Julian Assange and WikiLeaks

[W.G.Ewald]

Bradley Manning Pretrial Hearing Focuses On Evidence

An Army private who sent reams of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website is returning to a military courtroom at Fort Meade.

The pretrial hearing starting Wednesday for Pfc. Bradley Manning includes arguments about evidence the government must produce to prove charges that include aiding the enemy.

Defense lawyers are fighting prosecutors' plan to call a witness, presumably a Navy SEAL, who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011.

The government says the unidentified witness collected evidence showing that an associate of bin Laden provided the al-Qaida leader with documents that Manning has acknowledged he leaked.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Manning court martial trial starts Monday | McClatchy

Amid secrecy and spectacle, the long-awaited court-martial trial of WikiLeaks linchpin Bradley E. Manning starts Monday.

The Army private first class already knows he's going to prison, having previously pled guilty to 10 charges relating to the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of government documents. Now, in a tightly guarded military courtroom at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland, Manning will face more serious charges including aiding the enemy.

If convicted on the remaining charges, the slightly built, 25-year-old Manning could spend the rest of his life in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Whatever happens, the former intelligence analyst's trial has already incited tough questions about military justice, the public's right to know and the price that's paid by a self-styled whistleblower.

"I believed that if the public, especially the American public, had access to the information"¦this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general, as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan," Manning explained in court on Feb. 28.

In what's been described as the largest leak of government documents in U.S. history, Manning acknowledges turning over to WikiLeaks some 250,000 State Department cables and half-a-million Army documents. WikiLeaks then published the documents online, as a major part of a broader campaign to disclose government actions.

Army prosecutors say the massive document dump endangered U.S. national security and put lives at risk.

 

[SamwiseTheBrave]

looks like the Assange episode fully exposes American hypocrisy when it comes to being an open, democratic,self correcting political system at the vanguard of human rights - at the very least, safeguarding of whistle blowers should be a no-brainer already.

 

[average american]

You cant have Privates deciding what information is classified and what is not. I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison. Being a democracy is one thing, being a democracy to the point of committing suicide is a another.

 

[SamwiseTheBrave]

alternate perspective : vested interest drive the state to make pretty much all information as "classified" even when it does not have a direct impact on "national security" - backlash ensues in the form of assange, anonymous et, all. Isn`t the "Average American" (justifiably) famous for being deeply mistrustful of large federal institutions for their overreach ?

 

[SamwiseTheBrave]

sweet, sweet vindication looking forward to reactions from @average american, @W.G.Ewald and others

Edward Snowden and the security state laid bare | Clay Shirky | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

 

[W.G.Ewald]

sweet, sweet vindication looking forward to reactions from @average american, @W.G.Ewald and others

Edward Snowden and the security state laid bare | Clay Shirky | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

I have not heard anybody should say Bradley Manning should not be further prosecuted because of the emerging Snowden case.

I have said in the past that PFC Manning was not properly supervised, and that his superiors should be prosecuted. In fact, an NCO in his chain of command was given non-judiclal punishment, if I recall correctly.

Anybody who has access to classified information signs an oath not to reveal it to anyone without proper clearance. That fact is irrefutable.

 

[SamwiseTheBrave]

I have not heard anybody should say Bradley Manning should not be further prosecuted because of the emerging Snowden case.

I have said in the past that PFC Manning was not properly supervised, and that his superiors should be prosecuted. In fact, an NCO in his chain of command was given non-judiclal punishment, if I recall correctly.

Anybody who has access to classified information signs an oath not to reveal it to anyone without proper clearance. That fact is irrefutable.

it boils down to what it morally right - as defined under the american perspective of the world vs. what is lawful

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Manning's conviction seen as making prosecution of WikiLeaks' Assange likely - The Washington Post

The conviction of Army private Bradley Manning on espionage charges Tuesday makes it increasingly likely that the United States will prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a co-conspirator, according to his attorney and civil liberties groups.

Assange wants attention now that Manning is back in the headlines; both are media whores.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can get treatment for her gender disorder, defense officials said.

Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.

The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgender people are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be discharged from the service while serving her 35-year prison sentence.

Manning, seeking gender treatment, OK'd for move :shocked:

 

[cyclops]

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