I'm not saying Manning shouldn't have been found guilty of breaking some military rules, but the biggest charges are mostly bullshit. How was it "espionage" what he did? Did we lose track of what espionage means? Or is the government twisting every word in the dictionary to mean whatever they want it to mean now?
Manning should've gotten a few years in prison at most, if that. It's quite obvious the government's hand is all over this case to scare future whistleblowers.
Anyway, is there any hope for Manning, now? Can the case still go to the Supreme Court, or is this over?
> Or is the government twisting every word in the dictionary to mean whatever they want it to mean now?
Without commenting on this particular case I want to note that it is not just the government that engages in this practice but that business and governments have a very rich history of creative redefinition of terms to stretch their meaning well past the breaking point.
Espionage means nothing more or less than trying to gain unauthorized access to national security information. There's no requirement you deliver it to an enemy personally (otherwise how would you have charged Soviet spies if you caught them before they delivered the information to the USSR), and it doesn't even matter that you have "good intent" (just ask that Israeli spy who is still in prison despite spying for an 'ally').
Manning's case will be appealed to Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (there might be an Army-specific appeals court before that too, the Navy/Marines have something like that but I'm not sure if Army does).
After the CAAF it can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but other than that it's final.
Say I walked into Intel, downloaded tons of information about their fab technology, and walked out with it on a USB key. Does whether I call that "corporate espionage" depend on whether I hand that USB key over to AMD or ArsTechnica?
Manning should've gotten a few years in prison at most, if that. It's quite obvious the government's hand is all over this case to scare future whistleblowers.
Anyway, is there any hope for Manning, now? Can the case still go to the Supreme Court, or is this over?