U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe

Originally posted by hinky
Enjoy the American bashing going on. Be sure to thank the people of your own government for your free thoughts expressed here. If you're an American, shame on you.

He is not a hero nor by any means a patriot.

At best he is a criminal and at worst a traitor. He has placed thousands of lives at stake without even knowing the damage he did. Even most of the people here are too naive to see what damage he has done. But releasing state secrets is a-ok.... no, it's not right nor righteous nor patriotic.

I really hope this guy is shot for treason in a time of war. It sounds harsh, and it is, because he gave aid and comfort to our enemy. An enemy he swore an oath to defend us from.

He damaged the reputation of the invaders. What else did he damage? Please explain.

I think the whole CD thing shed light on the practice of killing from the skies. It was one incident, but it drove home how inaccurate and inpersonal it was making war - how war was becoming - in a mental since - some sort of video game with players to 'frag.'

It was not long after CD that people started questioning more about what was going on with the unmanned drones in Pakistan.

If it in bloodlust and anxiety, we accidentally kill our own journalists, maybe it's time to take a deep breath and get our soldiers some better optical gear.

“Everywhere there’s a U.S. post, there’s a diplomatic scandal that will be revealed,” Manning wrote. “It’s open diplomacy. World-wide anarchy in CSV format. It’s Climategate with a global scope, and breathtaking depth. It’s beautiful, and horrifying.”

Yeah, what a hero eh?

People throw around the word hero too much these days. The man abused his trust and leaked all kinds of sensitive information which in the end helped do nothing but cause controversy. He didn't bring those people back to life, he didn't end the war or change public policy, he didn't accomplish much of anything except break the law (hence why he is being arrested people) and abuse the trust placed in him.

If you leak sensitive information, you better damn well be willing to face the consequences, and preferably you better be leaking truly useful information. Either he's telling the truth and he has indeed revealed thousands of scraps of information, in which case I can virtually guarantee not all of those were justified in being leaked, or he has only leaked this one, in which case the information he leaked is pointless. It only causes pointless internal controversy, and hatred or shame from the rest of the world. For the actions of a few soldiers thousands of miles away. Instead of trusting the commanding officers of those men or other military officials to carry out actions to reprimand them, he decided to make it an international issue. That's not a very bright decision.

It's affecting me and my future. It's unfortunate what happened, but his decision to leak that harmed America more than it helped it.

The decision to arrest him is perfectly justified - he broke the law and knew damn well what he was doing. I feel no sympathy for his situation.

Innocent Iraqi civilians? I saw the video, and they looked like Muslims to me. Insurgents hide among the civilian population. Or maybe they where just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Who cares?

This guy is a flake and needs to be dealt with severely. As far as Wikkileaks goes, they have be known to doctor these videos in the past. I would like to see some type of treason charges brought against them.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Carseller4]

Originally posted by Carseller4
Innocent Iraqi civilians? I saw the video, and they looked like Muslims to me.

I think it would be hard to find a more ignorant statement on ATS.

Or maybe they where just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Who cares?

Hmmm....tough call.

Members who use this board to say such things should really be banned for the simple fact that saying such things adds nothing and even detracts from any intelligent conversation.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by K J Gunderson]

reply to post by K J Gunderson


Sorry if my response was way over your head.

I thought this was ATS, not government run elementary schools, where things are normally dumbed down for all to comprehend.

If you can't understand how al-queda and insurrgents operate within the civilian community, I can't help you.

Originally posted by Carseller4
reply to post by K J Gunderson

 

Sorry if my response was way over your head.

I thought this was ATS, not government run elementary schools, where things are normally dumbed down for all to comprehend.

If you can't understand how al-queda and insurrgents operate within the civilian community, I can't help you.

Over my head? No, it was just stupid. Can you please explain to me when being Muslim meant being a terrorist?

Innocent Iraqi civilians? I saw the video, and they looked like Muslims to me.

Innocent Iraqi civilians can not be Muslim?

Bring it down to my level and explain to stupid old me what your incredibly ignorant and uninformed statement means.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by K J Gunderson]

Originally posted by Carseller4
Innocent Iraqi civilians? I saw the video, and they looked like Muslims to me.
[edit on 8-6-2010 by Carseller4]

That must have been a surprise for you. That could be a good excuse for any damage in the region...

reply to post by FinalSonicX

It's affecting me and my future. It's unfortunate what happened, but his decision to leak that harmed America more than it helped it. The decision to arrest him is perfectly justified - he broke the law and knew damn well what he was doing. I feel no sympathy for his situation.

