Army Leaker Chelsea Manning on Obama's 'Short List' for Commutation

[JCanete]

26. This is the thing though, and it should be kind of obvious. Those policies don't get made because

there is an assumption by the public, where the pressure often has to come from, that there is nothing wrong with the current system...that no laws are being broken and that everything is hunky dory. In fact, our leadership will placate us over and over. What was it Clapper said about us being spied upon again? The military certainly isn't going to attempt to signal to the public that they need more checks and balances, and individuals in the Senate or Congress, assuming this even happens, have very little power to tweak the machine without that public outrage.

As far as I'm concerned, it sucks that this is the way these things had to be handled. I blame that on our government, not the whistleblowers in a ridiculously tight spot. If we don't want the embarrassment and for that matter, the compromise to our intelligence, we better damn well be sure that we aren't hiding shit that the public has a right to know about, not to mention engaging in illegal, unconstitutional activity. The onus is on our military and agency leaders to not abuse the system, and to not let abuses happen.