** Go ahead & laugh. Manning is being a hero. This case is sick & should have us all worried. **
Manning committed the grave sin of exposing the slaughter (from a helicopter) of women and children. A friend of mine’s brother had similar war porn from Vietnam. I thought the guys who got off on it were sickos.
I believe it was determined no American Military Operations were endangered by Manning’s Leaks.
Manning exposed military, DOD, State Department & Other activities & personnel to disruption & potential danger. It doesn’t matter if in your estimation no one was hurt. If any were it’s very likely you might not know about it. As a low level military intel specialist Manning had no right to make any decision about the material he’s handling. He signed legal documents acknowledging the consequences of mishandling them. If one doesn’t like what those documents stand for or might theoretically say don’t join the military, if you do don’t volunteer for intel analysis training, etc. It’s like joining the military & discover you might go to war & it’s really not just another government job training program despite what the recruiter might have said. If I remember the story right Manning’s motivation was due to a gay love affair tiff. He was mad about his superiors lack of sympathy for his problem so he got back at them that way. How noble & mature!