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You make it sound as if life is a video game or something. He broke an arbitrary rule so he must pay the price. This isn't a game, ethics are always at play an

by math0ne 13y ago

You make it sound as if life is a video game or something. He broke an arbitrary rule so he must pay the price. This isn't a game, ethics are always at play and we as the public have a duty to make sure our military is acting ethically. It's not like the us military has had some unchanging set of rules. Throughout the last 50 years public ethics policy has vastly changed how the military functions and will continue to do so. The armed forces may not be a democracy but they exist by the grace of our democracy.

pinaceae 13y ago
if you care that deeply about morals and ethics, you need to be for the complete abandonment of the Armed Forces. which is a classic pacifist position, but it should be clear that there can't be a grey area. you either have an apparatus to kill other human beings (incl. collateral damage) or you don't. insisting on clean war is hypocrisy. insisting on a clean and nice army is hypocrisy - soldiers exist to project force through violence, aka killing human beings. policy has changed in regards to gays and females in the military, yes. but where exactly has there been policy impact when it comes to the ones of the receiving end of the military force? the US bombs people all over the world, all the time, women, children, no problemo. not a US citizen, no rights at all. hypocrisy. "the grace of your democracy guides the US Armed Forces". HORSESHIT.
Perceval 13y ago
> He broke an arbitrary rule The rules against releasing classified information are in no way arbitrary and have been long-standing parts of military and foreign affairs since their inception. There has been no time when releasing an indiscriminate cache of State Department cables would have ever been considered a legal gray area. (Indeed, the confidentiality of diplomatic communication has been a norm that has existed for thousands of years: http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/noarchive/jonsson.htm http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/noarchive/jonsson.htm). Manning very clearly broke the law and could not have failed to know that he was breaking the law.
anigbrowl 13y ago
Makes you wonder why Manning joined up in the first place, consider the highly public ethical and practical failures of the executive branch and the army in the context of Iraq.

by math0ne 13y ago

pinaceae 13y ago

if you care that deeply about morals and ethics, you need to be for the complete abandonment of the Armed Forces. which is a classic pacifist position, but it should be clear that there can't be a grey area. you either have an apparatus to kill other human beings (incl. collateral damage) or you don't. insisting on clean war is hypocrisy. insisting on a clean and nice army is hypocrisy - soldiers exist to project force through violence, aka killing human beings. policy has changed in regards to gays and females in the military, yes. but where exactly has there been policy impact when it comes to the ones of the receiving end of the military force? the US bombs people all over the world, all the time, women, children, no problemo. not a US citizen, no rights at all. hypocrisy. "the grace of your democracy guides the US Armed Forces". HORSESHIT.

Perceval 13y ago

> He broke an arbitrary rule The rules against releasing classified information are in no way arbitrary and have been long-standing parts of military and foreign affairs since their inception. There has been no time when releasing an indiscriminate cache of State Department cables would have ever been considered a legal gray area. (Indeed, the confidentiality of diplomatic communication has been a norm that has existed for thousands of years: http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/noarchive/jonsson.htm http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/noarchive/jonsson.htm). Manning very clearly broke the law and could not have failed to know that he was breaking the law.

anigbrowl 13y ago

Makes you wonder why Manning joined up in the first place, consider the highly public ethical and practical failures of the executive branch and the army in the context of Iraq.