Manning faces life imprisonment if found guilty; US tribunal to announce verdict

[Tovarish]

The US tribunal is to announce a verdict on the case of alleged Wikileaks informer Bradley Manning on Tuesday, according to the BBC reports.
It is expected that judge Denis Lind will announce the verdict at 13:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time or 17:00 GMT).
Earlier, the lawyers of the US army private demanded that the Tribunal exculpate Manning of some charges. However, the US Tribunal refused, in particular, to take off the accusation in helping the enemy from the alleged Wikileaks informer.
In case the Tribunal found the private guilty of charges under that paragraph, Manning may face punishment in the form of life imprisonment.
Manning was arrested in May, 2010, after WikiLeaks had published a secret video of American military helicopter Apache’sattack in Iraq in 2007, which killed two journalists. He is accused on 22 charges, in particular, "the online publication of intelligence data belonging to the government of the USA".
During the court hearings, Manning refused to plead guilty of the most serious charges, in particular, of "assistance to the enemy."
However, he agreed with 10 items of the indictment related to illegal possession of some classified material and handing them to a person not possessing a permission of access to them.
Manning verdict to show what awaits Snowden in US - lawmaker
The sentence a US court will pass upon Wikileaks informant Private Bradley Manning will show what fugitive former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden would get should he return to his country, a senior Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said.
US media on Monday cited military officials as saying that the judge who would decide the fate of Manning, accused in a large-scale leak of classified information related to warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq a few years ago, has reached a verdict and it would be announced Tuesday.
“When the sentence is passed upon Manning for handing files to the Wikileaks website, it would be clear what would await Snowden if he returned to the United States,” Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian lower house’s international committee, said on Twitter on Monday.
Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking classified data about the US National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, formally requested temporary asylum in Russia on July 16. Washington has repeatedly called on Moscow to reject Snowden’s request for asylum and send him back to the United States to stand trial on charges of espionage and theft.
Judge to announce Bradley Manning verdict on Tuesday
The military judge will announce her verdict on the case of US soldier Bradley Manning over his massive transfer of secret files to WikiLeaks on Tuesday.
Col. Denise Lind, the presiding judge in the court-martial of the United States v. Pfc Manning, said Monday morning that the long-awaited verdict will be delivered on July, 30 afternoon from the military courthouse at the Ft. Meade Army Base outside of Baltimore.
Colonel Denise Lind has closed the court After hearing the final statements at Fort Meade on Friday last week.
She is tasked with solely deciding if the 25-year-old Army intelligence analyst is guilty of espionage, aiding the enemy and nearly 20 other counts that could come with a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Manning was a US army private serving as an intelligence analyst in Iraq when he sent antisecrecy activist Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks website a massive trove of diplomatic cables and classified military reports from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Manning faces life imprisonment if found guilty; US tribunal to announce verdict on Tuesday - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Vide

 

[Lord of Planar]

Let him rot in hell.

It is not an individuals decision as to what classified material to release, and anyone doing so needs to face the consequences of their actions.

 

[Tovarish]

Let him rot in hell.

It is not an individuals decision as to what classified material to release, and anyone doing so needs to face the consequences of their actions.

Right. It is better to kill unarmed civilians and journalists. It is legal. Tell the tale - it is a crime.

 

[Penderyn]

Call him an illegal immigrant, rant a little, and send him home. Honest people don't belong over in that racist nuthouse, and a lot of people back here in Cymru think highly of brave soldiers

 

[Lord of Planar]

Right. It is better to kill unarmed civilians and journalists. It is legal. Tell the tale - it is a crime.

Are you referring to tne video where a journalist gets gunned down by a gunship? You know, from a distance, those powerful telephoto lenses look like a weapon. He aimed his camera at the helicopter. He was embedded with the enemy. I do not fault the military for killing him. Wow were they suppose to know he wasn't the enemy?

 

[Tovarish]

Are you referring to tne video where a journalist gets gunned down by a gunship? You know, from a distance, those powerful telephoto lenses look like a weapon. He aimed his camera at the helicopter. He was embedded with the enemy. I do not fault the military for killing him. Wow were they suppose to know he wasn't the enemy?

How can you blame the U.S. military? Pictured soldiers also protect themselves. The soldiers must have thought that they face "Wolverine." Manning - is quite another matter. Everyone knows - you can torture and kill, but you can not talk about it. Heh-heh.

 

[Lord of Planar]

How can you blame the U.S. military? Pictured soldiers also protect themselves. The soldiers must have thought that they face "Wolverine." Manning - is quite another matter. Everyone knows - you can torture and kill, but you can not talk about it. Heh-heh.

