Nor can one say that Manning or other military personnel might be unaware of these avenues for whistleblowing. The existence of the IG's, for instance, is regularly communicated to military personnel via the base magazine, briefings and various other methods. The IGs exists so that military members who cannot get an issue regarding various serious issues resolved through the chain of command have a resource to use to get action. The military WANTS its members to report Fraud, Waste and Abuse through the Inspector Generals. The military hopes that this reporting will save money and lives.
I posted two separate polls on Democratic Underground one for current and former military and one for those who had never been in the military and in both polls I asked what should be done to Manning as a result of his actions. The difference was as I expected. See:
The polls are mirror images of each other. Prior service people overwhelmingly believe that Manning deserves harsh punishment while those who have not served overwhelmingly believe he should receive no punishment.
The ideology of Democratic Underground's membership is pretty homogenous. As a former enlisted member of the US Air Force, I had a suspicion that former military would have a more negative opinion of Manning because of their knowledge of the existence of the IG and other groups to which Manning could have gone. While this poll is far from scientific and people I am sure will try to argue that other factors could influence the results, I am confident that the main reason for the divergent results is knowledge of the military system vs. those who do not have that knowledge.
Those who hope for an acquittal for Manning need to have their expectations set. The people who will be on the jury deciding his fate at his courts martial are active duty military personnel who know all too well of the different choices Manning could have made to handle his crisis of conscience.
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