Bradley Manning

Bradley is a former United States soldier working in Iraq, whose arrest took place in May 2010, until when he was an intelligence analyst. He was born on December 17, 1987. His arrest followed the suspicion of having piped out sensitive information to Wiki Leaks, an anti secrecy website. The information was based on the killings of civilians, amongst them two journalists from Reuters, conducted using U.S’s Apache helicopter crew.

A patriot is anyone who posses strong feelings for their country. Patriotism is a significant entry, which enslaves its subjects more than any other element, to war’s servitude. It draws insanity that drives people to insist on sacrifices despite the situation’s graveness. Can Bradley E. Manning be considered a patriot to the government of the United States? The author’s differences do not seem to reach an agreement, each giving different reasons or perspectives to patriotism.

A general court martial formally charged Bradley E. Manning on 23 February 2012, which symbolizes the concern given to situations posing diverse commentary. Supporters pushed for Bradley’s freedom to the extent of proposing his nomination for a Nobel Prize. He was on an assignment under the tenth Mountain Division near Bagdad in October 2009. Owing to his rank at that moment, he had direct access to SIPRNet, a secret internet protocol router network. Its main task is to transmit classified information by the U.S government. Adrian Lamo is the name of the hacker who suspected and confirmed the leak, more than 250,000 United States diplomatic cables with the footages of Bagdad’s July 2007 airstrike, and that of Granai, Afghanistan in May 2009. The video released, when closely analyzed, drew several complaints on the detention, public and government response. Reasons for his detention included that his freedom would be considered a national threat. Despite the primary role of the citizens being in support of the military and loyalty, rebels should always be available to ensure that the hosting government does not abuse the latter.

It would be considered unfair to dub someone as a criminal when the individual exercises courage, honor and strength. In Bradley E. Manning’s moral view, the murder against the civilians was a crime against humanity that leads Bradley’s humane to take this move.  Nothing would alter the stand that Bradley, in this opinion, is not a criminal but a highlighter of the criminals.