Bradley Manning tops prize poll (From Western Telegraph)

Bradley Manning tops prize poll

4:50pm Saturday 15th October 2011 in News

Imprisoned US soldier Bradley Manning should have won the Nobel peace prize according to a poll in a national newspaper.

Readers of The Guardian were asked to vote on who they thought deserved the prize with Bradley, who has family in Pembrokeshire, scooping 40% of the votes.

Bradley is accused of leaking more than 250,000 secret diplomatic cables to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks and has been in army custody for the past 16 months.

Bradley’s 2,500 votes beat Assange’s 1,000, while Burmese political activist Aung San Suu Kyi was in third with 11.3% of the votes.

Some of the reasons given for voting for Bradley included: “If Bradley Manning is responsible for allowing the world to see he shenanigans that have been going on in the name of western democracy and responsible government, then he must be first on the list.”

Others added: “I think the selection of Bradley Manning would have the greatest impact on changing things for the better” and “Manning and his actions need to be remembered and praised”.

The winners of the prestigious award, announced at the weekend, were Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni rights campaigner Tawakkul Karman.