Musings on Manning
Some of you may be aware, one PFC Bradley Manning is undergoing an Article 32 hearing (court-martial equivalent to a Grand Jury proceeding); to establish the facts surrounding his providing WikiLeaks with a massive, classified document drop.
This made the news initially when it was uncovered. Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks, capitalized heavily on it, and then threw PFC Manning under the bus when it all hit the fan.
If you aren't aware of it, in brief: PFC Manning was an "all-source intelligence analyst" for the Army. He had, I believe, a Top Secret clearance, and access to classified information and computer systems as part of his job. For reasons yet to be truly established, he got mad at the Army (or the U.S., or both) and copied a bunch of classified data, and ultimately turned it over to St. Julian and his outfit.
At the time, there was a segment of society (both domestic and international) who hailed young Manning as a "whistle blower" and a "hero" for daring to tell the horrible truth: War really sucks, innocent people get killed, and diplomats don't always talk nice about one-another when the doors are closed. Of course, there were significant amounts of operational, intelligence, and personal data buried in all those documents as well.
Let's establish something right now: Private First Class Bradley Manning violated his oath of enlistment, his obligations to his fellow military members, AND the formal agreement with the U.S. government he had to sign in order to be given access to classified to begin with. If the Army's information security and classified handling training is anything like the Air Force's, there is absolutely NO WAY he did not know rules and pertinent laws.
He betrayed both his country and the uniform he wears.
What has prompted my climbing on a soap box about this was reading comments on several news sites, many from people who are still arguing PFC Manning is a "hero" because of his actions.
Please allow me to dissuade you:
1. He put military and civilian personnel at incredible risk. He may very well have cost some people their lives. Assange is complicit in this by being the one to publish it all, but he is currently beyond our legal grasp.
2. Some of the information released shows horrible stuff. It's war, campers. Bad shit happens. Most people in this country have absolutely no freaking clue how it really works. All they have is crap spewed by Hollywood or on video games to use as reference points. Which means their reference points are useless. Worse than useless, they set completely unrealistic expectations. Here's some of what "real" war consists of:
- "Friendly fire" happens
- Misidentified targets happen
- "Night Vision" doesn't mean you see as clearly, and with as much detail as you do in the day time.
- Advanced optics for seeing a longer ranges do not give you the clarity to tell the difference between an RPG-7, and length of pipe; regardless of your impression from last week's movie on SyFy where the "spy satellite" zoomed in from orbit and read your Nook from over your shoulder.
- Some people (a very few) whose moral compass doesn't work make it into a uniform. It sucks, but there it is. Abu Ghraib happened. The dirt bags from the 5th Styker Bridgade are being court-martialed right now for murdering three Afghani civilians. Most folks in uniform are solid and dependable, but just like the civilian world, you get a few bad apples. I don't justify them, I don't ignore them. But, an honest appraisal of U.S. military history makes it clear they are the exception, not SOP.
- Some of the bad guys really *do* hide behind innocent civilians and shoot at you. You get to make a choice, in about .2 seconds, as to whether you want get shot or shoot back. You can't push "Pause" on the wireless controller and work it out.
I could go on and on, but I won't.
3. It has been alleged this is happened because PFC Manning is struggling with "gender identity" issues. I do not make light of that, I cannot imagine that struggle, especially in a military environment. But, there are resources for getting help, external to the military as well. Using *that* as a justification seems pretty shoddy, if not incredibly insulting to others in uniform facing a similar challenge, as well as being an incredibly excessive response to "act out" about it.
So, PFC Manning dumped all this information, classified data, operational orders and plans, personal information of military and civilian personnel (including people who were helping us in Afghanistan...and if you think the "bad guys" don't have those names and won't act on them, go back to playing your computer games), as well as the real face of war.
And he's a "hero"?
Not in my book.
I'm all for due process. PFC Manning is facing his "Grand Jury." If they determine the evidence is sufficient, he'll face a court-martial. Having sat on two of them, I'm comfortable that process is fair. If most of the charges are sustained, he should count himself lucky that he probably won't face the death penalty for his actions.
