tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3193742570198540782024-03-13T13:31:49.750-07:00BRADLEY MANNING 'DON'T ASK , DON'T TELL'Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-77508020445861898522012-07-21T01:49:00.000-07:002012-07-21T02:02:05.516-07:00Bradley Manning :UN torture expert banned from testifying at Bradley Manning hearings.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #666666;">U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning (R) (AFP Photo / Alex Wong)</span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #666666;">TAGS:</span></strong> <a href="http://rt.com/tags/military/" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: purple;">Military</span></a><span style="color: purple;">, </span><a href="http://rt.com/tags/law/" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: purple;">Law</span></a><span style="color: purple;">, </span><a href="http://rt.com/tags/usa/" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: purple;">USA</span></a><span style="color: purple;">, </span><a href="http://rt.com/tags/wikileaks/" style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: purple;">WikiLeaks</span></a><span style="color: purple;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’ll be another month before accused WikiLeaks contributor Bradley Manning is back before a military judge, but his supporters say a fair trial is still far away. The Army has denied the requests to have a UN official at the next round of hearings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During Thursday’s pretrial hearing at Ft. Meade outside of Washington, D.C., the military justice presiding over the case pertaining to Private First Class Bradley Manning’s alleged leaking of sensitive documents challenged two of the defense’s requested witnesses. Along with rejecting Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton, commander of the Joint Regional Correctional Facility (JRCF) at Fort Leavenworth, Army Col. Denise Lind also told Manning’s attorneys that a torture expert from the United Nations would be barred from presenting testimony.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">David Coombs, the civilian attorney representing PFC Manning, had requested that Juan Mendez, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, be allowed to present during the next round of hearing. Those motions, scheduled to begin in late August, will involve discussions involving the nine months Manning spent in solitary confinement at the Quantico Marine Brig. in Virginia. Mendez has previously argued that the conditions that Manning was subjected to were considered torturous under the UN’s guidelines, but Col. Lind will not allow him to be questioned before the court.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">In the midst of an investigation into the military’s treatment of Manning last year, Mendez told The Guardian that he was <em>“deeply disappointed and frustrated by the prevarication of the US government with regard to my attempts to visit Mr. Manning.” </em>Mendez had attempted to meet with Manning in private while he was held in solitary confinement without being charged with a crime. When Mendez finished his report on behalf of the UN this year, he</span> </span><a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/manning-cruel-treatment-un-torture-383/"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">concluded</span> </span></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that the military’s treatment of Manning was beyond unreasonable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em>"The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence,"</em> Mendez wrote.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em>"I conclude that the 11 months under conditions of solitary confinement (regardless of the name given to his regime by the prison authorities) constitutes at a minimum cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of article 16 of the convention against torture,”</em> Mendez told the Guardian this past March. <em>“If the effects in regards to pain and suffering inflicted on Manning were more severe, they could constitute torture.”</em></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During this week’s hearings, Col. Lind said that prosecutors could not present evidence of any harm posed on Manning during his imprisonment because it was irrelevant to whether or not his nine-months of confinement was illegal. The court has also dismissed motions that would focus on the harm, or lack thereof, that the leaks caused. The Pentagon argues that shifting the case to concentrate on the degree of any damage done would be confusing, but that attorneys could allude to it through witnesses once the actual trial is underway. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #444444;"> </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning faces life in prison if found guilty of aiding an enemy, a charge the military has introduced in response to accusations that the serviceman sent classified information, including thousands of diplomatic cables, to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks site. Earlier this week, Mr. Coombs argued that the charge implies that Manning would have aided the enemy simply by sending intelligence to a third-party. Had he been tried as a terrorist, argued Coombs, the court would be more lenient on his client. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em>“In a prosecution of a terrorist under Offense 26, the Government would be required to prove that the terrorist knowingly and intentionally aided the enemy,”</em> Coombs told the court this week. <em>“It defies all logic to think that a terrorist would fare better in an American court for aiding the enemy than a US soldier would.”</em></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Despite the court’s call to bar the UN’s Mendez from testifying during the pretrial hearing, Mr. Coombs has insisted that he will file a 100-page motion that discusses the torturous conditions his client was held under while at Quantico — all without charge. The document, says Coombs, will <em>“shock the conscience of the court.”</em></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em>"I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness,”</em> Manning told a military attorney last year. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking to the Guardian last January, David House of the Bradley Manning Support Network said that the serviceman seemed <em>“catatonic”</em> when he visited to him at Quantico. </span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Amnesty International’s UK campaign director, Tim Hancock, has also called the military’s treatment of Manning <em>“cruel, inhuman and degrading,”</em> and, in November 2011</span>, </span><a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/european-manning-us-bradley-511/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50 members </span></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the European Parliament urged the United States government to intervene in the imprisonment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em>"We certainly do not understand why an alleged whistleblower is being threatened with the death penalty, or the possibility of life in prison. We also question whether Bradley Manning's right to due process has been upheld, as he has now spent over 17 months in pre-trial confinement,”</em> the MPs wrote.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr. Coombs argues that the military court has yet to prove if — and how — the accusations Manning is charged with damaged national security. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-38888344150961037462012-07-16T23:43:00.000-07:002012-07-16T23:45:40.321-07:00#Wikileaks #Manning:Bradley Manning back in court over Wikileaks charge .<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Pfc. Bradley Manning (AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowski)</div>
<br class="clr_all" /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accused Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning is back in court this week as a military judge in Ft. Meade, Maryland hears arguments from the defense during pretrial motion hearings. </span><br />
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<!--RTEditor:genereated--><!--RTEditor textarea--><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Private First Class Bradley Manning is not expected to go to trial until later this year. In the meanwhile, though, attorney David Coombs is asking the US government to reassess some of the charges that they have filed against his client, a 24-year-old intelligence expert with the US Army that is accused of providing Julian Assange’s Wikileaks with thousands of diplomatic cables and other sensitive material.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After nearly two years behind bars in solitary confinement, Manning was only recently formally charged with 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Coombs and supporters of the soldier argue, however, that the case against Manning is politically motivated and unjust and that the government gives alleged terrorists more freedom than the young serviceman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a blog post published days before this week’s hearings were set to begin, Coombs wrote, <em>“Congress could not have intended to give terrorists a more protective mens rea than it gave to Soldiers,”</em> referencing the legal term for a guilty state of mind used to test the criminal liability of a defendant. Coombs notes that the military wants to convict Manning if providing a third-party with sensitive material, but that, if that is true, Manning may not have necessarily known that it would be accessed by others after the initial transaction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“In order to find the accused guilty of giving intelligence to the enemy through indirect means, you must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had actual knowledge that he was giving intelligence to the enemy through the indirect means,”</em> Coombs writes. <em>“An accused has actual knowledge that he is giving intelligence to the enemy through indirect means only when he knowingly and intentionally provides intelligence to the enemy through the indirect means.”</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To compare the legal plight of his own client with that of alleged terrorist, Coombs adds, <em>“In a prosecution of a terrorist under Offense 26, the Government would be required to prove that the terrorist knowingly and intentionally aided the enemy.”</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“It defies all logic to think that a terrorist would fare better in an American court for aiding the enemy than a US soldier would,” </em>Coombs adds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A separate investigation led by a special United Nations rapporteur has concluded that the degrading and humiliating tactics waged at Manning while held in solitary confinement is considered torture by the UN. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coombs is also asking the court to reconsider their allegations that Manning <em>“exceeded authorized access,”</em> a charge he says is unmerited since it stems from accusations that Manning used his own computer in connection with the crime. The attorney also intends to argue against the court’s insistence that files published by Wikileaks harmed national security, without ever proving as such.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“Anything 'could' happen – the world 'could' end tomorrow; Kim Kardashian ‘could’ be elected president of the United States of America; I ‘could’ win the lottery. These are not the types of 'could' that l8 U.S.C. Section 793 contemplates. Therefore, the Defense should be able to probe whether the witness’s testimony that the information could cause damage to the United States is remote, speculative, far-fetched and fanciful by examining such witnesses on the fact that two years after the alleged leaks, the conclusion is still merely that the information ‘could’ cause damage – not that it ‘did’ cause damage,”</em> Coombs writes.</span><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-8333543054293061852012-07-03T00:05:00.000-07:002012-07-03T00:08:26.331-07:00Transcript | US v PFC #Manning, Article 32 Pretrial, 12/18/11 (by an anonymous journalist, ed. by Alexa O'Brien)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-12324242842463809402012-07-02T10:30:00.001-07:002012-07-02T10:32:06.401-07:00Bradley #Manning Supporters Under Investigation - Army Admits.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US Army has confirmed that they are investigating the Bradley Manning Support Network, an international activism group that advocates on behalf of the imprisoned accused whistleblower.</span><br />
