Stand for Bradley Manning this Saturday at Fort Meade!

[Peter Lemkin]

Please Stand for Bradley Manning this Saturday at Fort Meade.

By Marianne Hoynes




by Marianne Hoynes 5/31/2013


Bradley Manning exposed war crimes committed by the USA. In the Collateral Murder video leaked by Manning, the action of the US soldiers in the helicopter that day was a war crime. Just as we expose the war crimes committed by other nations, we have an obligation to expose the war crimes of this nation. It is our obligation of being involved in a representative democracy. It is an obligation of being a free nation. It is just an obligation of our humanity.
Manning worked as an intelligence analyst, and what he saw while working in eastern Baghdad, led him to the conclusion that the American people needed to know what the US military and the US government are responsible for. He leaked the now famous Collateral Murder video footage to Wikileaks.
The people that were gunned down by the US military in this video were two Reuters Journalists, civilians and two small children.

Ethan McCord is a veteran Army specialist of the Iraq war. He can be seen in the Collateral Murder video coming onto the scene after the US air attack, rescuing the two small children, running them to safety, and calling for medical aid. The photographs he took on the scene that day are also now documented in a film called, Incident in New Baghdad, by James Spione. As an eyewitness to this current America and the wars it sanctions, Ethan McCord is an irrefutable truth teller. McCord was boots on the ground, images burned irreparably into his memory; images he must suffer with every day for probably the rest of his life.
Of Bradley Manning, Ethan McCord has this to say. "Whoever revealed this incident is an American hero in my book." He goes on to say that Manning's actions could only have been done out of conscience, as Manning himself describes.


In accordance with the times we live in, the US government is prosecuting Bradley Manning to its fullest extent. Manning has been imprisoned, tortured and isolated for more than one thousand days. The government seeks to imprison this young man for the rest of his life, for the crime of truth telling. The media, and by extension the US public, have been banned from witnessing the legal proceedings brought against Manning. The government decried that the public will have no access to information on Manning's fate until the trial is over and the sentence has been issued. He will be court martialed June 3, 2013.

Ethan McCord explains that Manning is clearly not guilty on the most serious charge levelled against him, aiding and abetting the enemy, which would require the prosecution in an honest trial, to prove that Bradley Manning's intentions were to benefit an enemy. It was made clear before Manning was ever arrested, McCord explains, that Manning never intended harm.
McCord says, "[Manning] was not looking for war crimes, just corruption. As far as [him] placing soldiers in danger, even our government won't say that any more. No one was ever in any more danger than previously. It is the government who placed us in harm's way. War is ugly. Good men become savages. We turn into the monsters in children's closets. Americans don't want to view images like Collateral Murder, because it does not mirror Hollywood's glorified war stories. So Americans close their eyes real tight and chant, keeping safe to help justify their mass consuming habits. The Geneva Convention as we were told, does not apply to the people of Iraq, because they are not a uniformed Army. The Geneva Convention was created to impose upon other nations. It was never intended for America to actually abide by.
But Bradley Manning is a patriot. He is a hero of war. I was on the front line everyday, while he hardly left the FOB, yet this man made more of an impact, and saved more civilians than ANY special forces has ...EVER. All while not firing a single round."
Let us recognize who the real criminals are, and who are the heroes. We must not allow the US government the ability to set these definitions for us. Americans have been so brainwashed to accept war, and not question what our tax money is doing. Certainly the least we could do is witness what we are financing; the deaths of human beings around the world.
As Chris Hedges says, "There is no group inside a country that has greater cognizance of how corrupt a country is, than those that run it".

