You know how Glenn Greenwald and Wikileaks and all the other people who idolize Bradley Manning are always vehemently denying that Manning’s massive document theft hurt the United States in any way?

Well, Bradley Manning doesn’t agree: Bradley Manning Apologizes for Hurting the US.

FORT MEADE, Md. — Bradley Manning has taken the stand during his sentencing hearing for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks and has apologized for hurting the United States and others.

Manning gave an unsworn statement Wednesday, which means he cannot be cross-examined by prosecutors. He began with an apology.

He says “I’m sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that it hurt the United States.”

Manning says he understood what he was doing and the decisions he made. However, he says he did not believe at the time that leaking the information would cause harm.

On the anarcho-libertarian left, it’s been a huge talking point that Manning’s (and Snowden’s) leaks don’t actually damage US security — they just expose US wrongdoing.

Manning’s statement strikes at the very heart of the far left’s idolization of indiscriminate leakers, and exposes this naïve/dishonest rationale for what it is — a flimsy excuse.

Here’s the full unsworn statement and apology from Bradley Manning:

First your Honor. I want to start off with an apology. I am sorry. I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I am sorry that it hurt the United States. At the time of my decisions, as you know, I was dealing with a lot of issues— issues that are ongoing and they are continuing to affect me.

Although they have caused me considerable difficulty in my life, these issues are not an excuse for my actions. I understood what I was doing and the decisions I made. However, I did not truly appreciate the broader effects of my actions. Those effects are clearer to me now through both self-reflection during my confinement in its various forms and through the merits and sentencing testimony that I have seen here.

I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions. When I made these decisions I believed I was gonna help people, not hurt people. The last few years have been a learning experience. I look back at my decisions and wonder, ‘How on earth could I, a junior analyst, possibly believe I could change the world for the better over the decisions of those with the proper authority?’

In retrospect I should have worked more aggressively inside the system as we discussed during the Providence Statement and had options and I should have used these options. Unfortunately, I can’t go back and change things. I can only go forward. i want to go forward. Before I can do that though, I understand that I must pay a price for my decisions and actions.

Once I pay that price, I hope to one day live in the manner I haven’t been able to in the past. I want to be a better person— to go to college— to get a degree— and to have a meaningful relationship with my sister’s family and my family.

I want to be a positive influence in their lives, just as my Deborah has been to me. I have flaws and issues that I have to deal with, but I know that I can and will be a better person. I hope you can give me the opportunity to prove— not through words, but through conduct— that I am a good person, and that I can return to a productive place in society.

Thank you, your Honor.