Hello all, I just wanted to start this thread because I have seen so much Bradley Manning bashing on a lot of news websites over the past 24 hours, so I wanted to get your opinions if you all consider him a hero or a traitor to the United States. A majority of the bashing that I have seen has been related to his sexual orientation, which I feel is avoiding the real issue of why he did what he did. A lot of Republicans on a lot of news websites consider him a traitor to the U.S. for endangering the lives of soldiers, whereas a lot of liberals view him as a national hero. I am just very curious to hear all of your thoughts on this issue because I have a lot of mixed feelings and ideas about what he has done, I mean, I feel like he did a good thing exposing a lot of the crimes that the military has done in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even leaking all of the documents to Wikileaks. However, I still remain skeptical as to how he obtained information and access to 700,000+ documents, especially based of his ranking. So what do you all think? Should he be hailed a national hero or a traitor?

Hero. Biggest crime was making our government more transparent. The truth is never wrong.

i'm active duty military and i say hero.

hero. it disgusts me that the usa can continue to get away with severe injustices like this. definately a hero.

Hero.

Hands down.

Unfortunately, heroes nowadays get locked up and the key thrown away... or killed, whichever comes first.


Now everyone repeat after me:

Must not mess with the military industrial complex.
Must not mess with the military industrial complex.


What good little sheep you are !

"Truth is treason, in the empire of lies" -Ron Paul

And that's all I have to say about that. <-- (as Forrest Gump would say)

it is an odd contradiction to live beliving all are equal and war crimes are the worst evil of all,
but because of my upbringing these things to me make sence,
war crimes are crimes against all humanity and if left unchecked certainly get worse,
after ww2 nations decided that war crimes were not acceptable and MUST be investigated at the insinuation of another nation, who had also signed the compact.

now we are taught in life and school that war crimes must be stopped to aviod a situation like well WW2,
and in my country ALL people are equal in their right to life and happyness and saftey.

so my moral law inbread from birth ingrained in my civil society and in the hearts of minds of the people IS the will to ENSURE no more war criminals will be tolerated, by any side, at any time.

in light of my notion that it is my duty to the equal other peoples of the world and to prevent another WW2 situation, my moral obligation to my nation is to expose the war crimes,

even to save it from itself, by causing investigation of the crimes,

all people are equal in my country and by definition ALL PEOPLE means everyone,
in any countres around the world,
and war crimes against ANY PERSON is a crime against me as well

i understand that in this senario i would be sacrificed on the pire of national security,
but if it ment my nation was made whole again,
then there would be no better way to serve a nation,
especially if you knew the consiquences of your actions.

i do not condone espienage, leaking of seceret documents, or hacking for any reason,

i do beleive that when the moral imperitive is to be a patriot and save the nation,
my personal self is secondary to my nation.

ask yourself this, do you want the USA to be thought of as avowed war criminals?
is it in the best interest of the NATION that war crimes are halted?

this is not intended as an endorcement of any persons behaviour,
but is my humble opinion from NZ

xploder

Hero.

Bradley Manning does not deserve to be put in front of a firing squad...how archaic is that anyway? That is so backward and draconian for a government that considers itself "the worldpower". The world joke more like. it.

Anyone that gets information on corrutpion and back door deals by any government and outs them is in my opinion a moral person.

Don't forget that governments are elected by and work for the people.

Corrupt government officials should be tried and punished for hoodwinking and ripping of the citizenry.

Julian Assange is a hero too...

res

Just like what Daniel Ellsberg did, I consider Manning and Assange to be doing what needs to be done when innocent civilians are being killed and the government is lying to us to justify wars.... Manning should be awarded medals for doing the right thing to expose a government that has for decades been doing wrong.