicts next year of over 5.00 USD. So glad we stole all the fucking oil for our own sakes.

      I guess you don't realize we did the same thing in the early 90s when the UN asked us to do it. We should have finished Saddam then.

    14. Re:Weak sauce by Catbeller · · Score: 5, Informative

      2A) The NY Times and the London Guardian informed the US government, before publishing anything, that they were in possession of the documents. They invited the US to review what was to be published, and were given the power to edit the documents so that no soldier would be endangered by publication. The US government refused to cooperate. So, please, keep this in mind when you talk about Manning "releasing" documents. All the T's were crossed and the i's dotted.

    15. Re:Weak sauce by Pseudonym · · Score: 2

      Even if we were to assume your statements were 100% accurate, it STILL doesnt answer the question, "why release the other 99,000 documents?"

      For the same reason why the other 4000 pages of the Pentagon Papers were released, I would imagine.

      However, I think that you might be asking this question about the wrong person. A leaker/whistleblower is often not the best person to sift through the material that they have at their disposal and decide what is in the public interest to release and what isn't. That's the job of journalists.

      For what it's worth, Manning isn't accused of releasing anything to the general public. He's accused of releasing material to a press agency (in this case Wikileaks). You should be asking the press why the other documents were released, not Manning (even assuming it was him who did it).

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    16. Re:Weak sauce by Isaac-1 · · Score: 2

      Wow it must be nice living on the kinds of drugs you must taking to now to see that transmitting to a non authorized entity is RELEASING documents. It is not a matter of being trusted, I am sure lots of people trusted the KGB 50 years ago too, that did not make them authorized to view hundreds of thousands of cables, and getting caught transmitting to them would have almost certainly found you put on trial for treason.

    17. Re:Weak sauce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oil prices remaining high doesn't mean we didn't do it for "our" sake. It just means that you are not one of the "our."

    18. Re:Weak sauce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God you're a fucking boot licker. The incredibly amusing thing is that you think you're anti-government.

    19. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 2, Informative

      1) Manning DID NOT release the documents, as you keep asserting. He transmitted them to Wikileaks, a trusted organization that kept secret whistleblowers secret.

      Yea, see, that right there is releasing sensitive information. He is the one who had the original access to it, and he is the source of the leak. You might as well claim that, had he put it on bittorrent, it wasnt HIS fault that it was broken up into a zillion pieces and spread all over the internet.

      If you have a problem, take it up with the newspapers, not Manning, not Wikileaks.

      The newspapers arent being charged, last I checked, since they didnt break any agreements or violate any military codes.

      Manning and Wikileaks exercise due diligence and made sure that they released nothing harmful to the troops by giving control of the release to responsible reporters who were supposed to know what they are doing. That is precisely how responsible leakers have always done it.

      That might have held some water if he hadnt realeased such an incredible amount of stuff which amounted to basically however much he could get his hands on.

      This is not about oaths and laws.

      See, thats where youre wrong-- laws and oaths are precisely why Manning is on trial, and would have been at any point in US history. What he did has never been acceptable, and never will be. As for right and wrong, for him to take the moral high ground he would have had to exercise a great deal more restraint and specificity on what he leaked than he did.

    20. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

      What the hell did you think the press would do?

      Answer: Anything that will sell papers.

      Trying to act like their irresponsibility somehow excuses manning just doesnt cut it.

    21. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Fair enough, but at the end of the day it amounted to the same thing, sans martial law / habeus corpus.

    22. Re:Weak sauce by anagama · · Score: 1

      just posting to this so I can find it again later easily. Brilliant post.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    23. Re:Weak sauce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The incredibly amusing thing is that you think you're anti-government.

      Scratch most libertarians deep enough and the fascist beneath will show clearly.

    24. Re:Weak sauce by Darri · · Score: 0

      It is irrelevant how many American votes of agreement the war got, congressional or otherwise, I'm talking about the war being illegal from the UN point of view, hence an international crime.

    25. Re:Weak sauce by mgf64 · · Score: 1

      Well Nazist military who conspired against Hitler were indeed executed for treason. They infringed the law and their oath. But are heroes nonetheless. Sometimes infringing the law is the only right thing to do.

    26. Re:Weak sauce by Xest · · Score: 2

      "As for right and wrong, for him to take the moral high ground he would have had to exercise a great deal more restraint and specificity on what he leaked than he did."

      This is retarded, there's no possible way he could've filtered through the information to separate the countless amounts of abuse documented within, so your argument is effectively that because he couldn't do this he shouldn't have leaked at all to avoid the more menial and irrelevant cables getting leaked.

      Your argument amounts to saying that if you can't separate all the evidence of an endemic attitude of turning a blind eye to breaches of various international standards on human rights, diplomatic laws, war crimes and so forth from the mundane then you should just keep it all secret.

      The story from the cables wasn't one specific incident or another, it's that the US was ignoring the very standards it preaches to the rest of the world and from the very top to the very bottom illustrated by everything from Hilary Clinton ordering the spying on of UN diplomats in international territory down to grunts on the ground murdering people and shelling civilian populated areas in the hope of randomly hitting militants.

      Sure not all of it was relevant to this story, but you just couldn't filter out the irrelevant cruft.

