Manning a polarising whistleblower
Soldier seen as a hero by some and reviled by others for leaking US secrets
NEW YORK: The honours and accolades proliferated over three years: international peace prizes, solidarity campaigns by celebrities, an effort to designate him – in absentia, of course – as grand marshal of San Francisco’s gay pride parade.
All the while, Bradley Manning ( pic) was imprisoned by the military, branded a traitor by the US government and reviled by many Americans. Some even called for his execution for giving troves of classified secrets to WikiLeaks for global distribution.
And on Tuesday, a military court judge found him guilty of all but two of 22 offences related to his leaking of US government secrets to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks.
Few Americans in living memory have emerged from obscurity to become such polarising public figures – admired by many around the world, fiercely denigrated by many in his homeland.
The contrasting portraits of Manning were summarised by his defence attorney, David Coombs, during the trial that culminated on Tuesday with Manning’s acquittal on a charge of aiding the enemy and his conviction on charges of espionage, theft and computer fraud. He now faces 136 years in jail.
“Is Pfc. Manning somebody who is a traitor, who has no loyalty to this country, or the flag?” Coombs had asked. “Or is he a young, naive, good-intentioned soldier who had human life, in his humanist beliefs, centre to his decision?
“Which side of the version is the truth?”
His supporters embraced the second of those versions, as illustrated by a full-page ad last week in The New York Times, headlined “WE ARE BRADLEY MANNING.” The ad’s 850 signatories included writer Alice Walker, activist intellectual Noam Chomsky, singer Joan Baez, and Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Vietnam War-era Pentagon Papers who has praised Manning as a worthy heir to his legacy. “This 25-year-old, openly gay soldier from Oklahoma does not deserve to spend one more day in prison for informing the public of our government’s policies,” the newspaper ad said. “We will not relent until this American hero is free.”
His detractors had a different view.
“We need to get very, very serious about treason,” Fox News analyst Ralph Peters said on a recent newscast. “And oh by the way, for treason– as in the case of Bradley Manningor Edward Snowden – you bring back the death penalty.”
The lead prosecutor at Manning’s trial, Maj Ashden Fein, depicted the Army private as a “gleeful, grinning” malefactor who savoured the glory of being a whistle blower.
“The only human Pfc. Manning ever cared about was himself,” Fein said.
From the highest levels of the US government, civilian and military leaders argued that Manning had violated pledges made to get his top secret clearance, potentially endangered US agents, and made classified information accessible to America’s enemies.
“Some information which is sensitive, which does affect the security of individuals and relationships, deserves to be protected and we will continue to take necessary steps to do so,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton while serving as secretary of state when Manning released classified diplomatic cables.
One leaked dispatch referred to the president of Turkmenistan as “a practiced liar” and “not a very bright guy.” Another said Sweden engaged in military and intelligence cooperation with the United States in contradiction with its public stance of nonalignment.
One of Manning’s leading defenders believes he decided to reveal secrets without any expectation of fame.
“I don’t think he intended to become a hero in the sense of having followers all over the world,” said Emma Cape, campaign organiser for the Bradley Manning Support Project. “I do think he was intending to do the right thing, knowing his actions would affect people all over the world.”
Support for Manning has been particularly notable in Europe, where he was widely viewed as a conscience-stricken whistleblower incurring the wrath of American authorities for disclosures that embarrassed them.
The Geneva-based International Peace Bureau this month awarded Manning its annual peace prize. Several European lawmakers have urged the United States to free him outright. Protests have regularly been held in his honour outside of US embassies across the continent.
With his slight build and bespectacled, boyish looks, Manning embodied neither a superhero nor arch-villain. Indeed, Brown suggested his case provided a counterpoint to the macho imagery that sometimes envelops military and national security matters.
Steven Bucci, a foreign policy expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Manning’s personal traits would contribute to a mixed legacy.
“People see a troubled young man as much as a hero or a complete villain,” Bucci said. “I don’t think there are many people who think he’s Benedict Arnold, but they think he broke the law and his reasoning is skewed. I don’t know that he’s going to become a folk hero except for the most rabid civil libertarian kind of folks.” — AP