Pfc. Bradley Manning’s attorney David Coombs is pressing for a dismissal of the case against him today, arguing that the prosecution had botched handover of documents in such a “hopeless” manner that the trial could not continue.
The prosecutors appeared to confirm the botching, saying that they had installed a spam filter that filtered out references to WikiLeaks in any email, an odd choice since the case centers around Manning’s alleged role in WikiLeaks leaks. The filter was apparently common on federal computers, supposed to prevent anything related to the cables from getting to government employees.
It is just the latest in a long line of failures in the handling of Manning, who has been in custody for over two years pending charges. The Army prosecutors today accused Manning of having assisted al-Qaeda.
Which is also an odd choice, since the military and the Obama Administration have repeatedly downplayed the significance of the leaks, and indeed the defense case centers in part around statements that there was no harm at all done by the leaks.
A good method of American Values is to compare your treatment of Bradley Manning, an man who has never killed anyone but only exposed the killing done by others, to your treatment of the murderer of nine children and six civilian adults in Afghanistan earlier this week – or your treatment of the butchers of Haditha, or those who shot up wedding parties or from helicopters killed children gathering firewood.
Bradley Manning has been tortured, and will probably get life imprisonment, if not the death penalty. The murderers will get a slap on the wrist or promotion.
Regards, Alex
The Army is just stalling – hoping that Manning goes insane…or they find someone, anyone who can lend some credibility to the Army's case. Both NATO and the Pentagon have stated that no one was injured from the release of the information. Perhaps the Army didn't get the memo?
Everyone is THE terrorist in US or where US can think of, where US government sees fit to call the one terrorist cooperating with the other and calling it the implementing of democracy. For the sakes of mankind, US and EU negotiating with Taliban and Al Qaeda the MEK and Islamism feudalism in Libya and Syria, they have a direct relation with Saudis and UAE feudalist tyrants , now this man is named as 'Assisting al-Qaeda’, what about those US senators whom are making deals in Libya or elsewhere, how would you mark them; as economic adviser to Taliban and or Al Qaeda or regimes as such?
The US thought it would have Assange by now! Those Bloody British and their legal system.
The Angst & Fear hormones of cows in your animal-torture . . ahem, factory farms don't go away when processed into food. Thus your whole system seems to have gotten so much more agressive and blown up the last decades. Ye military all talk as if they eat nothing but burgers. Poor hero Manning. To be the only one with sense amidst such a crowd!
Get well soon. Best wishes from Europe.
Isn't Europe the home of mad-cow disease? Peace.