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<!--RTEditor:genereated--><!--RTEditor textarea--><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A letter from the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) dated May 18, 2012 has been </span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/98775790/Army-CID-Bradley-Manning-Support-Network-Letter"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">published </span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to the Web in which Susan Cugler, the director of the Army’s Crime Records Center, responds to a Freedom of Information Act request for information pertaining to any internal files which may involve the Bradley Manning Support Network.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“A search of the USACIDC file indexes revealed that an active investigating is in process with an underdetermined completion date,”</em> acknowledges Cugler. The memorandum just about ends there, however, with the Army refraining from revealing any more details into the advocacy group that backs the accused whistleblower who is alleged to have distributed classified materials to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks site....read more</span><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-67232277923595558412012-06-29T09:24:00.001-07:002012-06-29T09:24:03.680-07:00#Manning #Wikileaks : Transcript - Motion Hearing June 6th 2012.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>The work of Alexa O'Brien</u></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/transcripts/transcript_us_v_pfc_manning_motions_hearing_june_6_2012.html">http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/transcripts/transcript_us_v_pfc_manning_motions_hearing_june_6_2012.html</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-76095507301417246302012-06-26T10:12:00.002-07:002012-06-26T10:17:21.508-07:00#Manning #US Cover-Up:Manning Defence Ordered Prosecutors To Prepare A "Due Diligence Statement".<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse at Fort Meade, Maryland, on Monday after the one-day hearing. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/bradley-manning" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Bradley Manning"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradley Manning</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">,</span> the US soldier accused of being the source of the largest leak of state secrets in American history, has won his battle to force his military prosecutors to account for the steps they have taken to disclose to his lawyers evidence that could be crucial in his defence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a one-day hearing at Fort Meade, </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/maryland" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Maryland"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maryland</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">,</span> attended by the </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks" title="More from guardian.co.uk on WikiLeaks"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WikiLeaks</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;"> </span>suspect, the military judge Colonel Denise Lind sided with the defence and ordered the prosecutors to prepare a "due diligence statement". This would outline in detail all the efforts the government has taken to disclose evidence during the two years since he was arrested outside Baghdad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning's leading lawyer, David Coombs, has argued in </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/24/bradley-manning-lawyers-accuse-prosecutors"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">motions presented to the court</span> </span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that the prosecution has been actively trying to avoid meeting its legal obligations to hand over information that could help in preparation of the soldier's defence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Monday's hearing, Coombs crystalised his objections, accusing the prosecution lawyer army Major Ashden Fein of failing to afford Manning a fair trial. "Normally, these games are not played. You hand over discovery and let the facts speak. You don't play hide the ball, and that's what the government's been doing," Coombs said, according to a report by the Associated Press.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By ordering the prosecution to prepare a "due diligence statement", the judge is casting a light on what the prosecution has – or has not – done to disclose evidence to the defence. She gave the army until 25 July to draft the statement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lind also came down on the side of Manning when she ordered the military prosecutors to hand over to the court so-called "damage assessments" prepared by a range of government agencies including the CIA, FBI, state department and the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, Oncix. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These assessments were carried out shortly after the whistleblower website WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and war logs, and sought to ascertain to what degree the leaks had been damaging to US national security around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The defence hopes that the assessments will support its suspicion that the government concluded that WikiLeaks only caused limited harm to US national interests – thereby rendering several of the charges against Manning including the most serious one, "aiding the enemy", redundant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the one-day hearing, the prosecution insisted that it had met its legal obligations to Manning. "The defense is receiving the information they're entitled to receive," Fein told the court.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning's supporters said after the hearing that any information forced out of the government would in the end prove beneficial to his defence. "Ultimately any ruling in favour of the truth is going to favour Bradley Manning because the facts support his case that he didn't cause harm to national security," said Zack Pesavento of the Bradley Manning support network.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"What he did was a good thing – WikiLeaks played a key role in precipitating and promoting the Arab Spring."</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/bradley-manning-prosecutors-explain-evidence?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/bradley-manning-prosecutors-explain-evidence?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-50724969944805344982012-06-26T04:42:00.003-07:002012-06-26T10:18:45.649-07:00Manning : Secrecy Trial & Cover - Up. Supports Outraae.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Supporters of WikiLeaks informer Bradley Manning say he is being tried amid far more secrecy than any terrorist in Guantanamo. They want prosecution motions, transcripts of proceeding and other material to be released to the public.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Led by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, a specially formed coalition supporting Manning calls unconstitutional the military trial of the man, who allegedly handed over thousands of US secret papers to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning is facing 22 charges related to the infamous leak. He was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq, where he was working as intelligence analyst at a US military base.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far not one of the motions submitted by the prosecution to the court-martial has been released. Neither were prosecution replies to defense motions, orders issued by the court or transcripts of the proceedings – even those that were fully open to the media.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning’s defense lawyer David Coombs published several documents related to the trial in his blog. Among them are motions pleading to dismiss 10 charges his client is facing. Eight of those are said to use unconstitutionally vague working, such as <em>"to the injury of the US”,</em> or <em>“to the advantage of any foreign nation"</em> and <em>"relating to the national defense."</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coombs also complains that Manning was not allowed to review some 7,000 documents handed to the defense team by the army. The documents are only accessible in Rhode Island and Maryland, while the suspect is being held in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Arranging a way to study the papers was not possible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coalition’s petition for making the trial transparent was signed by Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks as well as several news outlets and individuals. They argue that the importance of the trial is comparable to that of Lt William Calley for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the legal tussle over the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Thus, they say, the public must not be kept in the dark over Manning’s prosecution.</span><br />
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<a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/manning-trial-secrecy-petition-208/">http://rt.com/usa/news/manning-trial-secrecy-petition-208/</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-83558214581999273882012-06-26T04:37:00.002-07:002012-06-26T10:18:31.723-07:00Manning Cover-Up:Manning judge orders prosecutors to explain alleged evidence cover-up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to calls from the defense, a military judge has ordered US Army prosecutors to detail their effort to obtain and share evidence they collected in the case of Bradley Manning, the man suspected of leaking classified files to WikiLeaks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday’s ruling by Col. Denise Lind is a partial victory for Manning’s defense team, which said prosecutors failed to duly share evidence they plan to present in the military trial. Of particular interest to defense lawyer David Coombs were written assessments by governmental agencies of the damage the leak allegedly caused.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning is charged with hurting America’s national security and assisting its enemies by sending classified materials to WikiLeaks, a charge his defense challenges. Coombs says the dragging of feet over evidence-sharing affects the suspect’s right to a fair trial.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Military prosecutor Army Maj. Ashden Fein insists that his team acts in line with its duty while collecting evidence and sharing it with the defense. He said the process was time consuming due to the large number of government agencies it involves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet the judge told prosecutors to draft a "due diligence statement," detailing their work over the two years since Manning was charged. She set the deadline for July 25, but indicated that it may be pushed back if necessary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradley Manning, 24, is facing 22 charges over his actions in 2009 and 2010, when he served as an intelligence analyst at a Baghdad base. He faces possible life imprisonment over the alleged crimes.</span><br />
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<a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://on.rt.com/nznxq8" data-ultimate-url="http://rt.com/usa/news/manning-trial-evidense-share-756" href="http://t.co/5DoGlIuj" jquery17109006122466956452="219" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://on.rt.com/nznxq8"><span style="color: #0084b4;">http://on.rt.com/nznxq8</span></a></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-37186770091753104432012-06-25T16:22:00.001-07:002012-06-25T16:28:32.571-07:00Bradley Manning: WikiLeaks suspect wins battle over US documents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FORT MEADE, Maryland — A US military judge ordered prosecutors Monday to share more documents with WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning after defense lawyers accused them of hiding information that could help their client's case.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For months, Manning's defense team has demanded access to reports by government agencies, including the CIA, that assessed the effect of the leak of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manning is accused of passing on a massive trove of files to WikiLeaks but his lawyers believe the reports will show the alleged disclosures had no major effect on the country's national security.....read more</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gat_yPBw1ftIBd0TQIsGoEuPJ5Tg?docId=CNG.e2dddb0ced039a6ca22b2d8bbfecc90d.991">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gat_yPBw1ftIBd0TQIsGoEuPJ5Tg?docId=CNG.e2dddb0ced039a6ca22b2d8bbfecc90d.991</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-42938642038807928732012-06-25T15:52:00.004-07:002012-06-25T16:27:10.877-07:00Bradley Manning Back in Court for 1-Day Hearing (Live Blog)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a class=" twitter-atreply pretty-link" data-screen-name="kgosztola" href="https://twitter.com/#!/kgosztola" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><s><span style="color: #6b7089;">@</span></s><b><span style="color: #09113b;">kgosztola</span></b></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s coverage of the </span><a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23Manning" title="#Manning"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><s><span style="color: #6b7089;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #09113b;">Manning</span></b></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> case </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fort Meade DES threatens to detain me and possibly AP and Courthouse News if they stay around </span></div>
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<a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and" data-ultimate-url="http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and" href="http://t.co/brxAYIPm" jquery17109735488753458905="98" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and"><span style="color: #0084b4; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/alexa-d-obrien/des-threatens-to-detain-me-and</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-21990891346490298212012-06-24T01:48:00.001-07:002012-06-25T16:28:03.833-07:00Bradley Manning :Wikileaks suspect - Army court denies public access to WikiLeaks file - The Associated Press<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> An Army appeals court has denied a request for public access to military court records in the case of an Army private charged with sending classified U.S. government documents to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks....read more</span><br />
