Three years after his arrest in Iraq for allegedly causing the US’ worst-ever national security breach, US Army Private Bradley Manning finally goes on trial today over his disclosures to WikiLeaks.
Manning, who faces a possible 154-year jail sentence, has offered to plead guilty to several offenses, but he denies prosecutors’ most serious charge — that he knowingly aided the enemy, chiefly al-Qaeda and former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
The trial follows an exhaustive series of preliminary hearings that outlined the government’s case against Manning, 25, over leaks of diplomatic cables and war logs that caused huge embarrassment to the US and its allies.
Photo: Reuters
The soldier’s supporters say that his actions shone a light in the darkest corners of the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as exposing the reasoning behind US foreign-policy decisions.
However, his opponents contend that he is a traitor whose behavior wantonly endangered the lives of people around the world, including US citizens.
The lengthy nature of the case against Manning — he was arrested in May 2010 while serving as a military intelligence analyst near Baghdad — has revolved around the complexity of the charges he faces and his treatment in custody.
His legal defense team successfully argued that he had been subject to unduly harsh detention methods from US military personnel and, consequently, he will receive a 112-day reduction of any eventual jail sentence.
While the case has served as a cause celebre for civil liberties advocates in the US, the government contends that Manning’s actions helped the nation’s enemies in a political era defined by the threat posed by al-Qaeda.
It is that charge that Manning disputes, though the soldier admitted in testimony earlier this year, an unauthorized audio recording of which was later published online, that he did in fact pass a huge cache of files to WikiLeaks.
He said he did so to start a public debate, but the military judge hearing the case, Colonel Denise Lind, has warned that she will not allow Manning’s trial to turn into a wide-ranging forum on the rights or wrongs of US foreign policy.
Manning has offered to plead guilty to 10 offenses, including breaches of military discipline and good conduct, which could see him sentenced to 20 years under the courts-martial process at Fort Meade in Maryland.
However, he could face a maximum term of 154 years in jail if found guilty of the more serious charges, including that of “aiding the enemy.”
Part of the US government’s case against Manning asserts that bin Laden had asked an aide to retrieve documents from the Internet that the soldier had passed to WikiLeaks.
A Navy SEAL who participated in the May 2011 raid that killed bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan is expected to testify, as are dozens of other witnesses.
The trial also commences as US President Barack Obama’s administration faces criticism for its purported crackdown on whistleblowers and the press, including accessing journalists’ telephone and e-mail records as part of its probes into leaks.
Since taking office, Obama has invoked the Espionage Act, passed in 1917 to punish those who aid US enemies, six times — twice as often as all previous presidents combined.
Although dozens of reporters are covering the trial, which is expected to last 12 weeks, some evidence will be given behind closed doors for national security reasons.
Manning’s pre-trial proceedings were heavily criticized by media outlets for the government’s refusal to publish legal documents regarding the case, leading to allegations of unnecessary official secrecy.
The Bradley Manning Support Network said about 2,000 people attended a rally in honor of the accused soldier on Saturday outside Fort Meade.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion