Parts of Bradley Manning trial to be closed to public

[struggle4progress]

Source: Washington Post

By Julie Tate, Tuesday, May 21, 4:51 PM

... Army Col. Denise Lind, the judge in the case, ruled that two dozen witnesses will be able to provide at least some of their testimony in closed session ...

Prosecutors said Tuesday that they had agreed not to pursue a charge that Manning had violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, reducing any prison sentence he faces by eight years if he is found guilty on other counts. Prosecutors did not provide a reason for their shift, and it was unclear why the charge was dropped ...

Manning’s defense team had sought to block extensive testimony from witnesses concerning any damage caused by the release. Lind disagreed on Tuesday, ruling that prosecutors could call witnesses to provide context and evidence of the damage. She said, however, that she would limit that part of the trial so as not to have the case “devolve into many trials regarding international politics in many regions of the world” ...



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/parts-of-bradley-manning-trial-to-be-closed-to-public/2013/05/21/514f373e-c239-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Deal on bin Laden evidence in WikiLeaks case

Source: United States News
Originally published: May 21, 2013 - 2:49 pm

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) - Lawyers in the court-martial of an Army private who sent more than 700,000 classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks said Tuesday they have reached a deal that may eliminate the need for testimony from a member of the military team that killed Osama bin Laden. Prosecutors also agreed to accept Pfc. Bradley Manning's guilty plea to a lesser version of one of the 22 counts he faces.

Under the agreement, both the prosecution and defense teams would acknowledge at Manning's trial next month that there is digital evidence indicating bin Laden saw some of the material Manning released. The raid team member, presumably a Navy SEAL, was expected to testify that the evidence was recovered during a May 2011 raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan ...

Earlier in the hearing, Army Maj. Ashden Fein told Lind that prosecutors had changed their minds about trying to convict Manning of violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in connection with the release of a State Department cable known as Reykjavik-13. WilkiLeaks posted the cable in early 2010 about a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, summarizing U.S. Embassy discussions with Icelandic officials about the country's financial troubles.

Manning has acknowledged sending the cable to WikiLeaks after he found it on a secure government computer network while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. According to his courtroom confession on Feb. 28, Manning believed the cable indicated the United States was refusing to help the Icelandic government "due to the lack of long-term geopolitical benefit" ...

http://ktar.com/23/1488501/Deal-on-bin-Laden-evidence-in-WikiLeaks-case

[msanthrope]

4. That's a smart move by the defense--to stipulate to that. Having a member of Seal Team 6

testify against you isn't going to do wonders for your case.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2879807

[Thor_MN]

6. And this matters why?

bin Laden wasn't in a cave, he probably had internet access.

[telclaven]

7. Actually he didn't

He had a courier access the internet at various points, download information to a flash drive, and bring them to bin Laden. He wasn't a fool, he knew digital footprints would lead straight to him. Using sneakernet kept him off the grid.

[Thor_MN]

8. You just proved my point.

He had access to the internet, via the courier you describe. He had access to videos of kittens falling asleep, if he wanted. I fail to see how the boogeyman being able to access info on the internet has any bearing on how that information got to be on the internet.

>You< had access to it!!! Does that make a lick of difference in Manning's trial?

[struggle4progress]

9. The prosecution's theory of the UCMJ 104 charge might be something along the following lines:

a UCMJ 104 charge does not require direct communication with the enemy; it requires a deliberate overt act by the accused, which any reasonable person would have known would likely result in the delivery of factual intelligence to the enemy; and deliberately dumping hundreds of thousands of pages of unredacted restricted documents into the hands of a foreign national, whom the defendant had never met and who had a history of making material widely available, is an act which any reasonable person would have known would likely result in the delivery of factual intelligence to the enemy

To avoid claims that this is mere empty theorizing, the prosecutor could call witnesses detailing the fact that enemies of the US were, in fact, very interested in the material

The defense, meanwhile, has wanted to argue: it's much ado about nothing! he did no real harm! The prosecutor's willingness to call such witnesses would undermine defense claims, so the defense might have stipulated to avoid the headache of preparing for such witnesses

[struggle4progress]

2. Bradley Manning prosecutors seek to prove WikiLeaks suspect 'aided enemy'

Military lawyers tell last hearing before trial they have dropped one of 22 counts but will still press most serious accusation
Ed Pilkington in Fort Meade
Tuesday 21 May 2013 14.43 EDT

... Military lawyers told Manning's final pre-trial hearing that they would no longer seek to prove the US soldier was guilty of leaking a single state department cable, known as "Reykjavik-13". The cable, which relates to the Icelandic financial crisis, was the first of a massive stash of diplomatic cables leaked by Manning to be published by WikiLeaks, on 18 February 2010 ...

It is not clear why government lawyers opted to remove the Reykjavik-13 count, though in the wider picture the move is of limited significance ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/21/bradley-manning-wikileaks-suspect-aided-enemy

[struggle4progress]

3. Wikileaks prosecutor accepts GI's guilty plea to 1 of 22 offenses

By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md.

Prosecutors say they will accept an Army private's guilty plea to a lesser version of one of the 22 counts he faces.

Maj. Ashden Fein said Tuesday that prosecutors had changed their minds about trying to convict Pfc. Bradley Manning with violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in connection with the release of a cable known as Reykjavik-13 ...

Fein did not give a reason for the change.

Manning pleaded guilty to a lesser version of the charge in February ...

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/apArticle/id/DA6DPP4G1/

[msanthrope]

5. They might take the pleas to the other 9 charges, leaving the 12 more serious charges

intact. It would speed up thing, hopefully.