(Patrick Semansky / AP)
Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted into a courthouse June 5 at Fort Meade, Md.
June 3 marked day one of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s long-awaited court martial for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks.
Manning has already agreed to plead guilty to several charges on his sheet — just not aiding the enemy. The others carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, while treason could land him in prison for life.
In order for prosecutors to make a case that Manning aided the enemy, they have to prove that he knew the documents he leaked might end up in al-Qaida’s hands.
In the first three days of testimony this week, prosecutors rehashed Manning’s military service, detailing his time at Advanced Individual Training for military intelligence at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. There, apparently, he was an attentive, involved student, almost to a fault.
“At times, it was difficult to continue the lesson because he was always, ‘Why is that? What if?'” instructor Troy Moul testified.
The prosecution painted a very detailed picture of Manning’s depth of operational security knowledge, from his Army training to his months on the job in Iraq.
The defense, in turn, tried to show that although Manning knew that what he was doing was illegal, he never had any intention of aiding the enemy. He leaked the documents, they said, to expose the American government’s questionable actions during the War on Terror.
They brought in Adrian Lamo, a hacker whom Manning met online and who eventually turned him in. Lamo confirmed that Manning never mentioned wishing the U.S. harm as a result of his actions.
“At any time, did Pfc. Manning ever say he wanted to help the enemy?” defense attorney David Coombs asked.
“Not in those words, no,” Lamo replied.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday.
This is the first installment of an multi-part feature we’ll be running this summer, with updates on the Manning court-martial as it progresses, for as long as it lasts. Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates.
3 Comments
If he didn’t know then how the hell did he qualify to have access to classified information? Maybe he should be the next head of the IRS, SecState or Attorney General…
What do you think? How about you report on the so-called workplace violence of Major Hasan admitting in court that he killed our Soldiers to “aid the enemy” while this administration continues with their BS narratives and protection of Muslim extremist all the while demonstrating an unpresidented targeting of our own intellegigence operatives, U.S. citizens and willful release of classified information on the SEAL 6 mission resulting in the death of over 20 SEAL’s who participated in the raid that killed OBL? SHAME ON YOU ASSociated Press and SHAME ON YOU ARMY TIMES for your biased, liberal propaganda!…
http://beforeitsnews.com/war-on-terror/2013/05/25-dead-seals-from-seal-team-4″-commanding-officer-best-known-for-finding-then-killing-osama-bin-laden-commits-suicide-2443756.html
Manning knew what he was doing would be treason and should receive the death penalty, no deal, that’s the cowards way out. He knew he did not have the authority to remove or release classified documents. Once he put them on disc and handed them to an individual that was not authorized to receive them, he then became a spy and now can be executed and so can the other guy. Manning needs to made an example for this to be stopped. Our national security and our safety of our people is at stake. We have been to lucky to many times and our time is due to run out and it’s is just a matter of time when we will miss someone and what will we say then when hundreds of people are injured or killed? The BULLSHIT stops now Manning must DIE. Look what they did to the Rosenbergs, Manning was lucky that none of our soldiers was known to have died. Gay, Straight, or Disturbed, He dies!