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<a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/MHB9Zx" data-ultimate-url="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gUmNwQCTrMG4jsJEO3r7UQpdfZtA?docId=18ff8328de0c4158a7db559f8b596d49" href="http://bit.ly/MHB9Zx" jquery17100927588917516105="413" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/MHB9Zx"><span style="color: #0084b4;">http://bit.ly/MHB9Zx</span></a> <a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23wikileaks" title="#wikileaks"><s><span style="color: #66b5d2;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #0084b4;">wikileaks</span></b></a></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-30299306673754141372012-06-20T12:15:00.004-07:002012-06-20T12:15:51.306-07:00Bradley Manning : The U.S. Torture One Of Their Own - Crosby Stills And Nash - A Song For Brad.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="byline">By <span class="vcard author"><a class="fn url" href="http://www.alexaobrien.com/"><span style="color: purple;">Alexa O'Brien</span></a></span> on <abbr class="published" title="2011-12-26T13:59:12-05:00">December 26, 2011 1:59 PM</abbr> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This month new and incriminating details have come to light about a secret meeting of high-level Quantico officials that took place on January 13, 2011, resulting in Manning's illegal punitive pretrial confinement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On </span><a href="http://wlcentral.org/node/1446" style="color: #005a8c; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 2, 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">,</span> PFC Bradley Manning, then confined under Maximum custody and Prevention of Injury Watch (POI) at Quantico, where he had been since July 29, 2010, was told that his Article 138 request to be placed under Medium custody and removed from harsh and punitive pretrial confinement was denied by Daniel J. Choike, Quantico base commander <strong>(pictured at the left)</strong>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The continued placement of Manning under such terms and conditions, indeed the exacerbation of his illegal pretrial confinement in </span><a href="http://wlcentral.org/node/1446" style="color: #005a8c; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">,</span> when he was stripped every evening and forced to stand at attention naked every morning until his unexpected transfer to Fort Leavenworth on April 20, 2011, </span><a href="http://wlcentral.org/node/1446" style="color: #005a8c; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">happened despite numerous cited evaluations by brig personnel, including brig psychiatrists, who recommended his removal from Maximum Custody and POI Status</span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Defense had filed the original Article 138 request on January 19, 2011, one day after Manning was placed under "suicide risk", which resulted in his remaining in his cell for 24 hours a day and being stripped of all clothing with the exception of his underwear. His eyeglasses were also removed, which left him, as he describes in "total blindness". </span><a class="ext" href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_zC44SBaZPoZTE0YTkxMDctMGM5ZC00NzFjLTk4NGMtNzY4NjcwNzQyZWE0&hl=en_US" style="color: #005a8c; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to defense documents</span></a><span class="ext" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://wlcentral.org/sites/all/modules/extlink/extlink.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; padding-right: 12px;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the stripping and interrogation that Manning endured was videotaped by the Quantico facility....read more</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/witness_profiles_us_v_pfc_bradley_manning/oltman_in_secret-quantico-meeting-manning-illegal-pretrial-confinement.html">http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/witness_profiles_us_v_pfc_bradley_manning/oltman_in_secret-quantico-meeting-manning-illegal-pretrial-confinement.html</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-10090102934516876572012-06-18T08:47:00.001-07:002012-06-18T08:47:33.057-07:00Bradley #Manning:#4Corners: The Forgotten Man - Airs This Evening.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Private Bradley Manning was the man U.S. authorities allege stole classified military files, providing them to WikiLeaks for publication. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange battles to avoid extradition from the United Kingdom to Sweden, on the other side of the Atlantic Bradley Manning is facing a court martial. If found guilty he could spend the rest of his life in prison.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a case that has all the hallmarks of a spy thriller. Bradley Manning was a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq, when he allegedly downloaded classified files onto a disk storing Lady Gaga songs. It's alleged he then confided what he'd done to a computer hacker. A short time later the authorities arrested Manning and he's been in a military jail ever since.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early last year reporter Quentin McDermott told the story of Bradley Manning and the people who'd helped the United States government build a case against him. Now Four Corners reprises the program, updating it with crucial new elements describing the ferocious battle between hackers and the U.S. government as they pursue Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The program also talks to Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, about the treatment of Bradley Manning. Mr Mendez says Manning was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment during his "excessive and prolonged isolation" at Quantico Marine Corps Base outside Washington. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The question remains: will Bradley Manning attempt to avoid a life sentence by turning against Julian Assange? </span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reprise of "WikiLeaks- The Forgotten Man", reported by Quentin McDermott and presented by Kerry O'Brien goes to air on Monday 18th June at 8.30 PM on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 19th June at 11.35 PM. It can also be seen on </span><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/"><span style="color: orange; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ABC News24 </span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on Saturday at 8.00 PM, on </span><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/series/four%20corners"><span style="color: orange; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ABC iview </span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or at 4 Corners</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><a class="button" href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/06/14/3525291.htm#" id="toggle-transcript" jquery15106413707388247409="4"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Show transcript</span></a><br /><div id="transcript" jquery15106413707388247409="3" style="display: none;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"WikiLeaks - The Forgotten Man" Monday 18 June 2012</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: His name is Bradley Manning. He's a soldier in the US Army. Allegedly he gave a huge portfolio of America's state secrets to WikiLeaks. Now, his court-martial is set to divide America.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT, REPORTER: So they want him to do a deal? They want him to turn the tables on Julian Assange?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE, BRADLEY MANNING SUPPORT NETWORK: I think that's completely correct. The US Government is just trying to put immense pressure on him in order to get him to crack open.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KERRY O'BRIEN: Welcome to Four Corners. While the clock ticks down to WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden, the man who could hold the key to his eventual fate is locked in a military cell in America, awaiting trial. Private Manning was stationed in Iraq when it's alleged he gave WikiLeaks a quarter of a million State Department cables, and half a million US Army reports from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It remains the biggest intelligence and diplomatic leak by far in global history. Manning, who's refused to implicate Julian Assange in anything he did; as a result, Manning may well spend the rest of his life in prison. This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. The ensuing scandal led to the resignation of President Nixon, a man obsessed with leaks. The most famous whistle-blower of that era, Daniel Ellsberg, is now Bradley Manning's most prominent supporter, and features in our story tonight. We first reported on Manning's case nearly 18 months ago. Since then, a UN Human Rights rapporteur has condemned his treatment as akin to torture. Tonight, Quentin McDermott updates the story of Bradley Manning and his spectacular alleged exposure of America's secret world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">APACHE HELICOPTER PILOT: Hotel Two-Six: this is Crazy Horse One-Eight, have individuals with weapons... Yep, he's got a weapon too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: In April 2010, the most shocking vision to come out of the war in Iraq was published by WikiLeaks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">APACHE HELICOPTER PILOT: All right, firing!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">APACHE HELICOPTER PILOT II: Let me know when you've got them. Let's shoot. Light 'em all up. Come on, fire! Keep shoot'n, keep shoot'n. Keep shoot'n. Keep shoot'n.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The US Army video, filmed in 2007, showed a group of men - almost all unarmed - being gunned down in a Baghdad street by an American Apache helicopter - and recorded the voices of the soldiers carrying out the attack.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">APACHE HELICOPTER PILOT: Come on buddy... all you gotta do is pick up a weapon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: One man had reportedly been carrying an RPG - a rocket-propelled grenade - but two of the unarmed men who died were Reuters news staff - and two young children in a van were seriously wounded in the onslaught.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">APACHE HELICOPTER PILOT: Clear... clear... come around clear...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The title given to the video - Collateral Murder - marked the launch of a highly politicised agenda for WikiLeaks, driven by the website's founder, Julian Assange.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, WIKILEAKS:</span> Of course the title is absolutely correct. It speaks about very specific incidents. If you go to collateralmurder.com you will see the exact incident it's talking about, when a man is crawling in the street completely unarmed, wounded and he is killed by a 30 millimetre cannon from the air very intentionally, and his rescuers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL ELLSBERG, FORMER MILITARY ANALYST: I watched the Apache Helicopter attack in the video with the eyes of a former marine infantry officer. I was a platoon leader and company commander, and I was also a battalion training officer, who had trained troops on Nuremberg and the laws of war. It was very clear to me that what I was looking at was a war crime, was murder. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The video's credits paid tribute to "Our Courageous Source", and advertised WikiLeaks' "unbroken record in protecting confidential sources." But just seven weeks later, Private Bradley Manning, an army intelligence analyst based in Baghdad, was arrested and charged with leaking the video. It was a shattering blow, as a former spokesman for WikiLeaks, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, recalled, when he spoke to Four Corners in Berlin.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, WIKILEAKS: When that happened, and when it was black and white that an alleged source of our was arrested, and it was in connection to these high profile... to this high profile video, and it was by the US Military and he was detained in a prison in Kuwait, that was really devastating. And I, I can't even put words on how I felt. This was like falling into a pit that had no end.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Private Manning's arrest wasn't triggered by a lapse in security from WikiLeaks, a tip-off from a fellow soldier, or security checks in Iraq. Instead - and bizarrely - it was instigated by this man, a former hacker from California called Adrian Lamo. Mr Lamo spoke to Four Corners on Skype. He says Bradley Manning approached him online after learning of their shared interest in WikiLeaks, and that their conversations ranged over several days.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The words Private Manning is alleged to have used in their chats are voiced here by an actor.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING, ALLEGED LEAKER</span> (voiceover): I'm an army intelligence analyst, deployed to eastern Baghdad, pending discharge for "adjustment disorder".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO, THREAT ANALYST & "GREY HAT" HACKER: Mr Manning introduced himself factually as an intelligence analyst stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq. His initial communication was unremarkable. There was nothing that would lead a casual reader to believe that there was anything out of the ordinary about it. However, he soon began to drop hints about his access to classified information.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): Hypothetical question: if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time - say, eight to nine months - and you saw incredible things, awful things, things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC, what would you do? Things that would have an impact on 6.7 billion people.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Adrian Lamo says Bradley Manning sensationally confessed that he had passed vast amounts of classified material to WikiLeaks - including a war log from Iraq, containing 400,000 events.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): Let's just say someone I know intimately well has been penetrating US classified networks, mining data like the ones described. Sorting the data, compressing it, encrypting it, and uploading it to a crazy-white haired Aussie who can't seem to stay in one country very long. Crazy white haired dude equals Julian Assange.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: According to the records of these chats, Private Manning saw his own connection with WikiLeaks as significant.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): I'm a source, not quite a volunteer. I mean, I'm a high profile source… and I've developed a relationship with Assange.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Adrian Lamo says a moment came when he decided he had to act.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: For me, the precise moment at which I felt that what Bradley Manning was doing was a danger to national security and to the lives of others was when he characterised one of his leaks as being in excess of a quarter of a million state department documents.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): Say... 260,000 State Department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: I knew for a fact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he could not possibly have vetted all of these documents himself for safety. It was simply being released in bulk to an unauthorised third party - a third party that had an unknown agenda, and this was of course a conduct that he was going to continue to engage in unless interdicted.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Adrian Lamo says he kept a record of the alleged confessions made by the 22 year-old soldier in Iraq. And when he tipped off military intelligence, it was like a scene from a spy thriller.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: As any good crime movie will tell you, I met them at a diner. The meetings were ultimately multi-jurisdictional and at points involving individuals from the FBI, Army Counter Intelligence, the Army Criminal Investigation Division, the National Security Agency and other entities. I did not expect them to immediately arrest Mr Manning, but they determined that that was the best course of action and that is what happened.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN POULSON, SENIOR EDITOR, WIRED: So the magazine's actually been around since the early 1990's, before there even was a web.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: In an equally sensational move, Adrian Lamo then offered his story and the alleged chat-logs to Kevin Poulsen at Wired magazine in San Francisco. The two men met at this coffee-shop, near Sacramento.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN POULSON: I finally met up with Adrian in Sacramento at the Starbucks. He finally got his laptop working, he finally got the logs on his screen, and I was able to start skimming through what he had there. It kind of started to dawn on me, maybe this is real, maybe this actually turned in... turned in WikiLeaks' most important whistleblower.