As Bradley Manning faces the rest of his life in prison over the biggest intelligence leak in US history, the vast majority of Americans believe the former soldier Å“did the right thing” by blowing the whistle on the US governmentâ„¢s wrongdoings, an analyst tells Press TV.
Å“An awful lot of Americans think that he did the right thing in what we call here whistle-blowing, trying to attract attention to something that the government is doing that people donâ„¢t know about,” Edward Peck, retired career American diplomat, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Manning has been found guilty on five counts of espionage, five theft charges, a computer fraud charge and other military infractions.
Although the Army private has been cleared of the Å“aiding the enemy” charge, he still faces up to 136 years in jail for disclosing sensitive US documents to the WikiLeaks including US State Department diplomatic cables, war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and detainee files from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.
Manningâ„¢s verdict was announced by military judge Army Col. Denise Lind on Tuesday.
Å“I think awful lot of Americans believe that Bradley Manning or someone like him had the best of intentions in what he was revealing was going on, because he felt that it violated one of the basic principles of this country, that is to say freedom of speech and open and transparent governments,” Peck noted.
However he said that some Americans think that Manning did the wrong thing.
The former US diplomat said that meting out such harsh punishment as life in prison to Manning will have Å“a very negative effect on our view of how our government operates which is not in the interest of our government.”
HJ/HJ
Republished from: Press TV