Bradley Manning: Left and Right, Right and Wrong

Manning will likely face a General Court-Martial in June

It’s not a question of whether Bradley Manning stands trial, but a question of when. Manning would normally go before a General Court Martial consisting of a Military Judge, a panel of at least three enlisted “peers”, Military defense Lawyers, and Military prosecution Lawyers.

There are three types of Court Martial Manning could face:

1. Summary Court-Martial: minor misconduct by enlisted personnel, forfeiture of rank, pay, general discharge.
2. Special Court-Martial: intermediate level offenses by enlisted personnel, forfeiture of rank, pay, incarceration, dishonorable discharge.
3. General Court-Martial: high level offenses by enlisted and officer personnel, incarceration, death, dismissal, dishonorable/Bad Conduct Discharge.

Manning has opted to go with just the Military Judge, Colonel Denise Lind. So far, June 3 of this year has been set for the trial to begin. Occasionally, these things are drawn out, but the Military is usually on time with their major adjudications.

There are currently 22 charges against PFC Manning. He has plead guilty to the 10 lesser charges which would get him a minimum of 20 years in jail, but plead not guilty to the 12 major charges which includes aiding and abetting the enemy at a time of War.

Manning was allowed to present part of his case before Col. Lind. It came in the form of a 35-page description of his motivations for dumping copious amounts of data into the Wiki-leaks system. He purportedly claims to have no understanding of where these documents would eventually end up or he claims that this information would not put his fellow soldiers and cooperating Afghans at risk.

I am still standing firm on my conclusion that the Code of Military Justice was broken, and, therefore, Bradley Manning should spend time in jail, but not 20 years. Perhaps he should be discharged from the Service with a less than an Honorable Discharge. Once out of the Service, his book royalties and movie deals should be collected by the I.R.S. to help pay for the war, or better yet, pay reparations for the victims of American war crimes.

Left and Right

For Bradley Manning, whose brave empathy exposed criminal actions on the part of U.S. warlords complicit in torture, death squads and executions, the war most certainly isn’t over. He lives as an isolated war hero and whistle-blower facing decades or perhaps life in prison – Kathy Kelly

Right and Wrong

What if Bradley Manning was a member of the Tea Party, the Young Virginia Republicans and practiced right-wing, instead of left-wing politics? Would he be fair game then? Would the “mainstream media” jump on him and such propaganda sheets as NEWSWEEK magazine feature Manning on the front cover? – militarycorruption.com