Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks Suspect, Faces Arraignment

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) -- An Army private accused of spilling a mountain of U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks is being asked for the first time to enter a plea to the charges.

The arraignment of Pfc. Bradley Manning begins Thursday afternoon at Fort Meade near Baltimore.

Officials say Manning also will be asked whether he wants to be tried by a judge or a jury.

The 24-year-old native of Crescent, Okla., faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. That charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Manning has been locked up since May 2010. He allegedly gave the anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website more than 700,000 classified documents and video clips while working in Iraq.

Defense lawyers say Manning was a troubled soldier who shouldn't have had access to classified material.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[AllegroTroppo]

09:35 AM on 02/25/2012

Theft of hundreds of thousands of documents-- by self admission.
Expression of clear understanding that he will have to face severe consequences if discovered ( see emails exchanges with Lima).
Attempts to fence stolen government documents to any taker.
Transferring 100,000 stolen documents to a foreign buyer with defined anti-American agenda.
Standing trial for above crimes.
Conviction for the above crimes--guaranteed.

[hearthammer]

07:29 AM on 02/24/2012

Am I the only one here who sees an anomaly in the swivel eyed right wing who seek to "expose government lies" while wanting this guy dead for "exposing government lies?"

[AllegroTroppo]

12:38 PM on 02/24/2012

You concoct a straw man fallacy and then argue it make no sense. Sheer genius!

[AlanDente]

05:03 PM on 02/24/2012

There's no straw man here at all.

The point stands. There is a great fear of 'big Govt.' from the right in the US, including a fera of Govt. that pries into the freedom of Americans- yet when this guy blew the whistle on Big Govt. corrupt activities, lies and lack of accountability to Americans... suddenly everyone's quiet.

I bet if manning were 6 foot and a real all-American boy who championed freedom, country music and loved Jesus publicly, certain people would be all over this injustice like a rash...

[hearthammer]

06:43 AM on 02/25/2012

So where is the strawman? We hear all the time about the rabid right and their pursuit of liars in government. This guy has exposed these liars and still you can't accept it! Could it be that you have no political scruples whatsoever?

[MHB48]

05:39 AM on 02/24/2012

He's getting what he deserves and he's going to get what he deserves.

[Steve Lane]

09:53 AM on 02/25/2012

If you are not careful you will get the government you deserve.

[MHB48]

03:32 PM on 02/25/2012

A democracy ALWAYS gets the government it deserves.

[amnholly]

08:06 PM on 02/23/2012

Sorry BM, this all sucks. You made Big Brother look bad and He doesn't take kindly to that. Funny that the practice of mucking in other countries' affairs with a gun is considered 'heroic' but standing up to those that perpetuate those evil practices gets you thrown in a cell.

[Mahi vce]

03:31 PM on 02/23/2012

Manning Gets Life for exposing War Crimes .. And Frank Wuterich is set free with out any punishment for executing those War crimes ...

[AllegroTroppo]

03:49 PM on 02/23/2012

"Manning Gets Life"
Not yet.
But I like the way you're thinking.

[Son of Liberty 1765]

08:44 PM on 02/23/2012

He deserves worse than life. he deserves to meet his maker.

[hearthammer]

07:03 AM on 02/24/2012

So do you for being an oxygen thief.

[AlanDente]

04:54 AM on 02/27/2012

Your mico-bio says 'exposing Govt. lies', but you hate someone who did just that.

Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds?

[banderson2]

01:46 PM on 02/23/2012

Well allegro appears again more times than anyone else on this forum. How much are you being paid to post unworthy comments? Probably two cents since that is about all it is worth.

[woodshoe]

01:54 PM on 02/23/2012

probably thousands,.. just the sheer moral weight required to reflexively pretend to such an overt submission to state power and secrecy with regard to the activities of authoritarian institutions.

not easy work for a moral person to undertake, so there are likely 'hazard pay' considerations there as well.

or maybe they pay the 2 cents initially but there is some kind of supplication 'bonus' for those who really get their nose in there.

who knows.

[AllegroTroppo]

02:47 PM on 02/23/2012

The nearest banderson2 ever gets to a brainstorm is a light but annoying drizzle.

[banderson2]

03:28 PM on 02/23/2012

Sticks and stones allegro, sticks and stones.

[AllegroTroppo]

12:56 PM on 02/23/2012

Not to worry. In the general population prison he'll be everybody's darling. And lovin' it .

[woodshoe]

01:12 PM on 02/23/2012

LUTZ,.. nothing like sexual violence to bring on the YUKYUKYUKs, eh?

no doubt you are a hit at parties.

[AllegroTroppo]

01:24 PM on 02/23/2012

Who is talking about violence? Brad is on record promoting the virtues of his um... gender-modification procedure.

[Son of Liberty 1765]

08:45 PM on 02/23/2012

Brad likes a nice drive down the old dirt road.

[banderson2]

12:51 PM on 02/23/2012

What is good for the goose overseas is bad for the gander here in the U.S. Check out the Jake Tapper comments at the White House press meeting.

[woodshoe]

01:18 PM on 02/23/2012

saw that this morning,.. and it is SO UNcharacteristic of corporate commercial journalism that i have to treat it as a fleeting outlier.

ultimately,.. until WE are the customers of journalists (rather than the corporate advertisers they sell audiences to) this is not at all likely to catch on.

would that it were though.. if for just one day every one of those corporate journos would somehow develop enough spine to risk dabbling in journalism.. *sigh*

[woodshoe]

12:32 PM on 02/23/2012

Thank you american hero bradley manning.. may your freedom come soon regardless of the verdict.

hundreds of millions of persons the world over are in debt to your courageous act.

the US, but really EVERY nation,.. could use an army of mannings with the courage to understand that exposing criminal activity is not a demonstration of disloyalty,. but rather a keen loyalty to human rights the world over,.. regardless of the opinion of any ephemeral phantasmic nation-state. (primarily because nation-states are make believe and human beings are actual.)

again, THANK YOU bradley manning!

