Reply #33: Here

[sudopod]

Manning was not "blowing the whistle" on anything. He was a malcontent who was basically forced to enlist in the army by a father who was fed up with his behavior/attitude problems. Instead of shaping up, his attitude got the best of him and he eventually decided to get even with the mean people giving him orders. So he walked in to work one day and indiscriminately downloaded every document with a "classified" stamp he could find from every department he could access and he handed everything over to Wikileaks. And then he hopped on a chat server and boasted about how he had stuck it to the man.

The part about the chat server is still in question, since Mr. Lamo isn't exactly a grade A witness, and text files aren't so hard to "enhance," but we can let that slide.

And none of that, even if 100 percent true, would excuse his treatment or those who have ordered it. It's much easier to swallow it and say "he had it coming" if he's a little whiny malcontent getting even with dad though, isn't it.

I think in your heart of hearts, you know better, but, as I said to the barf guy below, whatever helps you sleep at night.