Yeah, the flip side to this argument is pretty heinous: American war criminals can be prosecuted any time, any place they show up outside of Americas' borders.
Except, they can't, because the USA will protect them, even threatening to INVADE any country which attempts to reign their war criminals in.
Look I'm not defending anything our country does and what they did to Manning was unconscionable. I think Manning acted in good faith, she may have crossed the line some but the punishment far exceeded what the situation merited. But I can't say the same about Assange. Now I'll admit the espionage charge is very "odd" for attempting to crack a password. But Assange did some stupid dangerous crap and got himself caught up. Simultaneously embarrassing and royally pissing off the CIA, NSA and the DOD is an epically dumb thing to do. I don't know what he was expecting to happen or what his game plan was. What the hell was he thinking? Manning got thrown under the bus, Assange stood in the middle of the road and dared it to run him over. I don't know how sorry I should feel for him at this point.
We live in a world where if you criticize the government enough to piss off the espionage department of your country, your only choice is to run to east if you live in the west and west if you live in the east.
One man's might-is-right flag-waving US exceptionalism is another man's terrorism.