Well if he wanted to stamp out injustice in the dealings of the American military, he should have only brought to light the relevant information, instead of giving everything to Wikileaks.
It's like weeding a garden with napalm.

Manning should get a congressional Medal of Honor.

The dude is no hero, despite what he thinks.

He went in with malice aforethought and pre-conceived notions, took a position of trust in military intel, and then stood behind his homosexuality as a victim to conduct illegal activities that caused grave harm to the US.

He should have joined the Peace Corps.

Bradley Manning is a TRUE patriot. He stood up for the morals he believed in, specifically that people shouldn't be dehumanized and murdered by a US Military filled with immature bullies that are the same asshats they were in high school. The primary change being they have more bravado and less empathy. The men in the helicopter responsible for gunning down innocent civilian reporters and children without remorse, have been trained on the mechanics of death. Yet they still don't comprehend it's true cost and are most likely in desperate need of psychiatric assistance. (side note: This isn't headline news in the USA.. To get this news, we have to go to the UK. Wonder why.. .)

Why do I feel like the posters here who are calling PFC Manning a "TRUE American hero" really have no clue as to what a hero is...

I think the real answer to the Manning story is somewhere in between the two extremes here. While a number of things he exposed were necessary to see, it is insane to think that he was ever in a million years going to get away with it.

The outrage in his treatment is the secrecy and lack of due process attached to it. But he has at last been exposed to light, and will in fact get a trial. He's going to spend the rest of his life in jail, guaranteed. But I don't think his case has done anywhere near the damage to habeas corpus that Jose Padilla's did, or to the US's open embrace of torture.

And we have the stuff. The torture documents are the important ones, and we're going to be hearing about them for a long time to come. I'd really like to see Cheney in the cell next to him, of course, but the damage to his reputation, and Bush's, will probably be enough. Bush would be able to paint all he wants in a cell.

@6, I assume for you the real heros are the soldiers who joyously shot up a bunch of innocent people? Actually I have read some of your other comments and that probably answers my question.

But if you actually value doing the right thing and moral thing the US Corporate Military isn't the job for you. Manning should have been born 300 years later, he's Star Fleet material...not US Army material

a little background: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar…

What was happening was unjust. If he had reported to the chain of command, he would have done his duty. He chose instead, despite what he knew was a serious offense that could never be tolerated for many reasons, to go the route he went. I know heroes sometimes fall on grenades and sacrifice their life for the lives of others. That's what he did. His life is over.

@7 The other very important element that is forgotten: nearly 1 million people have security clearances in the War on Terror! A leak like this was going to happen eventually with that large of a group. The size of the military intelligence apparatus is the real threat to civil liberties.

Ew, the only one here agreeing with me is GeneStoner. I need to take a shower.
Well no, I'm on the same page as Fnarf mostly. (I think his trial should be in the public eye.)
Actually do need to go shower though, so see yas.

@1,12 - I think that there was absolutely no way to "stamp out injustice" in the way you describe. I think that is remarkably naïve. Merely exposing a few crimes would have resulted in no net change of course -- like so many examples before. (e.g. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Blackwater, etc. etc.)

The Wikileaks cache exposes the clearer picture of the corruption and Machiavellian diplomacy at the core of US foreign policy. And it allows journalists & foreign gov'ts to gain a clearer picture of the dragon they are dealing with, --now and whenever they need to do keyword searches in those documents-- thereby balancing the tables just a little bit more.

Manning took his morals to the universal level, after he saw that the one side he pledged his allegiance to was actively betraying him and it's own stated code of conduct.

I agree with you too, @12, FWIW. Napalm to mow the lawn is very apt.

It's strange, It's like you guys are watching a video where Manning is bitching about not getting room service and pouting that he got caught at all.

He accepted responsibility and is awaiting punishment. He knew that he would be railroaded and denied normal justice. He did it anyway. OTHERS are calling him a hero.

What is the definition of a hero? SOMEONE WHO DISPLAYS COURAGE OR IS A DAMN COMIC CHARACTER. Hero is a meaningless term, you can't misuse it.

"Napalm to mow the lawn is very apt"

Garden/lawn is revealing of the way you think of the empire.

Uh, Brendan? Greenwald is an opinion columnist for the Guardian, not a reporter.

(Unless you feel like classing Rush Limbaugh as a reporter for the EIB Network - gag!)