Judge to rule on dismissing most serious charge in U.S. WikiLeaks trial
Source: Reuters
By Medina Roshan
FORT MEADE, Maryland | Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:10pm EDT
(Reuters) - A military judge trying the soldier accused of the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history heard arguments on Monday over two defense motions that could result in the most serious charge against him - aiding the enemy - being dropped.
U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, is charged with disclosing more than 700,000 classified files, combat videos and State Department cables to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
Manning, who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010, could face life in prison without parole if convicted of aiding the enemy, the most serious of 21 charges he faces.
Defense lawyer David Coombs argued before Judge Colonel Denise Lind that Manning was guilty of negligence but not of "general evil intent," or of having knowledge it would get to the enemy.
~Snip~
"He was relied upon to brief (U.S. officials) on the enemy," prosecution lawyer Captain Angel Overgaard said. "He knew exactly what he was doing in disclosing the charged information."
The second motion concerned charges related to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Manning has already plead guilty to the lesser offense of leaking classified information, including State Department cables.
The defense is asking that the judge dismiss the greater offense, whether he knowingly exceeded authorized access, punishable by a 10-year prison sentence if found guilty.
~Snip~
(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Xavier Briand)
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/us-usa-wikileaks-manning-idUSBRE96F03W20130716
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MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)At this point, the White probably knows that Manning's torture and lack of due process may have pushed Snowden to leave the US. (The WH is also clearly beginning to realize that their war on reporters is backfiring as well.)
They may want to temper the insane shit being thrown at Manning to stop the erosion of public opinion and the anger from FDR Democrats. Or maybe not.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Ever since he offered his approval of Paulson (Mid November 2008.)
That approval foreshadowed what was to come next: The largest heist (or transfer) of wealth from the middle class to the One Percent since the decade prior to the French Revolution. And we all saw how that ended up. And now we are seeing that in addition to the money going out of our pockets and away from our communities, the rule of law is gone also. The bank can flagrantly hurt the individual while the individual must be subservient to the banker. This is done to us under the Geithner/Bernanke/Holder's "Too Big To Fail = Too Big To Jail. We are all just having to bend over and assume the position permanently. Consider how just last month a guy had his house foreclosed on by Wells Fargo - for the financial "sin" of pre-paying his mortgage!
We are now absolutely of no significance to the Powers that Be. And if Josh Fox is to be believed, next our drinking water and our rural areas are all to be Friggin' Fracked to kingdom come -- again, for the sake of the One Percent!
I have actually toned down in terms of my fear of Obama, and/or dislike for Obama. I realize if it weren't him, it would be someone just like him, and there are plenty of political people who would love to have the glamorous lifestyle of being in the nation's top office. It is pointless to hate or fear the puppet - we need to find out who is behind all this, and make their agenda illegal. How do we do that? I don't know at this point.
cstanleytech
(26,332 posts)for a time he was kept naked to prevent the fear of suicide which is even done in civilian prisons for some people when there is such a fear and he is also not being denied any due process as his trial is still proceeding and he has a lawyer.
The only real question here is did he knowingly aid the enemy because he has admitted to the rest of the issues such as releasing classified documents without authorization so did he aid them? I dont believe he did.
What Manning released was largely embarrassing more than anything so I personally dont believe he should be given a life sentence.
Same for Snowden if he shuts up and turns himself in then give him 10 - 15 years.
