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Home Front: WoT
Manning gets 35 years
2013-08-21
A military judge on Wednesday morning sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Manning, 25, was convicted last month of multiple charges, including violations of the Espionage Act for copying and disseminating the documents while serving as an intelligence analyst at a forward operating base in Iraq. He faced up to 90 years in prison.

According to the military, Manning is required to serve one-third of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.

The government had asked Judge Denise Lind, an Army colonel, to sentence Manning to 60 years. "There is value in deterrence, your honor; this court must send a message to any soldier contemplating stealing classified information," said Capt. Joe Morrow, a military prosecutor. "National security crimes that undermine the entire system must be taken seriously."

Defense lawyer David Coombs portrayed Manning as a well-intentioned but isolated soldier with gender identification issues, and he asked Lind to impose "a sentence that allows him to have a life."

"He cares about human life," said Coombs as the sentencing phase of the court-martial at Fort Meade ended last week. "His biggest crime was he cared about the loss of life he was seeing and was struggling with it."

Manning also addressed the court and apologized for his actions, saying he was "sorry that I hurt the United States."

Manning will receive a credit of 1,293 days for the time he has been confined prior to the sentence, including 112 days of credit for abusive treatment he was subjected to in the brig at the Quantico Marine Base.
What abusive treatment?
Manning transmitted the first documents to WikiLeaks in February 2010, sending what came to be known as the Iraq and Afghanistan "War Logs" -- field reports from across both theaters. Manning's lawyers said he had become disillusioned by what he was seeing in Iraq and hoped that the public release of the secret material would prompt greater public understanding of the wars.

Manning established a relationship online with a person who is thought to be Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. As their personal correspondence deepened, Manning continued to transmit more material, including assessments of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and an enormous cache of diplomatic cables. He also leaked a video that showed a U.S. Apache helicopter in Baghdad opening fire on a group of Iraqis, including two journalists and children, that the helicopter crew believed to be insurgents.

According to his lawyers, Manning became more and more stressed in Iraq, wrestling with his sexuality and the breakup of a relationship. At one point, in April 2010, he sent an e-mail to a superior with the subject line "My Problem" and a photo of himself wearing a blond wig and lipstick.

On May 7, Manning was found on the floor of a supply room with a knife at his feet. After some brief counseling, he was returned to his workstation. Later that same day, he struck a fellow soldier and was removed permanently from the secure environment where he worked.

Following these events, Manning boasted to hacker Adrian Lamo that he had been working with WikiLeaks. After engaging Manning for several days, Lamo informed Army investigators and the FBI about the breach of information and provided them with his chat logs with Manning. Manning was arrested in Iraq on May 27, 2010.

Legal proceedings against Manning began in December 2011 and, in February of this year, Manning pleaded guilty to 10 lesser included charges. The trial portion of the proceedings began June 3, and on July 30, Lind found Manning guilty of 20 of the 22 charges he faced.
Good.

Now jug Snowden.

Then tear apart military intelligence and NSA procedures and methods so that this doesn't happen again. How is it that low-level twerps like Manning and Snowden get such access? How is it that basic audit controls, firewalls, compartments, etc aren't there?

And most importantly, why hasn't there been any higher level accountability? Who is the general/admiral/Pentagon official relieved of command for this affair?

Finding Manning guilty was necessary. It's a good start. We have to finish the job by demanding accountability and responsibility all the way up.
Posted by:

#10  #3 the DemoLeft + aligned will support anything, everything, + of course nothing iff it results in perennial Budget, Debt-busting Big[ger] Govt.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-08-21 19:53  

#9  Simple as the difference in Has and Had, Grom. Just a Freudian.
Posted by: Skidmark   2013-08-21 18:16  

#8  "National security crimes that undermine the entire system must be taken seriously."

As I remember, the blinded Lady Liberty holds a balance AND the book of law. How does one plea bargain balanced equivalency so that Bradelina gets "a sentence that allows him to have a life."
 after putting the lives of so many others in real or potential risk?
Draconian, but let the crime fit the time, or end-of-time.
Posted by: Skidmark   2013-08-21 18:15  

#7  Oooops, I meant Hassan.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-08-21 14:37  

#6  Probably more than Haddad will get.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-08-21 14:00  

#5  Put him in general population at Leavenworth, problem solved.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2013-08-21 13:44  

#4  At one point, in April 2010, he sent an e-mail to a superior with the subject line "My Problem" and a photo of himself wearing a blond wig and lipstick.

Apparently cross-dressing is no longer a punishable offense under the UCMJ. Perhaps gender specific uniforms items are no longer applicable.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-08-21 13:10  

#3  The most disturbing thing about this sentence was that he could be released in 8 years for good behavior.

Defense lawyer David Coombs portrayed Manning as a well-intentioned but isolated soldier with gender identification issues

This is what p*sses me off: Gays can't have it both ways. Either they are identical to straights and can handle anything straights can or we gotta "go easy on him. He's gay!"

Either you can hold your end up or you can't, and Manning should never have been allowed near any secret communications.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2013-08-21 12:42  

#2  Manning will get a Jimmy Carter style pardon in a few years at the end of Obama's term.
Posted by: airandee   2013-08-21 11:59  

#1  With the Manning leaks already history there should have been no way for Snowden to repeat the process at the next gov't agency down the road, yet it happened. It happened even though Snowden gave significant clues to his intentions from his initial hiring. Can NSA really be THAT incompetent at protecting secrets? Or was Snowden's whole expose engineered from above? Could there be either some viral code in what he was carrying or some significant false information, intended to be received by foreign interests or to provide tracers of foreign communications that made the sacrifice and embarrassment of the NSA domestic spying program worthwhile?
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-08-21 11:27  

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