[Peter Lemkin]

Assange Statement on the First Day of Manning Trial

Monday 3rd June 2013, 22:00 GMT

Statement by Julian Assange
As I type these lines, on June 3, 2013, Private First Class Bradley Edward Manning is being tried in a sequestered room at Fort Meade, Maryland, for the alleged crime of telling the truth. The court martial of the most prominent political prisoner in modern US history has now, finally, begun.
It has been three years. Bradley Manning, then 22 years old, was arrested in Baghdad on May 26, 2010. He was shipped to Kuwait, placed into a cage, and kept in the sweltering heat of Camp Arifjan.
"For me, I stopped keeping track," he told the court last November. "I didn't know whether night was day or day was night. And my world became very, very small. It became these cages... I remember thinking I'm going to die."
After protests from his lawyers, Bradley Manning was then transferred to a brig at a US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA, where - infamously - he was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of his captors - a formal finding by the UN. Isolated in a tiny cell for twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day, he was deprived of his glasses, sleep, blankets and clothes, and prevented from exercising. All of this - it has been determined by a military judge - "punished" him before he had even stood trial.
"Brad's treatment at Quantico will forever be etched, I believe, in our nation's history, as a disgraceful moment in time" said his lawyer, David Coombs. "Not only was it stupid and counterproductive, it was criminal."
The United States was, in theory, a nation of laws. But it is no longer a nation of laws for Bradley Manning.
When the abuse of Bradley Manning became a scandal reaching all the way to the President of the United States and Hillary Clinton's spokesman resigned to register his dissent over Mr. Manning's treatment, an attempt was made to make the problem less visible. Bradley Manning was transferred to the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He has waited in prison for three years for a trial - 986 days longer than the legal maximum - because for three years the prosecution has dragged its feet and obstructed the court, denied the defense access to evidence and abused official secrecy. This is simply illegal - all defendants are constitutionally entitled to a speedy trial - but the transgression has been acknowledged and then overlooked.
Against all of this, it would be tempting to look on the eventual commencement of his trial as a mercy. But that is hard to do.
We no longer need to comprehend the "Kafkaesque" through the lens of fiction or allegory. It has left the pages and lives among us, stalking our best and brightest. It is fair to call what is happening to Bradley Manning a "show trial". Those invested in what is called the "US military justice system" feel obliged to defend what is going on, but the rest of us are free to describe this travesty for what it is. No serious commentator has any confidence in a benign outcome. The pretrial hearings have comprehensively eliminated any meaningful uncertainty, inflicting pre-emptive bans on every defense argument that had any chance of success.
Bradley Manning may not give evidence as to his stated intent (exposing war crimes and their context), nor may he present any witness or document that shows that no harm resulted from his actions. Imagine you were put on trial for murder. In Bradley Manning's court, you would be banned from showing that it was a matter of self-defence, because any argument or evidence as to intent is banned. You would not be able to show that the 'victim' is, in fact, still alive, because that would be evidence as to the lack of harm.
But of course. Did you forget whose show it is?
The government has prepared for a good show. The trial is to proceed for twelve straight weeks: a fully choreographed extravaganza, with a 141-strong cast of prosecution witnesses. The defense was denied permission to call all but a handful of witnesses. Three weeks ago, in closed session, the court actually held a rehearsal. Even experts on military law have called this unprecedented.