But, really, stop with the "hero" shit.
Carry on.
This made the news initially when it was uncovered. Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks, capitalized heavily on it, and then threw PFC Manning under the bus when it all hit the fan.
If you aren't aware of it, in brief: PFC Manning was an "all-source intelligence analyst" for the Army. He had, I believe, a Top Secret clearance, and access to classified information and computer systems as part of his job. For reasons yet to be truly established, he got mad at the Army (or the U.S., or both) and copied a bunch of classified data, and ultimately turned it over to St. Julian and his outfit.
At the time, there was a segment of society (both domestic and international) who hailed young Manning as a "whistle blower" and a "hero" for daring to tell the horrible truth: War really sucks, innocent people get killed, and diplomats don't always talk nice about one-another when the doors are closed. Of course, there were significant amounts of operational, intelligence, and personal data buried in all those documents as well.
Let's establish something right now: Private First Class Bradley Manning violated his oath of enlistment, his obligations to his fellow military members, AND the formal agreement with the U.S. government he had to sign in order to be given access to classified to begin with. If the Army's information security and classified handling training is anything like the Air Force's, there is absolutely NO WAY he did not know rules and pertinent laws.
He betrayed both his country and the uniform he wears.
What has prompted my climbing on a soap box about this was reading comments on several news sites, many from people who are still arguing PFC Manning is a "hero" because of his actions.
Please allow me to dissuade you:
1. He put military and civilian personnel at incredible risk. He may very well have cost some people their lives. Assange is complicit in this by being the one to publish it all, but he is currently beyond our legal grasp.
2. Some of the information released shows horrible stuff. It's war, campers. Bad shit happens. Most people in this country have absolutely no freaking clue how it really works. All they have is crap spewed by Hollywood or on video games to use as reference points. Which means their reference points are useless. Worse than useless, they set completely unrealistic expectations. Here's some of what "real" war consists of:
- "Friendly fire" happens
- Misidentified targets happen
- "Night Vision" doesn't mean you see as clearly, and with as much detail as you do in the day time.
- Advanced optics for seeing a longer ranges do not give you the clarity to tell the difference between an RPG-7, and length of pipe; regardless of your impression from last week's movie on SyFy where the "spy satellite" zoomed in from orbit and read your Nook from over your shoulder.
- Some people (a very few) whose moral compass doesn't work make it into a uniform. It sucks, but there it is. Abu Ghraib happened. The dirt bags from the 5th Styker Bridgade are being court-martialed right now for murdering three Afghani civilians. Most folks in uniform are solid and dependable, but just like the civilian world, you get a few bad apples. I don't justify them, I don't ignore them. But, an honest appraisal of U.S. military history makes it clear they are the exception, not SOP.
- Some of the bad guys really *do* hide behind innocent civilians and shoot at you. You get to make a choice, in about .2 seconds, as to whether you want get shot or shoot back. You can't push "Pause" on the wireless controller and work it out.
I could go on and on, but I won't.
3. It has been alleged this is happened because PFC Manning is struggling with "gender identity" issues. I do not make light of that, I cannot imagine that struggle, especially in a military environment. But, there are resources for getting help, external to the military as well. Using *that* as a justification seems pretty shoddy, if not incredibly insulting to others in uniform facing a similar challenge, as well as being an incredibly excessive response to "act out" about it.
So, PFC Manning dumped all this information, classified data, operational orders and plans, personal information of military and civilian personnel (including people who were helping us in Afghanistan...and if you think the "bad guys" don't have those names and won't act on them, go back to playing your computer games), as well as the real face of war.
And he's a "hero"?
Not in my book.
I'm all for due process. PFC Manning is facing his "Grand Jury." If they determine the evidence is sufficient, he'll face a court-martial. Having sat on two of them, I'm comfortable that process is fair. If most of the charges are sustained, he should count himself lucky that he probably won't face the death penalty for his actions.
But, really, stop with the "hero" shit.
Carry on.