By Vern Holmquist
I’m sure some of you know U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is in solitary confinement in a federal prison.
Manning, 22, is allegedly accused of leaking classified material to the anti-secrecy organization, WikiLeaks.
Looking at his picture, I see a bright, young man who found some satisfaction, and perhaps a little pride in that he had found a way to hack into the email and classified documents of corporations, banks and even the U.S. government.
The problem is that he has found what was secret information damaging to these corporations, banks and our government.
There are claims he could bankrupt Bank of America by exposing some fraudulent practices and damage our county’s security by letting the world know what our military is up to.
Now, much of the damning information allegedly obtained by Manning has found its way into WikiLeaks, founded by Julian Assange.
Some of the information has found its way to The New York Times for all of us to read. At this time, no connection between Bradley and Julian has been established, and neither has been charged with a crime, although Bradley is in solitary confinement at a U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Va., and Julian is under house arrest at an estate in England.
In a Democracy, the people have the right to know if our government or corporations are getting us involved in shady deals. So if the information is true, then why should we not know about it? To some, these men are heroes. And to some, they are traitors and a burr under the saddle of those who deny us the right to know.
Consider the fact that there are others with computer skills who have the power to effectively shut down our government and corporations. They have threatened to demonstrate this if harm comes to Assange and WikiLeaks.
Who ever thought a whiz kid teenager could possess this power?
