Bradley Manning

The trial of Bradley Manning has begun in the USA. The soldier, named after a WWII general, is accused, you will recall, of leaking military information to the Wikileaks website. Now, I can't get too excited by the crime. The information leaked has been, in parts, embarrassing to the USA, but it was freely available to between 2.5million and 3 million people, and I have difficulty in calling that secret.

There has grown up a caucus of Bradly Manning defence supporters, and I suppose that is right.

But, I ask them, what is the US supposed to do? Pte. Manning undoubtedly leaked information to which he had privileged (or fairly privileged) access. The USA has a number of other, more important secrets, the revelation of which might cause untold damage, not just to them, but to us in the West. How can they not come down hard on Manning? How can they not send a message to their remaining millions of employees that the release of privileged information will not be tolerated?

Manning may turn out to be a martyr, although actually I suspect he won't, and we may sympathise with him, but he must, under all circumstances, be prosecuted.