General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Officers of the United States Government should be on trial -- not PFC Bradley Manning. [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)That is my question. He was not a high level officer. Why did he have all that stuff? Diplomatic cables? Come on. Why was he able to obtain it?
Seems to me that while the public focuses on Manning, the real problem that existed and may still exist at a higher command level has not been discussed.
As a girl of about 15 I visited a relative who showed me her coding equipment, her Morse code equipment from WWII. She had been a WAC. Then she smiled at me secretively. She didn't say much, but when I learned of the ENIGMA team, I wondered whether she was telling me something without words. It seems to me that she was because she told me about her work as a WAC in such a manner as to make the maximum impression on me.
Many, many people knew that we solved the ENIGMA code during WWII. None of them ever told. I think that is because they truly believed that they were involved in something important, something true, something that gave them moral dignity. Sadly, the same cannot be said of many of those who served in Iraq and even more sadly, in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan to oust the terrorists was and is most certainly at least in some respects a war of necessity if the 9/11 history that we have been told is true. (I think it probably is for the most part.) But the War in Iraq? It is understandable to me that a young, idealistic man serving in Iraq might have become very disillusioned with the military in which he was serving and the government that sent him there.
And might I add that Hillary Clinton and a number of other Democrats should be apologizing and asking for an inquiry into our rationale for that war. I would like to see a more honest examination of the Bush/Cheney War in Iraq that we have yet seen. That might shed new light on what Manning did. Because he has been targeted as a criminal because he violated specific rules. But Bush/Cheney have not been seriously questioned or investigated for what they did in Iraq and based on such flimsy evidence, reasoning and moral consideration. Shame on them for sending any young person to Iraq in the first place.
And now who is benefiting from the blood, sweat and tears of our soldiers in Iraq? China, Iran -- that was a foolish waste of our resources and the real crime against America.