Bradley Manning (WikiLeaks Source) Given Hearing After 2 Years In Jail

TrueSatan writes "Finally, Bradley Manning's military court case starts. He's only had to wait 2 years to be heard. Manning claims that while remanded in custody in Iraq he 'passed out due to the heat' and 'contemplated suicide.' The United Nations special rapporteur on torture found Manning's detention was 'cruel and inhuman.' Manning wants the case against him to be dismissed because his pre-trial punishment was so severe. Manning's attorney, David Coombs, earlier released an 11-page letter detailing the conditions of Manning's confinement. Manning offered guilty pleas to minor charges, but not to spying, aiding American enemies or treason, and those pleas have been accepted by the judge."

Comments

Who cares

[jasper160]

He had a security clearance and knew what would happen if he violated it.

Re:Who cares

[ScentCone]

people who are innocent until proven guilty

Right! All people are the same, all circumstances are the same. All levels of trust and betrayal and consequence and risk are the same everyplace, all the time. Nobody should be held or in any way ever inconvenienced no matter what they've been caught red-handed doing, or what is placed at risk for doing so. Military personnel trusted with secure information who spitefully spew hundreds of thousands of documents into the hands of people who would otherwise have to conduct major espionage campaigns to get the same information - people who do that and conspire with web site operators to arrange for the illegal transfer and storage of classified material ... yeah, they should be treated just like a 12 year old shoplifter caught stealing gum, or someone who parks in a handicap spot at the mall.

Did he know he would be held for two years without trial?

What does it matter? He knew that he did it, and that he was guilty of doing it the moment he decided to do it. That means the end of his life, or at least spending the entire rest of it in prison for his vain drama-queen treachery. How long he sits in one cell or another during various phases of the entire rest of his life, which he knowingly wrote off in a fit of pique because he wished he hadn't taken the job in the first place ... it really doesn't matter. He wrote off the rest of his life the minute he worked with Assange's operation to find a place to park and disseminate all of that random sensitive data. Yes, he knew. He knew the big picture (life in prison, at least) - which makes the little stuff, like in which order he sat in which cell while his lawyers and the prosecutors examine the circumstances and consequences of his publishing many thousands of documents. He didn't still a truck from the motor pool, or get in a bar fight. He ripped off a mountain of data, causing trails into thousands of different directions. For a trial, it's all of those directions that will come up, not just one act. Two years is short, for that.

Re:... likely outcome

[characterZer0]

I would be extremely surprised if he gets anything less than life. He, presumably, did what he thought was right, and the government is torturing him for it. They made sure he would be a liability if he ever got out.

Re:... likely outcome

[Lumpy]

Dude it's military, they can have him shot. They dont have to play by the rules of civillian life.

Re:This is truly a difficult situation

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw that video, and I am not buying it. It was pretty clearly wanton murder to me. If the current laws don't call that murder, then the laws are wrong.

Re:... likely outcome

[TheCarp]

> You're conflating two different issues. One is whether the conditions of his confinement were
> acceptable or appropriate, the other is whether he did something sufficiently inappropriate as to be
> considered treason.

He did agree to fight in a clearly unjustified war.....thats pretty treasonous in my book. Those releases were the only positive thing he did for the people of this country, which is who his allegiance is supposed to be to, above and beyond the leadership.