Some people say they think Bradley Manning did the right thing when he released "Collateral Murder," however they have a problem with the other 699,999 classified documents he didn't even read before he released them.
I wonder if these people ever ask why our government appears to be classifying everything except the toilet paper. 700,000 IS A BIG stack of documents and I feel certain this is the tip of the iceberg.
Are there criteria for classifying documents? What are they? I'm afraid I do not believe that all classified documents are about national security. It is more probable they are bits of information that could, would, and should embarrass the military and administration.
It has already been proven in the Bradley Manning trial that nothing he released caused harm to anyone. Therefore I think before he is made to serve any more time, we should know why the information he released was classified to begin with.
Everyday we learn of more unnecessary invasive espionage by the NSA. Until Edward Snowden "leaked" this classified information most of us had no idea of the scope of domestic spying. Unfortunately many people are terrified of America's secret documents being released to the world. We should not have programs and policies that need to be hidden from our own citizens. Secret policies, secret courts, secret trials, secret drones, secret secrets all lead to the end of a once great democracy.
I appreciate Bradley Manning releasing those "classified" documents because he has proved they didn't need to be classified in the first place. Leaks aren't the danger... Our policies are.