Day one of the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who stands accused of leaking more than 700,000 military and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks, began today. Starkly different portraits of Manning were portrayed by prosecutor Army Capt. Joe Morrow and defense attorney David Coombs.
From the New York Times:
“This is a case about a soldier who systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of classified documents and dumped them onto the Internet, into the hands of the enemy – material he knew, based on his training, would put the lives of fellow soldiers at risk,” said the prosecutor, Capt. Joe Morrow of the Army.
But a defense lawyer for Private Manning told the judge that his client had been “young, naïve, but good-intentioned” and that he had, in fact, tried to make sure that the several hundred thousand documents he released would not cause harm.
In contrast with the portrait painted by Manning’s defense, the prosecution presented in part messages that were said to be from Manning to an individual with whom he communicated about the information to which he had access.
From CNN:
The prosecutor showed slides as part of his statement. The first slide was said to be a quote from a message Manning once posted, using the instant message handle “bradass87.”
“If you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?” it read.
That is purportedly part of a string of instant messages that a person — alleged to be Manning — sent to ex-hacker Adrian Lamo. Manning, who was based in Iraq, allegedly instant-messaged Lamo and, over a period of days, said that he had accessed documents.
Lamo has said he reported Manning to authorities.
Capt. Morrow was said to be laying groundwork to argue that Manning had been involved earlier than he has admitted, and that the breadth and timing of the downloads from Manning’s computer help to establish this and the extent of Manning’s involvement.
From the NY Times:
In particular, Captain Morrow contended that some of Private Manning’s searches were undertaken in response to public requests by WikiLeaks for certain documents, like files related to detainee interrogations. He also said Private Manning had made suggestions about how to edit a video showing an Apache airstrike on a group of men in Baghdad in 2007 that he provided; two Reuters journalists died in the strike.
And the prosecutor repeatedly emphasized that Private Manning had been trained to be wary of posting material on the Internet, and had specifically uncovered an intelligence report warning that foreign adversaries could be gaining access to the information posted on WikiLeaks. Captain Morrow also said the government would show that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, had requested and obtained an archive of wartime incident reports in Afghanistan that Private Manning gave to WikiLeaks.
Coombs in turn emphasized that Manning was a naive soldier who took the actions with good intentions; a soldier who was deeply affected by an incident that influenced those actions.
Mr. Coombs began his opening statement, which was about half the length of the prosecutor’s, by describing an episode on Dec. 24, 2009, nearly two months after Private Manning was deployed to Iraq, which he portrayed as a turning point. A bomb exploded near a convoy, and everyone in his unit was afraid that their fellow soldiers had been hurt.
Word came back that they were O.K., and everyone celebrated. Then word came that an innocent Iraqi family that had pulled over beside the road to let the convoy pass had been severely injured, with one person dying en route to the hospital. While the others in his unit continued to celebrate, Mr. Coombs said, Private Manning – thinking about the Iraqi victims – was crushed.
From that moment, Mr. Coombs said, things started to change, and in January 2010 Private Manning “started selecting information he believed the public should see, should hear – information he believed if the public knew, could make the world a better place.”
The trial continues this week and is expected to last up to 12 weeks. While Manning has already admitted to 10 of the lesser charges, he still faces other charges that include some of the more serious ones in relation to violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy, for which he could receive a sentence of life in prison.
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Comments
I would comment two points: first, ordinarily – unless intentionality is a specific element of the offense charged – having good intentions isn’t a defense; second, one of my father’s favorite expressions was, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”. Addressing in one sentence both what seems to be the use of “good intentions” as a legal defense and as a public relations defense or spin on the young man’s actions.
Liberals on twitter are not too happy how the first day of the trial has worked out for their hero, Manning.
Just tell them he was working for Fox 😉
I’ll just use the Barack Obama defense, “I don’t know all the facts in this case, but the military acted stupidly!”
Well, all Bradley needs now is a beer summit, right? /sarc
Truth be told, the military is acting more and more stupid these days as political brown-nosers like Gen. Martin Dempsey are pleased to politicize the institution. Nonetheless, I suspect that Bradley Manning is in for one tough trial, based upon the simple fact, that he allegedly acted even more stupidly than the Military.
Hang him by the neck until dead. He deliberately and knowingly leaked information that jeopardized our troops and our allies. Hang him.
in January 2010 Private Manning “started selecting information he believed the public should see, should hear – information he believed if the public knew, could make the world a better place.”
I don’t believe that the people who issue security clearances allow people to decide what the public is allowed to see and not to see – information is “Classified” for that very reason (and the penalties for releasing that information are VERY clearly laid out in painstaking detail).
But then, I’m sure that young Master Manning was just taking his cues from this administration, who has made it abundantly clear that the rules don’t apply to them.
“young, naïve, but good-intentioned”
Sounds like the Obama Presidency.
A variation of the IRS scandal’s .. “I’m sorry”
This is utter garbage. Anyone with half an ounce of courage would understand that U.S. Forces weren’t to blame for the deaths of these innocent civilians. The ruthless bastards over there kill more of their own than U.S. Forces because they want easy pray. Meanwhile liberal idiots like Manning blame the U.S. Forces that are actually out there trying to stop the heartless extremists that are willing to target their own.
The guy wore the uniform but love of country, love of fellow man, loyalty, duty, honor all meant nothing to him.
Hang him!
Why has this man not been hung yet?
Giving secret documents to the enemy during time of war deserves the noose, nothing less, and it shouldn’t take more then a year to find him innocent or guilty. It took, 7 months to convict the Rosenberg’s for a similar crime – 7 months from when they were indicted mind you, not from when the trial started.
It’s too bad that he will not get the sentence he richly deserves. I hope we don’t hear the phrase “time served” at all during sentencing.
We’ve given death sentences to people for less than what Manning did, who also had “good intentions” in their own minds.