That's all we need to know really. The system is broken und unable to fix itself.

Edit: Free Reality Winner

Had she only released material on stuff she had thought to be a crime, then there would have been a much stronger case to be made as a whistle blower.

It would be like if someone working at a hospital exposed a medical fraud scheme but leaked all the patient records of thousands of people who had nothing to do with scheme. They'd probably get hit with criminal HIPAA violations.

The reason Manning is in jail right now is because she refused to testify to a grand jury about WikiLeaks and got hit with contempt of court. She had been given immunity to testify so the jail time is purely on her.

And what gives a government a right to have secrets in the first place? Except itself of course...

One of the things leaked by Manning was blunt assessments of foreign figures by diplomatic staff. That's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be kept secret for international relations to function.

By the end of the grand jury she will be freed, and she will be freed with the moral high ground. If you think having morals about not snitching is 'futile' that is your choice but many people take it very seriously.

Since her giving secret testimony would raise doubts as to whether she snitched or not, she wants to do so openly in order to maintain her public good-will as a non-snitch. I think you are mistaken in saying that she doesn't have the moral high ground here. These proceedings should be illegal in this country, you shouldn't be allowed to hold someone for unspecified sentences to torture them into talking. That isn't how testimony should be gotten. I'm appalled by some of the opinions here.