The fate of Pfc. Bradley Manning hangs in the balance as the sentencing hearing in the Wikileaks case plays out in a Fort Meade, MD courtroom.  He addressed the court Wednesday, apologized for hurting the country, asked for the opportunity to contribute something to the society and get a college degree.  In his statement he explained some of his actions, admitting to knowing exactly what he was doing when he released the information, but not knowing that the effects could harm the U.S.  He also stated that he should have worked more inside the system to bring light to aspects of the war and how it was being conducted.  This statement was unsworn, which apparently means the prosecutors are not able to cross-examine him on the statement.  Reportedly many spectators in attendance wore black t-shirts bearing the word “Truth”.

Family members also testified about how troubled his childhood was and how that was a component of his significant difficulties.  A psychologist also testified that Manning had a “gender-identity” disorder, and that Manning had revealed his issues to him through a self-taken picture of himself in a state of cross-dress.  The psychologist also described Manning’s issues being in the military which was described as “hyper-masculine”.  That added to the intense psychological issues he had dealing with his feelings that he was a woman on the inside and that he initially joined the military to try and “correct” that issue.

“You put him in that kind of hyper-masculine environment, if you will, with little support and few coping skills, the pressure would have been difficult to say the least”

Now that I typed that, here’s what’s going on.  Manning has been found guilty of various charges surrounding these leaks, charges that can lead up to 90 years in prison.  This is not a sentence to some bush league prison where he’d get out for so many reasons convicted criminals do nowadays- this is effectively a potential life sentence.  That sentence will be decided rather quickly after the testimony process is played out.    Manning is trying to save his bacon here, the defense is trying to drag out any and all favorable character witnesses, to elicit sympathy perhaps and draw a more lenient sentence.  The defense is also trying to bring into question why someone with such a troubled background would have access to this type of information in the first place, in a time of war, right in the war zone.  It was also stated that Manning has Asperger syndrome and symptoms of fetal alcohol disease.  Their play on this is that Manning’s complex- a combination of misguided idealism, isolation, personality traits, on top of everything else led Manning to believe he would be changing the world by releasing the information.  It’s quite the contrast to the triumphant statements Manning has put out in the past, condemning the military and the US.   Nonetheless, the apology is meaningful and given Manning’s history of issues it could sway the judge to consider these things when the final sentence is revealed.

Of course, Julian Assange has put out some kind of tribute hero statement about this – but I’m through quoting that fool as he sits and makes these statements in the comfort of his hidden seclusion on some balcony somewhere or something.  Assange is a mega-douche, a narcissistic opportunist that has escaped responsibility for the spoils of his troll operation, even being held in regard as some kind of hero to some.  It’s too bad he’s not on trial.  The bottom line is we’re probably looking point-blank at the real underlying plain naked and detailed truth about Bradley Manning.  I do believe he was the gullible patsy in this plot, coddled by a counter-culture of conspiracy theorists, rabble-rousers, and anti-authoritarians, just to name a few.  No doubt things were revealed that were not so nice regarding military conduct among other revelations, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t being dealt with or covered up – this was sensitive information.  Obviously Manning deserves whatever sentence he gets and his mental well-being may limit its severity, but the real sinister party here is Assange and the legion of elite-think minions that think that nothing merits protection, particularly when it’s the United States.  Again, an interesting topic, but the lesson learned for the military and for any organization really is a careful restrictive approach to classifying and allowing access to sensitive data.