"It is no consolation to know that the victims were riddled with bullets in accordance with military protocol."

Americans should know the reality of those things done, supposedly, on their behalf, around the world. They should know the actions taken in their name and truth of what we ask our military to bear. But it'll never happen because, you know, an informed electorate might disagree with decisions of the elected.  And it makes for bad PR.

Bradley Manning's guilt — and ours - The Week:

"This idea – that Manning and WikiLeaks have imperiled Afghani informants or American troops– is now the leading charge against them. “We know for a fact that people will likely be killed because of this information being disclosed," Rep. Rogers said.

Rogers did not provide evidence for his “fact,” but one fact beyond dispute in our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is this: they have killed people by the thousands. In fact, the two wars combined have produced well more than 100,000 corpses. If putting people in harm's way is a damning criticism of Manning, then what are we to make of those who have cheered on, voted for, and managed America's wars? Is all this killing justified or not? Is there a legitimate aim that will somehow redeem all this death? These questions are the backdrop against which we judge the deeds of Bradley Manning and the efforts of WikiLeaks.

The bloody events portrayed in the WikiLeaks' “Collateral Murder” video seem gratuitously malign. It is no consolation to know that the victims were riddled with bullets in accordance with military protocol...

...Private Manning and WikiLeaks have also created the possibility that millions of Americans will now come face to face with the same ugly truths that led Manning to conclude that he had obligations to humanity weightier than an oath to the state. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left Americans with blood on our hands, and on our wallets -- a truth most of us prefer to avoid. Unfiltered facts and uncensored video about what has been done on our behalf, on our dime, are “dangerous” precisely because they lead to mortifying moral clarity when it is face-saving obfuscation that we crave. Secrets sold by a grasping turncoat would not threaten America's wars. It is Manning's idealistic exercise of conscience, and the faint possibility that we are as good as he thinks we are, that has agitated the lords of war."