Bradley Manning acknowledges act of conscience

Bradley Manning acknowledges act of conscience Hundreds rally for Bradley at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Army PFC Bradley Manning, awaiting trial for allegedly sharing thousands of classified documents with the transparency website WikiLeaks, offered to accept responsibility for a narrow set of offenses within the currently charged offenses this week during a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland. “PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government,” noted PFC Manning’s attorney David Coombs on his blog. Nor is he “submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government.” “Like most supporters, I’ve backed Bradley Manning on the belief that he was the heroic whistle-blower in question,” explained Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “Now that Bradley appears to have acknowledged this in court, its reason to redouble efforts to support him leading up to his February court martial.” If Bradley’s plea offer is accepted, the parties would likely be able to bypass weeks of forensics testimony that would be required to prove Bradley accessed and/or transmitted the classified documents at issue. The court martial proceedings might then focus on what Mr. Coombs has long contended: That the release of these documents brought little to no harm to U.S. national security, and that PFC Manning’s motives, if he did release them, were to expose crime, fraud, corporate malfeasance, and abuse. Read more... Take action November 27th - December 3rd November 27-December 2, 2012, Bradley Manning's defense will be facing off with the military prosecution in Ft. Meade to argue that all charges be dismissed because of "unlawful pretrial punishment". At this extremely important hearing, Bradley's lawyer David Coombs will focus on the abuse Bradley endured in Quantico, VA, which was declared by UN Chief Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez to be "cruel, inhuman and degrading." We are calling for rallies at local military recruiting offices and U.S. embassies during this hearing. Go here to learn more. Following the hearing, on December 3, at 7pm EST, defense lawyer David Coombs will make his first ever public appearance to provide an overview of pending defense motions before the court and other facts regarding U.S. v. Manning. This event, taking place at All Soul's Church in Washington DC, will also be live-streamed atbradleymanning.org We ask that you consider organizing a group viewing of the presentation. Go here to register, if you wish to host a public event. Donate now to the Bradley Manning defense fund. For more information about the defense fund click here. Report from the courtroom At this week’s motions hearing for Bradley Manning, the government called three witnesses to the stand to testify regarding the defense’s motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial. On Wednesday, Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, Investigating Officer for Manning’s Article 32 pretrial hearing, explained why he excluded several days in December 2011 from Manning’s speedy trial clock – some were federal holidays, he took his son to a swim meet one weekend, and for the others he simply went to work at his civilian job for the Department of Justice instead. Almanza also said he would’ve accepted witness testimony regarding the classification of documents, which would have obviated the long wait for Original Classification Authorities to submit their reviews. Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, at right, as I.O. of Bradley's pretrial hearing in December 2011. (Sketch by William J. Hennessy Jr.) Bert Haggett, information security official for the Army, testified to explain the classification review process and his role in handling documents in Manning’s case. Haggett examined classified documents and determined to which government agencies to refer them for review. He tried to justify the extremely long review process, saying that it could take upwards of a full year. Also of interest Wednesday was the briefly mentioned plea offering that Manning has submitted. Manning is offering a plea by exceptions and submissions to lesser-included offenses (notably, he’s not pleading to anything the government is charging him with). The court will rule on whether to accept these as lesser-included offenses, and what the maximum punishments are for several offenses. This plea offering isn’t legally binding: if the court rejects the offer, Manning can withdraw it without conceding guilt. On his blog, defense lawyer David Coombs announced that Manning has decided to be adjudicated by military judge Col. Denise Lind at trial, instead of a military jury. On Thursday, Col. Carl Coffman – Special Court Martial Convening Authority – testified all day about his approval and exclusion from the speedy trial clock of the government’s many pre-arraignment delays. Coffman revealed that he made almost no effort whatsoever to expedite the classification process, relying solely on vague updates from the prosecution and signing off on government-written approval memos with little consideration for Manning’s right to a speedy trial. Bradley will return to court November 27-December 2 to resume portions of the speedy trial litigation and to litigate the Article 13 motion to dismiss for unlawful pretrial punishment. The remainder of the speedy trial motion will conclude December 10-14, at Ft. Meade. Notes from day 1. Notes from day 2.

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