An American military judge in Fort Meade in Maryland handed down a tough verdict against Bradley Manning, an army private for several violations of the Espionage Act. The military judge Colonel Denise Lind pronounced him guilty repeatedly in his judgement but he was not accused of 'aiding the enemy' and escaped charge of treason.

The verdict said that Manning was not guilty of having leaked an encrypted copy of a video of a US Airstrike in the Farah Province of Afghanistan in which thousands of civilians died. Still the soldier was found guilty in other serious charges which exposed America's horrible atrocities in middle-eastern wars including Afghanistan.

Many of his disclosures were used by WikiLeaks and a secret grand jury investigation in Virginia was conducted against Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks. The Virginia investigation has been looking into whether to prosecute WikiLeaks for their role in circulating the disclosures of Manning. After the verdict was pronounced Assange described Manning as a 'hero' and said, "WikiLeaks will not rest until he is free". The London Guardian said on Wednesday, 30th July, "By passing to WikiLeaks more than 700000 documents, Manning became the first mass digital leaker in history, opening a whole new chapter in the age-old tug of war between government secrecy and the public's right to information in a democracy".

Ben Wizner, of the American Civil Liberty's Union said, "While we're relieved that Mr. Manning was acquitted of the most dangerous charge, our union has long held the view that leaks to the press in the public interest should not be prosecuted under Espionage Act". A member of Manning's family said, “While we are obviously disappointed with the verdicts, we are happy the judge Lind agreed with us that Manning never intended to help America's enemies in any way. He loves his country and upholds the rights of public to information which the government has always tried to hide from the public eye illegally".

A London newspaper reported that before this verdict Manning had already spent 1,157 days in detention since his arrest in May, 2010. He endured excessive harsh treatment in the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia between 2010 and 2011. He was kept on suicide watch for long stretches and at one point was forced to strip naked at night in conditions that the UNO denounced as a form of torture.

This verdict was widely condemned by many including Widney Brown, Amnesty International's senior director of international Law and policy. He said," The government's priorities are upside down. The USA government has refused to investigate credible allegations of torture and other crimes under international law despite overwhelming evidence.

Yet the US decided to prosecute Manning who, it seems, was trying to do the right thing- reveal credible evidence of unlawful behaviour by the government. You investigate and prosecute those who destroy the credibility of the government by engaging in acts such as torture which are prohibited under the US constitution and in international law."

This verdict of American military court has been widely condemned by human rights campaigners and civil rights groups. They said that in a democracy public has a right to know the information about state's activities. If the state hides its illegal activities which goes against humanity then any citizen in his rightful mind has the right to expose those misdeeds.

By his courageous conduct Manning has become a friend of humanity, not its foe. In America's case it is the government who should face the trial for their illegal activities throughout the world and Manning should be hailed as a hero for his service to the humanity. Now it is known that the torture on the suspected terrorists in Guantanamo prison surpassed the brutality in Nazi camp and the last Bush administration tried to hide it from the civilised world. There was accusation from many reliable quarters that the tortures in Guantanamo had violated all international laws. When Guantanamo episode was exposed America sent some of their prisoners to Saudi Arabian and Turkish prisons. They were tortured inhumanly and were forced to confess many crimes they did not commit.

America tried to avoid the allegations by sending those unfortunate prisoners to their Middle-eastern satellite countries. After junior Bush, Barack Obama became the president. The peace loving world felt hugely relieved that the darkest period of American history has passed and a new era was ushered in American administration under President Obama. That hope was long ago dashed out when Obama came out with his true colour and increased military intervention even in their friendly countries, including Pakistan. The continuous drone attack on civilian targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan was unheard of in war history. This killing of unarmed people in the name of war against terrorism has affected the morale of many American soldiers. Many of them suffered from severe mental depression and some of them even committed suicide.

It is clear that Bradley Manning is one of those deeply frustrated army privates who did not want to betray his country but tried to prevent his government from crimes against humanity. American government may punish him with awesome state power but he will be hailed throughout the world by peace loving man and woman as a torch bearer of truth and a friend of humanity.

In my opinion, America is to some extent passing through the era of Truman, whose administration gave death penalty to a famous atomic scientist Rosenberg and his wife in the 50s. They were charged for leaking the atomic secret to the-then Soviet Union and accused of treason.

The famous scientist couple refused the allegation and there was a campaign throughout the world to save their lives. There was a signature campaign also urging American government to cancel the death penalty and millions of people signed the petition. One of the leading campaigners of Helsinki peace conference declared at that time, "We do not believe Rosenberg did leak any atomic secret to Soviet Union. But for argument’s sake if it was true that they leaked it still it was an act to save the humanity".

After acquiring nuclear power solely America became a danger for the existence of the world. They had already dropped arbitrarily atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, even though Japan was then on the verge of surrendering. From the unthinkable destruction of civilian life and property then the victorious America are still mad with its nuclear power and threatening the weak and unarmed countries to use it again to make them submissive to American will.

In the 50s in Korea though it was a localised war Truman threatened to use atom bomb against Northern Korea and again against newly independent China. If the Rosenbergs had leaked the atomic secret to Soviet Union they would have made the atom bomb which would halt the atomic threat from America and there would have been a balance of power between the two super powers acting as a safeguard for world peace. We would be thankful to Rosenberg's for their service to the world peace at the cost of their lives.

The difference between Truman and Obama era is that Obama's America is more aggressive and seems to be violating international laws in the pretext of their national security. Manning is very lucky that he did not face the fate of the Rosenbergs who were electrocuted. Although this verdict of very long sentence may show Manning as a foe of present American establishment, he would be hailed as a friend of humanity throughout the peace loving world.