Bradley Manning Case: Army Officer Orders Court-Martial For Manning In WikiLeaks Case

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — An Army officer ordered a court-martial Friday for a low-ranking intelligence analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history.

Military District of Washington commander Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington referred all charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning to a general court-martial, the Army said in a statement.

The referral means Manning will stand trial for allegedly giving more than 700,000 secret U.S. documents and classified combat video to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks for publication.

The 24-year-old Crescent, Okla., native faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. He could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.

A judge who is yet to be appointed will set the trial date.

Manning's lead defense counsel, civilian attorney David Coombs, didn't immediately return a call Friday evening seeking comment on the decision.

Defense lawyers say Manning was clearly a troubled young soldier whom the Army should never have deployed to Iraq or given access to classified material while he was stationed there from late 2009 to mid-2010.

At a preliminary hearing in December, military prosecutors produced evidence that Manning downloaded and electronically transferred to WikiLeaks nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, and video of a deadly 2007 Army helicopter attack that WikiLeaks shared with the world and dubbed "Collateral Murder."

Manning's lawyers countered that others had access to Manning's workplace computers. They say he was in emotional turmoil, partly because he was a gay soldier at a time when homosexuals were barred from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces. The defense also claims Manning's apparent disregard for security rules during stateside training and his increasingly violent outbursts after deployment were red flags that should have prevented him from having access to classified material. Manning's lawyers also contend that the material WikiLeaks published did little or no harm to national security.

In the December hearing at Fort Meade, Md., prosecutors also presented excerpts of online chats found on Manning's personal computer that allegedly document collaboration between him and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Federal prosecutors in northern Virginia are investigating Assange and others for allegedly facilitating the disclosures.

The Bradley Manning Support Group, which contends Manning heroically exposed war crimes, issued a statement calling his prosecution "fundamentally unjust."

"This administration owes all Americans an honest explanation for their extraordinary retaliation against Bradley Manning," said Jeff Paterson, one of the group's lead organizers.

Comments

[sunnyfflower]

08:35 PM on 02/29/2012

For those of us with a conscience, integrity, and ability to comprehend the facts, Bradly Manning is one of the greatest heroes of our time.

[Monster Mash]

02:44 PM on 02/23/2012

Sad that this is happening to him. Though I think it's weird that they're using his homosexuality as a means of defense. Seems odd, but if it works it works.

I don't think he should be charged with anything. Thanks to him, we learned about a lot of war crimes. That makes him a hero, not a criminal.

[Rose LoveMinx]

07:45 PM on 02/07/2012

Bradley Manning has been nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/294531/20120207/bradley-manning-wikileaks-iceland-julian-assange-nobel.htm

[OGigi]

03:55 AM on 02/05/2012

Hey Bradley Manning, I am sorry you were raised here in America.
You were, obviously, taught all the wonderful things about our Nation. You believed in that and now you see where that has gotten you. I have had to retrain young ones that in reality, being American, does not mean what is used to.

[Bystander]

03:26 PM on 02/06/2012

"Hey Bradley Manning, I am sorry you were raised here in America." America is sorry, too.

[Rose LoveMinx]

07:47 PM on 02/07/2012

We have the great honor of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings. These revelations have fueled democratic uprising around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on our foreign policies, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/294531/20120207/bradley-manning-wikileaks-iceland-julian-assange-nobel.htm

[MemphisBlues]

09:39 PM on 02/04/2012

Death to traitors. Rats get bats. If this were pre-internet , he would just dissappear. Cant wait for this piece of shot to get his.

[OGigi]

03:50 AM on 02/05/2012

obviously you do not have the correct info of just what he exposed
so, you are excused

[ZetaReticuli]

08:23 PM on 02/04/2012

Manning is a hero, quickly acquiring the stature of Parks, King, Ellsberg, and Malcolm. I predict that the National Secruity State Apparatus is inadvertently also making him into a martyr. The Pentagon beware of the latter.