      Finally you're missing the GP's point completely, yes we all know that technically it's about breaking some arbitrarily (and often undemocratically) defined legal principle, but the GP's point was that just because something is law, doesn't mean it's just, doesn't mean it's moral, and doesn't mean it's right. Thus far for all the talk of putting lives in danger the leaks have not done so, they have led to a massive positive upheaval in global politics where the entrenched positions of vested interests were the very things that led to the complacency that allowed the abuses highlighted within the cables to be committed in the first place. The net effect of the leaks has been overwhelmingly positive across the globe and in the court of moral judgement Manning has been vindicated, it's just a shame the courts of American justice no longer align with what is right, or what is wrong, only with what the vested interests from large corporates to self interested politicians want to be the case. Really, the only people bitching about what Manning did are wrong are for the most part, the same right wing Republican types who allowed the likes of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to turn into a such a shit storm in the first place, so no, the rest of the world doesn't give a fuck what you think, we just feel sorry for Manning being caught up in your poisonous grasp but thank him for the positive effect his actions have had in the world.

    27. Re:Weak sauce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we are back to the only person who is charged is the one who followed his oath to protect his country against domestic enemies.

    28. Re:Weak sauce by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quick, read ALL the cables, do the research, and determine which cables highlight 'atrocities'. Organize them, double-check for accuracy.

      Oh, don't have the time? Neither did Manning.

    29. Re:Weak sauce by LordLimecat · · Score: 0

      He released tens (hundreds?) of thousands of documents for basically one or two issues that might have been significant. Presumably he leaked them because he knew what some of them said, and was horrified by them, yes? Why not release those?

      Or are you REALLY arguing that someone leaking a company's illegal dumping practices has latitude to also leak their short and long term strategies, their financials, their lobbying plans, their acquisition plans, and all R&D that they do? Because I dont think any court in the world would find that to be protected.

    30. Re:Weak sauce by HeckRuler · · Score: 1

      Child prostitution isn't damning?

    31. Re:Weak sauce by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Except that habeas corpus has only been suspended in a declared war during World War II, and then only for the territory of Hawaii. Habeas corpus has been suspended outside of a declared war only a few times, most notably the Civil War and in the Phillipines when it was a US territory. Martial law has been declared more often, but with the exception of the Civil War and the aforementioned situation in Hawaii, it has generally been limited in the scope to a city or a few counties.

      The way the US practices war is a little different from how nations on other continents have practiced it, in large part because the US has had few hostile immediate neighbors, and even when it did, its existence was in comparatively little danger.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    32. Re:Weak sauce by Xest · · Score: 2

      "He released tens (hundreds?) of thousands of documents for basically one or two issues that might have been significant."

      Therein lies precisely the problem with people like you who feel the US is a nation who's evidence of wrongdoing should be kept secret, you just fob it off as "one or two issues" when there were, frankly, 100s of important issues all surrounding the same theme - American arrogance as a source of many problems in the world, from diplomatic spying to many many counts of killing of civilians.

      If a company suffers from systemic corruption and incompetence then yes, only a complete leak of their data will be enough to allow people to examine the depth of the problem. This is the fundamental issue unveiled by the cables Manning leaked - American corruption and incompetence was a major problem throughout pretty much every level of the military and government, and that needed to be exposed so that America can correct it's path of self-destruction based upon arrogance and the culture of secrecy that allowed such corruption and subversive practices to thrive in the first place.

      I don't expect you to understand this though, as first you would have to recognise that America has lost it's way as a force for good in the world, but I'll help you get started on that - extraordinary rendition and detention without trial and Guantanamo are an ideal start. You can follow up with the war in Iraq and exactly what that was meant to achieve and who profited from it (Hint: Bush and Cheney et al.) at the expense of many US service people's lives. When you start to recognise that America has lost it's way, you'll begin to understand why America has seen it's respect in the world plummet, and when you understand all of that you'll begin to recognise that America needs the kind of shake up Manning has provided to wake up from it's mindless sleepwalk towards it's own downfall.

      Perhaps you'll also then realise that people like me don't like seeing things like the Wikileaks leak happen because we hate America, but because we would rather see America return to being a force for good in the world - something it inherently can't ever be when the widespread practices exposed by the cables continue to be commonplace. The best defence against such a leak in future is the same solution required for America to return to being an important force for good in the world - stop merely pretending to be a beacon of democracy, liberty, justice, and freedom and actually start once again to act in the interests of those tenets. If America was doing that, there'd be nothing of note worth leaking.

    33. Re:Weak sauce by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Yes, the press would do anything that will sell papers. On the other hand, the government would do anything that will get votes or cover their rears. One of the hardest lessons of the post-9/11 era, for those who hadn't learned it earlier, is that there is no such thing as "the good guys".

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    34. Re:Weak sauce by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The reason the troops didn't come home right away is that the country needed help becoming stable again. If we had immediately left, it would have guaranteed another dictator rising to power.

      Another problem is that it seems people in power on our side keep making the same mistakes in that region because they don't understand it. The things being fought over are the differences between Shia and Sunni. It is roughly equivalent to the old fights between Catholic and Protestant, and it is a very difficult problem to solve.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  25. Speedy trial motions are extremely rare by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The defense generally wants as long as they can before trial for all kinds of reasons. As such you almost never see a speedy trial motion. The only time you'd be likely to see one is if an attorney was convinced his client was innocent and the state was dragging their feat. However that is fairly rare.

