Nobel Prize nomination highlights morality

WikiLeaks seems to terrify governments everywhere. When WikiLeaks brought ACTA to the world’s attention, ACTA officials turned to abolish WikiLeaks as their platform when lobbying for support in Mexico. A more recent leak may be the perfect example of why the U.S. signed off on ACTA, which attempts to stifle hidden information from leaking to the public view by shutting down sites like WikiLeaks. In 2010  U.S. Army private Bradley Manning leaked hundreds of thousands of U.S. Army documents, most pertaining to operations in Iraq, and tens of thousands pertaining to operations in Afghanistan, including video footage that depicts U.S. troops killing a journalist in Iraq, a video which the U.S. government had tried to conceal.

Private Manning is currently in jail in Kuwait under 22 different charges pertaining to the information he leaked.

True to form though, even while behind bars, Manning continues to leak information to the public. This time it was announcing that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions.

231 nominations are in for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. While the list of nominees isn’t public, the nominees can release the information if they so choose.

The question here is whether the actions private Manning took were morally correct, even if they were technically against the law.

Defense lawyers said Manning was “emotionally troubled and shouldn’t have had access to classified material, nor have been sent to Iraq for a tour of duty.” That’s all well and good to say after the fact, but he did have that access, and that’s how the information got released. If they were aware of his mental instability, he should have been given help or at least another job that didn’t put him in the path of that much confidential information.

The stories that got released were all classified, and for good a reason. Obviously, the U.S. wouldn’t be able to garner support on the war front if everyone knew they were brutally killing journalists. The U.S. was committing crimes of war and not being held accountable for it. It seems rather hypocritical after all the contracts and treaties and documents throughout history our leaders have signed to fight against just that.

Whatever the U.S. does funded by taxpayer money and involving government employees — in this case government officials and soldiers — should be public information. Manning is still at fault, but not from a moral standpoint. He got caught in all the documents he signed, pledging secrecy and stating he would keep the information to himself. But the people deserve to know what’s really happening in this war.

It’s questionable whether his actions are enough to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, but the fact that he’s being recognized and considered by a national board rather than just U.S. law and opinion is reassuring.