February 04, 2012 09:22 PM UTC

Bradley Manning Court Martial "could be imprisoned for life"

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• by: wade norris

That’s right.

Bradley Manning could face life imprisonment for leaking cables about how the Government conducted itself in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have a clear opinion about the extreme use of solitary confinement on Bradley Manning after his arrest – I believe this was wrong and that this was clearly an attempt to silence other people who might think about becoming a ‘potential whistleblower.’

And I say  ‘potential’ whistlebliower’ because I am conflicted about what the merits of the case are. Did Manning expose crimes? Yes. Does the government have merit to prosecute him for exposing other info that put people at risk?

I don’t know.

What say you?

I have heard the arguments on both sides, on the one hand, Bradley Manning’s leaks violated the Government’s ability to effectively operate against the War on Terror, on the other hand, Bradley Manning’s leaks exposed the previous administration’s use of torture and worse in the War on Terror.

But I can think of another case that mirrors this one closely.

Valerie Plame.

Her identity was leaked also as a way to silence other whistle-blowers – much like the solitary that Manning faced after his arrest.

By leaking Valerie Plame’s identity – there is no doubt that this harmed our intelligence community, put assets in jeopardy or cost them their lives and hindered our government from operating in the War on Terror.

And this leak came from the highest realms of our previous administration – from Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff – Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby.  

So we have two cases of leaked information.

One leak to Wikileaks and the General public about our Government’s covert actions – the other a leak from within the Chambers of the Vice President, about our Government’s covert actions.

I am no legal expert, but it seems that Bradley Manning and Scooter Libby did pretty much the same thing – leaking info the Government has said put us at risk and people’s lives in harm’s way.

In my humble opinion, Bradley Manning should receive a sentence no more severe than Scooter Libby – which was 30 months in federal prison.

But since I am just an average citizen, I need some ‘smart people’ to explain to me why this low level officer deserves to be sentenced to life in prison.

Any info is appreciated.