"By finding Manning not guilty on this dangerous ['aiding the enemy'] charge (though guilty of espionage and theft), military judge colonel Denise Lind has pulled the US back from the precipice - for now. But that outcome does not alter the fact that such a charge was sought by prosecutors in the first place. -- James Ball
Millions worldwide regard Manning as a hero. We are outraged that Manning was found guilty for reporting widespread, horrific crimes. His action was honorable and correct, as opposed to the action of the U.S. government in committing, justifying and covering up crimes against a whole people.
Private Manning, after only a few months in Iraq in 2009, became so alarmed at the content of files he was reading, and at the response of his fellow soldiers who laughed at deaths of Iraqis, that he sought to raise an alarm, to spark a domestic debate on the role of military and foreign policy being carried out in our name.
The classified files, documents and videos that Bradley transmitted through WikiLeaks contain evidence of war crimes. He had gone to his chain of command and asked them to investigate the "Collateral Murder" video and other "war porn," but his superiors refused.
Bradley was right to blow the whistle on war crimes. We should follow his lead. During the time his sentence is being considered, we must make a concerted effort to make sure that hundreds of thousands see Collateral Murder, U.S. military footage of an Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in 2007 which killed 12 Iraqi civilians.
Government prosecutors claim this is "propaganda;" Bradley thinks it must be used to show the truth.
