General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Manning’s Biggest Revelation of All [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)sentence term, I changed that view. The sentencing of Manning for crimes of conscience and the statements of so many in the government condemning him harshly for those same crimes of conscience makes me think that the government is trying to intimidate future whistleblowers.
That is incompatible with and contrary to the essence of democracy.
So I think that the crimes against a free society that were committed by our government in 1) hiding facts the citizens need to know; 2) judging Manning without a trial (in the statements of influential members of our government); 3) mistreating if not torturing Manning prior to trial; 4) attempting to keep the details of the Manning trial from the press with all kinds of efforts to make reporting difficult, are more serious than Manning's exposure of government documents about other government crimes and diplomatic gossip.
Manning committed crimes. The punishment is far too severe. It is intended to silence future whistleblowers and is disproportionate to the crimes that Manning committed.
We need more people like Manning, more people who tell the truth as their conscience dictates. We should not discourage the few people who come forward.