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Adrian Lamo says he gave the story to Kevin Poulsen as insurance, in case something happened to him.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: I discussed with Kevin my interaction with government agents up to that point. I provided him with a copy of the logs for safekeeping, and at that point I went on to meet with government agents. I myself did not know if I was necessarily going to be coming back from that meeting or if they would want to hold on to me for some unknown reason based on the information that I already had in my possession.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN POULSON: It was on the drive back from Sacramento where I found myself wondering if I was gonna be stopped on the Bay Bridge, by the Feds saying, "Hey, you have something of ours." I mean, that... that... I began to think that this was actually a big story.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: In the weeks following Private Bradley Manning's arrest, an even bigger story was building. Julian Assange by now was a wanted man, as he circled the globe with the treasure-trove of documents he had allegedly received from Private Manning. In conditions of great secrecy, Assange did a deal with two of the world's major newspapers, the New York Times and The Guardian. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ALAN RUSBRIDGER, EDITOR, THE GUARDIAN: There was a lot of cloak and dagger about it, because he was I think... and probably the most hunted man on earth at that point because of what he had, and it it sounded extraordinary and when I, when he first came back with his sort of password and we opened up the website, and this was just the first tranche - so this was just the first set of war logs - you could immediately see that this was you know of tremendous significance and was going to make an awful lot of people in governments really unhappy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: What Assange had given The Guardian was the Afghan War Diary - a vast compilation of army reports from the war, stretching back to 2004.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE</span> (2010): This disclosure is about the truth...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: In October 2010, the Iraq War Logs were published, detailing allegations of torture by the Iraqi Federal Police, and complicity in that torture by the US Armed Forces in Iraq.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE</span> (2010): And this is a list of reports with key words and contacts...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The logs revealed the military's own inside story of the wars, and for the journalists charged with sifting through the documents, it was a God-given gift.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DEAN BAQUET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, NEW YORK TIMES: The greatest story, to my mind, of this era for a journalist is the way - at least in the West, at least for the US - is the way September 11th has transformed American foreign policy. Not only in the ways that are very noticeable - the the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - but in other ways too. And suddenly as journalists who've had to rely on third hand, fourth hand you know late night interviews with people who knew pieces of this, we had the whole - so we were elated, of course we were. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The publication of the Afghan and Iraqi war logs made Julian Assange a global celebrity. But while Assange was feted, Private Bradley Manning languished in a military cell. The soldier, on his arrest, had been charged with leaking more than fifty diplomatic cables to a person outside the Army. But the authorities who had Adrian Lamo's version of the chat-logs believed he had passed on 260,000 cables.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHRIS ANDERSON, TED: There's been this US intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, and it's alleged that he confessed in a chat-room that he leaked this video to you, along with 280,000 classified US Embassy cables. I mean, did he?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> Well we have denied receiving those cables. He has been charged about five days ago with obtaining 150,000 cables and releasing fifty.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHRIS ANDERSON: I mean if you did receive thousands of US Embassy diplomatic cables...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> We would have released them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHRIS ANDERSON: You would?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> Yeah.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: In fact, the cables were already in Assange's possession, and four months later, they were published in The Guardian and New York Times. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just how seriously the US Administration viewed this massive leak became clear when Dean Baquet and his colleagues approached the White House to discuss redacting the cables before they were published, to ensure no lives were endangered.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DEAN BAQUET: We walked in with some cable, just to show them what we had. And we walking in expecting, you know, maybe two or three people from the government, and it was a packed conference room of people from the Defence Intelligence Agency, the State Department, the White House - and it was a tense discussion, it was very tense. Initially it was the... they were making the argument that we these are not things that should be made public. There were people in the room who said this would have a devastating impact on foreign policy. And we made the argument back for why we felt obliged to publish.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Within WikiLeaks itself, there was also fierce debate about whether it was in Bradley Manning's best interests to publish the cables.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: If the cables had not been published, there would've been no proof that anyone had given the material to a different entity. So from my perspective, whatever would've... should've happened with these cables, for the sake of Bradley Manning, would've been to just keep them back as long as possible, until you find out what is happening with him, before you publish them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> We were concerned as to how that would possibly play into his case. We saw that his charges only included some of 50 cables and so we were not sure whether that is related to the material that we've released, but we could see that extra accusations would probably be made against him given that he was the only name being floated around by the US Military.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: After the cables were published, Private Manning was charged with 22 offences - including the charge of aiding the enemy, a capital offence. Military prosecutors say they will not seek the death penalty. But if convicted, the private faces life imprisonment.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julian Assange insists the technology used by WikiLeaks prevents it knowing the identity of its sources.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE</span> (2010): I had never heard the name Bradley Manning before I saw media reports about this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: If Adrian Lamo's chat-logs are genuine, Bradley Manning believed his contact at WikiLeaks was Assange. But according to Daniel Domscheit-Berg, it's quite plausible that Assange didn't know the soldier's identity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT BERG: They could've talked without exchanging their names, or Bradley Manning wouldn't have necessarily told Julian his name.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): Hillary Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and finds an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format to the public.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HILLARY CLINTON, US SECRETARY OF STATE (Nov. 2010): The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information. It puts peoples' lives in danger, threatens our national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: What has angered the United States Government more than anything is the wholesale leaking of the State Department's diplomatic cables. Opinions differ as to how much damage this has done.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JOHN BELLINGER, FORMER LEGAL ADVISOR, US DEPT OF STATE: The government overall is is is horrified. This is sort of the worst crisis in release of leaks of government documents I think in history, and for the State Department it's really almost apocalyptic to have 250,000 cables lost. It affects our relations with every country in the world and puts sources of information - not only government sources but human rights activists and dissidents and others - at great risk.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ALAN RUSBRIDGER: I think the interesting thing is that nobody at the end of it can really point to any danger. I mean everyone was saying that the sky was going to fall in; that that people would be killed; that states would never be able to speak; but none of that happened and now in fact the State Department is tacitly admitting that that actually they can't point to any harm.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Ironically, this gigantic leak of diplomatic cables was only made possible by the US Government's decision post-9/11, to bring in a policy of greater information sharing in the wake of the intelligence failures that allowed Al Qaeda's attacks to occur. The new strategy meant that a lowly private stationed in Iraq was able to access enormous databases of secret and classified material. That policy was called Net-Centric Diplomacy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN POULSON: Net-Centric Diplomacy put the bulk of US state department cables on the military's private intranet, its classified network called SIPRNet, where it could be accessed by hundreds of thousands of people in the US and at foreign bases and posts. And that... that is what Manning apparently took advantage of.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Given this unparalleled access, Private Manning is believed to have breached security on the SIPRNet computer with almost farcical ease. Lady Gaga played a starring role, according to the chat-logs, as Manning downloaded a quarter of a million diplomatic cables.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): I would come in with music on a CD-RW labelled with something like Lady Gaga, erase the music, then write a compressed split file. No-one suspected a thing. Listened and lip-synced to Lady Gaga's "Telephone" while exfiltrating possibly the largest data spillage in American history.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Private Manning's brief Army career had been a troubled one. He'd been disciplined more than once, and appears to have been suffering great emotional stress. But he says the turning point for him came when he watched a group of detainees he'd been told to investigate, being taken by the Iraqi Federal Police - almost certainly, to be tortured.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): Everything started slipping after that. I saw things differently. Ihad always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth, but that was a point where I was a part of something; I was actively involved in something that i was completely against.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">DANIEL ELLSBERG:</span> What we've heard from the people he unburdened himself to, Adrian Lamo, in the chat logs, was that his motives sound exactly like mine. He said, "I was actively participating in something I was totally against."</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(speaking at library in San Francisco) Why is the Obama administration so particularly sensitive about these releases?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Daniel Ellsberg is Bradley Manning's most prominent American supporter - and America's most famous whistleblower. Forty years ago he leaked the Pentagon Papers - revealing the duplicity with which successive American Presidents had waged the war in Vietnam. But by leaking them, like Bradley Manning, Daniel Ellsberg risked being sent to jail for life.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">DANIEL ELLSBERG:</span> In my case, it was when I finally came to see, late in the game, in 1969, when I looked at the origins of the war in the Pentagon Papers, and realised that it had never been legitimate, that it had never been a a legitimate basis for our killing Vietnamese, that I began to see all that killing as murder. And murder, it seemed to me, was something that had to be stopped, even if it put me in prison to do it. I would say that Bradley Manning has shown a willingness to give his life, his freedom, a life of freedom, for his country. And we can't be more patriotic than that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Daniel Domscheit-Berg fell out with Julian Assange and left WikiLeaks on acrimonious terms. He believes that taking on the US was always Julian Assange's priority. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: I think um he was aiming at taking up the biggest fight possible, and that fight was by taking up a fight against the United States maybe in that case, as the biggest political player in the sphere. And that has some megalomaniac tendencies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Is that your ultimate aim now to radically change the behaviour of the world's superpowers?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> Yes that that that's correct. We all we are all too well aware of the abuses by not just superpowers, but other powers and by companies.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: So are you a revolutionary?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> Well we'll see if if we end up with a decent revolution, then perhaps others can make that judgment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Stephen Yates is a former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. He wants the United States to hit back hard against Private Manning and Julian Assange.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">STEPHEN YATES, FMR ADVISOR TO VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: I consider it to be an act of political warfare. The acts appear to have been done by some US citizens, including a member of the US military who is subject to all the penalties attached to that office, but others have been foreign nationals, and when foreign nationals gather illegal, classified information and disclose it to try to influence US policy, that is espionage.