Apparently, three members of the Icelandic Parliament have nominated Army PFC Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. On February 1, 2012, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Margrét Tryggvadóttir, and Þór Saari, all members of the Icelandic Parliament, sent their nominating letter to the Nobel nominating committee.
This is, of course, their right to do so. But it shows a deep ignorance of what Manning stands accused of.
Manning, you may recall is to be court-martialed for allegedly capturing 250,000 Department of State diplomatic cables, Department of Defense gun camera video and other classified documents onto CD-RWs labeled Lady Gaga, spiriting the discs out of the Secure Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) where he worked, and sending the information to Wikileaks. In effect, what Manning did was put the lives of American service members, diplomats, and citizens at greater risk.
The question at hand is whether or not these actions are worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Prize is awarded annually to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” My initial thinking is that, no, betraying an oath and putting the lives of your countrymen and their sources in grave danger does not meet the standard. But we’ll wait and see what the Committee has to say.
