Good Lord

Bradley Manning has been sentenced  to 35years and people are out in rabid force decrying a miscarriage of justice.  Manning is a hero, they cried. He broke the law only to let us know what was really going on.  I can't believe something like this can happen in a democracy...blah,blah,blah. 

First, a couple of points, the United States is not now, nor has it ever been, a democracy.  If you don't know this then you really didn't pay attention in civics and have no business commenting on our government.  For fuck's sake, even Glen Beck knows this.  We are a republic.  It even says so in that pledge many of you are so paranoid is being taken out of schools.  It's not, by the way.  My kids say it every morning.  Plus, I have yet to see one credible source showing it has been taken out of a public school.  Oh, another bit about the pledge, it was written by a socialist.  In your narrow mindset does that not make it evil now?



Second, HE BROKE THE FUCKING LAW. The reasons why he did it are irrelevant.  He broke the law.  If Manning gets to decide that he can brake the law for totally justifiable reason 'A', then why can't I, you, Pablo Escobar decide to brake the law for totally justifiable reason 'B.'  In fact, lets make all laws conditional.  A is only illegal if B.  Or rather, let's not have laws at all. 

Furthermore, let's acknowledge the FACT that Manning, as a US soldier sworn to defend our country, released classified information to a FOREIGN NATIONAL.  It is not like he leaked these documents to the NY Times or the Washington Post.  Not like he leaked them to a US attorney, US media outlet, US police, FBI or any of the multitude of US citizens he could have chosen.  By leaking the documents to Assange, Manning engaged in espionage against the United States.  We call this Treason, an offense punishable by death.  The reasons that Manning engaged in treasonous acts is, in itself, irrelevant.  All that matters is that he did it.  And as such, is paying the price for his crime.

There were a dozen different things that he could have done with the information he discovered.  He could have been an anonymous source, like 'Deep Throat' providing US media outlets with information that corroborated his story. He could have gone to a multitude of law enforcement agencies.  Hell, he could have turned the documents over to the UN or NATO for further investigation.  But instead, he turned them over to a foreign national, who also happens to be a known criminal.  Sorry, Manning doesn't get a pass in my book.  Justice was served and he is lucky the sentence is so light.