Bradley Manning being mistreated

When the assistant secretary of state for public affairs at the US state department, PJ Crowly, says that Bradley Manning is being "mistreated" in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia and that what is being done to him is  "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence," we would be correct to deduce that he is not saying this without having been given the green light by Hillary Clinton. Therefore, while there might be evidence to suggest here that there is some in-fighting between the Pentagon and the State Department, we should have no doubt as to who the real hero of the 'Wikileaks' saga is. Bradley Manning is a young man who clearly followed his conscience, who was not prepared to turn a blind eye to war crimes and atrocities and who now faces a very long prison sentence at the least.

That is why, even without the added revelation that Manning is being mistreated in Quantico, it is important for us to become less focused on Julian Assange, who is in fact no longer in control of the cables and who, some would say, is even enjoying his flirtation with fame, and become more focused on the fate of the real hero of the piece. Moreover, it would be most appropriate if Assange himself were to show us how this might be done by setting an example and becoming more vocal in the defence of the real hero of the piece rather than to run about whining about being persecuted himself. After all, to the best of my knowledge, whatever the outcome of the trumped up charges against him, any prison sentence that he might serve is bound to be extremely short, indeed, probably just won't happen, will bring a certain fame with it if it does and will be nothing, nothing at all, like the sentence Manning is most likely to get.