It's too bad that Bradley Manning didn't torture and kill people instead of telling us about it

[MADem]

60. No "morality" about it.

Two wrongs do not make a right. That's just math, not morality.

You're trying to say that, if I get mugged by someone, that gives you the "right" to go mug my mugger because of a moral imperative.

It doesn't. We have a number of different situations here, and they all involve dereliction of duty. Bush, his "crew" in country, Karpinski, Manning, they are all a bunch of fuckups who disregarded their oaths and their responsibilities. Some will be held more accountable than others, at least immediately, but I wager the long lens of history will not be kind to the ones who escape accountability in the near term.

Manning wasn't drafted. He chose that work. He knew what it was about. He might not have liked his assignment, his location, his co-workers, but he signed up to do the damn job, not sun himself at Club Med and drink mojitos at night. He is a smart boy. He signed documents that made promises to his government in exchange for an enlistment contract, pay and bonuses. He took oaths where he agreed to obey the orders of the President and the officers appointed over him. If he couldn't deal, lucky him, he HAD an out without even having to go the "conscientious" route --one that isn't available to people anymore thanks to the long overdue repeal of DADT. He didn't take that route. Instead, in a fit of major pique, he belted his supervisor and gave reams of unvetted stuff to Assange.

I have no sympathy for him. For someone who has to be reasonably intelligent in order to get the assignment he got, that child had no damn common sense or maturity. I'd give him a ten to twenty sentence and let him out early on probation if he behaved. I wouldn't let him dance off to fame and a book deal--he needs to understand that actions while in uniform have consequences. I think he's starting to get that during his time in confinement.