Bradley Manning's Defense Rests In Court-Martial Hearing

Bradley Manning, the Army Private who was accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks for publication is facing a hearing on whether he should face court martial for his actions. Today, his defense team rested after calling just two witnesses:

He could face 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, which can be punishable by death but prosecutors have already announced they will not push for the maximum sentence.

Manning's attorneys called just two witnesses -- a former captain and sergeant who served with him in Iraq -- before resting their defense. Reporters following the hearing were told closing arguments were due to begin Thursday at 9.00am local time.

The prosecution rested Tuesday after questioning a former computer hacker Adrian Lamo who turned Manning in to the authorities. Lamo told the hearing at Fort Meade, Md. that Manning first contacted him by email in May 2010 and then via instant messenger using the pseudonym "bradass87."

He was asked why he eventually alerted the authorities. "What I saw in those chats was an admission of acts so egregious that it required that response," he replied.

The court also heard Tuesday from a female soldier, who served as Manning's team leader in the 10th Mountain Division. Jihrleah Showman said he assaulted her.

"He was removed because he punched me in the face unprovoked and displayed an uncontrollable behavior," Showman said.

She added that while Manning was working in the unit as a Shia analyst he frequently had computer problems, stating, "Bi-weekly his computer would freeze up."

That's after his defense team claimed that his actions were informed by transgender issues.

The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly.

A defense attorney and a witness also stated that Manning had created a Facebook profile and opened at least one email account using the name “Breanna Manning,” which the attorney described as an “alter-ego.”

As the hearing continued Tuesday, prosecutors presented testimony indicating that Manning had used another soldier’s laptop to order a book on female facial reconstructive surgery from Amazon.com that he had shipped to his Potomac address.

The transgender issue is a diversion and doesn't address the fact that he still appears to have mishandled the classified information and delivered them to Wikileaks. It's akin to the lawyer pounding on the table because the law and the facts are against them. They're hoping that the hearing officer accepts that there might be a mental health issue that otherwise sent Manning down this path - and that he didn't purposefully send those documents to Wikileaks' Julian Assange.

Fact is that Manning’s attorneys didn't challenge prosecution witness testimony tying Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other electronic evidence collected in the case. That's the evidence that is going to send Manning to prison for the rest of his life on the espionage charges.

Direct Damage Done By Wikileaks; The Case of Zimbabwe's Cables

For those who think that the leaks of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables did not result in damage - the situation in Zimbabwe deserves far closer scrutiny.

Wikileaks, including its cofounder and anarchist at large, Julian Assange, must be held accountable for this:

Later that day, the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe dutifully reported the details of the meeting to Washington in a confidential U.S. State Department diplomatic cable. And slightly less than one year later, WikiLeaks released it to the world.

The reaction in Zimbabwe was swift. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe-appointed attorney general announced he was investigating the Prime Minister on treason charges based exclusively on the contents of the leaked cable. While it’s unlikely Tsvangirai could be convicted on the contents of the cable alone, the political damage has already been done. The cable provides Mugabe the opportunity to portray Tsvangirai as an agent of foreign governments working against the people of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, it could provide Mugabe with the pretense to abandon the coalition government that allowed Tsvangirai to become prime minister in 2009.

It’s difficult to see this as anything but a major setback for democracy in Zimbabwe. Even if Tsvangirai is not charged with treason, the opponents to democratic reforms have won a significant victory. First, popular support for Tsvangirai and the MDC will suffer due to Mugabe’s inevitable smear campaign, including the attorney general’s “investigation.” Second, the Prime Minister might be forced to take positions in opposition to the international community to avoid accusation of being a foreign corroborator. Third, Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government could collapse completely. Whatever happens, democratic reforms in Zimbabwe are far less likely now than before the leak.

There's a good reason that those diplomatic cables are confidential and classified. The information contained therein can result in instability and unpredictable responses from those who are mentioned or are the focus of those documents.

