Picked this up just now on Twitter. I'm cheating by re-printing the initial US News/NBCNews report:
Manning acquitted of aiding enemy but convicted on other charges
By Courtney Kube, Katie Wall and Erin McClam, NBC News
fc. Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence officer who was branded as both a whistle-blower and a traitor after he sent 700,000 secret government documents to WikiLeaks, was xxxxxx.
The verdict was handed down by Col. Denise Lind, the judge at Manning’s court-martial at Fort Meade, Md.
Manning, 25, has said he was disillusioned by an American foreign policy bent on “killing and capturing people” when he released the documents, including battlefield reports and diplomatic cables, in 2010.
In a closing argument at the court-martial, his lawyer, David Coombs, argued that Manning was “trying to ply his knowledge to hopefully save lives,” was young and naïve and thought he could make a difference.
Military prosecutors said Manning was not a whistle-blower but a traitor. They said Manning knew that enemies of the United States use WikiLeaks as a resource, and they said some of the documents he released wound up in the hands of al Qaeda.
The prosecutors said Manning craved notoriety and put his fellow soldiers at risk.
Manning had already pleaded guilty to 10 charges that carry up to 20 years in prison, plus a dishonorable discharge. But prosecutors pushed ahead with more serious counts, including aiding the enemy.
He has been jailed at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 2011 and was at the military prison in Quantico, Va., for nine months before that.
Among his defenders is Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked what become known as the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times. Those papers showed that the government was systematically misleading the public about U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
This story was originally published on Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:11 PM EDT
What do you think?
5 comments:
Disillusioned with US foreign policy? Young fool, doesn't he know he can't skip ahead in the disillusionment line? That line more or less formed up when Teddy Roosevelt began his expansionist policies.
25 years old and his life is over. Very sad. If only he'd just killed an innocent teenager walking in his neighborhood. :(
From what I've read about Daniel Ellsberg, he was a hero. If he's saying that this fellow did the right thing, then I have consider that. Whistle blowers have such a terrible time of it. I wish I knew what to think, but I don't have all the facts.
Kay, just read your 4 comments on my 4 posts and I thank you for taking time to write and liking my blog posts! Love it when I receive someone new from another blogger friend.
The more I think about it, the more I think he did something brave.
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