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Pfc Bradley Manning faces 22 new charges leveled by the Defense Department today, including a capital offense of “aiding the enemy” which carries the death penalty.
Following an intensive seven-month investigation, the Army on Wednesday filed 22 additional charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks, military officials tell NBC News.
The most serious of the new charges is “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense which carries a potential death sentence.
The sentencing recommendation is life in prison, but that could be increased to death by the judge. And, as previously, no “direct link” has been made between Wikileaks/Assange and Bradley Manning:
While conviction on the charge of “aiding the enemy” could result in the death penalty, military prosecutors recommended that he be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on that charge alone. But the presiding military judge would have the authority to dismiss the prosecution’s recommendation and impose the death penalty.
Like the earlier charges, the charges made no specific mention of WikiLeaks.
Pentagon and military officials also report that investigators have made no direct link between Manning and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Bradley Manning’s harsh detention continues to this day:
Coombs, Manning’s lawyer, has complained
that his confinement conditions — in
maximum custody under a “prevention of i
njury” watch — are unduly harsh and
undermine his right to a fair trial. Manning has
been confined in a 6-by-12-foot cell with a
bed, a drinking fountain and a toilet for about
23 hours a day, Coombs has said.Anti-war groups, a psychologist group as well
as filmmaker Michael Moore and Pentagon
Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg have
called for Bradley to be released from
detention. Amnesty International and other
human rights organizations have condemned
the Obama administration’s imprisonment
conditions.
16 Comments
Response from Bradley Manning’s attorney:
Additional Charges
Over the past few weeks, the defense has been preparing for the possiblity of additional charges in this case. The decision to prefer charges is an individual one by PFC Manning’s commander. The nature of the charges and the number of specifications under each reflects his determination, in consultation with his Staff Judge Advocate’s office, of the possible offenses in this case. Ultimately, the Article 32 Investigating Officer will determine which, if any, of these additional charges and specifications should be referred to a court-martial.
here: http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2011/03/additional-charges.html
obama is more afraid of the tea party than he is interested in doing the correct thing in this instance. As in all of the other situations, he has precapitulated. When you have no real principles other than self advancement, you can’t do what’s right because you really don’t know; you’re really a moral imbecile.
Problem is Obama has no fear of us on the left.
BearCountry, I don’t believe the Great betrayer is capitulating to anyone.
He believes that what he is doing to Manning *is* the correct thing.
Underneath the skills of self-advancement are the very real principles of a corporatist neocon.
We voted for change and got a younger, browner, Cheney.
Facing death for embarrassing a corrupt government while the real criminals go free.
Aarrrgh! Fuck Obama and the USG.
You can bet he’s counting on winning in 2012 by a combination of fence-mending and “OMG, those crazy Republicans”.
It will probably work on the majority of self-described Dems. I’m hoping that self-described Independents won’t be so gullible.
Although I’m voting third party, I’m to the point I’d rather see a Repub in the WH rather than Obama. The Dems would at least offer token resistance to a Repub.
“Facing death for embarrassing a corrupt government while the real criminals go free.”
It’s beyond belief.
So much for intervention by Kerry or Kucinich …
Did you really think that Kerry responding that he would look into it was anything other than the stock response of another political hack? No insult intended, but pleez! And Manning is not even on Barry’s radar screen, that’s beneath his pay grade. What a sorry bunch of cowards run the military today; they are using the Jose Padilla plan on Manning, drive him crazy to ensure a conviction. As an Army vet, I harbored the illusion for years that it was an institution still worthy of respect, but since Dubya and now his hand-picked successor Obama, the Army is run by a cabal of cowardly, moral midgets! (No offense to the vertically challenged intended.)
I wish they would tell us who ‘the Enemy’ Manning allegedly aided is.
Even if they believe that all the Wikileaks and Wikicables were provided by Manning, they would have to mean the ‘Enemy’ is all those around the globe that heard the truth and made it appoint to fight back against their Opressors, like the Egyptians, the Palestinians (in their case their ‘faux-friends and faux-leaders).
Or the ‘Enemy’ is the American people who are sick of our nation waging war illegally and immorally, supporting Bad Guy Leaders in the name of resource control and weapons sales, killing us, killing innocents, breaking our Treasury, and making us less safe as a nation.
There are likely some possibilities I left out, but y’all can add them in your minds.
Dumbass.
Fucking with the national security mafia gets you killed.
Turning three Arab countries to democracy and eliminating Gaddafi ???
Between Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Wikileaks Assange/Manning that is one helluva run for the values that turned 13 “British America” colonies into the United States of America.
Painting Manning as anything but a major asset for democracy ??? Tough sell.
Yeah, the U.S. population is the enemy. The war is to maintain message control and keep us too scared and disinformed to speak/think the truth.
Assange and Manning are great democratic left heroes.
GibberishIsNotEnuff.
I guess liberals are the enemy. You know, the kind who file those freedom of information requests, who believe in government transparency etc. That’s what it boils down to. This administration has determined that liberal principals (I.e. principals of freedom) must take a back seat to the war against global terrorism. The terrorists have officially won.
Problem is, if there are no constraints, then, the USG sees terrorists behind every bush, under every rock and in every voting booth.