http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nati ... 2451.story

Anyone interested in a discussion of Bradley Manning? I find the case interesting to say the least....

Audio can be found at the link and excerpts from the link below--AUDIO: Bradley Manning explains why he leaked secret documents

A group advocating transparency has released audio of Pfc. Bradley Manning reading his 35-page, handwritten statement about why he gave massive troves of secret government documents to the website WikiLeaks. Audio and transcript below.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit conglomerate of activists and journalists formed in December, released the audio Tuesday morning.

Manning, 25, pleaded guilty in military court Feb. 28 to 10 criminal charges of misusing classified material, including unauthorized possession and willful communication of information from military databases. He is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison and be dishonorably discharged.

He still faces more serious charges by the military, including aiding the enemy......

We have been disturbed that Manning’s pretrial hearings have been hampered by the kind of extreme government secrecy that his releases to WikiLeaks were intended to protest," the Freedom of the Press Foundation said in a statement explaining the release of the recording, which was not allowed under court rules. "While reporters are allowed in the courtroom, no audio or visual recordings are permitted by the judge, no transcripts of the proceedings or any motions by the prosecution have been released, and lengthy court orders read on the stand by the judge have not been published for public review."

The statement added, "By releasing this audio recording, we wish to make sure that the voice of this generation's most prolific whistleblower can be heard — literally — by the world."

I don't have much time right now ~ leaving for school shortly ~

Briefly, I have mixed emotions about Bradley Manning ~ his motives may have been stellar, but his methods were illegal and dangerous ~ our/any government has FAR more information on virtually everything than is released to the public ~ and there is solid reason for that limitation ~

I'll come back to this thread when I get back home later today ~

Sooz

Yes, in reading over his statement I have mixed feelings too and I'm not so sure his motives were completely "stellar"--I am getting the impression he was sucked into some wikileak chat rooms out of boredom, curiosity, and disenchantment with the "on the ground" scene in Afghanistan and Iraq...and perhaps a feeling of "self importance" like, 'Hey, wanno know what I know?' kind of thing...Also, he mentions depression from breaking up with his bf...there is mention of torture as being one of the "leaks"--gonna check it out further.

He's a traitor and should spend the rest of his life behind bars. And that is being too generous!

Could the same thing be said of Daniel Ellsburg?

http://truth-out.org/news/item/15101-daniel-ellsberg-in-hearing-bradley-manning-act-out-of-conscience-secret-tape-refutes-media-slander

It became somewhat personal for me, so I can't be 100% objective. My husband was activated in May 2010 to go to Afghanistan. I felt that Manning's action were detrimental to my husband's safety. I think that no matter the reason he gives today, his actions were treasonous.

We know he's going to sit in prison for a long, long, long time. He did plead guilty to a bunch of it right off the bat.

plead guilty to roughly half of the 22 charges against him, for which he could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years.

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Wikileaks is "the enemy"?
According to whom and when were they designated as such?

what is the legitimacy of the Afghanistan operation in the first place?

let's start there before we start talking about Manning.

"what is the legitimacy of the Afghanistan operation in the first place?"

Bush > Karzai > Unocal > Oil Pipeline > Central Afghanistan