Alleged Military Whistleblower Charged With Leaking Video of a US Attack on Civilians and Secret Documents
Tuesday 06 July 2010
by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report
A US Army intelligence analyst was charged on Monday with eight violations of federal criminal law for leaking confidential military documents and videos, including a 2007 video of US attack helicopter brutally murdering civilians and journalists in Baghdad that was leaked to controversial whistleblower site Wikileaks.com.
Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, allegedly transferred classified information onto his computer, abused access to a secret military information network and transferred the helicopter attack video and 50 classified cables to a third party, a violation of the US Espionage Act, according to www.Wired.com, one of the first sites to post Manning's charges.
The video shows a crosshairs view of an air strike that killed and injured several civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists. Wikileaks posted the video in April.
It remains unclear if armed insurgents were among the 12 victims of the air strike, as the Apache pilots believed.
Manning is also accused of abusing access to the government's Secret Internet Protocol Reuter network to obtain more than 150,000 US State Department cables, some of them classified, and passing 50 cables off to an unauthorized person, according to the charge sheet posted on Wired. The charges indicate that Manning leaked information in order to "discredit" the armed forces.
If convicted of all the charges, Manning could face around 50 years in prison. He his being held in Kuwait as the investigation continues.
Wired reported that Manning was allegedly consorting with a former hacker in order to make classified documents available to the public in order to reveal what he described as "almost criminal political back dealings."
The charges specifically mention one cable titled "Reykjavik 13," which Wikileaks posted in February. The cable details a meeting between members of the Icelandic government and the US embassy there.
A recent article in The New Yorker reveals that Reyjavik, Iceland was also the temporary home of a Wikileaks current operations hub: a small residence occupied by Australian-born journalist and ex-hacker (according to Wired) Julian Assange who has become the public face of the organization.
Wired reported that Manning was allegedly turned in by former hacker Adrian Lamo. Manning allegedly told Lamo, whom he met online, that he was leaking classified documents via Wikileaks.
Manning also said he gave Wikileaks 260,000 secret files detailing US foreign policy, but Assange had denied his organization received them.
Manning also admitted to Lamo that he leaked to Wikileaks a video of the notorious May 2009 air strike near Garani village in Afghanistan, which the local government said killed nearly 100 civilians, most of them children, according to Wired. Wikileaks announced earlier this month that it would release the video. The Pentagon made headlines last year when it owned up to the killings.
According to Wired, Manning allegedly told Lamo that there is a scandal to be revealed in every US post across the world.
“Hillary Clinton and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public,” Manning told Lamo in an online chat session.
Assange, who has been painted by the press as a tireless media activist attempting to increase the transparency of the world’s most powerful institutions, has arranged a legal team for Manning and requested that Lamo turn over copies of his online chats with Manning, according to Wired.
In March Wikileaks released a confidential report that revealed a US counterintelligence investigation into Wikileaks and a subsequent plan to undermine the project. The website also revealed that four Republicans in Congress recently asked Homeland Security how the government can take legal action against Wikileaks.
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Comments
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This war hero should be
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 14:51 — Vic Anderson (not verified)This war hero should be Being COMMENDED, instead! And the star-crossed, child-slaughtering dupes charged, prosecuted and convicted with the Obvious EVIDENCE for WAR CRIMES (as should Obummer for Obstructing JUSTICE in at least this case)!
An attack on civilians is
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 15:49 — Anonymous (not verified)An attack on civilians is horrible. Bradley Manning, you are justified for exposing the morally corrupt in our armed forces. They must be eliminated because in reality they destroy us.
I hope and wish you will not be in jail for the rest of your life. You deserve a hero's parade. Discredit the armed forces? -They do that to themselves. It seems like it's happening all the time. I've read too much, and I know it's only a snippet. This explains some of why so many soldiers come back and kill themselves. They can't live with themselves for what they've done.
How many such attacks have
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 16:42 — Anonymous (not verified)How many such attacks have occurred and been covered up? And these cold, vicious bastards will return to the states and expect a parade and hero's welcome? We murdered civilians and murdered a country--for what? The man who leaked this is the hero, the one with courage and honor. If he is prosecuted, and the shooters are not, then we are upside down. And the entire world--and karma--are watching.
This soldier is a true
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 16:56 — Bill O'Rights (not verified)This soldier is a true patriot. His treatment is a case in point of just how corrupt our government is - and I'm not just talking about the 'Pubs, either. There is a group called Oathkeepers who are military and police, who have declared that they will not follow orders that violate the Constitution - domestically or abroad. They deserve our attention and support. It is incredibly difficult to face what they face and stand up for what is right and good in the surreal environment that has been created in the name of 'fighting terrorism'.
