Bradley Manning, the 24 year old United States soldier who leaked confidential diplomatic and military cables to WikiLeaks last year, will be arraigned on February 23rd according to the military. Manning faces a long list of charges including aiding the enemy. If convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Since you are officially a publisher and therefore liable to legal action for slander and/or libel, you should get used to the idea of putting “allegedly” in stories like this. Even if the person admits the crime before the trial, until the court makes a ruling, you are open to legal action.
Just preparing the ground for when your government gets it’s censorship laws passed…
Manning, who absolutely unambiguously beyond any sort of reasonable doubt from which a half-way rationale person could conceive (i.e., “un-allegedly”) leaked classified documents, is going to have an interesting trial. Right now his defense’s biggest argument was that he was mentally unfit to be trusted in that position to begin with, which no one in the military has been giving much credence to.
All-in-all, I think he’s screwed. The reports he released had things like confidential informant’s names in them. Letting your adversaries know who’s ratting them out could definitely be considered “aiding” them, and “aiding and abetting the enemy” is amongst the worst things you can be charged with in the military.
The kid is honestly lucky he isn’t going to be hanged or shot.
Jefferson once shot a man for treason on the White House lawn and then let him lie there bleeding to death for ten hours.
Interestingly, Wikipedia says the US military hasn’t actually executed anyone since 1961. All the executions during the ’50s and 60′s were for something involving murder. At any rate, life in prison without parole would still suck a lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_military
That’s exactly what I was thinking, and I’ll bet the maximum penalty does involve a firing squad, cuz wouldn’t that technically be treason? (If he’s guilty)
Also that is because Thomas Jefferson was a fucking boss.
Just so you know, by writing a comment on this story, you are also liable for prosecution. Libel law encompasses anyone publishing allegations of this nature (which until proven in court are still allegations, regardless of the level of evidence) which means that you too can be tried in court and given a criminal record as well as jail time.
Don’t think you’ll get away with it if you don’t live in America, all members of the UN are subject to libel law as are it’s citizens.
Again, just paving the way for the censorship laws being forced through the courts surreptitiously by various organisations at the moment. it’s important that you know what offences you are committing (You’re committing them already, but soon you’ll be prosecuted for them).
Keep on rocking in the free world!
Life in prison would be better then what he’s got now. 24/7 solitary confindement.
But I wish he would walk free because he’s a fucking hero who has a conscious and actted on his beliefs for the benifit of everyone knowing full well what was coming for him.
sorry pal, when you sign up to be in the military you give up your right to be an individual thus you making the choice to leak info like this doesnt make you a hero. it just means your an idiot who doesnt see the big picture. im sure he thought he was doing the right thing, but it really wasnt. it set a dangerous precedent for his fellow service members and also put lives in danger.
and oh yeah, what a revelation…the US was torturing people and breaking international laws!? we would have never known without him!…er oh wait we already had a pretty good idea.
Same point of view terrorists have dude.
Just because you agree with the actions, doesn’t make them justified
Oh, I assure you, he’s no hero. Yes, it took moral courage to do what he allegedly did, however, it very likely got people killed, people that we had promised to protect. Not only did it probably get some of these people killed, it also led to fewer people stepping forward to aid our soldiers against terrorism. He was unhappy with his station in life, and wikilinks promised him notoriety and accolades. Now, had he information about atrocities, genocide, where there were no other means of reprisal, fuck yes he would have been a hero. Alas, he is not, we was simply manipulated by someone he admired.
He had balls, he didn’t have the brains.
if he had any brains he would have done what the dude who leaked the pentagon papers did…find a sympathetic congressman/senator to read it aloud/enter it into record during a session of congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_papers#Leak
“Article I, Section 6 of the United States Constitution provides that “for any Speech or Debate in either House, [a Senator or Representative] shall not be questioned in any other Place”, thus the Senator could not be prosecuted for anything said on the Senate floor, and, by extension, for anything entered to the Congressional Record, allowing the Papers to be publicly read without threat of a treason trial and conviction. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in the decision Gravel v. United States.”