Why Did Bradley Manning Do It?

Yesterday, 25-year-old former Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning admitted he gave all those documents to Wikileaks and attempted to explain why he did it. In the Wikileaks debate Manning is typically cast as either a a heroic whistleblower or a seditious traitor, or as a confused kid acting out in an emotional tantrum. What’s remarkable about Manning’s own account is how it fits none of those characterizations. We see Bradley Manning the curious analyst become Bradley Manning the world’s most famous leaker through a very personal relationship with Wikileaks that is inseparable from his own motives and psychological situation. More »