Manning Acquitted of Aiding Enemy--Guilty of Other Counts

[gun sane]

PFC Bradley Manning was let off the big hook,  but he's facing a long stretch of hard labor for charges he's admitted to.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/30/justice/manning-court-martial/index.html

Edited July 30, 2013 by gun sane

[TMF]

He's a traitor. I don't really care what his court martial said. Hopefully he'll get shived in prison.

[Hkinator]

I don't know he can live with himself being a traitor to this country.

[whitewolf001]

You'll have to inform as I have been out of the loop, what happened? *EDIT* OH!!! This is the fella from a few years back just now being convicted isn't it?

Edited July 31, 2013 by whitewolf001

[whitewolf001]

Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm not too familiar with the court systems, wouldn't the fact he was acquitted of 'aiding the enemy' indicate that the information he obtained didn't put anyone of our soldiers in harms way as it was too old but rather brought to light some of the events that have occurred which the DOD tried burying? Yes he did in fact break the law but it's info like this which broke Water Gate wide open as well. I'm curious as to everyone elses thoughts on this because when this first happened I was all about hanging a traitor but judging from the result tribunal he wasn't a threat to national security. Again, I dunno, I'm not a lawyer, just a man with some curious questions. :2cents:

[TMF]

Correct me if I'm wrong as I'm not too familiar with the court systems, wouldn't the fact he was acquitted of 'aiding the enemy' indicate that the information he obtained didn't put anyone of our soldiers in harms way as it was too old but rather brought to light some of the events that have occurred which the DOD tried burying? Yes he did in fact break the law but it's info like this which broke Water Gate wide open as well. I'm curious as to everyone elses thoughts on this because when this first happened I was all about hanging a traitor but judging from the result tribunal he wasn't a threat to national security. Again, I dunno, I'm not a lawyer, just a man with some curious questions. :2cents:

There is no way to quantify the damage he did to our military in terms of intelligence and loss of life, but I can tell you with a great degree of certainty that there are many, many dead American Servicemembers due to his actions. I could write an essay outlining so many reasons. It would take days to write. Anyone in the intelligence field who is familiar the stuff he indiscriminately gave away knows the damage it caused.

He did not "blow the whistle" on anything. The incident with the air weapons team was investigated before it was given away and cleared. I watched the video. It was a good shoot. The pilots were operating on information they had from guys on the ground. The cameraman who was embedded with those enemy fighters can rot in hell and his family can STFU. You're damn skippy that if I spot enemy fighters I will kill every person with them. Holding a camera doesn't somehow make you bullet proof or give you special exception for me not to shoot at the bad guys. These POSs that act like this was some "coverup" have never had their sorry asses in a combat zone. All footage from those platforms is classified Secret. I'm sorry folks can't understand what that means. It was investigated and the shoot was cleared. Every shoot I've been involved in was investigated. They were all cleared. Is that somehow a coverup because the military doesn't release every secret document to the press? That isn't how it works.

This POS was not a leaker. He did not have any higher purpose. He indiscriminately gave away as much secret information as he had access to. That isn't a whistle blower, that is called espionage.

[whitewolf001]

There is no way to quantify the damage he did to our military in terms of intelligence and loss of life, but I can tell you with a great degree of certainty that there are many, many dead American Servicemembers due to his actions. I could write an essay outlining so many reasons. It would take days to write. Anyone in the intelligence field who is familiar the stuff he indiscriminately gave away knows the damage it caused.

He did not "blow the whistle" on anything. The incident with the air weapons team was investigated before it was given away and cleared. I watched the video. It was a good shoot. The pilots were operating on information they had from guys on the ground. The cameraman who was embedded with those enemy fighters can rot in hell and his family can STFU. You're damn skippy that if I spot enemy fighters I will kill every person with them. Holding a camera doesn't somehow make you bullet proof or give you special exception for me not to shoot at the bad guys. These POSs that act like this was some "coverup" have never had their sorry asses in a combat zone. All footage from those platforms is classified Secret. I'm sorry folks can't understand what that means. It was investigated and the shoot was cleared. Every shoot I've been involved in was investigated. They were all cleared. Is that somehow a coverup because the military doesn't release every secret document to the press? That isn't how it works.

This POS was not a leaker. He did not have any higher purpose. He indiscriminately gave away as much secret information as he had access to. That isn't a whistle blower, that is called espionage.

 

I wish to discuss this; Enlighten me as I am a stupid hick with no military background whatsoever with no understand of the intricacies on Uniform Military law.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I don't know if it is espionage, but it is at least treason, which means he should have been hanged. Bradley Manning

had no authority to do anything other than his job, and that wasn't part of it. I can most certainly understand anyone

in the military wanting his head. Even if he didn't put one Soldier at risk, the potential was too high to let him get away

with it.

 

He was a Soldier. He betrayed his fellow Soldiers. That's all that needs to be said. His motivations don't matter.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I don't have much opinion on Manning, but the "aiding the enemy" charge caught my imagination.

 

If/when Snowden is charged with "aiding the enemy" it might be kinda humorous, because a lot of folks seem to think that the primary enemy that Snowden has aided-- The privacy-loving USA citizen! :) We done seed the enemy and he am us.

[TMF]

I wish to discuss this; Enlighten me as I am a stupid hick with no military background whatsoever with no understand of the intricacies on Uniform Military law.

 

What I'm talking about has nothing to do with UCMJ or his court martial, what I am referring to is the damage that has been done by his actions.  They aren't quantifiable, but they are very, very real.  It is nearly impossible to pin individual deaths of Servicemembers to the leaking of classified information, unless that classified information is so specific to the circumstances of the deaths leaving no doubt that the information leaked led to the death. 

 

But make no mistake, there are dead US Servicemembers because of him.  There are.  Every time tactics, techniques and procedures are discovered by the enemy they use that to exploit weaknesses in order to kill us.  I can cite several examples if you need me to.  It is exactly how we use intelligence assets against them, to discover enemy TTPs so that we can better protect the force, kill, capture and deny enemy movement.  Fortunately for us, the enemy is very limited on how they discover our TTPs.  Since their ability to gather intelligence on us is so limited, they must rely on basic techniques such as observation.  There isn't much we can do about that, so observable TTPs are always changing, however, the stuff that goes on behind the scenes may be used as long as the TTP isn't burnt.  Manning burnt a sh**load of stuff that our sons and daughters can no longer use to protect the force and target the enemy.  Therefore, there is undoubtedly many, many deaths that are directly and indirectly tied to this sorry POS that needs to be chained to the back of a truck and dragged to death. 

 

And I'll add that what makes me even more angry is that he is supposed to be a brother in arms.  What he did is far worse and damaging than what that sorry POS did in the Ft. Hood shooting, or that other sorry POS that fragged his leadership prior to the invasion of Iraq.  What Manning did do his fellow brothers in arms was so damaging and deadly that it won't ever be put into numbers.  He deserves death for the damage he caused and the betrayal of fellow Servicemembers.  It is one thing to be a sorry civilian traitor, such as Jane Fonda, but to be a traitor in uniform is something that deserves death, every single time. 

Edited August 1, 2013 by TMF

[DaveTN]

Good. Now get the Russians to turn over that traitor Snowden and send him to prison also.