Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, who first broke the NSA story and has written extensively about cybersecurity, argued with New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin over the sentencing of ex-Army Pvt. Bradley Manning on “AC360″ last night. Manning, 25, was convicted of 17 of 22 charges for leaking classified military information to WikiLeaks, and though he was acquitted for the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, faces up to 136 years in prison.
Toobin largely supported the verdict, saying, “He should be going to prison and he will be,” but Greenwald argued that Manning was merely doing the job of an investigative journalist. “If you’re sufficiently rich and powerful and well-connected in Washington, the laws don’t apply to you. You don’t get punished. The only people who do are people like Bradley Manning,” said Greenwald. He compared Manning to investigative journalist Bob Woodward, an industry veteran who has reported leaks from Washington officials throughout his illustrious career.
“What Bradley Manning did is the job of journalists, which is to bring transparency to what the government is doing,” said Greenwald.