    Generally in a case where the defense would file a speedy trial motion the prosecution will drop the case rather than go to court and lose. I'm not saying it is always that way, but 99.999% of the time.

    In Manning's case his guilt seems to be pretty clear cut. Thus his lawyer is not going to be at all interested in pushing the trial quickly. He'll want as much time to pass as possible for a lot of reasons.

    1. Re:Speedy trial motions are extremely rare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Manning's case his guilt seems to be pretty clear cut.

      Apart from that little detail, you know, where what he did wasn't a crime.
      Manning is guilty of showing that his superiors commited crimes, you are allowed to do that.

    2. Re:Speedy trial motions are extremely rare by wienerschnizzel · · Score: 1

      And how exactly can the defense delay a trial when no charges have been filed? Ask the prosecutor nicely to file them later?

    3. Re:Speedy trial motions are extremely rare by gknoy · · Score: 1

      If you blow the whistle on specific crimes to your superiors (and all the way up the chain as necessary), you're protected. If you just dump a database of classified information, only some of which pertains to specific crimes, you've done more than blow the whistle, and are likely going to be nailed to the wall for that.

      If Manning had wanted to blow the whistle, he could have collected evidence of those specific crimes and alerted his superiors. He might even have been protected if he had leaked ONLY those (but would almost certainly would go through a court martial). If he did leak the stuff that is claimed (and, sadly, the evidence against him seems pretty damning), I imagine that he's pretty much screwed.

  26. post with an account by unity100 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    if you have the balls. some anonymous coward accusing someone who put the government SHIT into open with treason, smells like horse shit.

  27. Just to be clear, it's not his first. by blair1q · · Score: 2

    He's had days in court. Administrative matters relating to his basic rights rather than addressing of the larger issues of whether he should or shouldn't be there, but court nonetheless. He hasn't been denied counsel and a judge been in charge of his incarceration and care since shortly after his arrest. The spooks didn't disappear him. He's getting due process (unless maybe someone in the process screws up and he's getting technicalities his lawyer can exploit, but those are details, not a basic denial of any rights beyond his own signing away of anything but military justice).

  28. Not enemy combatant by Quila · · Score: 1

    He is still in the Army and is a prisoner like any other arrested soldier. However, his is a much more severe case than most, and due to the circumstances is held in a status designed to prevent injury by himself or other prisoners.

    1. Re:Not enemy combatant by Aryden · · Score: 1

      Complete crock. Read: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/dispute-over-confinement-of-wikileaks-suspect-echoes-guantanamo-chaplain-case/

      His POI confinement has been ordered by the brig commander, which is not within his jurisdiction. The brig psychiatrist has specifically requested his status be changed and has been ignored.

    2. Re:Not enemy combatant by Quila · · Score: 1

      That doesn't change his status. It isn't enemy combatant. The conditions are another issue, which is debatable. The commander of the brig certainly doesn't want Manning dying on his watch, which could be a career killer.

  29. Explain please how that's better by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Insightful

    let's not forget these leaks were a catalyst for the Tunisian uprising, which lead to the revolts in Egypt and Libya

    Since both countries are about to be taken over by hard-core Islamofascist groups (Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt) are you advocating then for a worse punishment?

    It's really a shame as I loved Egypt and the people there will great. They were poor but had a lot of freedom really, all of that gone soon...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Explain please how that's better by jkauzlar · · Score: 1

      Yes, I acknowledge that and agree it's a shame, but, optimistically speaking, a work in progress. Either way, it's nice to see a population standing up for itself under a corrupt regime and I would never say they shouldn't have tried.

    2. Re:Explain please how that's better by scot4875 · · Score: 1

      Islamofascist

      I love scary sounding made-up nonsense words. They make it easy to spot people to ignore.

      --Jeremy

      --
      Jesus was a liberal
    3. Re:Explain please how that's better by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile I find the response to trigger words helpful; in your case it tells me you are ignorant and easily manipulated.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  30. No one killed by mrops · · Score: 2

    Enough of that bullshit. Till to date no one has been proven killed because of the cable release. The only thing they have done is cast light on war crimes and other shit the US and their allies pull off. If anything the world is a little bit better knowing that all those conspiracy theories may not be as far fetched as the government would like you to think.

  31. That's probably classified by Quila · · Score: 1

    There is only one saving grace in this, in that Assange had the good sense to try to cleanse the documents before releasing them.

  32. Sucks to carry a clearance by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1

    That's why it sucks to carry a clearance.

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
  33. I wonder by AdamJS · · Score: 1

    How would this have played out if he had directly leaked the cables to the New York Times instead?

    1. Re:I wonder by Shazback · · Score: 1

      Sadly, I believe he'd have probably have been turned in, since Sulzberger Jr. doesn't pack it like daddy did.

      I wonder if all the people that call for Manning to wallow in prison believe that systematic and massive overclassification is conducive to proper democratic process in this country, and if they therefore believe that Ellsberg should share his shackles.

