I don't feel comfortable viewing Manning as an abstract cause. He's a just-turned-24-year-old kid whose life is on the line, literally, and whatever he and his lawyers think has the best chance of keeping him out of a cage for the next six decades or avoiding a death sentence is something they should do, no matter how distasteful it is to me or even politically counter-productive it might be.

I haven't seen all the evidence. The proceedings are shrouded in secrecy. And I don't know what the preferences are of the client: Manning. So I'm really loathe to second-guess what they're doing.

Of course I hate seeing them blame his noble acts on a mental illness, and hate even more having gender issues characterized that way (though I am sure that being a 22-year-old with gender struggles in the middle of the Iraq war - in a military that bans you even from being openly gay - does produce real psychological distress). I would love for Manning to stand up in court and say: I did it and I should have done it - my duty as a soldier compelled it.

But it's not my preferences that should govern their strategy.

You can make the argument, as you have, that public opinion is their best shot at getting some leniency. Maybe: public outrage over his treatment in detention is clearly what resulted in improved conditions.

But I can easily see the other side: that "military justice" is so skewed in general, and in this case so pre-programmed to ensure conviction, that trying the case in public could just alienate the military judges and make things worse. I can see how they might conclude that their best hope is to play to their prejudices - have some mercy: look at how mentally ill he is - and I just can't bring myself to say he shouldn't do that if he thinks it's best for his interests.

To be honest, watching the whole thing is something I'm having a hard time doing: I think his conviction is so inevitable, and the injustices that will produce it so overwhelming, that it just makes me ill contemplating what's happening to him.

discipline posted:
I think what manning did was pretty ridiculous. at first I respected it as a legitimate action because it seemed like a political thing with political motivations but now thanks to the CIA-leaked logs of manning talking about being lonely and trans and releasing the cables to impress an internet stranger, I feel like I care less about this case. but let's talk about the impact this will have on the LGBT community. I'm a CIA patsy. can anyone find pics of manning in a dress for me? thanks in advance

this is a much better reason than "political reasons"