US War-On-Terror Opinion: A "Liberal" Betrayal? (Davis)

Bradley ManningMore than three years into the presidency of Barack Obama, it’s almost a cliché now to ask: What if George W. Bush did it? From dramatically escalating the war in Afghanistan to institutionalizing the practice of indefinite imprisonment, Obama has dashed hopes he would offer a change from the Bush’s national security policies – but he hasn’t faced a whole lot of resistance from liberals who once decried those policies as an affront to American values.

Like those on the right who now crow about fascism but spent the Bush years gleefully declaring left-wing celebrities “enemies of the state,” many of those on the liberal-left treat issues of war and civil liberties as useful merely for partisan purposes. When a Democrat’s in power those issues become inconvenient. And usually ignored.

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US WikiLeaks Video: Obama on Bradley Manning "He Broke the Law"

So much for due process of law, "innocent before proven guilty", etc. --- President Obama condemns Private Bradley Manning, held by the military in effective solitary confinement for allegedly passing information to WikiLeaks.

Video and transcript via Andy Greenberg:

OBAMA: People can have philosophical views about....

[Questioner: unintelligible]

No, no, but look, I can’t conduct diplomacy on an open source. That’s not how…the world works. If you’re in the military, and…I have to abide by certain classified information. If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law....We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate....

He broke the law.

[Questioner: "You can make it harder to break the law."]

Well, what he did was he dumped....

[Questioner: something about President Nixon's prosecution of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg]

It wasn’t the same thing. What Ellsberg released wasn’t classified in the same way. So. Anyway. Alright.