  34. What's happening to this country? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 2

    I was watching an episode of Locked Up Abroad and laughing at some 3rd world country that took about a year to put the antagonist to trial while he sat in jail. So, in what version of Gestapo America is 1 1/2 years OK?

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
  35. The military should be known for it by Quila · · Score: 1

    Let's even go back to Private Slovik in WWII, the man famous for being the only one executed for desertion. He said he would desert, was told his action would constitute desertion, and after he did it he was given several chances to go back to his unit and all would be forgotten. He wrote a note incriminating himself, and was offered a couple of times to have it torn up. To make sure Slovik understood the consequences, they had him write on the back of his note.

    Slovik committed suicide by judicial system, on the hopes he would just get a jail sentence that would be commuted after the war. A lot of people in the Army system tried, but failed, to protect him from himself.

  36. Re:So wrong... by microbox · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well too bad for Manning then he uncovered NOTHING while in the meantime delivering the enemy all kinds of juicy intelligence

    You've got your blinkers on there.

    Let me guess, your a jingoist?

    --

    Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
  37. If Guilty... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 0

    If found guilty, putting him up against the wall and doing what you do to traitors up against the wall is fully appropriate for the damage he has done.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:If Guilty... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Informative

      If found guilty, putting him up against the wall and doing what you do to traitors up against the wall is fully appropriate for the damage he has done.

      Citation needed.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:If Guilty... by bug1 · · Score: 1

      You dont have the guts to say whats on your mind (do you mean shoot him?) and you still cant see how important free speech is...

      OPEN YOUR EYES

  38. And he's being given a speedy* trial. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

    *For extremely slow values of speedy.

  39. Re:So wrong... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

    Well too bad for Manning then he uncovered NOTHING

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/world/26wikidrugs.html?pagewanted=all

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  40. Who was misusing it? by mosb1000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Some people would say that much of the information he released shouldn't have been classified in the first place. So, who is really the one misusing it?

    1. Re:Who was misusing it? by DesScorp · · Score: 4, Informative

      Some people would say that much of the information he released shouldn't have been classified in the first place. So, who is really the one misusing it?

      And what "some people say" doesn't mean squat, because you don't get to decide that when you enlist. Just like you don't get to decide what uniform to wear or what targets to bomb or who to shoot at.The military is not a democracy.

      --
      Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    2. Re:Who was misusing it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if some info should have been declassified, That was not his job or call to make !.
      By releasing those documents, he put fellow solders and friendly informants in harms way !

    3. Re:Who was misusing it? by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      Did he? Or was it the people who were improperly classifying information for political purposes? As you said, it was someone else's job. Someone who wasn't doing their job right and left the responsibility to someone else.

    4. Re:Who was misusing it? by Mitreya · · Score: 1
      By releasing those documents, he put fellow solders and friendly informants in harms way !

      Citation needed
      Citation needed
      Citation needed
      This is very important and should have a bearing on the trial. I have seen dozens of examples of the bad government acts that have been exposed. I have not seen a single concrete evidence of someone coming into harm. I am not even claiming that didn't happen, but wouldn't it be easy to point to an example if so many people did find themselves in harm's way?

    5. Re:Who was misusing it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some people would say that much of the information he released shouldn't have been classified in the first place. So, who is really the one misusing it?

      And what "some people say" doesn't mean squat, because you don't get to decide that when you enlist. Just like you don't get to decide what uniform to wear or what targets to bomb or who to shoot at.The military is not a democracy.

      The military is not a democracy, that's true. That being said, the whole "Just do what you're told, and stop thinking" mentality has led to nothing but problems throughout history. Nazi Germany is a prime example, the Dark Ages is another. Just this week, at UC Davis, we saw another shining example of what happens when you do what you're told without thinking. It landed the offending officers in the unemployment line.
      While the military is not a democracy, you still have the civilian taxpayers to answer to when shit meets fan.

    6. Re:Who was misusing it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The military is not a democracy, but they are controlled by a democratic leadership and they have a responsibility to look at their rules through the lens of the society which has given them this (grossly abused) power.

  41. Two ways he might approach this by Theovon · · Score: 1

    Having sat in jail a long time might be useful as a bargaining chip, depending on why he said in jail for that long. But if the prosecutors are willing to take a plea bargain, I see two things he might want to consider doing: (a) Decide that what he did was right and fight to the death, or (b) decide that he's willing to admit guilt (even if he still feels he's not guilty) and plea-bargain for time-served and a dishonorable discharge. Of course, neither may work. He's up for treason, which is a serious accusation. But if the government wants to make an example of this behavior without keeping him in prison forever, they can get their legal precedent, which is often what they want. "Making law" is a feather in their caps.

  42. He is the enemy by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not even fucking close.

    If he could have attached each one of those documents to a specific crime, he might have had some moral ground to stand on. But instead he released as many classified documents as he could get his hands on.

    In spite of his self-righteous grandstanding, I think he was really just pissed that he was demoted and going to get kicked out for assaulting an officer and thought, and probably still thinks, that he'll get away with it in the long run.

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
  43. Don't let facts get in your way by Quila · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here's something that will spin your brain: This is Bush's drawdown. Yep, agreed to in 2008 with the government of Iraq.