Here, Robert Mugabe has been fighting with Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition party for the past several years as Mugabe has held on to power for far longer than he should have and a recent power-sharing agreement has not eliminated Mugabe's tight grip. Tsvangirai's support for sanctions puts him in direct conflict with Mugabe, and it is little wonder that Mugabe has sent his attorney general after Tsvangirai on treason charges.

It's what dictators do.

Given Mugabe's body count as a result of destroying the Zimbabwean economy (7 digit inflation during 2008-2009), ongoing food shortages and rampant unemployment, how much blood is on the hands of those who played a role in the release of those Zimbabwe-related cables?

Quite a bit.

Yet, the leakers and their supporters wont care one bit. They'll have moved on to the next release while Zimbabweans backing Mugabe move against Tsavingerai, who is considered the best chance for restoring some measure of stability in Zimbabwe and loosening the iron grip of Mugabe.

Loquacious Leaker Wants Leaks Licked; Assange Calls For Investigation Into

Julian Assange is a hypocrite among his other notable traits. His legal team is now trying to get prosecutors to launch an investigation and bring charges against the individual or individuals who has released salacious details relating to the rape allegations brought against him in Sweden.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is irked by government leaks . . . about Julian Assange.

British papers over the weekend printed bits of a police report accusing Assange of committing a variety of sex crimes during a 10-day trip to Sweden this past summer.

Now his lawyer wants the leaker unmasked -- plus a criminal investigation of the leak itself.

Imagine that.

Live by the leak, die by the leak -- isn't that fair, Julian?

Assange doesn't have a problem with obtaining and transmitting hundreds of thousands of classified documents about US foreign policy that can affect US national security, foreign policy, diplomacy, and international relations, but the moment someone releases salacious information about Assange's dirty little secrets and the ongoing investigation into the alleged rapes in Sweden, he gets righteous about confidentiality and the law.

Wikileaks Founder Freed On Bail Pending Extradition to Sweden On Rape Charges

Julian Assange will be allowed to stay out of prison while awaiting extradition, ruled a British court. The court will require him to remain at a country estate of a supporter and must wear an electronic bracelet on his ankle.



Assange will be released upon the showing of bail. The court wants the cash in hand, not merely having the pledge of the money:

The judge's decision came during a hearing in downtown London, drawing cheers from a group of Assange's supporters who had gathered outside the court building. As of early afternoon in London, the hearing was still ongoing, with the exact conditions of Assange's bail not yet known. But they are likely to be stringent. On Tuesday, a lower-court judge granted bail but demanded that Assange, an Australian, surrender his passport and submit to monitoring by electronic tag. He would be expected to stay at the country estate of a friend and report daily to the police.

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Also, Assange, 39, can walk out of the south London jail where he has been held since Dec. 7 only after the money for bail has been posted. On Tuesday, the lower court set the amount at $312,000, to be paid in cash.

Before the high-court hearing Thursday, Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, said the money was available.

"We believe that we will have the money today. It appears to be in the banking system," Stephens said, adding, "We certainly have pledges from the people who stood behind him on previous occasions."

UPDATE:
In case you were wondering upon the onerous conditions, it includes allowing Assange to stay at the country estate of one of his supporters:

Not too shabby. Indeed, it's a home that most folks would envy with all the amenities available.

Wikileaks Controversy Continues With Cyberwar and Russian Calls To Give Assange Nobel Peace Prize

Hackers have gone after those who have severed ties with Wikileaks, including Visa and Mastercard, Paypal, and even ABC News.

People don't seem to understand that companies are free to contract with whatever parties them deem fit. They are not required to host companies that are antithetical to their own interests on servers, process payments, or advertise for them. If contracts were signed between the parties (or Assange and his cohorts clicked on assenting to the terms of service (TOS) for using PayPal, servers, etc.), then they are bound to those contracts.

Violations of TOS, which can include any number of criminal activities, or hate speech, incitement to violence, etc., can result in shutdown. Wikileaks is hosting illegally obtained information and classified information. Companies are not required to aid and abet Wikileaks criminal activities, which is the gist of those who are now hacking ABC News, Visa, and others who are apparently trying to extricate themselves from connections with Wikileaks over TOS violations (among other things).

