Manning may be guilty of something, but he has not been convicted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning

A response to a "throw the key away, I don't care about his suffering" kind of comment


Ok folks, time for a reality check.
First: what is it to be an "American," and why do people flee here from other places?

-Habeaus Corpus ("show me the body"). Unlike other countries the US USED to be known for treating accused criminals... as INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. This is diametrically opposed to the NAPOLEANIC CODE, which posits you are GUILTY until PROVEN innocent. What this means is that UNTIL you are JUDGED a criminal by a JURY of your PEERS, you are INNOCENT, and must be treated as any other INNOCENT person is, even if EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR GUILTY. Apparently, the Defense Department bureaucrats have decided to do away with that annoying American concept.

-Right to Counsel. Unlike TYRANNIES, the US USED to be known for GUARANTEEING access to a lawyer once accused, so that even if you are a moron, SOMEONE WITH KNOWLEDGE can help you. The DoD has decided this RIGHT is some sort of triviality.

Which part of ILLEGAL and IMMORAL do you not understand about torturing a pre-trial defendant?? MAYBE, just MAYBE, AFTER he's judged a criminal he could receive some sort of punishment that was corporal in nature, but BEFORE??? Anyone that supports such actions can immediately discount themselves as "Americans" by any political or social definition of the word. You're as "American" as your local NAZI chapter.

Second, do any of you dolts have any idea of the effects that the release had? All the revolutions occurring right now, in the Middle East, sprung DIRECTLY from the leaks. The security apparatus of NUMEROUS countries are under assault because of the INFORMATION RELEASED ABOUT THEIR CRIMES IN THESE LEAKS. Our own government is coming to terms with, in one case, an attack by nine service men on 24 HOUSES in Iraq and their INNOCENT families, in which only TWO survived, one a nine year old boy, who watched his parents and granny murdered by US SERVICEMEN outside a field of combat!

Listen to yourselves! Evidence of US crimes here and abroad, cooperation with detestable secret police in other countries, and Manning, who by the way, became upset when he saw PROFESSORS AND JOURNALISTS BEING TORTURED FOR REVEALING CORRUPTION IN IRAQ, is now BEING TORTURED HIMSELF! And yet, despite all this, you are calling this young boy a TRAITOR?

We need more such traitors.