From the article:
At the same time, Manning could be trying to pare down the prosecution's case to the most difficult charges to prove, including accusations that he intended to aid the enemy - in this case, al Qaeda.
How can you be convicted of aiding an enemy that your own gov't has admitted to aiding as well?
A private in the Army charged with keeping classified documents under his hat and handing them over to the world's biggest blabbermouth is not acceptable to me. His job was to keep that information classified and unavailable to outsiders. His job description did not include sharing with anybody else. Period.
As a consequence of his betrayal of his own country, Manning's deed resulted in Afghan collaborators being eliminated by insurgents in conjunction with al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood and every other terrorist organization in direct contact with Julian Assange's leaked information that Manning provided.
What Manning did was not only a little worse than taking him out to the shed, he put at least as many human beings at risk as the Rosenbergs, who gave Russia the bomb without them having to go through 30 years of math to do it themselves with no guarantees they got it right. The Rosenbergs were both summarily executed for their crime, and they didn't have a pantywaist press crying and squalling about it.
Following Wikileaks publication of U.S. intelligence documents listing the names and villages of Afghans who were secretly cooperating with the US Military, Khalifa Abdullah was executed by Talibani in Kandahar. 70 elders in the Panjwaii district received letters saying the decision was made to execute them unless they left Afghanistan immediately.
This letter was signed by Abdul Rauf Khadim, former inmate of Guantanamo Bay who was released from Kabul's prison last year, breaking their agreement to keep these dangerous murderers in jail. The hit-list examination is growing from examination of Wikileaks documents (obtained from Manning) in each province of Afghanistan. If these people do not leave Afghanistan, they are dead men walking, basically.
The frightening combination of the Taliban spokesman’s threat, Abdullah’s death, and the spate of letters has sparked a panic among many Afghans who have worked closely with coalition forces in the past, according to a senior Taliban intelligence officer who declined to be named for security reasons. The officer said he has seen reports of Afghans rushing to U.S. and coalition bases in southern and eastern Afghanistan over the past few days, seeking protection and even asking for political asylum. (U.S. military officials would not verify this information.) The Taliban officer claimed that the group’s English-language media department continues to actively examine the WikiLeaks material and intends to draw up lists of collaborators in each province, to add to the hit lists of local insurgent commanders.
Taliban Seeks Vengeance in Wake of Wikileaks Newsweek, The Daily Beast
There really isn't any way to know exactly how many people are at risk, but the entire Middle East could explode, that's for sure. And you know, false information could also be circulating that would put the terrorists at risk of each other's killing ways.
Wikileaks is a no-win situation for both sides. imho.