If a company wants to sully its reputation by remaining connected with Wikileaks via hosting, payment services, etc., that's up to the individual company, but I'm sure that legal staff on more reputable organizations are going to shy away from those connections.

At the same time, the US is in talks with Sweden to extradite Assange to the US. That's not particularly surprising given the range of laws that Assange could be charged with, including possession and retransmission of classified documents.

Russian PM's office thinks Assange should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In what appears to be a calculated dig at the US, the Kremlin urged non-governmental organisations to think seriously about "nominating Assange as a Nobel Prize laureate".

"Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him," the source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies. Speaking in Brussels, where Medvedev was attending a Russia-EU summit yesterday , the source went on: "Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate."

Russia's reflexively suspicious leadership appears to have come round to WikiLeaks, having decided that the ongoing torrent of disclosures are ultimately far more damaging and disastrous to America's long-term geopolitical interests than they are to Russia's.

The Kremlin's initial reaction to stories dubbing Russia a corrupt "mafia state" and kleptocracy was, predictably, negative. Last week Medvedev's spokesman dubbed the revelations "not worthy of comment" while Putin raged that a US diplomatic cable comparing him to Batman and Medvedev to Robin was "arrogant" and "unethical". State TV ignored the claims.

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

Would the Russian government be singing that tune had Wikileaks sprung all manner of leak about Russian foreign policy, diplomatic cables, and analysis? I don't think so. In fact, I think they'd be engaging in all manner of spycraft to go after those involved in the leaks as the Russians are far less constrained by notions of human rights and civil liberties than the US.

No, this is all about rubbing salt in the wound and it isn't exactly going to improve US-Russian relations either.

Wikileaks' Anarchism Continues; Feds Ponder Next Step

Wikileaks, just days after releasing hundreds of thousands of classified State Department documents, is now claiming that they will release a similar number of documents about a major US bank.

Just what is Wikileaks intentions? It clearly seems that they are intent upon causing anarchy and upheaval in the US and world markets, on national security, foreign policy and business and economic grounds. Analysts are concerned that the document dump may lead to the loss of life and putting lives of Americans at greater risk. It further complicates foreign policy and diplomatic efforts on issues ranging from the Middle East to China and North Korea - flashpoints that could boil over into open hostilities in a heartbeat.

Army analyst Bradley Manning, who originally obtained the military and State Department documents had anarchy on his mind when he provided the documents to Wikileaks.

It's an organization that has placed itself just out of reach of US authorities unless the US gets assistance from foreign governments in tracking down and arresting those involved to be extradited to the US to face justice.

So, what is the US to do. They can issue stern warnings and attempt to placate and reassure allies, but the damage has been done. The military and State Department have to revise their methodologies to reduce the chances that a single person could do the kind of damage that Manning did.

Moreover, prosecutions of those who obtained classified documents and transmitted them to unauthorized persons for publication or retransmission must be swift and harsh. Prosecutors are looking at bringing charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and his cohorts.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Justice Department and Pentagon are conducting "an active, ongoing criminal investigation.'' Others familiar with the probe said the FBI is examining everyone who came into possession of the documents, including those who gave the materials to WikiLeaks and also the organization itself. No charges are imminent, the sources said, and it is unclear whether any will be brought.

Former prosecutors cautioned that prosecutions involving leaked classified information are difficult because the Espionage Act is a 1917 statute that preceded Supreme Court cases that expanded First Amendment protections. The government also would have to persuade another country to turn over Assange, who is outside the United States.

But the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is rapidly unfolding, said charges could be filed under the act. The U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria - which in 2005 brought Espionage Act charges, now dropped, against two former pro-Israel lobbyists - is involved in the effort, the sources said.

The Pentagon is leading the investigation and it remains unclear whether any additional charges would be brought in the military or civilian justice systems. Pfc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst suspected of being the source of the WikiLeaks documents, was arrested by the military this year.

Holder was asked Monday how the United States could prosecute Assange, who is an Australian citizen. "Let me be very clear," he replied. "It is not saber rattling.