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JOHN BELLINGER: The US Government's challenge in this case will be to show that what Mr Assange was doing was not classic journalism and press but in fact really theft of government property in a way that's not protected by the first amendment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: To date, there is no clear evidence that Julian Assange helped Bradley Manning extract the files - although military prosecutors say they have records of online chats between Manning and Assange, in which Manning asked for help in cracking the main password on his classified SIPRNet computer, so that he could log on anonymously. Adrian Lamo says Bradley Manning did receive help - but he isn't saying from whom. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: A third party with whom I had interaction subsequent to my interactions with Bradley Manning indicated that they gave Bradley Manning assistance in setting up encryption software, but that that in and of itself is not a criminal act.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Who is that third party?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: Well, they're a private citizen and I would hesitate to draw undue attention on to them because in this case the good of the one does outweigh the the good of the many.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: Lots of people were coming and asking how they could upload material to us. That's... you could tell them how to safely use a computer and maybe how to encrypt information, so that certainly was done. But I think that is... that is pretty much valid. That's the same thing as a journalist would tell you, um that you shouldn't write your sender's address on a brown envelope, or something like this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Adrian Lamo's word appears to have been accepted by the military investigators who arrested Private Manning. But within the hacker community he hails from, he is treated with far greater scepticism.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN POULSON: In the early 2000s he hacked large corporations and a couple of media outlets, including the New York Times. And unlike most computer criminals, he was very public about it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN MITNICK, MITNICK SECURITY CONSULTING: Adrian is is a a kind of guy that loves attention, and he loves to read about himself in in newspaper articles and magazines and online blogs, and it seems that he goes out of his way... even subjecting himself to Federal prosecution by... he used to do this, you know, break into computer systems and go to the press and tell them about it so they could write about it and it would be available on the internet.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Kevin Mitnick is himself a former computer felon. He is also a friend of Kevin Poulsen and Adrian Lamo. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN MITNICK: I call into question the authenticity of those chat logs. Because I know this personality, then I call into question well if he is the sole person that had access to these chat logs, could've he modified them so he would have a great story to tell, so he would attention, I don't know. It's, you know, it's really hard to come up with the answer because I simply do not know.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: But you think it's possible?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN MITNICK: Oh absolutely possible. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Did you modify the chat logs in any way?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: Absolutely not. The chat logs were vouched for in a sworn deposition which I gave under penalty of perjury and every line remains as it was spoken.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Doubt has also been cast on Adrian Lamo's state of mind when he says, he was chatting with Bradley Manning. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> Mr Lamo is a convicted felon, who just three weeks before making these statements was in a psychiatric hospital. Wired Magazine worked with that individual to bring out that story. I have no idea as to how credible that story is, but certainly it comes from a a source which has no credibility at all.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADRIAN LAMO: Mr Assange is certainly entitled to his opinions. I make no denials about the fact that I am a convicted felon or that I have spent time in a psychiatric institution for Asperger's syndrome - a syndrome, which I should add, does not affect the ability of its sufferers to recall facts. I should note that Mr Assange is also a convicted computer criminal, so we have that in common. Perhaps one day we can get together over beer and discuss it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: For eleven months following his arrest, Bradley Manning remained in solitary confinement, first in Kuwait, and then in a cell measuring six feet by twelve inside this U.S. Marine Corps Base outside Washington. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: From meeting with Bradley, from getting to know him and from watching his state degrade over time, the only conclusion I can reach is that this is torture.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: David House is a computer researcher at MIT - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He first met Bradley Manning at a hacker space he'd founded in Boston, and for months was the only friend allowed to visit him at Quantico. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: It was completely alarming this transition that had happened to him. He was ashen-faced, had huge bags under his eyes and he had trouble keeping up with topics of conversation - something that had never been a problem for him. So it's... this confinement this solitary confinement has really taken a huge toll on him definitely.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: At Quantico Marine Corps base, Bradley Manning was held in conditions which - his supporters argued - were designed to break him and lead him to co-operate in building a case against Julian Assange.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE:</span> If the allegations against Bradley Manning are true, he is a the United States' foremost political prisoner. The increase in the severity of his treatment, according to my legal advice, is an attempt to pressure him into trying to embroil us in some sort of espionage-related challenge.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN MITNICK: I was held in solitary confinement back in 1988, 1989 by the federal government as a national security threat because a federal prosecutor had told a Judge that I could, "whistle into a telephone and launch a nuclear weapon."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Kevin Mitnick is another former hacker who fell foul of the law. He is under no illusions as to why he was held in solitary confinement - and what effect it had on his case. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEVIN MITNICK: What the government did is they stuck me in solitary confinement to one, punish me and two, get get me to co-operate so they wouldn't have to really try the case. And it was extremely effective and after 8½ months of sitting in a room for 23 out of 24 hours a day, I just signed the deal.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: So they want him to do a deal? They want him to turn the tables on Julian Assange?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: I think that's completely correct. It's like a sledge hammer trying to crack a very small nut. The US Government is just trying to put immense pressure on him in order to get him to crack open.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Méndez, is one of those who has expressed concern about the conditions in which Private Manning was imprisoned at Quantico.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a young man, Juan Méndez worked as a lawyer in Argentina, defending political prisoners. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JUAN MÉNDEZ, UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE (2011): I complained of cases of torture, and eventually during the military dictatorship I was arrested, tortured, and held in prison for 18 months without trial under administrative detention under the state of siege. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: When Four Corners filmed this interview with Mr Méndez last year, Private Manning had been held in solitary confinement for 230 days. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JUAN MÉNDEZ (2011): Solitary confinement is an area that concerns me. It's like a red flag, you know and solitary confinement has been proven extensively in the scientific literature to create all kinds of very serious psychiatric consequences for the person whose subjected to it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: For a period during his imprisonment at Quantico, Private Manning was stripped of his clothing and forced to stand naked for morning inspections.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In March this year, Juan Méndez said Private Manning had been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment during his "excessive and prolonged isolation" at Quantico.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JUAN MÉNDEZ: I want to stress the fact that the Torture Convention, the UN convention against torture to which the United States is a signatory and is a party, establishes that torture can be physical but it can also be psychological.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The pressure applied by US Intelligence agencies, not just to Bradley Manning, but to supporters like David House, has been intense.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: I think the US Government is trying to take down the WikiLeaks organisation at all costs, and they are willing to embroil any individuals who get in their way, legitimate legal advocates or not. in order to do so.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Two years ago, Federal agents came knocking on David House's front door.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: At one point in this conversation one of the gentleman said flatly whilst staring me directly in the eyes, "If you can keep your ear to the ground on this thing there might be a very large cash reward in it for you." It's very alarming. I mean I didn't think the US Government offered bribes to people.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: But not all agents in this war of secrecy are working for the US Government. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: magenta;">X,</span> HACKTIVIST: I don't like being in this particular city, being that's where all the federal people are who would love to know who I am. I'm actually kind of terrified right now.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: When Four Corners visited Washington in January last year, this American hacktivist emerged from the shadows to meet us. He was working with AnonOps - the operational core of the worldwide group Anonymous. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: magenta;">X:</span> If we have been identified and they decide to take action against us, they're gonna attempt to silence this, and the story might not ever get out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: The story is how, in December 2010, nearly eight thousand hackers launched a denial of service attack on some of America's biggest corporations, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, which were refusing to process donations to WikiLeaks. Operation Payback, as it was known, was organised by a small core group, which included this man.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: What motivates you, what drives you to do what you do?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: magenta;">X:</span> I guess, interest in freedom, I know it sounds kind of trite, but it is. It's a belief that all information should be free, regardless of where it comes from, or regardless of who wants to see it. Nobody should be able to control who gets to see what. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Since our interview with this man was filmed, his fears have turned out to be justified. He is believed to have been arrested, along with other hacktivists in America and Europe. However, playing his part in this cyber-war was a risk he was prepared to take.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: magenta;">X:</span> It's definitely a risk. For some of us it's the biggest risk we've ever taken in our lives, but for those of us that have been in it this long, we believed in what needed to be done, so we did it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING:</span> Hi, you've reached Brad Manning at my deployment phone number...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: This is the only known recording of Bradley Manning's voice, taped when on deployment to Baghdad. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING:</span> ...please leave a message or call me back later. Thank you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: It's the voice of a man who, following his arrest, has now been silenced by the American military. Bradley Manning's fate is now extremely uncertain. He has been moved from solitary confinement at Quantico to another military base. He faces a full court martial later this year, and if convicted, could spend the rest of his life in prison. So far he has steadfastly refused to implicate Julian Assange - even though to do so could lead to a reduction in his sentence.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BOB BECKEL, FOX NEWS BUSINESS COMMENTATOR: This guy's a traitor, a treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. The guy oughta be - and I'm not for the death penalty, so if I'm not for the death penalty - there's only one way to do it, illegally shoot the son-of-a-bitch.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: On America's Fox TV the right wing commentators don't hold back in discussing Julian Assange's future.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FOX NEWS COMMENTATOR: Obama, if you're listening today, you should take this guy out, have the CIA take him out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: Even within the more politically considered circles of Washington, there is a firm commitment to nail Julian Assange. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">STEPHEN YATES: We may need to detain Mr Assange if he will not cease and desist from further disclosures. That's his choice. If he will not cease, then I think that we may have to consider extra-judicial measures in order to detain him and stop him from proceeding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JOHN BELLINGER: He would not be sent to Guantanamo, ah he would not be treated as an enemy combatant. If he were charged he'd be, he would be charged under federal criminal statutes, prosecuted in federal court, and if he were ultimately convicted, would be held in a a federal penitentiary.