If Bradley Manning is guilty, he doesn't deserve sympathy.

[Chan790]

29. Disclosure of classified information...

regardless of the contents of that information and the consequences of its release...is factually statutorily a crime.

There is no moral or legal motivation that can supplant that point. It doesn't matter why he released it, it's a crime. If he had concerns about the legality of any of the contents of the files or that they contained evidence of war-crimes, there is a procedure to follow which is to contact the Inspector General. He didn't do that...he might even have a defense if he had done that and been rebuffed...but he never did it in the first place.

There is no "alleged" to it, it's a crime. As someone points out down-thread, MLK Jr. was a criminal too...it's not always a bad thing. My mayor's a criminal...he got arrested and convicted last year for refusing to disperse a crowd protesting for DC statehood. When he got released from jail, there was a crowd waiting to give him an ovation.

Denying that what Manning did was a crime is silly. Of course it's a crime or else everybody who has that job would do it willy-nilly and that might endanger national security.