Soldier charged with biggest leak of classified information in US
history to face 22 counts, including aiding the enemy
Associated Press
Saturday February 4 2012
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/04/bradley-manning-court-martial-wikileaks
A US army officer has ordered a court martial for Bradley Manning, the
soldier charged in the biggest leak of classified information in
American history.
Military district of Washington commander Major General Michael
Linnington referred all charges against Manning to a general court
martial on Friday, the army said in a statement.
The referral means Manning, 24, will stand trial for allegedly giving
more than 700,000 secret US documents and a classified combat video to
WikiLeaks for publication. He faces 22 counts, including aiding the
enemy, and could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.
A judge yet to be appointed will set the trial date.
Defence lawyers say Manning was clearly a troubled young soldier whom
the army should never have deployed to Iraq or given access to
classified material while he was stationed there from late 2009 to
mid-2010.
At a preliminary hearing in December, military prosecutors produced
evidence that Manning downloaded and electronically transferred to
WikiLeaks nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports from
Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, and
video of a 2007 army helicopter attack that WikiLeaks dubbed
"Collateral Murder".
Manning's lawyers countered that others had access to his workplace's
computers. They say he was in emotional turmoil, partly because he was
a gay soldier at a time when homosexuals were barred from serving
openly in the US armed forces. The defence also claims Manning's
apparent disregard for security rules during training in the US and
his increasingly violent outbursts after deployment were red flags
that should have prevented him from having been given access to
classified material. Manning's lawyers also contend that the material
WikiLeaks published did little or no harm to national security.
In the December hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland, prosecutors also
presented excerpts of online chats found on Manning's personal
computer that allegedly document collaboration between him and the
founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.
Federal prosecutors in northern Virginia are investigating Assange and
others for allegedly facilitating the disclosures.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012
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