July 28, 2010
Let's Try Bradley Manning for Treason
I was wrong.
The Afghan War documents published by Julian Assange and Wikileaks aren't just a compendium of old news. It also includes the names of Afghan nationals that have been trying to help defeat the Taliban, and now puts hundreds of lives at risk.
One specific example cited by the paper is a report on an interview conducted by military officers of a potential Taliban defector. The militant is named, along with his father and the village in which they live."The leaks certainly have put in real risk and danger the lives and integrity of many Afghans," a senior official at the Afghan foreign ministry told The Times on condition of anonymity. "The U.S. is both morally and legally responsible for any harm that the leaks might cause to the individuals, particularly those who have been named. It will further limit the U.S./international access to the uncensored views of Afghans."
One former intelligence official told the paper that the Taliban could launch revenge attacks on "traitors" in the coming days.
The real suspected traitor in this mess is U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, the analyst who bragged to a white hat hacker that he had stolen over a quarter-million military and diplomatic documents and sent them to WikiLeaks. Manning was taken into custody earlier this year after being fingered by the military as the source of the Apache gun camera footage Assange turned into a propaganda film called "Collateral Murder" that Assange used for fund-raising and not a little self-promotion. Manning is also the primary and obvious suspected leaker of these documents, which may be part of the $250,000 he stole.
I argued back in June that Manning should be charged with treason. If he is found to be the source of those documents, his only choice should be between rope, bullets, or a needle.
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The "two witnesses" provision might be hard to meet, based on what little I've read so far.
Still, I'm in favor of hanging.
Posted by: Russ at July 28, 2010 01:14 PMwhy give him a choice?
i'm sure there are plenty of people, besides myself, who would volunteer for the firing squad.
Posted by: redc1c4 at July 28, 2010 01:26 PMYou're ready to execute Manning without a trial. Is that how "conservatives" roll?
Posted by: PopeRatzo at July 28, 2010 01:51 PMWe don't do that anymore commrads.
Posted by: ron at July 28, 2010 02:39 PMIf he is found to be the source of those documents, his only choice should be between rope, bullets, or a needle.
Reading or comprehension problems, PopeRatzo?
Posted by: iconoclast at July 28, 2010 02:49 PMYou people still believing everything you read from the military? I believe "100's of lives" of informants are at risk, as much as I believe unarmed civilians trying to aid a wounded journalist were "insurgents."
"America, Love It or Leave It." "No Glory Like Old Glory." I remember those Hawk chants during Vietnam and yelled the loudest. I can admit my mistake. Can you fools not understand that you have been lied to, or are you waiting for the fiscal cost of the war to be your determining factor in realizing this BS is a repeat of 45 years ago? Some 22 y/o kid had the balls to provide facts to what intelligent people suspected about the war in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Mike at July 29, 2010 12:01 AMEven though Libs promise informants' safety, it was a real problem for us in Iraq. When we'd talk to people on patrols, the overwhelming complaint was that we'd let go some terrorist after someone was brave enough to come forward. Informants (and their families) were getting smoke-checked at a cyclic rate, because wahabbi/AQ/Syrians knew who had fingered them. To say otherwise is lying.
I have no reason to believe that Stan AQ is more noble then Iraq AQ.
You Libs should be humiliated by backing this traitor. Learn it.
Posted by: brando at July 29, 2010 12:49 AMPosted by Mike at July 29, 2010 12:01 AM
Thus giving "fighting the last war" its 21st Century meaning--claiming that all wars are like Vietnam. Which might be true, since the real defeat came after the leftist-controlled Congress abandoned S. Vietnam after our troops left.
Posted by: iconoclast at July 29, 2010 02:36 PMI usually support the death penalty. In Manning's case I do not. He should be sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without parole. Twelve hours a day, six days a week making big rocks into little ones- forever.
Let him live out his miserable life. And maybe fifty years from now when another weak and irresponsible liberal in the White House pardons him he will remember how to read.
Posted by: Ken Hahn at July 30, 2010 02:52 AMInnocent until proven guilty...
HOWEVER, if true, this creature disgusts me. God bless the true soldiers that fight the American fight and not our traitors, who jeopardize America and her allies for personal publicity. If guilty, he will have backtracked many of our counter-terrorist successes, regardless of volatility of the content leaked. If guilty, by virtue of his amorality and absolutely egotistical nature he will have proven himself unhuman. If this is true, he is a sociopath; If this is true, he has broken protocol; If this is true, Commandment V should not apply...
Posted by: Langhorne at July 30, 2010 08:34 PMBradley Manning has exposed a murder cover up. For that the military wants to cage him for the rest of his life. The murderers he exposed face on consequences at all. There is an old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished." That is certainly the case with Bradley Manning. He is a hero.
http://www.ilogicbomb.com/topic/10/Is+WikiLeaks+source+Bradley+Manning+a+hero+or+a+traitor%3F
Posted by: William Squalus at August 1, 2010 02:40 PMuage, we remove our feet from the concrete of religious, political, and ideological position-taking that is at the root of so much of the prejudice, conflict, i Polo Pas Cher ation on language and its relation to the Cosmic Reality, Lao Tzu is suggesting another movement of understanding, which has to do with facing the apparent cont Vetement Ralph Lauren ogical tail-chasing (words can't properly describe Tao, but let's talk about it anyway), because he wants us to feel beyond the boundaries of reason. He would l Ralph Lauren Polo pas cher l the Tao, through our every bodily cell. The words that we use can point us toward this "shimmering darkness" of understanding, especially when w
Posted by: Vetement Ralph Lauren at May 24, 2011 03:44 PM
