US Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning: Hero or Villain?

Good topic, I planned to start a thread myself when I read the trial started yesterday. It seems technically he may be guilty of many of the charges, and he's also already plead guilty to 10 out of the 22 charges. Some of the big questions to me are: does his release of documents to Wikileaks constitute a legitimate act of whistle-blowing? (Is there any protection for whistle-blowing in the US military under the law? Probably not.) Had he become disillusioned about the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan? Had he become disillusioned in general about the US role as a superpower? Was his intent to cause harm to the US as a superpower?
 
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I think it may be difficult for some to consider Mr. Manning a hero because nothing became of his whistleblowing, other than him going to prison, which is unfortunately par for the course in the United States. A lot of people who are not Bradley Manning really should be going to prison.
 
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Spang said:
I think it may be difficult for some to consider Mr. Manning a hero because nothing became of his whistleblowing, other than him going to prison, which is unfortunately par for the course in the United States. A lot of people who are not Bradley Manning really should be going to prison.
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He did leak several important documents though, including: The video of the Apache helicopter killing two journalists and several civilians in Iraq. ("Collateral Murder" - see the video here.) Also, documents revealing the top secret real number of civilian casualties in some attacks, where the military lied and gave lower numbers to the media. Also, documents revealing that the US had a spy in the NATO headquarters, spying on secretary general Anders Fough Rasmussen. And documents showing how Israel was deliberately strangling the Gaza economy prior to the 2008/9 war. And how the US is using its diplomats for spying purposes. And documents containing unflattering descriptions of several world leaders.
 
Indian Summer said:
He did leak several important documents though, including: The video of the Apache helicopter killing two journalists and several civilians in Iraq. ("Collateral Murder" - see the video here.) Also, documents revealing the top secret real number of civilian casualties in some attacks, where the military lied and gave lower numbers to the media. Also, documents revealing that the US had a spy in the NATO headquarters, spying on secretary general Anders Fough Rasmussen. And documents showing how Israel was deliberately strangling the Gaza economy prior to the 2008/9 war. And how the US is using its diplomats for spying purposes. And documents containing unflattering descriptions of several world leaders.
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I'd consider none of those actionable offenses. Sure, they are embarrassing, but they aren't a crime. (Classifying them as secret to avoid embarrassment should be a crime however.)

Why don't we focus on cases where the information Bradley Manning leaked may have gotten people killed?
 
Exposing war crimes will get you 35 years in prison. Committing said war crimes will get you 0 years in prison.
 
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