    The only possible way this had anything to do with the drawdown would be if Obama had been planning to keep the troops there despite the Bush agreement, but decided not to after this got out.

    1. Re:Don't let facts get in your way by n+dot+l · · Score: 1

      The only possible way this had anything to do with the drawdown would be if Obama had been planning to keep the troops there despite the Bush agreement, but decided not to after this got out.

      That or if Obama had been trying to amend the Bush agreement in order to keep the troops there longer, but failed to do so because leaked information convinced the Iraqis to refuse Obama the terms he wanted:

      The current Status of Force Agreement had called for U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2011. But lengthy negotiations in recent months had led some to expect that American troops -- roughly 40,000 of which are in Iraq -- would remain there into next year.

      These talks, however, broke down over the prickly issue of legal immunity for U.S. troops in Iraq, a senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the discussions told CNN this month.

      U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top brass have repeatedly said any deal to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the withdrawal deadline would require a guarantee of legal protection for American soldiers.

      But the Iraqis refused to agree to that, opening up the prospect of Americans being tried in Iraqi courts and subjected to Iraqi punishment.

      The negotiations were strained following WikiLeaks' release of a diplomatic cable that alleged Iraqi civilians, including children, were killed in a 2006 raid by American troops rather than in an airstrike as the U.S. military initially reported.

    2. Re:Don't let facts get in your way by Quila · · Score: 1

      Immunity is always part of our SOFA demands in a hot zone.

      That any negotiations were strained by the release of the information is an interpretation of this CNN reporter, not a plain fact.

  44. Re:About f---ing time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One could even argue that the "secrets" that were exposed led to the "Arab Spring" where brutal dictatorial governments were overthrown by the masses seeking freedom and democracy.

    On second thought, judging by the United States' reaction to the "Occupy Wall St" protests, perhaps he was aiding the enemy.

  45. YES! by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

    Thank you for pointing out what should be fucking obvious. Everyone just looks the other way while stuff is being improperly classified, as if that doesn't matter at all. Perhaps if they had not wrongly classified that intel, Manning wouldn't have had the urge to allegedly leak it.

    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
    1. Re:YES! by TimeOut42 · · Score: 1

      That argument might hold a drop of water if he had actually read all the data he released. It would have meant he examined each piece, made an evaluation about whether he though it should be classified. Bottom line, he got caught in the Wikileaks propaganda engine.

    2. Re:YES! by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      My argument still holds water if you want *everyone* held accountable, including Manning and the individual(s) who improperly classified the documents. It seems that most people only want to hold the former accountable, but not the latter. Do we have the Rule of Law or the Rule of Men?

      For instance, what Manning allegedly leaked was just plain old "Secret". However, some members of Obama's administration have leaked "Top Secret" documents. Are those leakers going to be held accountable like Manning? Arguably the Top Secret leaks are worse than the regular Secret leaks. Yet once again, only one Manning will be held accountable for what he did.

      Ultimately, I believe everyone should be held accountable for their actions. Do you?

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
  46. Re:So wrong... by joss · · Score: 2

    > He leaked that information and is fully responsible for what happens as a result.

    I agree. This is the basis on which he should be judged. Did the release of this information on balance have a good or bad effect. He couldn't possibly have known the implications of all releasing all that he released, some informers could have conceivable ended up being executed (although, I'm pretty sure the powerful interests embarrassed by the leak would have highlighted any concrete examples had there been any). On the other hand, a vast amount of this information was not classified for any reason other than for political expediency. One cannot have a functioning democracy when people have no idea what their government is up to so there is a definite good that comes from bringing more information to light than the government is comfortable with. Its also true that diplomats cannot properly function without discretion. Tricky one this.. he's guilty, he'll go to jail, but he was right about something: a vast amount of this stuff was classified for the benefit of other guilty parties rather than for the good of the American people. He gets to pay the price of our increased liberty - he can't be let off completely but some compassion is called for

    --
    http://rareformnewmedia.com/
  47. classified machine = classified documents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If its on a classified machine, its classified; by definition.

    Not only that its illegal to place classified documents or classified media on an unclassified machine.

    Data going into a classified world is a one way trip without going through a lot of paperwork. And everybody with a clearance knows this, they tell you this when you sign your ass away to get the clearance in the first place.

  48. right on comrade, the motherland by decora · · Score: 1

    demands blood, for socialist... i mean capitalist legality!
    truly the fascist.. i mean terrorist ally manning must feel the wrath of SMERSH ... i mean JAG

  49. except thats its not a crime to release classified by decora · · Score: 1

    information. there are certain types of classified information that are a crime in certain situations, and none of them apply to manning.

    you can go read the actual laws, starting with the Espionage Act, which doesnt even use the word 'classified' until you get to the SIGINT part (and he isnt charged with the SIGINT part)

    then you can read the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is an embarassement, but also doesnt use the word 'classified'.

    if you want to know WHY there is no law, its because most congressmen and presidents leak classified information all the time, every news story you have ever read or book containing words like 'senior officials tell us' and so forth and so on is someone leaking classified information for a political purpose.

