Screaming in Bradley Manning’s Trial

By A Guy Called LULU on Thu, 08/15/2013 - 10:12am |

I sat in the courtroom all day on Wednesday as Bradley Manning’s trial wound its way to a tragic and demoralizing conclusion. I wanted to hear Eugene Debs, and instead I was trapped there, watching Socrates reach for the hemlock and gulp it down. Just a few minutes in and I wanted to scream or shout.

I don’t blame Bradley Manning for apologizing for his actions and effectively begging for the court’s mercy. He’s on trial in a system rigged against him. The commander in chief declared him guilty long ago. He’s been convicted. The judge has been offered a promotion. The prosecution has been given a playing field slanted steeply in its favor. Why should Manning not follow the only advice anyone’s ever given him and seek to minimize his sentence? Maybe he actually believes that what he did was wrong. But — wow — does it make for some perverse palaver in the courtroom.

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http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/screaming-in-bradley-mannings-trial.html#comments

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At some point in the past I remarked that I did not like the tack that either the prosecution or the defense were taking in the Bradley Manning case. I said something to the affect that I felt that I could understand why Manning would choose to cut his losses and attempt to get only twenty years in a cage rather than a hundred, for example, but that trying to mitigate the severity of his supposed crime in light of circumstances let the honest justification for his lawbreaking be ignored. This article expresses well my feelings about Manning's defense which I were trying to express at that time.

If there is such a thing as Karma then I hope it starts to shift the balance of life's vagaries somewhat in Manning's favor for a change and possibly, if the judge examines her own conscience as she weighs the ramifications of her sentencing decisions, it will. But, I doubt it.

by A Guy Called LULU on Thu, 08/15/2013 - 10:20am

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