Bradley Manning charged in WikiLeaks case

[JDPriestly]

12. I question why the material at issue, so much of which

is just the kind of garbage gossip you hear on the streets in the countries that the secrets concern, was secret in the first place.

I think it deserved the classification of confidential as in the old magazine that rehashed Hollywood gossip and sensational "facts," but at least the Wikileak articles I saw did not concern contemporary troop movements, strengths, or any information of strategic value.

I don't think there was even much about the economies or climates of the countries at issue. I don't recall there being anything about planned troop movements or new military equipment or anything that had real strategic value.

So why was something that had already happened in Iraq or Afghanistan a secret? The people in Iraq and Afghanistan knew that it happened. The only reason we didn't know was because OUR OWN GOVERNMENT didn't want us to know.

Am I missing something?

I am uncomfortable with the fact that a person would betray a secret, but I am also uncomfortable about the kinds of information that our government considers secret in the first place. If many people already know something, then it isn't a secret even if the American people don't generally know it.