Bradley Manning's conviction is already written into the script. The commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces, Barack Obama, spoiled the plot for all of us when he pronounced Bradley Manning guilty two years ago. "He broke the law," President Obama stated, when asked on camera at a fundraiser about his position on Mr. Manning. In a civilized society, such a prejudicial statement alone would have resulted in a mistrial.
To convict Bradley Manning, it will be necessary for the US government to conceal crucial parts of his trial. Key portions of the trial are to be conducted in secrecy: 24 prosecution witnesses will give secret testimony in closed session, permitting the judge to claim that secret evidence justifies her decision. But closed justice is no justice at all.
What cannot be shrouded in secrecy will be hidden through obfuscation. The remote situation of the courtroom, the arbitrary and discretionary restrictions on access for journalists, and the deliberate complexity and scale of the case are all designed to drive fact-hungry reporters into the arms of official military PR men, who mill around the Fort Meade press room like over-eager sales assistants. The management of Bradley Manning's case will not stop at the limits of the courtroom. It has already been revealed that the Pentagon is closely monitoring press coverage and social media discussions on the case.
This is not justice; never could this be justice. The verdict was ordained long ago. Its function is not to determine questions such as guilt or innocence, or truth or falsehood. It is a public relations exercise, designed to provide the government with an alibi for posterity. It is a show of wasteful vengeance; a theatrical warning to people of conscience.
The alleged act in respect of which Bradley Manning is charged is an act of great conscience - the single most important disclosure of subjugated history, ever. There is not a political system anywhere on the earth that has not seen light as a result. In court, in February, Bradley Manning said that he wanted to expose injustice, and to provoke worldwide debate and reform. Bradley Manning is accused of being a whistleblower, a good man, who cared for others and who followed higher orders. Bradley Manning is effectively accused of conspiracy to commit journalism.
But this is not the language the prosecution uses. The most serious charge against Bradley Manning is that he "aided the enemy" - a capital offence that should require the greatest gravity, but here the US government laughs at the world, to breathe life into a phantom. The government argues that Bradley Manning communicated with a media organisation, WikiLeaks, who communicated to the public. It also argues that al-Qaeda (who else) is a member of the public. Hence, it argues that Bradley Manning communicated "indirectly" with al-Qaeda, a formally declared US "enemy", and therefore that Bradley Manning communicated with "the enemy".
But what about "aiding" in that most serious charge, "aiding the enemy"? Don't forget that this is a show trial. The court has banned any evidence of intent. The court has banned any evidence of the outcome, the lack of harm, the lack of any victim. It has ruled that the government doesn't need to show that any "aiding" occurred and the prosecution doesn't claim it did. The judge has stated that it is enough for the prosecution to show that al-Qaeda, like the rest of the world, reads WikiLeaks.
"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people," wrote John Adams, "who have a right and a desire to know."
When communicating with the press is "aiding the enemy" it is the "general knowledge among the people" itself which has become criminal. Just as Bradley Manning is condemned, so too is that spirit of liberty in which America was founded.
In the end it is not Bradley Manning who is on trial. His trial ended long ago. The defendent now, and for the next 12 weeks, is the United States. A runaway military, whose misdeeds have been laid bare, and a secretive government at war with the public. They sit in the docks. We are called to serve as jurists. We must not turn away.
Free Bradley Manning.

