• Support MPN
Logo Logo
  • Investigations
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Language
    • 中文
    • русский
    • Español
  • GAZA Fights Back
  • Support MPN
In this June 25, 2012 file photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WikiLeaks Trial: Prosecution Tries To Show That Manning Consciously ‘Aided The Enemy’

Follow Us

  • Rokfin
  • Telegram
  • Rumble
  • Odysee
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
(Photo/Sgt. Shawn Sales via Flickr)

(Photo/Sgt. Shawn Sales via Flickr)

Prosecutors in Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s court-martial are calling a strategic list of witnesses to try and prove that Manning was trained to handle sensitive information and deliberately defied orders to protect it.

Manning pleaded guilty in February to 10 charges relating to 700,000 documents leaked to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The US military and the Obama administration are now seeking a greater charge of aiding the enemy, which could carry a life sentence.

Manning admitted to sending the materials to WikiLeaks but maintains he did not believe the information would harm the US and his fellow soldiers.

The defense is focused on arguing that the young soldier never displayed any anti-American sentiment or any desire to harm the nation or its military.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, are calling a list of witnesses to testify that Manning was highly trained in how to handle intelligence and a whiz at computers.

Jihrleah Showman, an Army specialist who was Manning’s team leader, testified that Manning was known among his fellow soldiers as someone who could easily get around secret computer passwords to retrieve sensitive information.

“He indicated to me he was very fluent in computers, that he spoke their language, and that there was nothing he could not do on a computer,” she said.

On Tuesday, the court heard about an incident where Manning was disciplined for publishing a YouTube video for his family and friends where he disclosed what he was learning.

Manning’s unit supervisor, retired Sgt. 1st Class Brian Madrid, testified that he trained Manning to be come a 35 Fox, a category of army intelligence analyst with clearance to draw data from secret military databases.

Madrid testified that while Manning was a student he had to undergo “corrective training” as a punishment for releasing the YouTube video where he used the phrase “top secret”.

Manning was required to present a PowerPoint to other soldiers about the dangers of disclosing secret information.

“Use common sense, we have many enemies and have a free and open society,” the presentation said.

Manning, 25, was first arrested in Iraq three years ago on charges that he sent the classified material to the online anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The materials that Manning admitted to leaking to WikiLeaks included diplomatic cables, war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and video footage of a 2007 US helicopter attack that killed civilians Baghdad, reports the Baltimore Sun.

WikiLeaks has never confirmed nor denied Manning’s involvement in the leaked documents.

The information “has great value to our adversaries and in particular our enemies,” Army prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow said during the government’s opening argument at Fort Meade.

“This, your honor, this is a case about a soldier who systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of documents from classified databases and then dumped that information on to the Internet into the hands of the enemy,” Morrow said.

The Obama administration has said the more than 700,000 leaked documents put the US at risk and threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America’s relations abroad.

This article originally was published at Global Post.

Comments
June 5th, 2013
Kaitlin Funaro

What’s Hot

Most of the “Fact-Checking” Organizations Facebook Uses in Ukraine Are Directly Funded by Washington

National Security Search Engine: Google’s Ranks are Filled with CIA Agents

Watch the New MintPress News Documentary Film: Gaza Fights Back

Leaked Docs: Facebook ‘Bot’ Adviser Secretly in Pay of US Regime Change Agency

As US Refuses to Act, Suspected Alex Odeh Assassins Enjoy Influential Role in Israeli Politics

 
  • Contact Us
  • Archives
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
© 2022 MintPress News