Re: U.S. Tries to Build Case Against WikiLeaks Founder

> The whistle
> blower stuff is crap, there is a designated chain of command for that
stuff that
> has full protection, even congressional protection.  His defense is crap.

Legal defense, might be.  We'll see what happens when he goes to trial.
(And color me unimpressed by any organization that keeps an unconvicted
nonviolent defendant in solitary for seven months without a trial.)

**I am not going to address the solitary aspect, I am not capable of judging
if there was legitimate need.

**But he is military.  Even if he was put into lighter confinement it would
be more harsh than civilian, and the absolute best he could have hoped for
was confinement to his barracks where he would have been a target for
massive abuse.

**Honestly, while he and other may not agree, his being in solitary is
likely going to save him from a lot of abuse.

But in as much as some of the corruption came directly from his superiors
and when he reported it he was told to ignore it and get back to work and
the corruption seems to have gone all the way up to the top, I think his
moral defense is on much firmer ground.  Who should he have reported it to
that wasn't already involved and invested in the cover-up?

**supervisors have commanders, commanders have commanders, bases have
commanders, he has congressional; representatives, AND ON TOP OF THAT, THERE
IS THE Inspctor General System that operates with whistle blower protection,
and is independent of his chain of command..

**I assume you refer to the military stuff from Afghanistan.  He has no such
defense of the state department memos.

**All I can say is that I hope he did not take any compensation, if he did,
he is looking at years of hard labour.

To me Manning is a hero, and I think he'll be honored thus by the history
books.

**one man's hero is another's traitor.  He violated his oath and is not fit
to wear his uniform.  I might have accepted the Afghanistan stuff if it
really displayed wrong doing, but not the state department leaks.  

I'm curious, what do you think about Daniel Ellsberg?

**I really know nothing about him at all.  I plan to read up, but as I said
before, these things really leave me conflicted.  Manning being active duty
has a higher bar for me that ellsberg who was a civilian which is why my ire
to him is a bit more.

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