Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley) was a private in the US military, who used her high security clearance to leak a huge array of documents, pertaining to the war in Iraq and America’s foreign relations, to the controversial website “WikiLeaks” associated with the yet more controversial Julian Assange. These documents exposed numerous injustices by the US government and military all around the world. Bringing the guilty to justice and putting the administration faults under the spotlight. However for her “crimes” she has been sentenced to 35 years, after being attacked with charges such as espionage, theft, computer fraud and aiding the enemy, which was in fact a downgrade from the threatened 135 years she faced.
To put her sentence in perspective, it is more than the perpetrators of the atrocities at Guantanamo, and that of actual spies’, who sold secrets and put millions at risk for their own benefit. Even a man, who, during the Gulf War offered to sell secrets to Iraq, got sentences five years less than Manning for his crimes. Her sentence is vastly disproportional when you take these precedents into account, especially when one considers she has already served time without sentence and been subject to technical tortures such as forced nudity. I see no way in which the judgement she received could be considered fair. How can a woman acting in the aid of her own country be punished more harshly than those acting for their own selfish benefit?
Bradley’s revelations shed light upon America’s misconduct all over the world. The video she leaked, “Collateral Murder”, shows the killing of innocent civilian journalists, a unquestionable war crime, allowing us to come to a more realistic total death count in Iraq. Coming to 15,000 civilians, the death toll was much higher than the one we had previously come too, and may have partly caused an earlier pull out, the revelations about the US relations with certain Arab dictatorships such as Tunisia, and helped to contribute to the Arab Spring last year.
Manning may actually have been protected and justified by international law. After WW2, a series of principles were created to determine a war crime, called the Nuremberg Principles. Principle IV states: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him”. Essentially this means that “I was following orders”, can not possibly be used as a defence. Principle VII states, “Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law.” Soldiers have the right and in fact the obligation to report war crimes and to not engage in them, despite the orders of their superiors. So, Manning had firm basis in international law for her whistle blowing.
One could say that Manning is a traitor and that her actions were reckless and put the lives of American agents under threat . However, there has not been one solid example of an retaliation towards the agents listed in the leaks.
In addition to the above arguments, Manning was an extremely troubled individual. Both her parents were apparently alcoholics. She also struggled with bullying, her homosexuality and gender dimorphism her entire life. She recently came out as a woman, and is asking to be referred to by her name; Chelsea Manning.Being only 5’2 and described even by her friends in the army as a “runt”, her superiors wondered whether it was ever a good idea to let him serve. Perhaps understandably, therefore, she had difficulties acting with complete self control and as result deserved a degree of clemency for his actions.
Chelsea Manning’s actions, though one may not agree with them, were, from a purely utilitarian viewpoint, beneficial. She can not be accused of acting in her own self interest, in fact, quite the opposite – she acted in the spirit of heroism and justice to expose the crimes that she uncovered. I find it shameful on the entire western world, that a troubled woman acting in the interests of her own country has been treated like a mere traitor. Hopefully by the time of her release society will have moved on and Manning will have the respect that she deserves.