(Reuters) - A military judge is due to announce her verdict on Tuesday in the case of U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, who faces life in prison without parole if found guilty of aiding the enemy in releasing 700,000 classified documents, including battlefield reports, to the website WikiLeaks.
Army Private First Class Manning, 25, is accused of the largest leak of classified information in United States history. The U.S. government has pushed for the maximum penalty for what it views as a serious breach of national security, while anti-secrecy activists have praised the action as shining a light on shadowy U.S. operations abroad.
Does anybody doubt that Manning will get convicted? I certainly don't. I expect him to get something less than life in prison without parole, but not by much. He will spend at least the next 20 years in prison, IMO.
Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
Okay, he was acquitted of the most serious charge (Aiding the Enemy), but convicted of other charges. He had already pleaded guilty to some charges that could give him up to 20 years in prison. Now he has these convictions that came down today.
My guess he will get more than 20 years sentence, but serve a little less than that in the long run.
Comparing Manning and Snowden, please correct me if I am wrong here, but my memory of Manning's breach also outed the names of agents and citizens of the Middle East that were "friends" of the U.S. The release of names was unconscionable. I think people died because of that.
So, in my mind at least, Manning was the more reckless and evil of the two.
Judge Colonel Denise Lind sentenced the 25-year-old former low-level intelligence analyst to less time behind bars than the 60 years military prosecutors had sought, and said Manning could be eligible for parole in about a decade, after serving one-third of his prison term.
Manning is definitely in a different category than Snowden (who I also feel was wrong). 35 years and walk in probably 10 but his life is pretty much over. He violated the faith civilians and his fellow soldiers place in our military and who knows how much damage he caused. I too suspect there have been some deaths attributable to the information leaked. He should have been hung.
Eric
Posts : 9738 Join date : 2012-07-30 Age : 73 Location : Pensacola
"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible," the statement read.
The statement asked people to use the feminine pronoun when referring to Manning. It was signed "Chelsea E. Manning" and included a handwritten signature.
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