  50. espionage act doesnt mention 'classified' by decora · · Score: 1

    so your entire argument is basically moot.

    read the actual text of the laws he is accused of violating. "having classified info on a non classified system" whats the penalty for that? it sure as hell aint the death penalty or a life sentence.

  51. Re:stfu faggot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    unity10, you must be gay. What difference does it make if someone posts bullshit anonymously or under the guise of a dipshit name like "unity100". Shut your fucking mouth. You want my balls? Check your wife's mouth for me. How did my dick taste after you came back from Atlanta and kissed your wife for the first time in weeks?

  52. Am I the only one? by mutherhacker · · Score: 1

    Am I the only person in the world who thinks Bradley Manning is a fictitious character? I kinda think he doesn't exist and I'm curious as to the source of these news.

    1. Re:Am I the only one? by Larryish · · Score: 1

      And we have always been at war with Eastasia.

  53. Re:stfu faggot by unity100 · · Score: 1

    unity10, you must be gay.

    You want my balls?.

    Check your wife's mouth for me.

    How did my dick taste after you came back from ATLANTA and kissed your wife for the first time in weeks?

    ATLANTA HAHAHAHAHAAH ATLANTA !!! HAHAHAHAAHAA

    fucking atlanta. not austin or seattle. atlanta .... did someone screw you in atlanta, KID ? HAHAHAHAAHHA

    it seems we need coppa act back. too many 12 year olders flying about on the internet.

  54. What makes this case so interesting... by Co0Ps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What makes this case so interesting is that he clearly broke the military rules and also clearly helped humanity through his actions and he never gained anything by doing it. He wasn't paid for doing it and he knew people would hate him and that he would be punished hard but he followed his ideals rather than doing what gains him the most personally. He believed in the right of the public to know what their country is actually doing and where their tax money goes.

    I see that some of you are angry with him and want him punished but when asked what he actually did wrong you can't argue further than him "breaking the rules" and "acting irresponsible". That he caused or will cause deaths is pure speculation. Maybe you are angry with him because deep inside you know you would never have the balls to pull this off by yourself? Because you know that you are that kind of person that curls into a ball when the authority beats you with a stick and tells you what to do and think. Because being told what to do and think follows naturally when you argue that the government has the right to censor and keep information secret from the public it serves.

    What makes this case so interesting is the reactions from people. It tells you a lot of what kind of person you are deep inside.

    1. Re:What makes this case so interesting... by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      Well said sir, absolutely spot on. Not that the nutjobs will understand.

    2. Re:What makes this case so interesting... by the+linux+geek · · Score: 0

      I'm in favor of punishing him because he has no honor. He was pissed off at the Army so he tried to shaft the government in any way possible, all while hiding behind what he thought was a convenient shield of anonymity. Now he has to pay the piper, and everyone's praising what a hero he is for dumping large numbers of sensitive documents. Almost none of them contained actual evidence of crimes. Most of them were, essentially, gossip, and there's no way in hell he actually read all of them before leaking them. He knew the consequences for what he was doing, knew the criminal penalties involved, and he should (and will) face a court-martial for it.

    3. Re:What makes this case so interesting... by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      "that he clearly broke the military rules and also clearly helped humanity "

      That's seem pretty logical since military in question and humanity in question are at war with each other.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    4. Re:What makes this case so interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The military just loves making examples out of people and if Bradley Manning didn't want to face the consequences for his actions then he shouldn't have done it.

      When I was in the Air Force we were briefed about how to handle sensitive and classified information. It's a major no-no to access information you know you're not supposed to see and unless he's brain-damaged or just wasn't paying attention he knew it. At least that was made abundantly clear to me, over and over again. I think they've got him by the short hairs just for mishandling the stuff even if it was never given to anyone else.

      I'm not angry at Bradley Manning, I'm angry at the morons who allowed him to get access to the information in the first place. They're the bad guys here, but he clearly is an idiot.

  55. Re:So wrong... by scot4875 · · Score: 3

    The simple fact of the matter is: Bradley Manning is more of a patriot than you or I or probably anyone else on Slashdot could ever hope to be.

    --Jeremy

    --
    Jesus was a liberal
  56. Why does somone have to die for it to matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does every one keep wanting to see proof that mannings release of cables led to soldiers dying. He's not on trial for killing soldiers, he's on trail for spilling government secrets, regardless of there perceived importance.

  57. Re:About f---ing time by the+linux+geek · · Score: 1

    The Arab Spring revolutions are over. Does Libya or Egypt now have a free and democratic government?

  58. Sock puppets ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone notice that there seem to be a lot of sock puppets around Slashdot lately?

    1. Re:Sock puppets ... by rwhamann · · Score: 1

      The anonymous coward is calling the person who logged in to disagree with him a sock puppet.

      --
      seg fault
  59. fUCK YOU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    like i said you MUST be a GAY COMMIE just like your butt buddy bradley manning who is going to be RAPED IN THE ASS for the rest of his life. if he wasnt a homo before he is gonna be

    looks like the mods must think youre a FUCKING TRoLL as well

    anyways enjoy the pliers being used on your balls bradley.

    this site is shit and butt boy traitor 'bradley manning' is NOT news for nerds. news for gay nigger loving commies... PERHAPS

    1. Re:fUCK YOU by unity100 · · Score: 1

      uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. angry 12 year old. angry much ?

