exploited to an unhealthy, criminal extent. That was the case here where the military should have prosecuted the officers who ordered or closed their eyes to violations of international law and the codes of war.

Manning is like those of the first sex abuse survivors who went to authorities and eventually the media about the abuse by Catholic priests. No one wanted to listen to them. Some refused to believe it. No one wanted the embarrassment or the cost of it. The actions of the priest-abusers were to be kept secret in order to protect the hierarchy of the Church and to prevent discussion of the moral issues those abuses raised.

But crimes had been committed. In any hierarchy or bureaucracy, those who speak out against evil or wrongs get no thanks. The molested children weren't supposed to wash the Church's dirty laundry in public. They were supposed to keep their secrets. Submission to the will of God and the Church . .l. .

But the abused did speak up, and now all Catholics have the opportunity and the responsibility to stand up, speak out and rid their Church hierarchy of abusers.

Manning bravely faced a moral dilemma: whether to speak out about wrongs he knew had happened in the military, whether to release the documents that incriminated the command. Had he simply told his story and talked out of school, no one would have believed him. No one would have paid any attention. He didn't. And now we know much of what he knew. We know just how cruel our military was in Iraq and Afghanistan, how immoral were some of their acts, how they killed unarmed children without a pang of remorse.

I suspect that Manning knew when he gave the documents to Wikileaks that he would pay a price for doing so. Perhaps he did not think about it much. Perhaps he did not consider that if he gave the documents to Wikleaks he would be discovered and serve most of the rest of his life in prison.

Perhaps he was just so shocked and incensed at what he was reading that he acted without a lot of thought. In either case, he is now bound to be sentenced to years in prison. He knows it. He has stated that he did it to help mankind and our country. I am inclined to believe him.

Manning has made an enormous personal sacrifice for his country. Like the children who as adults "came out" to accuse their priests, his life is marked. He will never be free from the watchful eyes of those he unmasked.

But Manning has left a record for people of conscience around the world. Even in war there have to be limits as to the cruelty we exhibit to those we are fighting. Our military exceeded those limits.

It is up to us, people of conscience, to remember what Manning showed us and never relent from questioning the acts of our government and the military hierarchies of the world.

Manning is a true hero. Like all true heroes, he will pay a personal price. It is up to us to make sure that price is worth the cost. Never forget.

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Some may ask why Manning released such a broad scope of diplomatic documents. I wonder whether it was because those documents were well known to the many people in our diplomatic corps who wrote them or received them. He may not have thought about it but it would seem to me that the release of those documents which were known to people in high positions who wrote and read them, insured that no one would doubt the authenticity of the rest of the documents. Those documents were familiar to a lot of our diplomatic and intelligence employees. Manning was no fool. Had he picked just the most incriminating documents, people would not have believed in the integrity of the Wikileaks publication.

I do not normally approve of people breaking a promise to keep secrets. But Manning has placed the world on notice that we need some way to enforce international restraints on our military machinery.

What if the tables were turned? What if the Iraqis had been the aggressor and had treated our journalists and children as our troops treated the Iraqis? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

who even knew people like bradley manning still existed?

we need more bradley mannings in this world.

I am a veteran from the Bosnian War.

I am a writer and translator!

I am a translator!

I am a journeman!

I am Bradley Manning!

That is all!