Always got the sense that Manning just leaked what he did due to being pissed off rather than being some sort of crusader for justice. That and just dumping a bunch of stuff that he didn't even peruse and could have been pretty risky. Respect Snowden a lot more than him, heh, wonder if the Chinese think he'd be worth interrogating - they can nab him and everyone'll assume it's the US doing it.
His interview with the Guardian was interesting ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance) I did roll my eyes at his surprise that when training for the SF unit (I always thought you had to be a regular and then do that, but who knows the particulars, so I might be wrong) that people were more concerned with killing Arabs than helping people. SF units and helping people, right
Also, how is Assange a patriot ?