[AllegroTroppo]

12:55 PM on 02/23/2012

"ephemeral phantasmic nation-state."

Voila, another survivor of reading too many Khmer Chomsky's Cliff Notes.

[woodshoe]

01:06 PM on 02/23/2012

stepped on the paradigm of another believer eh? lol

testify! allegro

(for the rest of the class; allegro has chosen to demonstrate a common logical fallacy called "transference" whereby s/he conflates their opponents arguments with those of an oft maligned public figure or organization.)

in his/her defense,.. it IS easier than thinking or providing something in the way of actual refutation.

[AllegroTroppo]

12:13 PM on 02/23/2012

There's only one penalty for fencing stolen state secrets. And it is usually delivered after a last meal.

[hyman hackowitz]

12:18 PM on 02/23/2012

What police state are you from?

[AllegroTroppo]

12:24 PM on 02/23/2012

Which vegan commune are you from?

[MrStat1]

12:32 PM on 02/23/2012

It is obvious you have no understanding, education or knowledge of the UCMJ or its provisions.

[woodshoe]

12:45 PM on 02/23/2012

great indication there of why states are such perverse constructs to begin with.. when they will move people to prey on the lives and freedoms of others for not being secretive and for not adequately insulating the machinations of power from public scrutiny.

i must have missed the last few issues of 'rugged individualist' quarterly.. cause somewhere in there the concept has been turned utterly on its head.. so that now it would seem that, for many,.. the keenest expression of macho individualism comes in the form of cowing and supplicating to authoritarian institutions,. that they might prey on individuals of conscience?

rather than order those back issues i think i am gonna cancel my subscription.

[AllegroTroppo]

01:21 PM on 02/23/2012

woodshoe is agitating for the return of noble indigenous tribalism. With herself as the Chief Sitting B, no doubt.

[uk progressive]

11:49 AM on 02/23/2012

If there were more bradley mannings in the US the US and the world would be better off.

[AllegroTroppo]

12:11 PM on 02/23/2012

Blokes from across the Pond have lost international clout and now want U.S. to do the same.

[uk progressive]

12:21 PM on 02/23/2012

But the US is losing international clout i.e russia and china vetoing the syrian resolution, defeat in iraq, defeat pending in afghanistan and US puppet dictators falling one by one in the middle east. Oh i nearly forgot 16 trillion dollars and rising in debt.

[AllegroTroppo]

11:10 AM on 02/23/2012

"Defense lawyers say Manning was a troubled soldier who shouldn't have had access to classified material."

If this the best defense they can come up with, he's going down for the count.

[Bystander]

11:33 AM on 02/23/2012

This is the equivalent of asserting, "You should have known he was an unstable person prone to traitorous acts." That's a winner!

[westcoastsc]

12:04 PM on 02/23/2012

He has been tortured and he is being forced to use their same lackey lawyer that defended that guy Anwar. This shows that this is a kangaroo court. The best defense would be that he was following the articles in the Geneva Convention. They probably convinced him not to do this defense or have him too incapacitated to make this decision.

[AllegroTroppo]

12:10 PM on 02/23/2012

Geneva Convention doesn't protect against stealing hundreds of thousands documents sight-unseen and giving it to foreigners for re-sale.

[terroristmd]

01:10 PM on 02/23/2012

Lol tortured? You need to recheck your facts before throwing blanket accusations towards cases you have minimal understanding of.

[LostDemocracy]

10:47 AM on 02/23/2012

In many countries he would get a death penalty for betraying his citizenship.

[Bystander]

11:37 AM on 02/23/2012

I agree. But we should abide by our own laws and call this what it is, treason...a capital offense punishable by death.

[hyman hackowitz]

12:31 PM on 02/23/2012

State secrets are undemocratic and should be kept to an absolute minimum. The state should be forced to prove a legitimate rationale for the secrecy of each and every document used as evidence in this trial. "Trust the authorities, they know what's best"? That kind of thinking was quite in vogue during the era of the Third Reich.

[westcoastsc]

12:06 PM on 02/23/2012

However, it is the military that betrays the American people and the democracy, and it is Bradley who has fought for the American people and for the world.

[Pappa]

12:27 PM on 02/23/2012

Which fairy tail are you living in?

[MrStat1]

12:34 PM on 02/23/2012

He and you can both think about that as he spends the rest of his miserable life in a prison.

[AllegroTroppo]

10:42 AM on 02/23/2012

Life without possibility of parole. The only just sentence possible in this case.

[westcoastsc]

12:07 PM on 02/23/2012

For the generals, admirals, and Bush Administration, yes.

[AllegroTroppo]

12:17 PM on 02/23/2012

Nice pass for the current resident of the White House. Got rationality?

[MrStat1]

12:35 PM on 02/23/2012

Please stick to the specific topic at hand. Generals, admirals and Bush are for another discussion.

[AllegroTroppo]

10:32 AM on 02/23/2012

Manning lost the right to be photographed or displayed in U.S.military uniform.
Show the more appropriate prisoner orange. Dunce cap would be nice too.