  60. 250K of warcrimes by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1

    Really? he revealed 250K documents of war-crimes?

    Or was he just pissed because he was getting kicked out for assaulting an officer and is playing the sympathy card in the hopes they he can give the govt. a bloody nose and eventually get away with it?

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
    1. Re:250K of warcrimes by Falconhell · · Score: 1

      Or did you just make up a story....

    2. Re:250K of warcrimes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about doing your own research, its pretty fucking easy to find.

      Or are use just another twit with a semi-high IQ whose jumping on the free manning bandwagon because its cool.

  61. known consequences are written down by jwijnands · · Score: 1

    So... somewhere it's written down that when you do this you don't go to trial but you spend more than a year in a very inhumane pre-trial lockup? Ah, ok, I see.

  62. Did Manning have a point? by ArmchairGeneral · · Score: 1

    When I first heard about Manning being arrested I thought; Damn! How dare they arrest a man who exposed the dirty secrets of a nation.

    But as I thought about it, he didn't seem to focus on any particular issue. The Cables were all manner of things, some not even remotely interesting. And this is why I'm not all for believing this man acted in the best interests exposing the dirty laundry. If he had found an actual document(s) that told of some horrible atrocity and exposed the lies behind that, I would have the utmost respect for the man. But I just see a guy who grabbed a fistful of Cables and sent them to WikiLeaks.

  63. In a country by kdsible · · Score: 0

    Where a President (no names mentioned bush) can start a war on lies but convicts its own for exposing the truth; banks steal your life savings yet none of the bankers have been declared an enemy of the state. Can there or is there justice for manning? I find it hard to believe there will be. It seems everything is terrorism now its just the angle the gov needs to do what they want. If George can go free manning should also go free; manning did not kill anyone, unfortunately the same cannot be said of George.

  64. Obama Will Win Because ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every inch of his pinis is invested ... every employee of the Department of Defence, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency are on the line to die if little pittiful gay Bradley Manning walks.

    Even the U.S. Supreme Court will favor Obama because many of them owe their lives and careers to Obama's favor of them.

    Want to bet the Obama Court of Justice has already bought a body bag of Manning???? Oh Yea!

    Bastards,

  65. And in 1863, you'd be trialed for the crime of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ignoratio elenchi.

    Meanwhile, in 1693, Bradley Manning would have been burnt on the stake (or crushed by heavy stones) for witchcraft, which is the only way that would explain how he managed to smuggle over 400.000 papers when there when there wasn't that much paper in the world.

    Not to mention getting into people's heads and creating visual illusions of them flying like witches and shooting magical bullets, and later leaking those illusions to the press.

    And in 3001 he will be sentenced to death by snoo-snoo.

  66. So, finally Manning has been cracked. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It might sound trollish, but given US military track record - very propable. My take is that he agreed to sign under "testimony" that military has prepared for him, maybe in exchange for lesser sentence. This so called "testimony" accuses him for cooperating with foreign "terrorist organization" called wikileaks and is specifically designed to open way to extradite and prosecute every wikileaks member they can find.

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  69. Re:About f---ing time by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

    Over?

    Are you completely ignorant to what is happening right now in Tahrir square in Cairo?

    --
    Eat the rich.
  70. Privacy is lost, get over it, Governments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    n/t

  71. a sentence by Max_W · · Score: 1
    He could be well condemned to 10 - 15 years of hard labor of an English language teacher in a non-democratic country. There is such a lack of English teachers who are native speakers.

    It is a waste to keep such an young educated man in a cell.

  72. Re:So wrong... by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 0

    Hey, look! It is the basic ad hominem attack used by all far left people, who have no real argument other than "I want it it, WHAAAA!", in an attempt to force people who disagree with them to give the far leftists their way. Tell us, why didn't you just take the most traveled path and call him a Nazi?

    --
    There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
  73. Re:So wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most laws are SUPPOSED to be written by representatives acting with research on a topic the public cannot take the time to do or with information the public cannot know.

    How can I know they are representing me, if I can not know the information on which they are basing their decisions?

  74. Re:So wrong... by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

    The effect is irrelevant. You are arguing "two wrongs make a right". He committed crimes and should be punished for those crimes.
     
    Under your theory, I should be allowed to go around killing drug dealers without fear of prosecution because the net effect would be positive.
     
    Oh, and you are also using a false dichotomy because, even without the release of the documents in question, the people did have an idea what their government was up to. These documents didn't mean the difference between the people knowing and having "no idea".

    --
    There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
  75. Re:So wrong... by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

    No, he was not a patriot. You don't seem to know what that word means. Perhaps you should look it up. Here, let me help you with that

    A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors

     
    Now, let us look at the definition of another word, traitor:

    1. a person who betrays another, a cause, or any trust.
    2. a person who commits treason by betraying his or her country.

    According to the dictionary, Manning is a traitor.

    --
    There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
  76. String him up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nt

  77. Everybody spies on everybody by Quila · · Score: 1

    Where have you been?

