Justice is blind but the scale is rigged when it comes to whistleblowers.

General David Petraeus was sentenced to two years probation and a $100K fine for leaking classified information (link to plea deal). This sentence is nothing short of an insult to the justice system in the United States. It is a clear example of how the justice system in the United States is rigged. 

Let us recall what got Petraeus into this mess by looking at two things - i. What did he leak? ii. What was intention for leaking the information? 

What did he leak?

Petraeus leaked names of covert operatives, war plans for US forces, and detailed discussion with senior officials including the US President. This information was contained in notebooks that Petraeus kept for himself. He then gave Paula Broadwell access to these notebooks to help her write his biography. The information contained in those notebooks are highly classified by any standard and had the potential of endangering US covert operatives. 

When Chelsea Manning leaked the Afghan war-logs to WikiLeaks the US government was quick to vilify her and WikiLeaks by saying the leaks posed a clear threat to US covert operatives on the ground. For some reason the US justice department has forgotten about this argument when it came to General David Petraeus. 

What was his intent?

The only reason Petraeus leaked the information was to help Paula Broadwell write his biography. It also turned out that Paula Broadwell was Petraeus' mistress for a time. No matter which angle you view this, it is clear that Petraeus reason for leaking the information was selfish. He had no benevolent intent to expose government abuse of power or US war crimes. He did not make any personal sacrifice to leak this information, rather he stood to gain a lot from it. 

Compare Petraeus' intent to that of Manning where she exposed the world to US war crimes in Afghanistan or Edward Snowden's revelation of the NSA's domestic mass surveillance program. Petraeus' leaks was only going to benefit him while the leaks made by Manning and Snowden served the greater public good. Manning and Snowden allowed us all to see the truth about what people in power are doing behind the shadows. Manning and Snowden started a serious public debate on how much power we have given to the government and what we need to do to reign them in. 



The justice system is supposed to punish those who have done harm and empower people to come forward to expose injustice and abuse of power. The leniency given to General David Petraeus is a very clear departure from this. It shows how the people in power protects their own while ensuring that those outside their circle are punished severely. Apparently David Petraeus received letters of support from more than 30 high-level government and military officials. These letters may have had a big influence on the sentence that he received and for some reason these letters are under seal. The fact that these letters are sealed is ridiculous which is why some media outlets are suing to have them un-sealed. 



Today the true whistleblowers are being punished very severely. Their lives are destroyed because they wanted to make the ultimate sacrifice to make sure the public knows the truth. The government is very aggressive in prosecuting true whistleblowers - Chelsea Manning is currently serving a 35 year sentence and Edward Snowden is still in hiding and facing two counts under the Espionage Act. On the other hand guy like David Petraeus gets off with a mere slap on the wrist. 


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