My thoughts on Bradley Manning are more complicated than the simplistic "Free Bradley!" or "Hang Bradley!" extremes one often sees when it comes to that case.
I don't fully support what he did and I think he was wrong to do it in the manner in which he did and thus he deserves some punishment. I also think he stands as an unfortunate symbol of how the idea of the writ of habeas corpus is completely dead in America, which sucks.
As it relates to Lamo, though, I think it is clear that the way Lamo went about convincing Manning to reveal what he had done while convincing him that he (Lamo) was a journalist and priest and thus Manning would be protected from disclosure was hugely unethical and marks him as one of the great asshats of all time.
I think the concern about habeus corpus is valid, but more for those like the Gitmo detainees than Pfc. Manning per se. He leaked classified information, and having to build an entire legal infrastructure and trial around that properly, without having any eventual sentence thrown out on a technicality, is going to take time and effort. Let's face it, if it were up the Army he'd already be convicted and spending the next couple of decades at least playing cards at Ft. Leavenworth.
As far as Lamo, I agree in general with the description of asshattery. But still, if Manning actually thought Lamo were a priest then I have to wonder about his capacity for critical thinking. And either way, I find it at least a bit ironic that Lamo managed to extract accurate information from Manning, under false pretenses, immediately after Manning extracted accurate information from the U.S. Government, under false pretenses. But only one of those two swore to protect the information in question under penalty of law.
I don't fully support what he did and I think he was wrong to do it in the manner in which he did and thus he deserves some punishment. I also think he stands as an unfortunate symbol of how the idea of the writ of habeas corpus is completely dead in America, which sucks.
As it relates to Lamo, though, I think it is clear that the way Lamo went about convincing Manning to reveal what he had done while convincing him that he (Lamo) was a journalist and priest and thus Manning would be protected from disclosure was hugely unethical and marks him as one of the great asshats of all time.