I am truly sorry if you have been affected personally by this. I feel though that the man did everyone a great justice by showing us what really goes on in our name. That video and I'm sure a lot more acts of violence are what creates the perception that we the public of America are the problem.

I never said to invade Iraq. Actually, I don't believe anyone agreed with the decision. Even the UN wasn't on board with this. The real reasons behind the invasion are becoming ever clearer though. We have to stop letting our foreign policies run their course without ever knowing what they really are. The CFR gives us our marching orders I believe.

Which is why I would encourage wikileaks to release those 250000 cables or e-mails to the public. We need to know who is using the publics good name for their own goals. I really don't think I could have let such information go by me without saying something to someone. It would be like seeing a murderer on a rampage and being silent about it because you didn't want to wake the neighborhood.

I am not sure, what to think of Adrian Lamo.

Just looking at the wikipedia makes me think a lot:

Adrian Lamo

Not, because he was a criminal hacker. But look at the first pic. Kevin Poulson was the one, who wrote a lot of articles about Adrian Lamo and also sent the story of Bradley Manning.

There is a third person in that pic. Kevin Mitnick, most wanted computer-criminal, as Wikipedia says. Expert of the new form of "social engineering" - getting informations by manipulating people, instead of hacking computers...

Mhm, Adrian makes a whistleblower tell him about his deeds and plans and even about his identity and tells it to the FBI.

If I was the FBI/CIA I would use these guys and their knowledge about hacking and social engineering. If I want to make wikileaks look untrustable, I would use that knowledge, to show, that whistleblowers are not secure.

Let's see, how it developes further.

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Siddharta]

Originally posted by jackflap
reply to post by FinalSonicX

 

I am truly sorry if you have been affected personally by this. I feel though that the man did everyone a great justice by showing us what really goes on in our name. That video and I'm sure a lot more acts of violence are what creates the perception that we the public of America are the problem.

I never said to invade Iraq. Actually, I don't believe anyone agreed with the decision. Even the UN wasn't on board with this. The real reasons behind the invasion are becoming ever clearer though. We have to stop letting our foreign policies run their course without ever knowing what they really are. The CFR gives us our marching orders I believe.

Which is why I would encourage wikileaks to release those 250000 cables or e-mails to the public. We need to know who is using the publics good name for their own goals. I really don't think I could have let such information go by me without saying something to someone. It would be like seeing a murderer on a rampage and being silent about it because you didn't want to wake the neighborhood.

The man accomplished little good IMO. Did you believe in the war before? Did you really think there were no casualties before the video? It happens frequently during war. All the video does is make America look bad, make the american people look bad, and harm our potential for future prosperity.

WikiLeaks should not release those cables if they contain sensitive information. If they speak about potentially illegal things, absolutely. Chances are good though that they're just things that someone disagrees with personally. You can't work in intelligence like that. The video shows the actions of individuals, not the government. The government merely placed them in a situation which led to the events seen on the video.

The video has not done anything except inspire pointless arguments, hatred of America and Americans, and divide us even further. We should be talking about the root issues: should we be at war and if so with whom for what time period? what are our goals? what is this costing us? Is this morally permissible? these are more valuable than who shot who in the middle of a war zone, those are details which for the most part are irrelevant at the national level.

In essence, the man leaked sensitive information which accomplished nothing but harm and distracted from the real issues. He did so willingly in full knowledge of the illegality of his actions and he appears to have no remorse. Therefore, on what grounds could his arrest possibly be unwarranted? And if we agree that it is indeed warranted, then there is no point in discussing this news story, correct?

[edit on 6/8/2010 by FinalSonicX]

reply to post by FinalSonicX

In essence, the man leaked sensitive information which accomplished nothing but harm and distracted from the real issues. He did so willingly in full knowledge of the illegality of his actions and he appears to have no remorse. Therefore, on what grounds could his arrest possibly be unwarranted? And if we agree that it is indeed warranted, then there is no point in discussing this news story, correct?

Contractually, yes the man should be imprisoned for what he did. He was a granted whatever level of secret clearance and I'm sure he signed a lot of contracts saying that he would not divulge anything he sees to anyone else who does not have the clearance to see such things. He is guilty of leaking the information to an entity that did not have the clearance and therefore will suffer the punishment.

