Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#31

Post by joering2 » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:40 PM UTC

flexie wrote: post #14

This is a disgrace. They send a young man to prison for 35 years for uncovering possible war crimes and a bunch of diplomatic fiddle-faddle. He is not eligible for parole until he has served 1/3 of the time.

Seing how they treated him pre-trial, I was really thinking this will be Kangoro court with rubber stamp and maximum possible sentencing for all the "crimes" that Bradley did. Glad that the judge was semi-reasonable. Think on the positive side; 1/3 out of 35 years is about 10 years! (he already served 3).

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#32

Post by jmduke » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:40 PM UTC

Torn wrote: post #28

kevincennis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally understand that sentiment, but at the same time, the whole concept of classified information breaks down pretty quickly if you start saying it's okay for people to exercise their own judgement and break the rules. There are always paths to responsible disclosure. From what I understand, many of them are pretty badly broken, and we certainly need to fix that. But ultimately, you really don't want to set a pr…

It's a fair enough opinion, the problem is that there's no public input on whether leaking is justified - those in charge will say it isn't and that's that.

One of the main reasons the court system exists is to make sure public input isn't part of the process, no?

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#33

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:40 PM UTC

clarky07 wrote: post #24

jamesroseman wrote: post #4

"He faced up to 90 years in prison." I think that, all things considered, this is the best possible outcome (realistically). There was no way he'd walk, because he did break laws. In this instance those laws were broken to get information out to the public, but one can easily imagine when those laws could be broken for more malicious purposes. If you leave this unpunished, they might think this opens up the floodgate…

That's silly. Motive is taken into account for everything else. If you kill someone by accident it's different than if you commit premeditated murder. The person planning to maliciously use classified secrets should expect a stiffer response than a whistleblower like manning. Edit: Intent, not motive is what I meant to say. Thanks. Point remains though. You can argue that he did deserve something for the reasons rayi…

[deleted]

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#34

Post by sillysaurus2 » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:40 PM UTC

jug6ernaut wrote: post #18

simias wrote: post #6

I must say I didn't follow this trial closely but: "According to the military, Manning is required to serve one-third of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole." That's... brutal.

I have zero knowledge as far as sentence's go. So with that said, how is being required to only server 1/3 of a sentence brutal? What am i missing?

Well, for one, he's transsexual, which may or may not indicate he's less of a threat to society.

If he's not a threat to society, and won't do what he did again, then it seems like the motive is to make an example of him.

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#35

Post by zeteo » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:40 PM UTC

>Manning, 25, was convicted last month [...] The government had asked [for] 60 years. “There is value in deterrence, your honor; this court must send a message [...] National security crimes that undermine the entire system must be taken seriously.”

This is not the rule of law. It is a government that is increasingly relying on citizen ignorance to secretly make and implement policy, and on savage reprisals to terrorize those who might expose the process.

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#36

Post by ck2 » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:41 PM UTC

flexie wrote: post #14

This is a disgrace. They send a young man to prison for 35 years for uncovering possible war crimes and a bunch of diplomatic fiddle-faddle. He is not eligible for parole until he has served 1/3 of the time.

He won't get parole in 1/3rd the time - that will be the end of the fourth Clinton administration and they will be sure to send someone to argue against his release, which since it's military, they will all blindly fall in line and obey.

Just imagine the crimes the government will be doing by then given what they are getting away with now. With what it will have to cover up they will need examples of people in prison forever to stop people from even thinking of talking about it.

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#37

Post by revelation » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:41 PM UTC

kevincennis wrote: post #22

monsterix wrote: post #2

Very sad. So the guys who murdered innocents in another country using machine guns sitting on top of a helicopter are yet to be tried. While the guys who stood up for humanity and true spirit of serving forces for good is sentenced 35 years. And I know a lot of people would troll me on this opinion itself.

I totally understand that sentiment, but at the same time, the whole concept of classified information breaks down pretty quickly if you start saying it's okay for people to exercise their own judgement and break the rules. There are always paths to responsible disclosure. From what I understand, many of them are pretty badly broken, and we certainly need to fix that. But ultimately, you really don't want to set a pr…

What he leaked was available to 1.5+ million people in the USA. It is not by any reasonable meaning of the word classified, it is the proceedings of a seperate class of society.

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#38

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:42 PM UTC

kevincennis wrote: post #22

monsterix wrote: post #2

Very sad. So the guys who murdered innocents in another country using machine guns sitting on top of a helicopter are yet to be tried. While the guys who stood up for humanity and true spirit of serving forces for good is sentenced 35 years. And I know a lot of people would troll me on this opinion itself.

I totally understand that sentiment, but at the same time, the whole concept of classified information breaks down pretty quickly if you start saying it's okay for people to exercise their own judgement and break the rules. There are always paths to responsible disclosure. From what I understand, many of them are pretty badly broken, and we certainly need to fix that. But ultimately, you really don't want to set a pr…

[deleted]

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#39

Post by harrytuttle » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:43 PM UTC

aspensmonster wrote: post #29

flexie wrote: post #14

This is a disgrace. They send a young man to prison for 35 years for uncovering possible war crimes and a bunch of diplomatic fiddle-faddle. He is not eligible for parole until he has served 1/3 of the time.

Obama could fix this with the stroke of a pen. Surely he will deliver. I'll wait.

I think Obama would open a meth lab before he did that.

And if he did it would only be self-serving.

Re: Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years

#40

Post by f1nch3r » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 2:43 PM UTC

Growing up as a conservative, hyper-patriotic American it pains me to say that I hate my country. A young man exposes wrongdoing by the military and gets sentenced to 35 years in prison while the administration that started an illegal war with Iraq, costing untold American and Iraqi lives, are free.