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: This Washington courthouse is where, it's believed, a Grand Jury has been sitting in secret, preparing a sealed indictment against Julian Assange, which will allow his extradition to America, and a trial for espionage. Australia's Government refuses to confirm this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: At this stage we do not have any advice from the United States that there is an indictment against Mr Assange or that the United States has decided to seek his extradition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: But evidence that an indictment may have been issued comes - ironically - from confidential emails hacked into by members of Anonymous, and published by WikiLeaks. The emails were written by staff at the Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor, who have close ties with the US administration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FRED BURTON, VICE PRESIDENT OF INTELLIGENCE, STRATFOR: I'm Fred Burton, Stratfor's Vice President of Intelligence. As you may know by now, an unauthorised party illegally obtained and disclosed personal information...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: This email, from Stratfor's Vice-President Fred Burton, says: "Not for publication - We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Please protect." Stratfor now claims this intelligence is unreliable.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some time soon, almost certainly, Julian Assange will be extradited - not to America, but to Sweden - to be questioned there about allegations of sexual assault. For Assange, any trial in America could be years away. But Private Manning's trial is imminent. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The soldier's accusers say he betrayed his country, and the oath of allegiance he swore when he joined the Army. But in Europe he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. To his supporters, Private Manning is a hero. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DANIEL DOMSCHEIT-BERG: All the fame and all this hype about WikiLeaks and Julian and Julian's problems in Sweden - I mean what are these problems in Sweden compared to the trouble that this private is in? I mean this person who potentially is, I think, one of the biggest heroes for freedom of information in our time - so how does that relate? There's not... no relation in between these two things anymore. So that's what I don't get. Everyone should be talking about Manning and not about about Julian's trouble iin Sweden or in Great Britain or wherever.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): God knows what happens now. Hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms. If not, than we're doomed as a species. I will officially give up on the society we have if nothing happens.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: One thing is for sure. Julian Assange's fate is inextricably linked with Bradley Manning's. And the two men, whether they ever collaborated directly or not, share a common idealism. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">BRADLEY MANNING</span> (voiceover): I want people to see the truth, regardless of who they are, because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;">JULIAN ASSANGE</span>: That truth provides an historical scaffold, a true scaffold on which a real state can be built, on which societies can be built.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">QUENTIN MCDERMOTT: If he could speak from his cell to the rest of the world, what would he say now?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DAVID HOUSE: Pay attention.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KERRY O'BRIEN: Bradley Manning's trial may not now start until November, but Julian Assange could be in Sweden before the month is out, to face a totally different investigation, unless he decides to appeal his extradition to the European Court of Human Rights. That would be the last resort in his legal campaign to stay in Britain.</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">End of transcript</span></strong></div>
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/06/14/3525291.htm"><span style="color: cyan;">http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/06/14/3525291.htm</span></a></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-15126884845437784462012-06-06T08:05:00.002-07:002012-06-06T08:08:19.112-07:00Bradley #Manning: LIVE Blog - June Motion Hearing Day 1.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/06/06/bradley-mannings-june-motion-hearing-day-1-live-blog/"><span style="font-size: large;">http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/06/06/bradley-mannings-june-motion-hearing-day-1-live-blog/</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><u>Follow on Twitter : Kevin Gosztola for updates.</u></em></span><br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/kgosztola">https://twitter.com/#!/kgosztola</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-48711743579925970652012-06-05T08:46:00.001-07:002012-06-05T08:48:29.196-07:00#Manning: Help Support Alexa O'Brien - U.S. V. Manning-Assange Wikileaks And The Press.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.alexaobrien.com/timeline_us_versus_manning_assange_wikileaks_2012.html"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.alexaobrien.com/timeline_us_versus_manning_assange_wikileaks_2012.html</span></a><br />
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<img alt="Brutal: Bradley Manning, held responsible for the WikiLeaks debacle, is stripped naked and given a suicide-proof smock to wear each night" class="blkBorder" height="472" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/18/article-0-0B2944F300000578-834_306x472.jpg" width="306" /> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Brutal: Bradley Manning, held responsible for the WikiLeaks debacle, stripped naked and given a suicide-proof smock to wear each night !</em></span></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-87584560569003136842012-06-05T08:30:00.003-07:002012-06-05T08:34:30.644-07:00#Manning:Preview Of Motions In Upcoming Bradley Manning Hearing.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><u>By Nathan Fuller, Bradley Manning Support Network. June 4, 2012.</u></em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-23936" height="300" src="http://www.bradleymanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/manning-meade-16mar12-186x300.jpg" title="manning-meade-16mar12" width="186" /> </em></span><div class="wp-caption-text">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, MD.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>There is more secrecy surrounding the U.S. military’s ongoing prosecution of PFC Bradley Manning than the much-criticized Guantanamo Bay trials.. The hearings aren’t closed-door sessions, but </em></span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shayana-kadidal/choking-off-coverage-of-b_b_1544515.html"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>more insidiously</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>, they include no public records, no transcripts, and no public motions from the government. They provide so little media access that the Center for Constitutional Rights and several media organizations are </em></span><a href="http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/constitutional-rights-attorneys%2C-media-challenge-secrecy-of-manning-court-martial"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>suing the military</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> for more transparency. The lawsuit follows protests from a </em></span><a href="http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/releases/media-coalition-protests-censorship-of-bradley-manning-trial-documents"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>coalition of media figures</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> who say that they have been blocked from accessing even basic information about the trial.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>To counter this extreme secrecy, Bradley’s attorney David Coombs has been publishing defense motions on his blog, so the public and members of the media can access these documents to better understand and accurately report on Bradley’s trial. The government redacts even these motions, but they still provide a window into what will come of the hearings that the military wouldn’t otherwise provide.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Coombs </em></span><a href="http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2012/05/defense-motions-for-6-8-june.html"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>posted five motions</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> for Bradley’s next courtroom appearance, the motion hearing at Ft. Meade from June 6-8, giving us a glimpse at what to expect. The </em></span><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_zC44SBaZPoekVWa3dEanhfWDg/edit?pli=1"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>first motion</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> denounces the prosecution’s handling of evidence, concealing obviously relevant material to maintain an upper hand over the defense. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington </em></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/27/bradley-manning-military-withholding-evidence?newsfeed=true"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>summarized the motion</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> earlier this week:</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“…the government has failed to disclose key evidence that could help Manning defend himself against the charges.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Almost two years after Manning was arrested, the military has not yet completed a search even of its own files to see if there is any material beneficial to the defence – as it is legally obliged to do.”...read more</em></span></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/incompetence-or-deception-probing-two-years-of-evasion-in-the-prosecution-of-bradley-manning">http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/incompetence-or-deception-probing-two-years-of-evasion-in-the-prosecution-of-bradley-manning</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-39589256019712720012012-06-05T08:21:00.004-07:002012-06-05T08:27:20.488-07:00#Manning:#Pentagon Supress #WikiLeaks Documents | TG Daily<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The Pentagon is currently refusing to release 250,000 pages of documents assessing the damage and fallout related to the transfer of classified documents to WikiLeaks by Pfc. Bradley Manning. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>David Coombs, Manning's civilian lawyer, has filed a motion to obtain the documents, which could prove crucial in preparing Manning's defense. </em></span><br />
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<img alt="Pentagon suppresses WikiLeaks documents" height="387" src="http://img.tgdaily.com/sites/default/files/stock/article_images/misc/bradleymanningmay2012.jpg" width="400" />"<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>By morphing, distorting and constantly</em></span> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>changing definitions, the government is trying to 'define' itself out of producing relevant discovery," Coombs wrote in legal documents cited by the UK-based </em></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/03/bradley-manning-lawyer-government-documents"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Guardian</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"This is very disconcerting to the defense... [And] it cannot be permitted to do this... "The defense believes that no defense discovery request would ever be 'just right' to satisfy Goldilocks." "</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>As TG Daily previously reported, Pfc. Bradley Manning is facing a total of 22 charges - including aiding the enemy - after thousands of classified documents downloaded by the former army intelligence analyst ended up on WikiLeaks.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Manning and Coombs are currently seeking the dismissal of no less than 10 criminal counts. As noted above, the Pentagon, says Coombs, has failed to disclose key evidence that could help Manning defend himself during an upcoming military trial. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"That the government cannot get its ducks in a row with respect to discovery which is clearly under its control does not inspire confidence," </em></span><a href="http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/63682-is-the-pentagon-withholding-wikileaks-evidence"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Coombs wrote last week</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"Why would the government wait until over a year after to begin its search? How could the government not have noticed that for nine months, it had not received any material from any principal officials in the army? If the government cannot even search its own files properly, how can we believe them when they say they have diligently searched the files of other organizations?"</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>A military judge will hear oral arguments at a pretrial hearing starting June 6 at Fort Meade, Md, while Manning's military trial is slated to begin on September 21.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>If found guilty, the former army intelligence analyst will likely spend the rest of his life in the brig without the chance of parole.</em></span><br />
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<a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23WikiLeaks" title="#WikiLeaks"><s><span style="color: #66b5d2;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #0084b4;">WikiLeaks</span></b></a> <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/MdbZ6s" data-ultimate-url="http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/63807-pentagon-suppresses-wikileaks-documents" href="http://t.co/gOELSx8y" jquery171015669104643170778="148" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/MdbZ6s"><span style="color: #0084b4;">http://bit.ly/MdbZ6s</span></a> <a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23freebrad" title="#freebrad"><s><span style="color: #66b5d2;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #0084b4;">freebrad</span></b></a></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-8727976325687877352012-06-05T02:10:00.002-07:002012-06-05T02:13:32.684-07:00Bradley #Manning : Forte Mead Motion Hearing.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Alex O'Brian transcribing Bradley Manning Motion hearing . Please follow Alex on twitter.</em></span><br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/carwinb"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>https://twitter.com/#!/carwinb</em></span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-75296478168971189342012-05-29T08:10:00.002-07:002012-05-29T08:13:14.572-07:00#BradleyManning:News update - Army continues withholding evidence, military continues restricting access to Bradley manning.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>SNIP</strong></em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>Choking off coverage of Bradley Manning’s court-martial</strong>.’ Lawyer Shayana Kadidal of the CCR, which last week filed a </em></span><a href="http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/constitutional-rights-attorneys%2C-media-challenge-secrecy-of-manning-court-martial"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>joint lawsuit against the U.S</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>. seeking transparency in Bradley’s trial, articulates the problems with the military’s secrecy at Fort Meade. First observing that even military tribunals at Guantanamo provided a publicly available transcript, Kadidal writes:</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>No such luck in the court-martial proceedings for accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning. None of the court’s orders have been published. None of the transcripts have been released. And none of the government filings have been posted. Not even with redactions — nothing....read more</em></span></blockquote>