[Magda Hassan]

There is a special place in hell for scabs and dogs.

Hacker who turned Manning in takes witness stand

The Associated Press
Saturday, June 8, 2013 | 12:14 a.m.


A one-time computer hacker who told authorities Pfc. Bradley Manning was giving military information to WikiLeaks is testifying at the soldier's court-martial.
Adrian Lamo is a convicted hacker. Lamo has said Manning confided to him in May 2010 that he was the leaker. He took the stand Tuesday.
Manning is on trial for giving hundreds of thousands of documents to the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.
He has pleaded guilty to charges that could bring 20 years behind bars. But the military has pressed ahead with a court-martial on more serious charges, including aiding the enemy. That charge carries a potential life sentence.
Manning's trial started Monday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Sitting almost motionless, Pfc. Bradley Manning listened to his attorney argue that the soldier was young and naive and only wanted to enlighten the public about the bitter reality of America's wars when he gave a massive amount of classified material to WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors, though, contend the 25-year-old Army intelligence analyst effectively put U.S. military secrets into the hands of the enemy, including Osama bin Laden, and they want to send Manning to prison for the rest of his life.
Manning's military trial at Fort Meade outside Baltimore resumes Tuesday, with prosecutors expected to call an expert to testify about evidence found on computers used by Manning in Iraq. During opening statements Monday, defense attorney David Coombs said Manning's struggle to fit in as a gay man in the military made him feel he "needed to do something to make a difference in this world."
Manning has admitted turning over hundreds of thousands of documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, pleading guilty earlier this year to charges that could bring 20 years behind bars. But the military pressed ahead with a court-martial on more serious charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.
Coombs said the soldier from Crescent, Okla., was "a humanist," a word engraved on his custom-made dog tags. As an analyst in Baghdad, Manning had access to hundreds of millions of documents but selectively leaked material, Coombs said. He mentioned an unclassified video of a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter attack that mistakenly killed 11 civilians, including a Reuters news photographer.
"He believed this information showed how we value human life. He was troubled by that. He believed that if the American public saw it, they too would be troubled," Coombs said.
Prosecutors said they will present evidence that bin Laden requested and obtained from another al-Qaida member the Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables published by WikiLeaks.
"This is a case about a soldier who systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of documents from classified databases and then dumped that information onto the Internet into the hands of the enemy," prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow said.
He said the case is "about what happens when arrogance meets access to sensitive information."
Wearing his dress blue uniform, the slightly built Manning peered through his small eyeglasses at a slide show of the prosecutor's hour-long opening statement, watching on a laptop computer at the defense table. The slide show also was projected on three larger screens in the courtroom, which had seats for only about 50 people.
Coombs did not address whether bin Laden ever saw any of the material. The soldier has said he did not believe the information would harm the U.S.
The defense attorney said Manning struggled privately with gender identity early in his tour of duty, when gays couldn't openly serve in the military.
"His struggles led him to feel that he needed to do something to make a difference in this world," Coombs said. "He needed to do something to help improve what he was seeing."
Later in the day, the court also heard from two Army investigators and Manning's roommate in Iraq, who testified the soldier was online whenever he was in their quarters.
Manning chose to have his court-martial heard by a judge instead of a jury. It is expected to run all summer. Much of the evidence is classified, which means large portions of the trial are likely to be closed to reporters and the public.
Federal authorities are looking into whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can also be prosecuted. He has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex-crimes allegations.
"This is not justice; never could this be justice," Assange said in a statement Monday. "The verdict was ordained long ago. Its function is not to determine questions such as guilt or innocence, or truth or falsehood. It is a public relations exercise, designed to provide the government with an alibi for posterity. It is a show of wasteful vengeance; a theatrical warning to people of conscience."
The case is the most high-profile prosecution for the Obama administration, which has been criticized for its crackdown on those who leak information. It's also by far the most voluminous release of classified material in U.S. history, and certainly the most sensational since the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers, a secret Defense Department history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
The 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers showed that the U.S. government repeatedly misled the public about the Vietnam War. Their leak to The New York Times set off an epic clash between the Nixon administration and the press and led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the First Amendment.
The material WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010 documented complaints of abuses against Iraqi detainees, a U.S. tally of civilian deaths in Iraq, and America's weak support for the government of Tunisia _ a disclosure that Manning supporters said helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring.
The Obama administration has said the release of the material threatened to expose valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments.
Manning's supporters _ including Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon papers _ have hailed the Army GI as a whistleblowing hero and political prisoner. Others say he is a traitor who endangered lives and national security.
Some 20 supporters were in the courtroom, including Cornel West, a Princeton University professor and civil rights activist, and Medea Benjamin, a member of protest group Code Pink.
"It's important to support him," said Anne Wright, a retired Army colonel. "I spent 29 years in the military, and what Bradley Manning has done is exposed government corruption and brutality."



Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jun...z2Vd07GJK1

[Peter Lemkin]

Lamo was/is a creature of the intelligence community who infiltrated the white-hacking/Anonymous/Wikileaks communities. I don't even think there is a place for him in Hell. Now, I hear, he must wear a disguise and watch where he goes - and no longer goes out in public to meetings, as he once did to 'gather info'. Few to none will communicate with him face-to-face or via the internet anymore. angryfire Only his 'employers'.

[Peter Lemkin]

