General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution ... [View all]But he went to his superiors and they did nothing...why would he believe that the IG or any member of Congress would do anything?
We're not talking about a soldier with experience, this was a kid who probably thought that since his immediate chain of command failed to move on it...he couldn't trust the IG or even a member of Congress!
Besides, he pleaded guilty to enough charges to do 20 years...but the military wants its pound of flesh because the command was shown to be complicit with covering up alleged war crimes, and want him put away for the rest of his life!
We can sit here and play the coulda, woulda, shoulda game all day long, but none of us are Manning and don't know what he was thinking or even what he was dealing with.
He made a decision based on what he was experiencing, not on what we think he was dealing with...