The Court Martial of Bradley Manning

This week, I write for Medium about what Bradley Manning did, and how he’s been treated since.

Bradley Manning is a fascinating figure. His lawyers suggested he suffered from gender identity disorder, which would mean that he’s not just gay but also possibly transsexual. He also seems to have been frustrated with his military career, which he thought was going nowhere. While prosecutors are arguing that Manning leaked all those classified documents because he “craved notoriety,” his defense says he was simply naive but good-intentioned.

An ancient cliché, misattributed to Samuel Johnson, says that hell is paved with good intentions. Manning admitted to leaking classified documents in an effort to “spark a domestic debate over the role of the military and our foreign policy in general.” He certainly succeeded. But he also endangered innocent people and upended the very process of diplomacy that had guided U.S. foreign policy.

Go read the rest over at Medium.