The Judicial Lynching of Bradley Manning

Posted on Jun 9, 2013

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]AP/Patrick Semansky[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse at Fort Meade, Md., on Wednesday after the third day of his court-martial.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
By Chris Hedges
FORT MEADE, Md.The military trial of Bradley Manning is a judicial lynching. The government has effectively muzzled the defense team. The Army private first class is not permitted to argue that he had a moral and legal obligation under international law to make public the war crimes he uncovered. The documents that detail the crimes, torture and killing Manning revealed, because they are classified, have been barred from discussion in court, effectively removing the fundamental issue of war crimes from the trial. Manning is forbidden by the court to challenge the government's unverified assertion that he harmed national security. Lead defense attorney David E. Coombs said during pretrial proceedings that the judge's refusal to permit information on the lack of actual damage from the leaks would "eliminate a viable defense, and cut defense off at the knees." And this is what has happened.
Manning is also barred from presenting to the court his motives for giving the website WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables, war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, and videos. The issues of his motives and potentially harming national security can be raised only at the time of sentencing, but by then it will be too late.
The draconian trial restrictions, familiar to many Muslim Americans tried in the so-called war on terror, presage a future of show trials and blind obedience. Our email and phone records, it is now confirmed, are swept up and stored in perpetuity on government computers. Those who attempt to disclose government crimes can be easily traced and prosecuted under the Espionage Act. Whistle-blowers have no privacy and no legal protection. This is why Edward Snowdena former CIA technical assistant who worked for a defense contractor with ties to the National Security Agency and who leaked to Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian the information about the National Security Council's top-secret program to collect Americans' cellphone metadata, e-mail and other personal datahas fled the United States. The First Amendment is dead. There is no legal mechanism left to challenge the crimes of the power elite. We are bound and shackled. And those individuals who dare to resist face the prospect, if they remain in the country, of joining Manning in prison, perhaps the last refuge for the honest and the brave.
[TABLE="class: instorybar"]
[TR]
[TD]Read Chris Hedges' Dig about Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning here.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Coombs opened the trial last week by pleading with the judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, for leniency based on Manning's youth and sincerity. Coombs is permitted by Lind to present only circumstantial evidence concerning Manning's motives or state of mind. He can argue, for example, that Manning did not know al-Qaida might see the information he leaked. Coombs is also permitted to argue, as he did last week, that Manning was selective in his leak, intending no harm to national interests. But these are minor concessions by the court to the defense. Manning's most impassioned pleas for freedom of information, especially regarding email exchanges with the confidential government informant Adrian Lamo, as well as his right under international law to defy military orders in exposing war crimes, are barred as evidence.




Manning is unable to appeal to the Nuremberg principles, a set of guidelines created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations after World War II to determine what constitutes a war crime. The principles make political leaders, commanders and combatants responsible for war crimes, even if domestic or internal laws allow such actions. The Nuremberg principles are designed to protect those, like Manning, who expose these crimes. Orders do not, under the Nuremberg principles, offer an excuse for committing war crimes. And the Nuremberg laws would clearly condemn the pilots in the "Collateral Murder" video and their commanders and exonerate Manning. But this is an argument we will not be allowed to hear in the Manning trial.Manning has admitted to 10 lesser offenses surrounding his leaking of classified and unclassified military and State Department files, documents and videos, including the "Collateral Murder" video, which shows a U.S. Apache attack helicopter in 2007 killing 12 civilians, including two Reuters journalists, and wounding two children on an Iraqi street. His current plea exposes him to penalties that could see him locked away for two decades. But for the government that is not enough. Military prosecutors are pursuing all 22 charges against him. These charges include aiding the enemy, wanton publication, espionage, stealing U.S. government property, exceeding authorized access and failures to obey lawful general orderscharges that can bring with them 149 years plus life.
"He knew that the video depicted a 2007 attack," Coombs said of the "Collateral Murder" recording. "He knew that it [the attack] resulted in the death of two journalists. And because it resulted in the death of two journalists it had received worldwide attention. He knew that the organization Reuters had requested a copy of the video in FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] because it was their two journalists that were killed, and they wanted to have that copy in order to find out what had happened and to ensure that it didn't happen again. He knew that the United States had responded to that FOIA request almost two years later indicating what they could find and, notably, not the video.
"He knew that David Finkel, an author, had written a book called The Good Soldiers,' and when he read through David Finkel's account and he talked about this incident that's depicted in the video, he saw that David Finkel's account and the actual video were verbatim, that David Finkel was quoting the Apache air crew. And so at that point he knew that David Finkel had a copy of the video. And when he decided to release this information, he believed that this information showed how [little] we valued human life in Iraq. He was troubled by that. And he believed that if the American public saw it, they too would be troubled and maybe things would change."
"He was 22 years old," Coombs said last Monday as he stood near the bench, speaking softly to the judge at the close of his opening statement. "He was young. He was a little naive in believing that the information that he selected could actually make a difference. But he was good-intentioned in that he was selecting information that he hoped would make a difference."
"He wasn't selecting information because it was wanted by WikiLeaks," Coombs concluded. "He wasn't selecting information because of some 2009 most wanted list. He was selecting information because he believed that this information needed to be public. At the time that he released the information he was concentrating on what the American public would think about that information, not whether or not the enemy would get access to it, and he had absolutely no actual knowledge of whether the enemy would gain access to it. Young, naive, but good-intentioned."
The moral order is inverted. The criminal class is in power. We are the prey. Manning, in a just society, would be a prosecution witness against war criminals. Those who committed these crimes should be facing prison. But we do not live in a just society.
The Afghans, the Iraqis, the Yemenis, the Pakistanis and the Somalis know what American military forces do. They do not need to read WikiLeaks. They have seen the bodies, including the bodies of their children, left behind by drone strikes and other attacks from the air. They have buried the corpses of those gunned down by coalition forces. With fury, they hear our government tell lies, accounts that are discredited by the reality they endure. Our wanton violence and hypocrisy make us hated and despised, fueling the rage of jihadists and amassing legions of new enemies against the United States. Manning, by providing a window into the truth, opened up the possibility of redemption. He offered hope for a new relationship with the Muslim world, one based on compassion and honesty, on the rule of law, rather than the cold brutality of industrial warfare. But by refusing to heed the truth that Manning laid before us, by ignoring the crimes committed daily in our name, we not only continue to swell the ranks of our enemies but put the lives of our citizens in greater and greater danger. Manning did not endanger us. He sought to thwart the peril that is daily exacerbated by our political and military elite.




