<story><title>Bradley Manning leaked Granai Airstrike &quot;~86-147, mostly women and children&quot;</title><url>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granai_airstrike#Video_of_the_airstrike</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>gridmaths</author><text>I posted the link. I wanted to describe my reasons :&lt;p&gt;I know that even the most justified war is ugly : there are accidents and mistakes and innocent people die at times, despite the best precautions.&lt;p&gt;Im aware that the freedoms I have every day, are a result of a coalition of democratic countries winning WWII and other conflicts.  Many of my freedoms were won by American strength : military, economic and technological.  I&amp;#x27;m not an American, but I hold up the Constitution, the rule of Law and Democracy as high ideals - the best way humans have come up with so far of coexisting on this planet.&lt;p&gt;But a Democracy cannot exist where there is no free speech nor the right to question the government and the law.  Citizens need information on whats happening : we need freedom to speak and anonymity to discuss in private, if we are to have a functioning Democracy.&lt;p&gt;I think Bradley Manning had a moral obligation as a soldier and as a citizen, to release the information he did.  From what I read it seems that he was careful not to share information that would get other soldiers and spies killed, nor give the enemy any material advantage in the war.&lt;p&gt;What I think should happen is that this should be a civil trial by jury to decide whether he acted legally and morally.  He leaked news of military &amp;#x27;mistakes&amp;#x27;, so he should not be tried by that same organization.  A civil jury should decide whether the obligation to uphold the Constitution, by leaking, outweighed his obligation as a soldier to keep the information secret.&lt;p&gt;Even more worrying here is that the Obama administration is pushing for this to be tried as &amp;#x27;giving information directly to the enemy&amp;#x27; ie. treason, when clearly the motivation was not that.&lt;p&gt;If there were no Wikileaks, no Press, no privacy.. how would we keep our secret organisations in check, and have any confidence they are following their mandate ?</text></comment>
<story><title>Bradley Manning leaked Granai Airstrike &quot;~86-147, mostly women and children&quot;</title><url>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granai_airstrike#Video_of_the_airstrike</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jlgreco</author><text>I wonder if this is an example of one of the freedoms that they hate us for.</text></comment>