Treason or Civil Disobedience?

There is a lot of talk lately about people leaking sensitive/classified information and the government violating citizen's rights. Bradley Manning, an Army Private is going on trial for acts of treason, and an NSA contractor is hiding abroad after leaking info claiming that the government has been collecting phone records of most Americans. As to Private Manning, I will give a little bit of my history so you can perhaps better understand my position. I was in Military Intelligence (an oxymoron) and for 2 years, in charge of Physical Security for an Army missile site in West Germany. Therefore, I have experience with intelligence procedures and also with classified documents. I have had several discussions/debates that have even bordered on outright arguments about Private Manning. Private Manning violated several Army Regulations and stole classified documents and video. He then provided the stolen materials to a foreign person/entity, Julian Assange/Wikileaks. The primary goal of Wikileaks was to cause harm or damage to the United States and her military. This act constitutes Treason on Manning's part. So, we have violations of Army regulations and the act of treason. What is Manning being tried for? Violation of various Army Regs, and Treason. He will be found guilty and rightly so of his charges by a military court. Many say Manning is a hero for bringing to light, supposed atrocities done by our military. Many say he had the responsibility to report these things, and because of what people have seen of the Wikileak articles based on the Material(s) stolen by Manning, the government didn't have the right to classify any of the material(s) and therefore, Manning cannot be charge because he violated illegal orders. Here is where I will ruffle some feathers again. People get killed in war zones. It is my opinion that our soldiers (this covers soldiers, sailors, marines & airmen equally) are being severely hampered in our war against Islamic terror. The rules of engagement are a joke and are getting our people killed. Watch the videos on Youtube, where you here our troops call several times on the radio, asking for permission to fire on the enemy. Wanna know why this war has carried on for a decade? Because our hands are tied. The ONLY way to defeat these assholes is to kill enough of them that they finally see the futility of their actions, and finally stop. These cowards will not wear uniforms as required by the Geneva Conventions, so they can be identified as combatants and not civilians. These cowards hide among civilians and schools and mosques and hospitals, because they know we will not fire on them there. The civilians are complicit when they allow these assholes to hide among them. How do we solve that problem? If someone fires a weapon from a neighborhood or mosque, we go in full force and decimate that neighborhood. Wipe it out! Yep, civilians and women and children will be killed. After word gets around that we are leveling neighborhoods and willfully killing anyone who is in the vicinity of terrorists/combatants, the civilians will either leave the area, or better yet, they will not

allow the assholes to hide amongst them. Who is wrong in this situation: Us for bombing civilians in an effort to accomplish our stated goal of wiping out the terrorist groups, or the terrorists for bringing death and destruction in to civilian areas? Armies are made to kill people and break things. During basic training, our troops are trained to kill people and break things. How frustrating must it be to go through this training and then be forced to ask for permission to return fire? Now, factor in the fear of being blown up at any time, and the horror of seeing your comrades blown up and maimed or killed all without being able to respond in kind. Occasionally, you will get an individual or even a small squad that snaps and retaliates on whomever may be in the area. People arguing in defense of Manning always refer to a video that ended up being released on Wikileaks, showing such atrocities, to justify his actions and question the need for anything to be classified by our government. We have a thing called Operational Security which is absolutely essential for the success of military operations, and for the safety of the personnel involved. A young lowly Private who probably has a grudge against a superior, or against a number of people who may have made fun of his homosexuality, doesn't have enough knowledge or experience to make the decision of what needs to be classified, and what needs to be released to the public. Many people don't realize the breech of security posed by releasing pictures, video, and documents. If any unit patches/insignia or vehicle markings are visible, or mentioned in a document, this info can be used to identify military units and possibly personnel operating in an area. So what, you say? Let's say you have an infantry unit insignia visible on a tape. Also in the picture is a supply truck with certain vehicle markings. Two months or so down the road, bad guys spot the same vehicle markings on a van or truck that is driving through a city. 2 distinct possibilities here: 1) The bad guys might infer that the Infantry unit is probably in the area and they need to bug out, or set up some roadside bombs. 2) The bad guys decide to retaliate on the van or truck, for their support of the Infantry unit in the past. Little bits of information from here and there can be compiled to provide a bigger picture of the battlefield. This is the job of intelligence, to make these connections. He violated valid regulations/laws, and he is being tried for violating those regulations/laws. Period. Snowden works for a private contractor that provides services to the NSA. He worked as an IT or networking technician. Many ask how a 29 year old can get a Top Secret security clearance. Movies have made the public think that Top Secret is all black bag top of the heap security clearance. Not true. There are several levels of Top Secret. Also please consider the ages of many of our troops. I was in Military Intelligence at the age of 19, and at the age of 20, in charge of security for the missile site. Even my Captain was what, 26 or 27? Age has no relevance here. During the course of Snowden's work with the NSA, he discovered that the government was violating Americana citizens' civil and Constitutional rights. He stole documents and released the info to a journalist at a bona fide news outlet. The information released showed that the government was in fact in violation of the Constitution. Don't we have Whistleblower Protection laws? Doesn't the info released by Snowden fall directly into the scope and purpose of the Whistleblower laws?

The government and many talking heads all over the place are calling Snowden a traitor for bringing to light, government abuses of the citizenry and is a Traitor. They are also claiming that his actions harm our efforts to thwart plots and gain intel on the terrorists. OK, so what, if the bad guys know that we keep track of all calls. Most people (especially bad guys) already operated under the suspicion that all of their communications were being monitored anyways. Now they know that we in fact were monitoring everything. So what? Knowing we do this doesn't make it any easier for them. What means of communication do they have left? NONE. So, Manning is a hero for violating Army regulations and bringing to light, Americans (probably Christians) killing people and breaking things. And Snowden is a traitor for alerting the American people to government violations of the Constitution. In addition, we have to take into consideration, the many other abuses/scandals of late; that show, at best, an administration out of control, and at worst, an administration that is attempting to run our country like a communist dictatorship, by spying on everyone and arresting/persecuting political dissidents. Agree with our actions, or face consequences. In my opinion, Manning is a punk traitor who violated regulations, and will be convicted of such. Snowden is a hero for bringing more government abuses to light. I might also add, that Snowden's actions have resulted in the ACLU and others, filing lawsuits against the government.