Manning showed us through the documents he released that Iraqis have endured hundreds of rapes and murders, along with systematic torture by the military and police of the puppet government we installed. He let us know that none of these atrocities were investigated. He provided the data that showed us that between 2004 and 2009 there were at least 109,032 "violent deaths" in Iraq, including those of 66,081 civilians, and that coalition troops were responsible for at least 195 civilian deaths in unreported events. He allowed us to see in the video "Collateral Murder" the helicopter attack on unarmed civilians in Baghdad. It was because of Manning that we could listen to the callous banter between pilots as the Americans nonchalantly fired on civilian rescuers. Manning let us see a U.S. Army tank crush one of the wounded lying on the street after the helicopter attack. The actions of the U.S. military in this one video alone, as law professor Marjorie Cohn has pointed out, violate Article 85 of the First Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the targeting of civilians, Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which requires that wounded be treated, and Article 17 of the First Protocol, which permits civilians to rescue and care for wounded without being harmed. We know of this war crime and many others because of Manning. And the decision to punish the soldier who reported these war crimes rather than the soldiers responsible for these crimes mocks our pretense of being a nation ruled by law."I believed if the public, particularly the American public, could see this, it could spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy in general as it applied to Iraq and Afghanistan," Manning said Feb. 28 when he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges. He said he hoped the release of the information to WikiLeaks "might cause society to reconsider the need to engage in counterterrorism while ignoring the situation of the people we engaged with every day."
But it has not. Our mechanical drones still circle the skies delivering death. Our attack jets still blast civilians. Our soldiers and Marines still pump bullets into mud-walled villages. Our artillery and missiles still raze homes. Our torturers still torture. Our politicians and generals still lie. And the man who tried to stop it all is still in prison.

[Albert Doyle]

Manning is being tried internally in a Kafka/Dreyfus-like military court with self-serving charges of treason.



He's a hero to many Americans and a guardian of democracy and transparency. The true context of Bradley Manning is he is a brave defender of democratic principles who stood up against the war criminals who took over this nation with the Bush administration. The fact the current US government with its ball-less phony "change" president is going after him says all you need to know.

