Obama defends Bradley Manning's detention in informal discussion

blogs.forbes.com

2 points·danenania··3 comments

Transcript provided by the author:

People can have philosophical views about…

[Questioner: unintelligible]

No, no, but look, I can’t conduct diplomacy on an open source. That’s not how…the world works. If you’re in the military, and…I have to abide by certain classified information. If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law…We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate…

He broke the law.

[Questioner: 'You can make it harder to break the law.']

Well, what he did was he dumped…

[Questioner: something about President Nixon's prosecution of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg]

It wasn’t the same thing. What Ellsberg released wasn’t classified in the same way. So. Anyway. Alright.

Personally, I think "he broke the law" is a terrible argument and he should know better. I don't have to tell you where we'd be without countless people standing up for what's right and yeah, breaking the damn law throughout history.

Personally, I think "he broke the law" is a terrible argument and he should know better.

More so because Manning has not yet even been tried, let alone convicted.

Manning is an extreme example of the shitty treatment afforded the accused, unless you're a banker who's fucked people over for millions of dollars.

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