
Bradley Manning Charged With 22 New Counts, Including Capital Offense - ssclafani
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/bradley-manning-more-charge/
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patrickaljord
From <http://change.gov/agenda/ethics_agenda/>

"Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste,
fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to
public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and
patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars,
should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees
as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will
strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste,
fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal
agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and
whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process."

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Joakal
Unfortunately, he's being subjected to a military justice process with a
different set of rules which is largely biased or inherently unfair against
people the military doesn't like.

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acabal
You give up many of your civilian rights when joining the military and agree
to be bound by the UCMJ, not civilian court. How can the UCMJ be biased
against people the military doesn't like if it only applies to the military?

I agree his detention is horrific, but he's bound by rules he agreed to, and
rules which are probably not (I assume, and in general) that biased or
"inherently unfair" when viewed from the perspective of the military--which is
the perspective to which they solely apply.

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vaksel
that always seemed weird to me.

The constitution guarantees inalienable rights, yet apparently the government
thinks that you can sign your rights away

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radu_floricica
Good point. Plus there is that bit about people not being able to give up
those rights, even if they want to.

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paul9290
Per this article [http://news.scotsman.com/world/Tunisia-Uprising-called-
first...](http://news.scotsman.com/world/Tunisia-Uprising-called-
first-39Wikileaks.6692071.jp) these leaked documents were an impetus that led
to the fall of Tunisia's monarchy. Which then has brought on a domino effect
in the Middle East; Egypt, Libya, Yemen, etc...

Depending on the long term out-come of the change in the Middle East(for the
better) this guy's actions might not seem so bad in ten years?

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Joakal
The military justice system in USA is a human rights joke:
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_Guant...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_Guantanamo_Bay_detainees_accused_of_possessing_Casio_watches)

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bradley_Manni...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bradley_Manning#Detention)

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sp332
There have been some (recently a lot of) problems, but speaking in general
terms, the US courts-martial have been and are a _model_ of military justice
the world over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courts-
martial_in_the_United_St...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courts-
martial_in_the_United_States) The main trouble lately has been the use of
military tribunals against civilians or "enemy combatants" instead of courts-
martial or civilian courts. I'm all for calling out abuses, but I think it's a
bit much to say the whole justice system is a joke.

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Joakal
True. However, justice systems tend to be absolutists. That's why confessions
under duress aren't admission-able for example. To see a select few can abuse
the due process when they can, means that the system needs improvement.

Plus, as you say, it's being used against civilians and enemy combatants.

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localhost3000
It's impossible to feel sorry for this guy. How could you ever think this was
a good idea?

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api
So the USA is executing dissidents now?

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amock
He's not being charged with being a dissident, he's being charged with
treason.

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tzs
Flagging this because too many people are downvoting people they politically
disagree with, meaning this is going to become a worthless discussion.

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anthonyb
Nah, I'm downvoting people (like you) who aren't bothering to read people's
posts properly.

I think the main problem is that the American media is ridiculously pro-
military/anti-wikileaks, so it's hard to get unbiased information.

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tzs
You've now twice accused me of improperly reading other people's posts. Yet
your reply to my comment about the risks in the unedited documents showed that
you certainly are not reading properly.

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anthonyb
I read what you wrote - I just disagree with you.

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jarin
I'm not exactly sure what punishment he should get, but it's definitely not
the death penalty (or life in prison either, for that matter). You know who
should get life in prison? Whoever wrote up SIPRNET's network security
policies and whoever's responsible for implementing them.

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trotsky
Pretty sure SIPRNET IA policies were relaxed dramatically as a response to
9/11, when there was a strong belief that various agencies and groups
restrictive data policies were hurting AT cooperation. Now, of course, I'm
sure they've been tightened again. Kind of a damned if you do scenario.

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darksaga
I would think the people who designed the system would have had several layers
of security as it relates to their database. I've only designed a few myself,
but even I know all your users shouldn't have the same privileges. The more I
read this story, the more I wonder why a private 1st class had full blown
access to classified documents. It seems like security was an after thought,
and now they're paying the price.

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trotsky
It's the same issue to, in addition to interdepartmental sharing the belief
was that overly restricting information inside organizations could keep it out
of the hands of the one analyst that would put "plot x" together.

Keep in mind Manning was an intelligence analyst, and the documents he
distributed were of low classification levels.

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rdl
I think the bigger issue was with allowing him to retain access to classified
data while obviously disgruntled and having issues with his chain of command.
His unit should have pulled his clearance (if it ever should have been
granted) once it became clear he was going to be separated from the army for
cause, etc.

I hope his (transgendered, or gay, or something) sexual identity doesn't color
public perception of the end of DADT; there are plenty of non-heterosexual
members of the military who are not security risks. However, if he was getting
separated over some "transition" related issues, that information would be
relevant to a security clearance review in his particular case.