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<a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" data-query-source="hashtag_click" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23BradleyManning" title="#BradleyManning"><s><span style="color: #66b5d2;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #0084b4;">BradleyManning</span></b></a> <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-52912-army-continues-withholding-evidence-military-continues-restricting-access" data-ultimate-url="http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-52912-army-continues-withholding-evidence-military-continues-restricting-access" href="http://t.co/xsL41mZh" jquery171024175780496196036="81" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-52912-army-continues-withholding-evidence-military-continues-restricting-access"><span style="color: #0084b4;">http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-52912-army-continues-withholding-evidence-military-continues-restricting-access</span></a></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-16967008573705322292012-05-28T09:08:00.000-07:002012-05-28T09:17:41.184-07:00England: In Britain's Top Security Prisons The Mentally Ill Experience Official Brutality And Neglect.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="authors"><span class="author vcard"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>by </em></span><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/lydia-smith"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Lydia Smith</em></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="color: purple;">,</span> </em></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span class="timestamp"><abbr class="published" title="2012-03-10T10:00:29+00:00">10 March 2012</abbr></span> </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Close Supervision Centres in three prisons hold Britain’s most troublesome prisoners. The partner of one inmate claims the system fails inmates and society</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>March 2011, Milton HMP Woodhill, the Close Supervision Centre. An inmate walks away from an officer and is pounced on from behind. Other officers join in the struggle to pin him to the floor and the first officer violently grabs and squeezes his genitals. The inmate bites the officer's shoulder to release his grip and is subsequently accused of assault.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>In a letter to the inmate’s solicitor, the CSC's Operational Manager Claire Hodson defended the officer who attacked a man from behind by saying that he feared for his life. Inmates at Woodhill CSC are frequently attacked and sexually assaulted — officers commonly grab inmates by the genitals when restraining them. It has been caught on CCTV, inmates have filled in complaints forms. Nothing happens.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>An inmate who has been violent may be locked in a high control cell to give him a cooling down period. It is meant to be assessed daily — and is not meant to be a punishment.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>One inmate with a serious mental illness has been kept here for months, locked 24 hours a day in a bare shell of a cell, fed through a hatch, no exercise, no association, no shower, no TV, radio, no newspapers, no phonecalls, toiletries — and no access, either, to complaints forms (or indeed a pen). <br /><br />On the occasions when the cell is unlocked he is confronted with six officers kitted up in riot gear holding shields in front of them and told that any sudden movement will result in him being beaten up and restrained in handcuffs. <br /><br />With his hands cuffed behind his back he has been accused of assault and more force has been used to restrain him, including grabbing by the genitals. This inmate is inevitably so disturbed that when the door is unlocked he is violent and aggressive again, and then locked back in with apparent justification, and so the cycle spins round.<br /><br />Inmates feel that CSC officers deliberately target and goad them into reacting so that they can be put back in the high control cell.<br /><br />If they are vocal it is regarded as aggression, if they are silent they are accused of not interacting. Inmates say officers may try to get a reaction by making silly or threatening remarks, laughing outside the cell of an inmate known to be paranoid, ensuring an inmate is last to lunch so the food is cold, hurrying him out of the showers, not letting him make a phone call — little things that are inescapable when you’re locked up on such a small, claustrophobic unit. If an inmate manages to resist the bait he has his own inner turmoil to deal with and this cannot be kept up indefinitely.<br /><br />CSC officers are trained only in how to control. They are not skilled in recognising the behavioural traits of mental illness, which leads to misunderstanding and heavy-handedness towards 'difficult' prisoners.<br /><br />The Close Supervision Centre is a prison within a prison. Based in HM prisons Woodhill (near Milton Keynes), Wakefield and Whitemoor, the CSC system was set up by a Labour government in 1998 "to remove the most significantly dangerous, challenging and disruptive prisoners and manage them within a small highly supervised unit". Director General Richard Tilt called the system "therapeutic, not punitive", and the aim was to return prisoners to normal wings after a year or so. But how would that be possible if the inmates chosen were to be those deemed incapable of progression and incapable of being reformed? </em></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>After early failures with disruptive inmates, the CSC began to select those who they felt would cooperate. Disruptive behaviour abated and it started to look like a success, even though </em></span><a href="http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=964&c=the_controlled_environment"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>genuine persistent troublemakers rarely got selected anymore</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=964%26c=the_controlled_environment&title=genuine%20persistent%20troublemakers%20rarely%20got%20selected%20anymore" id="link7" rel="nofollow" title="archive de genuine persistent troublemakers rarely got selected anymore"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>.</em></span><a href="http://breakallchains.blogspot.com/2011/11/racism-in-close-supervision-units-cscs.html"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Inmates began to be selected after just one disruptive incident, or for alleged gang activity, or for what is perceived as religious extremism</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://breakallchains.blogspot.com/2011/11/racism-in-close-supervision-units-cscs.html&title=Inmates%20began%20to%20be%20selected%20after%20just%20one%20disruptive%20incident%2C%20or%20for%20alleged%20gang%20activity%2C%20or%20for%20what%20is%20perceived%20as%20religious%20extremism" id="link9" rel="nofollow" title="archive de Inmates began to be selected after just one disruptive incident, or for alleged gang activity, or for what is perceived as religious extremism"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="color: purple;">. <br /></span>Then </em></span><a href="http://www.mojuk.org.uk/2011/JohnBowdenCSC.html"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>inmates with diagnosed mental illnesses began to be selected</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.mojuk.org.uk/2011/JohnBowdenCSC.html&title=inmates%20with%20diagnosed%20mental%20illnesses%20began%20to%20be%20selected" id="link11" rel="nofollow" title="archive de inmates with diagnosed mental illnesses began to be selected"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>— they are easier to manage because they are easier to medicate.</em></span><span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>My partner David was selected after repeated bouts of segregation. He has a personality disorder and cannot cope on busy wings. Segregation desocialises an inmate even further and each time he was returned to the wing more problems arose for which he was again segregated. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Like many other prisoners he was referred to the CSC and selected in breach of the procedural requirements detailed in the </em></span><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q='Managing+Challenging+Behaviour+Strategy+(MCBS)&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=99VZT46qDYPA0QXh9sSNDw"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>referral manual</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari%26rls=en&q='Managing+Challenging+Behaviour+Strategy+(MCBS)&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=99VZT46qDYPA0QXh9sSNDw&title=referral%20manual" id="link13" rel="nofollow" title="archive de referral manual"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>that the CDC should be a last resort after other options (primarily the Managing Challenging Behaviour Strategy) have failed. Such management tools are frequently bypassed.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Secure hospitals, seeking to save money, would not accept him, despite recommendations, because they said his needs could best be met in prison. Nobody looked at his documented history, addressed any issues with therapy or fully took his illness into account. His medication was increased and he was referred to the CSC, an even more extreme form of punishment and containment than segregation.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>CSC is not a hospital, it is a prison control unit that is being used against the mentally ill as a substitute for appropriate mental health care. In effect, the mentally ill are being punished for being ill, a bit like leprosy in the Middle Ages.</em></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=1086&c=neurotics_psychotics_and_psychiatrists"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Solicitor Shahida Begum, writing in Inside Time,</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=1086%26c=neurotics_psychotics_and_psychiatrists&title=Solicitor%20Shahida%20Begum%2C%20writing%20in%20Inside%20Time%2C" id="link15" rel="nofollow" title="archive de Solicitor Shahida Begum, writing in Inside Time,"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>says: “It is common knowledge that Close Supervision Centres are widely used to manage ‘mentally ill’ prisoners, and that mentally ill prisoners are overrepresented in segregation units. Prisoners who are deemed as dangerous or chronically disruptive are placed in prolonged solitary confinement as a prison management tool.” </em></span><a href="http://www.insidetime.org/mailbag.asp?a=501&c=an_open_letter_to_the_national_offender_management_service"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Self-harm and suicide attempts</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.insidetime.org/mailbag.asp?a=501%26c=an_open_letter_to_the_national_offender_management_service&title=Self-harm%20and%20suicide%20attempts" id="link17" rel="nofollow" title="archive de Self-harm and suicide attempts"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>on the Woodhill CSC are disproportionately high.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The high numbers of mentally ill held in the CSC means the psychiatrist doesn't have time to interview every inmate and is regularly absent with no cover - he doesn't see every inmate every week and if he does see an inmate then time is short because he has so many others to see.<br /><br />David found there was no consistency or continuity. An inmate could see a psychiatrist one week, stirring up really powerful issues, then be left alone to deal with the fall-out, often for weeks, because next week and the following week the psychiatrist may not be available.<br /><br />There is no mental health cover in the evening or at weekends so if an inmate mistimes his crisis he has to cope alone, even on suicide watch. If he rings the bell for help, nobody is there.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Frustration can lead to self-harm, a tiny respite from mental torment — in Woodhill one inmate cut off his own ear in the shower. Months later, in the shower again, he was allowed another razor and cut off the other ear.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Each and every day presents a trigger, and for those who are vulnerable and less well-equipped mentally and emotionally to cope with such a regime — pretty much everyone there — the perpetual tension is impossible to endure. Sleep is a luxury most lack. When the door is unlocked in the morning and the inmate is interpreted as hostile or threatening further restrictions are imposed. <br /><br />Prolonged solitude is not an effective management technique — it only allows the prison to claim that disruptive "incidents" have been stopped. Those at risk of self-harm and suicide should not be isolated; it can push them over the edge. It will create illness in those not already vulnerable to start with.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>David had consistently good reports in the CSC, overcoming daily provocations, and had been given Enhanced status but this is meaningless in the CSC as nothing is available on the unit. Because of the regime and the understaffing he was kept locked up for 23 hours a day with no association and restricted access to the gym and showers.