Bradley Manning’s Crime Is Smaller Than Treason

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- A military judge’s rejection of thetreason charge against Army Private First Class Bradley Manninghas reignited debate over the very meaning of the word.

Manning, who provided tens of thousands of secret documentsto WikiLeaks, was convicted this week of espionage and severallesser offenses and will probably spend the rest of his naturallife in prison. But he was acquitted on the charge of “aidingthe enemy” -- the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s functionalequivalent of treason -- and controversy persists over whetherhe was or was not a traitor.