  78. Re:So wrong... by rwhamann · · Score: 1

    You're both wrong. Bradley Manning is, like all humans, a complex mixture of a half a dozeon or more motivations, some altruistic, some self-serving, some fearful. His motives included retribution because he was getting kicked out under an unjust law (don't ask, don't tell) and patriotism because he felt that something should be done about a wartime atrocity and apparently out of some sense of admiration for anarchy.

    He's a fool who committed a possibly traitorous act partly for revenge and partly for patriotism. I'm glad he's getting his day in court, and and I wish it had been a lot sooner. I hope all of his motivations are laid bare in court for a judge to decide what's to be done.

    --
    seg fault
  79. Over-classification is normally innocent by Quila · · Score: 1

    Get an email with a classified sentence in it, forward it with your long unclassified comments, forget to label your specific comments as unclassified, ta-da, over-classification.

    Individual paragraphs are supposed to be labeled by their classification, and individual pages are supposed to be labeled with the highest-classified paragraph, and documents labeled with the highest-classified page. But this isn't always done because people are lazy, or maybe their training wasn't good enough. Now when there's a FOIA request the person working it can't simply look at the classification indicators and allow the paragraph to be released, it has to be declassified. That can take much time and effort, and it's safer just to consider it classified.

    Basically, well-meaning people err on the side of caution.

  80. lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whistleblower protection? really?
    We are talking about a guy who used his position of privilage and trust to upload sensitive internal discussions from the Department of State to a foreign website, thus weakening the nation he vowed to serve and protect weaker and more vulnerable.
    Was there anything criminal in the documents that he uploaded? No. Unethical? perhaps. DID HE EVEN READ IT before he uploaded it? Very doubtful, considering the volume of material.
    As for the length of time it has taken for him to get a trail. . .
    When you take the oath, you give up certain rights and liberties. One of those is the right to a trail by jury (via the Article 15, aka non-judicial punishment, process). For a crime of Manning's magnitude, however, requires a full Court Marshal. This follows most of the requirements of Jury selection in a civilian court with the additional requirement that the Jury consist of 1/2 officers and 1/2 enlisted (For cases involving enlisted. Cases involving officers have an all officer jury, i believe)
    How long do you think it take to find a jury pool of individuals in the US Military (preferrably Army) who have Top Secret Clearances (or did at one time), and have NOT heard and formed an opinion of the Bradley Manning Case?

  81. Soldiers better be careful about that by Quila · · Score: 1

    To disobey what he thinks is an unlawful order, it had better be blatantly unlawful on its face. One such order could be "Burn these thousands of classified documents onto a CD and give them to a foreign leak-publishing site." That is blatantly unlawful, and a soldier could probably get away with refusing to do it.

    I knew a female military prison guard who was ordered to leave the female prisoners under her watch and report somewhere, and the male guard ordering her was to take over watch of the prisoners. Having female prisoners guarded solely by a male guard was explicitly against the written rules, so she refused to leave her post until relieved by a female guard. Even in such a clear-cut case she was in a heap of trouble until it went to the top and she was cleared.

    So "I don't believe in the general mission here" is not going to cover a soldier's ass for disobeying orders.

  82. Manning did release the documents by Quila · · Score: 1

    To WikiLeaks. That is why he's in so much legal trouble.

  83. Correct answer is: C) by u64 · · Score: 1

    He's innocent before proven guilty.

    But instead he's been treated worse than a criminal from day one.

  84. The service Manning actually did do by Quila · · Score: 1

    He showed the military holes in their systems and procedures:

    Don't just throw files out there even if they are on SIPR. Use normal directory and share security to keep things in your section unless you intend to share them.

    Lock out CD burning and USB drive mounting.

    If a soldier looks unstable, consider pulling his access. If he's going to be kicked out, it should be SOP to pull his access before you even tell him.

  85. Read the section you just quoted by Peter+Harris · · Score: 1

    The way you assert it to be, it may very well be in practice, and it may very well have been upheld by the courts. But the courts have upheld a lot of laws for a long time before they were overturned, and no law, military or civil, is special in this regard.

    But more than that, the situation with Bradley Manning is also clearly wrong. The requirement to obey lawful orders goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility to only give lawful orders, and that carries all the way up to the top: the commander-in-chief (i.e. the president).

    Where does his authority come from? The constitution! He also swears to uphold it, and he literally has no authority to command anyone to disregard it, in whole or in part.

    Or else, if the US really is about fetishizing military discipline to such a crazy extent, then fuck it. But I don't think so.

    --

    -- What do you need?
    -- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
  86. Re:So wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, look! It is the basic ad hominem attack used by all far left people, who have no real argument other than "I want it it, WHAAAA!", in an attempt to force people who disagree with them to give the far leftists their way. Tell us, why didn't you just take the most traveled path and call him a Nazi?
    --
    I have a mod stalker who is modding down my past comments and is too much of a cowardly pussy to admit it or face me.

    Maybe stop being such a dickhead and you won't be modded down by your 'mod stalker' lol

  87. Manning going down and his "Internet Pals" too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The proposed bills - SOPA and PROTECT IP criminalize divulging national security secrets... and recommends minimum sentencing starting at 10 and as high and 20 years! Also fines in the millions!

    Surely it is just funny timing that Manning gets his day in court just as legislation with sentencing minimums for revealing national security secrets is about rammed through our representatives!