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>In August 2011 a few inmates were selected for their good behaviour to progress to the newly-opened B wing. They had been told that it would help them progress towards deselection and a return to normal wings. Instead, it was the same as the A wing they had just left behind except with a different letter on the door — no course work, no therapy, no stimulation, education, nothing. And now others are randomly being put on this wing dragging the whole unit down so that those who had behaved well because they wanted to progress are now locked up for 23 hours a day again. Six months later they are bored out of their skulls, demotivated, getting restless, feeling cheated, and in limbo.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>They are told to "engage" but Care and Management meetings are frequently cancelled, and there is no structure. Inmates are constantly led to believe that they are on the verge of being deselected (transferred out of the unit) but four to five years is an average stay, despite fully cooperating, not the one to two years originally proposed, and ten years is not unheard of. They face the impossible task of proving they can cope on normal wings while not being allowed to go there.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>One inmate who has been stuck in the system for thirteen years does yoga and tai chi — not, to me, indicative of a dangerous man incapable of progression and beyond help. In 2007 one young offender stuck in the CSC for five years hanged himself.<br /><br />Former head of High Security Prisons Lord David Ramsbotham has been critical of the CSC from the start, acknowledging that lengthy isolation should cease as it jeopardises mental health. In the Guardian last year, he argued: </em></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/25/high-security-prison-mental-illness"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"If you are holding people suffering mental health problems, then they should be held in conditions similar to those in secure mental health hospitals. This is clearly not the case at Woodhill.”</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/25/high-security-prison-mental-illness&title=%22If%20you%20are%20holding%20people%20suffering%20mental%20health%20problems%2C%20then%20they%20should%20be%20held%20in%20conditions%20similar%20to%20those%20in%20secure%20mental%20health%20hospitals.%20This%20is%20clearly%20not%20the%20case%20at%20Woodhill.%E2%80%9D" id="link19" rel="nofollow" title="archive de "If you are holding people suffering mental health problems, then they should be held in conditions similar to those in secure mental health hospitals. This is clearly not the case at Woodhill.”"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Claire Hodson, Woodhill's CSC Operational Manager, states in a letter </em></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/25/high-security-prison-mental-illness"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>quoted by the Guardian</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/25/high-security-prison-mental-illness&title=quoted%20by%20the%20Guardian" id="link21" rel="nofollow" title="archive de quoted by the Guardian"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>: "CSC inmates often present with highly complex needs", but she ignores the fact that the CSC cannot help with those needs. She describes self-harm as a "maladaptive coping strategy" but, when asked what procedures are in place to remove those psychologically unable to cope and displaying serious signs of illness and self-harm, she makes no reply. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Responding in June 2010 to an Inside Time article, “Great Well of Psychiatric Morbidity”, written by a relative of an inmate of Wakefield CSC, </em></span><a href="http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=748&c=great_well_of_psychiatric_morbidity"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Danny McAllister, Director of High Security Prisons</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=748%26c=great_well_of_psychiatric_morbidity&title=Danny%20McAllister%2C%20Director%20of%20High%20Security%20Prisons" id="link23" rel="nofollow" title="archive de Danny McAllister, Director of High Security Prisons"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>, dismisses with breathtaking arrogance everything she has observed. He still maintains that the CSC is a force for good when experience of inmates demonstrates that it isn't, and still insists it provides opportunities for inmates to address their psychological and mental needs when clearly it doesn't. He claims he is satisfied that it is achieving its aims and says prisoners can use the complaints forms if they encounter problems. They do. Nothing happens.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>An </em></span><a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/hmipris/prison-and-yoi-inspections/woodhill/Woodhill_2009.pdf"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on Woodhill in 2010</em></span></a><sup><a href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/opendemocracy/?url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/hmipris/prison-and-yoi-inspections/woodhill/Woodhill_2009.pdf&title=HM%20Inspectorate%20of%20Prisons%20report%20on%20Woodhill%20in%202010" id="link25" rel="nofollow" title="archive de HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on Woodhill in 2010"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>↑</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span></sup><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> found:</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>“There was a need for a more structured evidence-based violence reduction programme within the CSC estate, addressing smonitoring of the regime and independent psychiatric assessment of inmates instead of the prison-funded psychiatrists who aid the prison in its control ethos. Abusive officers should be charged for abusing the mentally ill, as anybody else would be. Prisoners have rights too and the state is obliged to safeguard human dignity. </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>If people are offending because they are ill then surely treating their illness will reduce their offending? Secure hospitals need to be brought to account for refusing inmates who clearly need this intervention.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Twelve years of the CSC has proved not only that it doesn't work but that in most cases it makes inmates worse. How much longer before government finds the courage to act on the evidence and fund something that actually works? </em></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> </em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>There is special funding for the CSC. Can it not be diverted to more places in secure hospital units? There needs to be an independent h<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>ome of the underlying behaviours and attitudes presented. A programme had been piloted at Woodhill in 2004/05 and a recent business case submitted for funding, which had been turned down on the basis of cost.”</em></span></em></span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Arial;">"Lydia Smith" and "David" are pseudonyms</span></em><br />
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<a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/lydia-smith/in-britain%E2%80%99s-top-security-prisons-mentally-ill-experience-official-brutality"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/lydia-smith/in-britain%E2%80%99s-top-security-prisons-mentally-ill-experience-official-brutality</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>-</em></span><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-65420931518491821372012-05-28T09:03:00.002-07:002012-05-28T09:04:58.392-07:00#USA : Prison Abuse And Torture In U.S.Prisons. The Violations Of Human Rights In American Prisons.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=datvPqLiqnQ&feature=endscreen">http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=datvPqLiqnQ&feature=endscreen</a><br />
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<a href="http://alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/"><span style="font-size: x-large;">http://alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319374257019854078.post-87562125119395636382012-05-28T08:52:00.002-07:002012-05-28T08:55:40.691-07:00#BradleyManning:Defence team says US military is withholding key evidence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Military's delay in searching through files and handing them over is denying Manning a fair trial, defence attorney argues</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Bradley Manning has been in custody since May 2010, and his trial is due to start in September. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP</em></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/bradley-manning" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Bradley Manning"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Bradley Manning</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>, the soldier accused of being behind the biggest leak of state secrets in US history, is being denied a fair trial because the army is withholding from him crucial information that might prove his innocence or reduce his sentence, his defence team is arguing.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>With Manning's court-martial approaching in September, his legal team has released details of what they claim is a shocking lack of diligence on the part of the military prosecutors in affording him his basic constitutional rights.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The stakes are high, with Manning facing possible life imprisonment for a raft of charges that include "aiding the enemy".</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Manning's main civilian lawyer, David Coombs, has filed a motion with the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, that </em></span><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_zC44SBaZPoekVWa3dEanhfWDg"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>sets out a catalogue of delays and inconsistencies</em></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em> in the army's handling of the case.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>In particular, he claims the government has failed to disclose key evidence that could help Manning defend himself against the charges.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Almost two years after Manning was arrested, the military has not yet completed a search even of its own files to see if there is any material beneficial to the defence – as it is legally obliged to do.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"That the government cannot get its ducks in a row with respect to discovery which is clearly under its control does not inspire confidence," Coombs writes.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Manning faces 22 charges relating to the transfer of a massive trove of US state secrets from military computers to the whistle-blowing website </em></span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks" title="More from guardian.co.uk on WikiLeaks"><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>WikiLeaks</em></span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>He was arrested in May 2010 in a military base outside Baghdad, where he was working as an intelligence analyst, and has been in custody ever since.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Material from the trove was published by the Guardian and an alliance of other international newspapers.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The leaks included video footage of a US helicopter attack on a group of civilians in Baghdad, war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of thousands of secret US embassy cables from around the world.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Disclosure by the prosecution of information that could be useful to the defence – known as "Brady materials" – has been a cornerstone of American criminal law since the US supreme court laid down a ruling making it obligatory in 1963.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The rule applies equally to civilian and military prosecutors, under the 14th amendment of the US constitution.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Yet Coombs describes an astonishing lack of diligence on the part of the military authorities to meet its obligations. Coombs writes that he has just learned that it took army prosecutors more than a year even to start the process of searching for Brady materials.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Manning was first charged as the WikiLeaks suspect on 5 July 2010, but it was not until 29 July 2011 that the government sent out a memo to relevant army officials asking them to search for and keep information that should be disclosed to defence lawyers.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>On top of that unexplained delay, the army then discovered on 17 April 2012 – fully nine months after the request went out and 21 months after Manning was charged – that absolutely no action had been taken by any of those officials.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Coombs said his discovery had exposed the government's "utter lack of diligence in undertaking its Brady search. Why would the government wait until over a year after preferral of charges to begin its search for Brady materials? How could the government not have noticed that for nine months, it had not received any material from any principal officials in the army? If the government cannot even search its own files properly, how can we believe them when they say they have diligently searched the files of other organisations?"</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The defence motion itemises some of the information that it believes is in the possession of government bodies, from the army itself to the FBI, department of justice, state department and various intelligence agencies. In total, 12 government departments are listed by the defence.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Specifically, Coombs complains that he has been withheld any assessments compiled by heads of US embassies and missions around the world regarding the overall impact of the WikiLeaks releases.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>He also wants to see the output of a working group of senior officials set up within the state department that reviewed the potential risks to individuals from the WikiLeaks disclosures, as well as reports made by the same department to Congress concerning the impact of WikiLeaks and the steps taken to mitigate the fall-out.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>"To allow the government to restrict the defence's access to this information," Coombs concludes, "is to provide the government with an unfair tactical advantage that will likely prejudice Manning's right to a fair trial."</em></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/27/bradley-manning-military-withholding-evidence?cat=world&type=article">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/27/bradley-manning-military-withholding-evidence?cat=world&type=article</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com