Ian wrote:Manning is a hero only if you don't believe ambassadors and secretaries of state have any right to speak to each other or to their home governments in confidence. Otherwise, you're just holding him up as some idealized character rather than looking at what he did. A couple whistles might've been blown in the process of what he did, but his actions go way, way beyond mere whistleblowing. His actions were criminal.
I hear he's going to ask President Obama for a pardon. This is something Presidents usually do on their last day or week in office. Anyone want to bet on whether or not Manning gets one? I'd be happy to bet on No Way.
I'm fairly sure he won't be pardoned.
The thing is though, individual emails are easily explained away using the old "it has been taken out of context" malarkey. However, we in Ireland saw clearly how our own politicians were lying directly to us about our collusion in the kidnapping flights that passed through Shannon airport.
I personally witnessed multiple breaches of our laws by US soldiers passing through Shannon (not that I'd blame them personally!). But I saw soldiers in the airport lounge with gun sleeves hung over their shoulders. I presume these were snipers. Those were definitely rifles. The law that provides for transition of foreign military through our airports stipulates that these soldiers may not be armed.
Also, I saw US soldiers outside the airport in uniform. This is also in breach of the law that provides for transition, afaik.
We know that kidnapped persons transitioned through Shannon Airport. The government and police here said that they could not search the aircraft without a formal complaint and without good reason to suspect that there was a kidnapping victim on board. This was complete bullshit, and for many years this went on.
During that period, GW Bush visited the Shannon region, as part of the usual US presidential electoral shennanigans to get the Irish-American vote. Bush was in Ireland for a few hours. Our military blockaded the airport, and ALL approach roads, and created a militarised corridor from Shannon to Dromoland Castle (20-30 miles away) inside which no Irish person that was not resident was allowed, and definitely no protesters were allowed.
This was an unprecedented suppression of Irish civil rights and a direct support for a foreign power's war efforts by our state in breach of our neutrality. It was outrageous and it remains outrageous.
Some of the wikileaks revealed clearly the fact that Irish politicians were conspiring against our people and our constitution and our laws with a foreign power.
So, all in all, I'm not too upset with Manning.
And, by the way, I am very fond of the USA, and I'm even more fond of American people. I'm deeply suspicious of governments, military, and security agencies in general. The more secret they are, the more suspicious the average citizen should be, as far as I am concerned.
And the more the nonsensical sugar-coated fairy tales that are used for propaganda are washed away and replaced with cold hard facts, the closer we'll get to grown up and adult conversations about policies and their implementation.