[Peter Lemkin]

It is horrible all that has happened thus far to B. M. It is unfair, unjust, cruel, vengeful and just wrong. He will likely spend his life in prison for exposing crimes; while the real criminals who ordered those crimes and/or covered them up by making the issue the false one of killing the messenger have not had a finger laid on them - even pointed at them...and likely never will. There is no longer Justice in America and less so in the Military. Bradley Manning, aside from his heroic actions, impressed me immensely in his defense speeches during his Court Marshal. He may not stand high in inches; but the man is an absolute Giant among the moral dwarfs all around him!!!:rocker: FREE BRADLEY MANNING!

[Magda Hassan]

Unless the 'enemy' is the people of the USA, which it obviously is, I can't see how the espionage charges can fly. He was not working for another country. Stealing US property? Every federal employee who has ever taken home a pen from work can be done on that one.

On July 30, 2013 Col. Denise Lind found Pfc. Bradley Manning guilty of 20 offenses of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which included six violations of the Espionage Act; five offenses of stealing U.S. Government Property; and one violation the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Manning faces up to 136 years in a military prison, dishonorable discharge; and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. Go here for other references and resources.

The Verdict (Sortable)
[TABLE="class: sortable"]
[TR]
Charge, Specification Also known as... Federal Violation Manning Pled MAX Punishment Innocent Guilty Guilty LIO Plea At Sentencing Faces [/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge I, Article 104, The Specification [/TD]
[TD]Aiding the Enemy [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]Life [/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 01 [/TD]
[TD]Wanton Publication [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 02 [/TD]
[TD]Collateral Murder [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 03 [/TD]
[TD]CIA Red Cell Memos [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 04 [/TD]
[TD]Iraq War Logs [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 641, Stealing USG Property [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 05 [/TD]
[TD]Iraq War Logs [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 06 [/TD]
[TD]Afghan War Diary [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 641, Stealing USG Property [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 07 [/TD]
[TD]Afghan War Diary [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 08 [/TD]
[TD]GTMO Files [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 641, Stealing USG Property [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 09 [/TD]
[TD]GTMO Files [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 10 [/TD]
[TD]Farah Records [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 11 [/TD]
[TD]Garani Air Strike Video [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 12 [/TD]
[TD]Cablegate [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 641, Stealing USG Property [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 years/ 5 years LIO [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Cablegate [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 1030(a)(1), CFAA 'exceeding authorized access' [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 14 [/TD]
[TD]Reykjavik 13 [/TD]
[TD]None. USG Accepted his LIO is 'knowingly accessing' instead of 'exceeding authorized access'. This stripped 1030(a)(1) left prejudice to good order and discipline and service discrediting. [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO, USG Accepted [/TD]
[TD]2 Years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 15 [/TD]
[TD]2008 USACIC Memo [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 793(e), Espionage Act [/TD]
[TD]Guilty to LIO [/TD]
[TD]10 years / 2 years (Manning Plea) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge II, Article 134, Specification 16 [/TD]
[TD]Global Address List [/TD]
[TD]18 USC 641, Stealing USG Property [/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]10 Years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]10 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge III, Article 92, Specification 01 [/TD]
[TD]Attempting to Bypass Network Security Mechanism [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge III, Article 92, Specification 02 [/TD]
[TD]Adding Unauthorized Software (1) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge III, Article 92, Specification 03 [/TD]
[TD]Adding Unauthorized Software (2) [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge III, Article 92, Specification 04 [/TD]
[TD]Using an Information System Other Than Intended
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Not Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Charge III, Article 92, Specification 05 [/TD]
[TD]Wrongfully Storing Classified Information [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Guilty [/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]X [/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]2 years [/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Resources

• The Verdict
  
• Military District of Washington Press Release of Verdict
  
• Manning's Plea
  
• U.S. Charge Dates versus Bradley Manning's Plea Dates
  
• March 1, 2011 Charge Sheet
  

http://www.alexaobrien.com/verdict.html

[Albert Doyle]

Ditto Snowden. Why is it that everyone knows the government is wrong but they get their draconian verdict anyway?

[Jim Hackett II]

As a not active expired card former union Ironworker Journeyman I agree but would add...
Rats too.angryfire