Let's remember that Private Bradley Manning exposed a crime, so he was a whistle-blower at least deserving the protections of a whistle-blower. But he deserves more: Being held as a role model for uncovering systemic criminal activity in the military and a monetary reward.

America needs more such patriots in military service and less murderers like Sgt. Wuterich who pled guilty to murdering a whole family. The Pentagon judges did not punish him. Wuterich was in fact rewarded by the Pentagon by being slapped on the wrists and then set free, with the reason having been that he was simply following standard Pentagon kill orders.

This is the context in which we view Bradley's persecution.

[Jambala99]

08:15 PM on 02/04/2012

What will happen the day there are no more secrets? Manning is a hero, plain and simple.....

People just don't realize that his cables led to the info that spawned the Arab Spring......

[OGigi]

03:51 AM on 02/05/2012

too bad he was raised in America... THAT seems to be the real issue of his crime.

[NWRICK]

07:30 PM on 02/04/2012

You can focus on what he revealed if you like, but what he really did could be so much worse.
What is the next private going to decide should be public? How many others have their own issues they want known?
How long until one of those leaks causes casualties because the private didn't understand what he was reading before he made it public, IF he read it at all.?

[FearlessFreep]

08:42 PM on 02/04/2012

If you allow war crimes to go virtually unpunished, what will the next general do? All Americans should be afraid (not just people with Arabic-sounding names).

[NWRICK]

07:24 PM on 02/04/2012

A military that can't trust it's own members can't defend a dog house.

[FearlessFreep]

08:43 PM on 02/04/2012

A nation that can't trust its own military...

[Shogun of Harlem]

07:12 PM on 02/04/2012

Where are the racial epithets? This dude gave up national security information, yet racial epithets? Really. Do you people understand the information he gave up, may harm our soldiers?

[markspence]

09:18 PM on 02/06/2012

How do you equate racial epithets with divulging national security information?

[Omishinji]

07:06 PM on 02/04/2012

From reading many of these comments an overwhelming number of people seem to be arguing that Manning is indeed guilty and should be court-martialled. The vast majority of diplomatic cables sent to Wikileaks didn't expose anything close to "War crimes" or similar injustices. It is those diplomatic cables being released that someone should get punished for. So far many of those supporting Manning seem to believe that he is the person responsible.

[ChasG]

07:30 PM on 02/04/2012

The most damaging releases were the battlefield reports which named civilians that were providing assistance to NATO forces.  The names of those civilians, the names of their family members, and where they lived were not redacted by Wikileaks and over 15,000 such documents were published.

[MAX1]

06:37 PM on 02/04/2012

.
Because in America, ordering the illegal murder and torture of people is a promotable act...
.

[MAX1]

06:33 PM on 02/04/2012

.
Exposing the truth (WAR CRIMES) becomes Treason...
.

[flindbergconsult]

08:06 PM on 02/04/2012

MAX1--the drama of your personality is creating any delusion you need to justify your hatred.--------------- you would gain more support if you used real facts

[MAX1]

06:28 PM on 02/04/2012

.
When "NATIONAL SECURITY" is used to cover up "WAR CRIMES" you know the Nation is rotting from the inside out.
.

[NWRICK]

07:02 PM on 02/04/2012

It's not what he did but how he did it.
That is my issue with this.

[kimchist4r]

07:37 PM on 02/04/2012

well if that's the case, the Army shouldn't have deployed him. He had been showing signs of high security risk.

[FearlessFreep]

08:45 PM on 02/04/2012

Realistically, did he have ANY other way of doing it?

[BlairCase]

06:28 PM on 02/04/2012

The news media scoured the "nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan" that Manning leaked in search of war crimes not already reported and couldn't find a single one. The 2007 Army helicopter attack was already under a full invsitigation before the Manning leaked the video of the incidence. The video was the prime piece of evidence that exonerated the pilots. It showed the men the Apache pilots engaged were carrying AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. It also shows the pilots followed rules of engagement.

[kimchist4r]

07:38 PM on 02/04/2012

you are wrong. i've watched the video many times. AK-47s weren't in sight. you are a liar.