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In reply to the discussion: Like it or Not, Bradley Manning is a Traitor [View all]pnwmom
(108,915 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2013, 02:52 AM - Edit history (4)
None of us have read the over 250,000 cables that Manning indiscriminately, recklessly dumped before names could be redacted.
Manning didn't do that as part of thoughtful whistle-blowing -- which I give credit for, with regard to the helicopter videos. Manning dumped the 250,000 cables as a way of lashing out -- and probably also trying to get some approval from Assange, with whom Manning conversed online for a year before handing over the cables. I think Assange encouraged the soldier to grab everything available and let Assange decide what to do with it. Assange played Manning; he took advantage of a miserable, unstable young person. But it's Manning who will have to bear the consequences. A sad lesson to have to learn. It's lucky Manning might get out in as few as 8 years. It could have been much worse.