ok, so now that the trial is over, the judgement rendered, and the sentence handed down...

[Volaris]

I wanted to offer up my opinion on Manning/Assange.

There are a lot of angles to this, there are a lot of important questions, and just as many equally important opinions. But the thing I have kept coming back to throughout ALL of it (and I have done a LOT of thinkming about it, as I have read through the threads here and elsewhere) is this:

NONE of it should have EVER been necessary.

One can argue that Manning (emotionaly stable or otherwise in her personal life) should have NEVER been in a position to have acess to that information. Well, then the need to recruit her should have never been necessary to win a war.
One can argue that Assange should NEVER have had the singular power to publish information related to the cover-up of a War Crime. Well, then those soldiers/contractors should have NEVER been in a position to be able to commit that Crime (or any others) in the FIRST FUCKING PLACE.

All of this sucks, and HAS sucked, from the very beginnning. And, it's going to CONTUINE to suck until such time as we decide that the Oil we "DIDN'T" go to War for, not only doesn't belong to us, but that actually, we don't fucking NEED IT.

It's going to suck until we remember that the poeple we elect are answerable to us, and not the other fucking way around.

Manning won't get a pardon, and won't have her sentence commuted. Assange will NOT be allowed to walk free. Not unless we REQUIRE IT OF OURSELVES, and that means admitting to the rest of the planet that NONE of this was necessary.

Good luck with all THAT.

Now I'm more pissed than I was when I started typing. Responses are welcome, as always, but I probably won't read/respond to them tonight, as I'm quickly losing my objectivity this evening.

Peace,

[kestrel91316]

1. Oh dear....

for your use of the male pronoun.

[Volaris]

2. Well hell.

FIXED, and sorry for that. so put the popcorn away=) (and thanks for making me smile, I needed it)

[kestrel91316]

5. On the up side, every LGBT person on DU now has you on ignore, so you

won't have to incur their wrath the next time you commit a minor faux pas.

[1awake]

3. While your post is interesting and thought prevoking...

and while I think you should have used "she" instead of "he", for a lot of people, thats all their going to see. change it to avoid that, and more importantly, because "he" is no longer accurate.

[movonne]

4. And I'm just as pissed as you are after reading your

post...it really does suck and scary...

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. The Mannings and Assanges and Snowdens are checks and balances against the corrupt state

because there are no checks or balances apparently remaining within the system...which is no doubt what the corrupt state wants.

[BainsBane]

7. The only charges pending against Assange are in Sweden for sexual molestation

and he should NOT walk free before facing up to them.

[TorchTheWitch]

8. Manning wasn't given access

He hacked passwords which he bragged about doing often and put unauthorized software on his work computer that bypassed security mechanisms and would download at a rate of 1000 docs per hour. This was all part of the charges that have been known about for years.

Manning doesn't deserve a pardon, and he was rightfully found guilty. He's not a whistleblower. He hacked into and stole over 700,000 classified documents he had no flippin' idea what information they contained and handed them over to Assange to publish. Those documents did not contain any wrongdoing much less war crimes. Who knows what diplomacy the release of those documents reeked havoc on and what negotiations got fucked up because of it and not just for the US but many other countries as well. We'll never know since we'll never be told. And who knows why he did it. Because he was a jerk or pissed off and wanted to score revenge points for some imagined slight or maybe he's just fucked in the head. I've got zero sympathy for him.