"What did Crowley think, he asked, about Wikileaks? About the United States, in his words, 'torturing a prisoner in a military brig'?"

Without pausing, Crowley said that the way his colleagues at the Department of Defense were treating Pfc. Bradley Manning "is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

"None the less Bradley Manning is in the right place," he added. "[T]here is sometimes a need for secrets... for diplomatic progress to be made."