Bradley Manning and Government Secrecy

The pre-trial hearing is almost over in the biggest leak of classified documents in American history. Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of giving a massive trove of information to WikiLeaks, which published some on line. Was US security damaged? If Manning was the leaker, did he betray his country or tell the public what it needed to know? If a court martial convicts him should he get life in prison? And there’s a broader question. Since much of the information released was inconsequential, why was it classified at all?