The discussion that the whole event inspires is not born of the fact that he should or should not be arrested. The discussion is born of how the information he leaked inspired him to leak it in the first place. It must have been overwhelming and scary. It must have been something that no contract in the world could have kept a lid on. Absolutely mind blowing information that the individual felt was necessary for someone else to see.

The Collateral Murder video is just the tip of the ice berg from what I can gather in the article form the opening post. That has been debated up one side and down the other on these boards. Has it caused division? No, I don't believe so because the division was already there. If anything it gave us all a chance to see how decisions are made in the war zones. I have my own opinions on the video and I'm sure you can find them in the related threads that I've participated in on that subject.

The whole thing has to make you wonder what it was that he seen that made him turn the information over. I know how clearances work and I know that psychological profiles are built for the people who have access to such information. They are scrutinized heavily and only after being signed off on by higher professionals in such areas are they granted their clearances. So either someone dropped the ball in evaluating this guy or he came across something that shattered his reality and made him give up the information to wikileaks.

I am more interested in how our foreign policies are played out. I really would like to see that information.







[edit on 8-6-2010 by jackflap]

reply to post by K J Gunderson


In case you didn't know, when you join the US military you lose your civilian rights. You become in essence property of the US government. Being in the military and doing what this kid did, is enough to get you shot.

I remember the "good ol' days" when someone was hung for doing something like that.

Traitor.

Originally posted by hangedman13
In case you didn't know, when you join the US military you lose your civilian rights. You become in essence property of the US government. Being in the military and doing what this kid did, is enough to get you shot.

You don't lose your civilian rights. You still have them while in the military.

but you're right; he should be shot for what he did.

reply to post by signal2noise


man you people like hangman13 like hinky, talk like those trotskyite soviet commissars .

Whats happening to ATS ,since when did people start supporting mass murdering,genocide and execution of whistleblowers

[edit on 8-6-2010 by sadchild01]

Another possible scenario...
Wiki releases the 260,000 diplomatic cables and the government uses the event to "regulate" the internet. In other words the entire event might have been set up to seize control of the last bastion of free speech.

Wiki could be in on it...(doubtful)
The soldier could be in on it...(more likely)

All by design... problem reaction solution. The elite's solution to the internet problem.

Looks like I got me some new friends. Been compared to nazies and communists.

I was too politically correct in my original post about this traitor should be shot for treason. I made the mistake of underestimating the stupidity of people in general and the "I hate American for any reason" crowd in particular.

There are very few countries of the civilized world that you would even know about this. Do you think for one second if this happen in Russia or China, we would be reading about this. The guy would have been shot on the spot for suspicion.

He was given a duty, not a job, of securing and keeping secret documents and records. It wasn't his duty to release anything. That is another person's duty. He knew the outcome, beforehand, as he has signed documents explaining what would happen to him if he did something stupid, before he took this responsibility.

I won't even ask if anyone actually knows what a diplomatic cable is. I'll make the assumption you're talking out of your asses in this regard. It doesn't matter what the cable message is. What matters is the original transmission of the cable was encrypted, now the message can be read. This endangers all the secure communications of the USA. Everyone, high five on the hero.

The communication system can not be rebuilt overnight. It doesn't work like that regardless of what you think you know.

This traitor has endangered the lives of all military and diplomatic personnel worldwide. It's not an Iraq or Afghanistan thing or even a Muslim thing. It is an every nation with an intelligence service can now decode all our message traffic thing AND it doesn't matter if it is radio, satellite, internet, or even telephone. This is big and earth shattering, but most of you are too stupid to have figured this out.

I can't wait wikileaks release it all

Standard Form 312 "Classified Information Non-Disclosure Agreement".

Section 3:

"I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of classified information by me could cause damage or irreparable injury to the United States or could be used to advantage by a foreign nation. I hereby agree that I will never divulge classified information to anyone unless: (a) I have officially verified that the recipient has been properly authorized by the United States Government to receive it: or (b) I have been given prior written notice of authorization from the United States Government Department or Agency (hereinafter Department or Agency) responsible for the classification of the information or last granting me a security clearance that such disclosure is permitted. I understand that if I am uncertain about the classification status of information I am required to confirm from an authorized official that the information is unclassified before I may disclose it, except to a person as provided in (a) or (b) above. I further understand that I am obligated to comply with laws and regulations that prohibit the unauthorized disclosure of classified information".

Every single person in the U.S holding a security clearance signs this form.

Case closed. Jury dismissed. Get a rope..........