This is an example of a
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 17:45 — Anonymous (not verified)This is an example of a soldier following his conscience. The U.S. military is not served by what they are doing to this soldier. The truth must be hard to face, but the military would be better served if it was allowed to go to the U.S. public.
The Nurenberg Trials and Principles established that a soldier cannot participate in the illegal murder of civilians. Furthermore, that it is no excuse to say that they were "just following orders".
Nothin' like the truth to
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 18:52 — peter white, albion, california (not verified)Nothin' like the truth to get in the way of a good story! Can't wait (for all supporters of our ongoing smack-down of Iraq and Afghanistan) to see this Baghdad piece AND "video of the notorious May 2009 air strike near Garani village in Afghanistan, which the local government said killed nearly 100 civilians, most of them children, according to Wired. Wikileaks announced earlier this month that it would release the video. The Pentagon made headlines last year when it owned up to the killings." So sure the sand-box- bully- big-kids just plain ol' don't like this kind of publicity, it takes all the fun out of (our nice little) war(s), don't it? Mr. Manning may be locked up in some senses of the word (it ain't braggin' if you did it!) AND thank goodness someone shared photos of the Emperor's ugly underbelly without all its well described and very, very, very, costly fictional clothes - that we have been carefully, very carefully kept from getting an unvarnished, DOD (accurate? true? irrefutable?) video-ed look at.
Again, we are going after
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 19:12 — AngryMan (not verified)Again, we are going after the whistleblower and not the perpetrator! The crime is not blowing the whistle ... the crime at-hand is that people (on our side) got killed. We are so preoccupied with how things look rather than how things work (or fail to work) it makes me puke.
This soldier IS the kind I fully support. When I see a "Support the Troops" bumper sticker, this is the kind of guy I think of. Thank heaven for people like him and shame on those whose only interest is in punishing those who demonstrate the emperor has no clothes. Obama has been such a disappointment. He is the commander. He should promote this man instead of standing aside while he is railroaded.
Churchill said it best: "The
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 19:51 — Anonymous (not verified)Churchill said it best: "The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is." This video shows and tells the truth about that gunship crew and their controllers. Individuals who disgraced every soul who ever wore an American uniform. They should be criminally prosecuted. And we should give Iraq back to the people of Iraq.
If this soldier gets locked
Wed, 07/07/2010 - 00:37 — Anonymous (not verified)If this soldier gets locked up for doing his duty by exposing a corrupt and truly dangerous culture in our armed forces, then we have failed yet once more to protect and maintain our democracy.
Wake up, America. Wake up! There is no more time for the Snooze button.
Hold this soldier up as a shining example of what it takes to keep government (especially this one, largely run by its bloated military) just a little bit afraid of We the People.
If you let them rip him apart with their legal attack dogs, who will blow the whistle when they decide to come with that Apache to your neighborhood?
Sounded and looked like the
Wed, 07/07/2010 - 09:50 — Anonymous (not verified)Sounded and looked like the Apache crew really thought they had valid targets. Quality of photos and poor intelligence contribute to the killings. Bad enough to kill innocents, but the criminal act of trying to hide it is equally repugnant. With all of the BILLIONS of dollars spent on destruction, it would have been easier to give every Iraqi and Afghan (terrorist or peaceful citizen) a half million dollars to stay in their own country and leave us alone.
We will likely never know
Wed, 07/07/2010 - 14:08 — Elizabeth (not verified)We will likely never know what actually happened here. Adrian Lamos, an expert hacker and man of questionable character, could have easily altered Manning’s correspondence, if indeed said correspondences ever actually occurred. The capabilities of altering evidence have made the ability to discern truth ever more byzantine.
What we do know is that “Collateral Murder” shows the brazen murder of civilians, and we do know the governmental and military response to this video: no apology, no denial of its veracity, and no outrage, unless you count the outrage against this young man and Wikileaks for betraying “secrets.” How the outright murder of civilians and journalists can be excused as a state secret worthy of protection is beyond any reckoning in a sane world.
The bone-chilling barbarity of our military, defended by our government, is revealed in this story. The United States has become a terrorist state, indifferent to ethics or even its own Constitution. When I mentioned as much to an old friend—a friend of over 30 years, who would define himself as a progressive—he hung up on me, and told me the next day that he never wants to talk to me again. These days, it’s becoming harder and harder to find anyone who has any regard for justice.
Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984 were not written as entertaining fantasies.
Glenn Greenwald’s investigation into the case for Salon is informative:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/18/wikileaks
Seig Heil Amerika.
Thu, 07/08/2010 - 01:39 — Bedford Forrest (not verified)Seig Heil Amerika.
Bradley Manning could face a
Thu, 07/08/2010 - 03:13 — Anonymous (not verified)Bradley Manning could face a long jail sentence for his courage, & deserves public support by lobbying & sending him letters of solidarity.