A military judge's rejection of the treason charge against Army Private First Class Bradley Manning has reignited debate over the very meaning of the word.
Manning, who provided tens of thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks, was convicted last week of espionage and several lesser offenses and will probably spend the rest of his natural life in prison. But he was acquitted on the charge of "aiding the enemy" — the Uniform Code of Military Justice's functional equivalent of treason — and controversy persists over whether he was or was not a traitor.
In the National Review, for example, legal scholar John Yoo found the case easy — and dangerously wrong: "His actions knowingly placed the lives of American soldiers, agents, and allies at grave risk. In the world of instant, worldwide communications and nonstate terrorist groups, Manning committed the crime of aiding the enemy, and he is lucky to escape the death penalty."
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