Officers of the United States Government should be on trial -- not PFC Bradley Manning.

[stevenleser]

269. There is good reason for being happy with Manning's punishment

There are two ways Manning could have done this that would have accomplished outing the wrongdoing without removing whistleblower status for himself.

1. He could have released only the twelve or fewer documents that indicate actual wrongdoing instead of willy-nilly releasing 250,000+ documents he never read.

2. He could have gone to the inspector general or a member of congress, ala a Kucinich or a Bernie Sanders to complain about the wrongdoing.

If he had done either of those things, I would be the most forceful supporter of Manning on DU. The difference between doing those things and what he did is striking. Mannings actions likely caused the deaths of several dozen covert agents and informers around the world. He dealt a serious blow not to the US but to the institution of diplomacy. Anything that hurts the ability of diplomats to do their jobs is a serious crime IMHO.