Accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning will finally get his day in court come December 16th; one day before his 24th birthday—fun. The hearing will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the government’s case against Manning and will “provide the defense with an opportunity to obtain pretrial discovery.” Now here comes the Bradley Manning Support Network to his defense.
The BMSN has pledged to provide Manning with the best legal defense they can find. They also assert that Manning’s not the real criminal in this case:
Manning’s supporters assert that the information he is accused of making public was wrongly and illegally classified, and that whoever leaked the information should be protected as a whistle-blower. The WikiLeaks revelations include the “Collateral Murder” video, which shows the killing of Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists, as well as diplomatic cables that have embarrassed governments and corporations around the world. Another cable related to the cover-up of a war crime contributed to the early exit of troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
The trial is expected to last five days and will be open to the public except for when they discuss all those classified military documents that he’s accused of leaking, of course. Too bad Obama has already declared him guilty.
Maybe Manning will keep reading Queerty to see how his trial is going.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Justin
I wish you guys would just avoid legal issues, because you NEVER get them right.
He’s not going on trial. He’s getting a pre-trial hearing. Vastly different.
Pocket Otter
@Justin: Bingo. Not only that, but his lawyers could have demanded a speedy trial, but they’re obviously having trouble fabricating a defense.
Riker
@Pocket Otter: His lawyers DID demand a speedy trial. In fact, the government is required by law to give himone. According to military regulations, “Government must bring the case to trial within 120 days from the date of formal charges, or 90 days from the date the accused is placed in pre-trial confinement.” He could end up getting the whole thing dismissed because the prosecution fucked things up royally,violating a dozen different regulations.
Cam
@Pocket Otter:
His lawyers don’t get to pick the trial date. The delay has nothing to do with their defense. The trial date is being set by the govt. and it seems like they may be having trouble coming up with something to prosecute him for.
I won't grow up
The question of his guilt no longer applies. This boy has no defense, he committed treason, his attorneys must now keep him out of the death chamber. The reasons he did what he did are his own and now he must pay for those choices.
I do agree that Queerty should avoid legal issues, you never get it right.
Cam
@I won’t grow up: said…
“The question of his guilt no longer applies. This boy has no defense, he committed treason, his attorneys must now keep him out of the death chamber. ”
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Actually what was leaked not only exposed the wrongdoings in Irag with regard to military procedure, it also exposed that both the U.S. and Japanese govts. were aware of the dangerous situation of the nuclear power plant there. Additionally the fact that the U.S. was aware that Pakistan was taking U.S. taxpayer money and yet working with the Taliban which in multiple instances caused the deaths of U.S. soldiers, the fact that the Afghan officials were appropriating U.S. taxpayer funds and putting them into personal foreign bank accounts etc…
The Whistleblower defense could indeed be valid. The Govt. has gotten in the habit of misusing the label “Classified”. It is supposed to, under law, hide documents of a sensitive and national security nature. It is NOT to be used to hide law breaking documents, or, as in the case of Pat Tilman, documents that would be embarassing and expose a cover up.
B
No. 5 · “I won’t grow up wrote” said, “The question of his guilt no longer applies. This boy has no defense, he committed treason, his attorneys must now keep him out of the death chamber.”
… actually he could very well have a defense: “I didn’t leak the documents and was just feeding some guy I was chatting with some BS about bringing in blank CDs disguised as Lady Gaga CDs to see if he’d believe it.” Whether such a defense works would, of course, depend on what evidence the government found after going though his computer, among other things. None of that has been released, so we can’t say for sure one way or the other, but assuming he could not possibly have a good defense is just that – an assumption without proof.
BTW, if others knew he was joking about how loose security was where he worked, someone else could have released the information, knowing that Manning had set himself up as the perfect fall guy – unless the prosecution can produce logs showing that Manning had set up a connection to someone at wikileaks or had made a CD with all the leaked information on it (as opposed to merely claiming that he made a CD).
Phil
In a civilian court, he’d never get a fair trial because of President Obama’s remarks. I forget exactly what happens in this case, whether the case against him is dismissed or whether a (panel of) judge(s) weigh his case.
But that’s the great thing about our military: they don’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us. (Did I say great? I meant not-great.)
Ian
@Pocket Otter: His lawyers are not “fabricating” a defense. He has defenses to be raised and the state must still prove its case. The factual history of this case, from the standpoint of the government’s post-arrest activity, is appalling and should horrify all Americans.
Ian
@I won’t grow up: ??? The question of his guilt “no longer applies”? WTF? In this country, one is presumed innocent until the state proves its case. Whether his conduct rises to the level of treason is arguable — but he still is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Pocket Otter
@Riker: If this is indeed the case, then his lawyers should have been more dilligent. If it gets dismissed on technicalities, then I hope the man goes into hiding for doing what he did, but I suspect he’ll become a hero of the Democrats and be popping up on all kinds of TV spots.
Riker
@Pocket Otter: I’m a Republican, and (if he actually did make the leak) he IS a hero. Governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. If the government is hiding all of this from us and operating on false pretenses, then how can we really give consent? Freedom isn’t free, and sometimes brave young men like Pfc. Manning have to pay a steep price for it.
Cam
@Pocket Otter: said…
“I hope the man goes into hiding for doing what he did, but I suspect he’ll become a hero of the Democrats and be popping up on all kinds of TV spots.”
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Sorry, the GOP does NOT get to pretend to be pro-American anymore. After the way they were fighting AGAINST helping the 911 first responders, after the way it turned out that Bush GOT RID of the Bin Ladin task force and it took Obama to hunt him down, after it turned out that the money we were sending to Pakistan was irrelevent to their helping the Taliban kill U.S. soldiers and Rice and our State Dept. KNEW it.
Sorry, but that AND the fact that when BP was dumping oil into our Gulf GOP officials were APOLOGIZING to THEM for our govt. demanding they clean up the mess.
Sorry, but they have become the most anti-American party imaginable.
I won't grow up
You guys are soooooooo predictable. You fell into my trap. It was too easy. MWAH-HA-HA !!
Riker
@Cam: Don’t forget how Secretary Clinton got caught in the cables spying on UN delegates, in a clear violation of the UN Charter (which we signed). Not just things like keeping tabs on the Iranian or Libyan delegates’ phonecalls, but following the French ambassador and collecting things like frequent flyer miles and bugging hotel rooms.
mike
@Riker and collecting their DNA, for the “__ __ A”
B
No. 14 · I won’t grow up wrpte, “You guys are soooooooo predictable. You fell into my trap. It was too easy. MWAH-HA-HA !!”
Well, that’s one way of trying to cover up the fact that someone made a fool of himself.
Interesting
The government’s case must weak to keep delaying so long.
RVH
@I won’t grow up: If truth is treason then we’re all in major trouble. You make me sick.