"To the extent there are gaps in our laws," Holder continued, "we will move to close those gaps, which is not to say . . . that anybody at this point, because of their citizenship or their residence, is not a target or a subject of an investigation that's ongoing." He did not indicate that Assange is being investigated for possible violations of the Espionage Act.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, called Assange and Wikileaks terrorists for exposing the hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and documents.

I'm not quite sure that Wikileaks fits that definition. They are anarchists because they are trying to overturn existing geopolitical structures and undermining the US by any means possible. Terrorism has a specific definition for US law: 18 USC 2331. Providing material assistance to terrorist organizations has a specific definition. I'm not so sure that prosecutors can prove that Wikileaks and Assange conforms to the meanings of the statutes. That doesn't mean that prosecutors can't find other relevant statutes to work with.

Julian Assange and the other people working for Wikileaks must be held to account for their supernational effort to undermine US national security. Their actions are fully within the scope of 18 USC 794 and 18 USC 798, which relates to the disclosure of classified information.

I'd also expect prosecutors to take a closer look at Wikileaks as a criminal enterprise/racket and treat it under racketeering statutes (RICO).

As the damage from the document dump fallout continues, US allies may be more than willing to arrest and extradite Assange and his cohorts to the US to stand trial for their activities. Australia is looking into whether Assange broke Australian law (Assange is an Australian citizen).

Treasonous Releases of Diplomatic Documents Threatens US Security Interests Worldwide

Wikileaks needs to not only be taken behind the woodshed and thrashed to the fullest extent of the law, but all those who work in connection with the organization and those who have leaked the 250,000 diplomatic caches to the entity need to be brought up on charges of treason and possession of diplomatic documents and other classified documents.

These document releases threaten the national security of the United States and our diplomatic efforts worldwide. This is on the heels of a previous release of military documents that threatened US interests in Afghanistan and Iraq - which contained unredacted information that put the lives of those who worked with the US in jeopardy of being targeted for reprisals.

Wikileaks claims that they are in the business of releasing classified government documents from around the world, but their overwhelming focus has been on the undermining of US national security and diplomatic efforts of and by the US.

The US State Department is in damage control mode as they're trying to scramble to figure out who the leaks are coming from, what those documents could say and who might be offended by the documents and analysis - both among our allies, potential allies, and our foes.

The scope of these most recent diplomatic documents is breathtaking in the damage that has been done and cover most of the last three years - pretty much running from the end of the Bush Administration to the present:

The cables, a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates, amount to a secret chronicle of the United States’ relations with the world in an age of war and terrorism. Among their revelations, to be detailed in The Times in coming days:

— A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device. In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, “if the local media got word of the fuel removal, ‘they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,’ he argued.”

— Gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the United States.

— Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in a group of detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe.”

— Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” (Mr. Massoud denies taking any money out of Afghanistan.)

— A global computer hacking effort: China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, one cable reported. The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.

There are very good reasons why these kinds of documents remain classified - because they go to the heart of negotiating tough situations like with North Korea or the Middle East. They include unvarnished analysis and game situations such as the collapse of the North Korean regime and what various other countries might do.

At this point, even some who had previously worked with Wikileaks are now critical of the group and are demanding that criminal prosecutions take place because they're putting lives in danger. In fact, it's one of Julian Assange's cofounders of Wikileaks that holds the organization in contempt for its blatant disregard for the law.

Then again, some of those documents aren't exactly a surprise. One such document notes the ties between Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs. Other documents point to Jordan and Saudi Arabia calling on the US to take action against Iran - in light of Iran's nuclear ambitions. That latter release shows how these documents can affect the strategic balance in the Middle East and further complicate efforts to contain Iran and North Korea among others.

Julian Assange and the other people working for Wikileaks must be held to account for their supernational effort to undermine US national security. Their actions are fully within the scope of 18 USC 794 and 18 USC 798, which relates to the disclosure of classified information. Further, Congress should undertake a review of those relevant statutes to specifically include leaks of information that can benefit terror regimes and foreign governments when not specifically and directly transmitted - that Internet posting is sufficient such that any regime seeking to obtain an advantage of the classified documents can view these documents online.