Manning Acquitted of Most Serious Charge...

[kılıç_mehmet]

not that it will matter much in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, the military got to make its statement, regardless.

"Disclose our secrets, no matter how malicious and sadistic, and spend the rest of your life in jail."

Well, it's fair, I'd say. He probably did it for a good time with the Russian ladies. But there are ups and downs of everything. He's gonna have his downtime in prison for disclosing classified information to possible rivals, and the only reason he's been acquited of this crime is to not give impression that the US has a "new enemy" in mind.
I think from a US perspective, a life sentence is the minimum he should receive. He's a traitor, in my book, the punishment for treason is decapitation, but you don't have that there, do you?