LOL...
Apples and oranges. Besides, a single photo doesn't tell us what happened there.

Was that photo from Abu Graib, where actions were taken against soldiers?

 

[Tovarish]

LOL...
Apples and oranges. Besides, a single photo doesn't tell us what happened there.

Was that photo from Abu Graib, where actions were taken against soldiers?

*laughs*
You want more pictures? The U.S. government spits on amendment 4. Stealing and killing people around the world. Reads the personal mail of its citizens and watching them. And "citizens" chew their snot and say - "the army has the right to torture, rape and murder." Let these "patriots" do not whine when they are will in the photos themselves.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Let him rot in hell.

It is not an individuals decision as to what classified material to release, and anyone doing so needs to face the consequences of their actions.

So no matter how horrible the crime, no one should ever whistleblow on their government?

If the government were torturing kids in dark rooms and you knew about it, I guess you'd just keep your mouth shut and mind your own business?

 

[Jango]

So no matter how horrible the crime, no one should ever whistleblow on their government?

If the government were torturing kids in dark rooms and you knew about it, I guess you'd just keep your mouth shut and mind your own business?

The brainwashing runs deep in some folk.

 

[Tovarish]

The brainwashing runs deep in some folk.

But the question you have not answered.

 

[Lord of Planar]

So no matter how horrible the crime, no one should ever whistleblow on their government?

If the government were torturing kids in dark rooms and you knew about it, I guess you'd just keep your mouth shut and mind your own business?

It depends on what is happening. There are channels to follow with first. I went strait to the NSA once with a security issue when I worked nuclear theater.

Such evidence should have been sent to someone in the chain of command. Not the press.

 

[HonestJoe]

So no matter how horrible the crime, no one should ever whistleblow on their government?

Manning isn't a whistleblower. There are proper routes to report evidence of alleged criminal acts which he failed to follow in any way. Releasing raw material to the public should be the last resort.

Anyway, if he'd only release that specific material, you'd have a point. He actually released a vast amount of other information, much more than he could have possibly assessed himself had he even tried. The fact nobody was apparently harmed as a result of his leaks was luck, not judgement.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Manning isn't a whistleblower. There are proper routes to report evidence of alleged criminal acts which he failed to follow in any way. Releasing raw material to the public should be the last resort.

Anyway, if he'd only release that specific material, you'd have a point. He actually released a vast amount of other information, much more than he could have possibly assessed himself had he even tried. The fact nobody was apparently harmed as a result of his leaks was luck, not judgement.

It depends on what is happening. There are channels to follow with first. I went strait to the NSA once with a security issue when I worked nuclear theater.

Such evidence should have been sent to someone in the chain of command. Not the press.

While I agree that the proper channels should be used first, I don't see how there were any channels for Manning nor Snowden to report things that are institutional in nature. For instance, the NSA program, that's an officially sanctioned program all the way to the top. There's no one to report that to within the government, especially not without violating confidentiality regulations.

I think both of you underestimate the animosity and difficulty involved in trying to report officially sanctioned actions. IE: Yeah, it'd be super easy to report kids being tortured in dark rooms if it was a rogue group of people doing it, but what about when congress and the president approved the program?

Lord of Planar, was this security issue officially sanctioned and wholeheartedly endorsed by the highest levels of government?

 

[HonestJoe]

While I agree that the proper channels should be used first, I don't see how there were any channels for Manning nor Snowden to report things that are institutional in nature.

I was talking specifically about Manning. As far as I'm aware, the only alleged evidence of criminal acts he release was the video of the helicopter shooting civilians. I see no reason why that couldn't have been raised through the recognised channels.

I agree Snowden's situation was different, in fact I'm not sure they should be discussed in the same context.

 

[thinkforyoursel]

Bradley Manning and ed Snowden are rats ....plain and simple. They both rat out the government.

And the people on the right are fooling no-one into vilifying a rat ...when they rat out their political officials ...and then flip-flop and try to defend a rat who rats out a democrat!! Save me the spin ...I can't bother debating ...your spin!!

How do you want it .....the US have done just about everything Americans accuse and vilify other governments of doing. After-all you held slaves for centuries ...where the hell do you come off thinking you have some ..."moral" high ground? That's all in your mind.

Also ...the US government have forever been surveying Americans. In fact several decades ago they tracked one of the most vicious communist in the country...remember that? That evil communist was Martin Luther King!!

So my point is ...Manning and Snowden are the same ...they are rats ...and they exposed secrects that tells the world ...hey...America is just like all those other evil communist countries out there!!
Time to end this foolish debate.