Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To
Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every
Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To
Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. For A Stand-Out
For Bradley- Wednesdays From 5:00-6:00 PM
***********Since September 2011, in order to publicize Private Manning’s case locally, there have been weekly stand-outs (as well as other more ad hoc and sporadic events) in various locations in the Greater Boston area starting in Somerville across from the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop on Friday afternoons and later on Wednesdays. Lately this stand-out has been held each week on Wednesdays from 5:00 to 6:00 PM at Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. (small park at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street just outside the Redline MBTA stop, renamed Manning Square for the duration of the stand-out) in order to continue to broaden our outreach. Join us there in calling for Private Manning’s freedom. President Obama Pardon Private Manning Now!
***********
The Private Bradley Manning case is headed toward an early summer trial now scheduled for June 2013. The news on his case over the past several months (since about April 2012) has centered on the many pre-trial motion hearings including recent defense motions to dismiss for lack of speedy trial. Private Manning’s pre-trial confinement is now at 900 plus days and will be over 1000 days by the time of trial. That motion, still not ruled on as of this writing, is expected to be decided by the next round of pre-trial hearings in late February.
The defense contends that the
charges should be dismissed because the military by its own statutes (to speak
nothing of that funny old constitutional right to a speedy trial guarantee that
our plebeian forbears fought tooth and nail for against the bloody British and
later made damn sure was included in the Amendments when the founding fathers
“forgot” to include it in the main document) should have arraigned Private
Manning within 120 days after his arrest. They hemmed and hawed for almost 600
days before deciding on the charges and a court martial. Nobody in the convening
authority, as required by those same statutes, pushed the prosecution forward
in a timely manner. There were no serious efforts to push the work of the
classifying agencies (the agencies that would determine what level of security
classification had been allegedly violated) throughout most of that time
although the government knew what documents it was going to proffer at the
Article 32 hearing well before that work was finished. In fact the court-martial
convening authority, in the person of one Colonel Coffman, seems to have seen
his role as mere “yes man, ” a “rubber
stamp” in the defense’s words, to each of the government’s eight requests for
delays without explanation (and without informing the defense in order to take
their objection). Apparently the Colonel saw his role as a mere clearing agent
for whatever excuse the government gave, mainly endless addition time for clearing
various classified documents a process that need not have held up the proceedings.
The defense made timely objection to each governmental request to no avail.
Testimony from military
authorities at pre-trial hearings in November 2012 about the reasons for the
lack of action ranged from the lame to the absurd (mainly negative responses to
knowledge about why some additional delays were necessary. One “reason” sticks
out as a reason for excusable delay -some officer needed to get his son to a
swimming meet and was thus “unavailable” for a couple of days. I didn’t make
this up. I don’t have that sense of the absurd. Jesus, a man, a presumably
innocent man, was rotting in Obama’s jails and they let him rot a little longer
because of some damn swim meet). The prosecution, obviously, has argued that
the government has moved might and main to move the case along and had merely waited
until all leaked materials had been determined before proceeding.
We shall see but here is a
good statement of the situation right now and the options for the Bradley Manning Support Network:
“Three
years is not a speedy trial
On Bradley
Manning’s 964th day in prison without trial, both parties argued
over the defense’s motion to dismiss charges for lack of a speedy trial. Under
Rule for Court Martial 707, the military was supposed to arraign Bradley in 120
days, but it took over 600. Under Uniform Code for Military Justice Article 10,
prosecutors are obligated to maintain diligence in trying the accused. Defense lawyer
David Coombs explained to the court that rather than being proactive, the
military was reactive, waiting for months and months for other agencies to
complete classification reviews, when it should have been hurrying those
processes along to get to court-martial as quickly as possible. If Judge Lind
finds Article 10 was violated, she must dismiss charges. If she dismisses
charges “with prejudice,” meaning she finds that the military was prejudicial
in denying Bradley a speedy trial, then Bradley will walk free. However, if she
dismisses “without prejudice,” finding the delays were negligent but not
malicious, the military could simply re-charge Bradley with all of the same
offenses. She’ll rule at the next hearing, February 26 through March 1.”
******The defense has also recently pursued a motion for a dismissal of the major charges (espionage/ indirect material aid to terrorists) on the basis of the minimal effect of any leaks on national security issues as against Private Manning’s claim that such knowledge was important to the public square (freedom of information issues important for us as well in order to know about what the hell the government is doing either in front of us, or behind our backs). Last summer witnesses from an alphabet soup list of government agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, Military Intelligence, etc., etc.) testified that while the information leaked shouldn’t have been leaked that the effect on national security was de minimus. The Secretary of Defense at the time, Leon Panetta, also made a public statement to that effect. The prosecution argued, successfully at the time, that the mere fact of the leak of classified information caused irreparable harm to national security issues and Private Manning’s intent, even if noble, was not at issue.
The recent thrust of the motion to dismiss has centered on the defense’s contention been that Private Manning consciously and carefully screened any material in his possession to avoid any conflict with national security and that most of the released material had been over-classified (received higher security level than necessary).(Much of the materials leaked, as per those parts published widely in the aftermath of the disclosures by the New York Times and other major outlets, concerned reports of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic interchanges that reflected poorly on that profession.) The Obama government has argued again that the mere fact of leaking was all that mattered. That motion has also not been fully ruled on and is now the subject of prosecution counter- motions and a cause for further trial delay.
Here is the latest from the Bradley Manning Support Network on this issue while will the subject of May pre-trial hearings:
“Turning
whistle-blowing into treason
Meanwhile,
in an attempt to curtail the defense’s ability to show Bradley Manning is a
whistle-blower, the government moved to preclude discussion of his motive in
determining his guilt or innocence. Judge Lind granted this motion in part: the
defense will not be allowed to show Bradley’s motive, such as chatlog quotes
showing that he wanted information to be free, in debating whether he knew Al
Qaeda would have access to the cables he released (but it will be allowed to
discuss motive during a potential sentencing portion). The military will have
to prove that Bradley knew he was “dealing with the enemy” in passing
information to WikiLeaks. The defense will be allowed to show that Bradley
selected certain cables or types of cables to prove he knew which information
would not cause harm to U.S. national security if made public. The government
also moved to preclude discussion of over classification, trying to prevent the
defense from arguing that documents released needn’t have been classified in
the first place. Judge Lind decided to defer that ruling, and will make it at a
later hearing. In this hearing, the military also said that it would still
charge Bradley Manning with “aiding the enemy” if he’d released information to
the New York Times instead of WikiLeaks, an argument that would effectively
turn whistle-blowing into treason and one which troubled many journalists
following the proceedings.”
********A defense motion for dismissal based on serious allegations of torturous behavior by the military authorities extending far up the chain of command (a three-star Army general, not the normal concern of someone so far up the chain in the matter of discipline for enlisted personal) while Private Manning was first detained in Kuwait and later at the Quantico Marine brig for about a year ending in April 2011 has now been ruled on. In late November and early December Private Manning himself, as well as others including senior military mental health workers, took the stand to detail those abuses over several days. Most important to the defense was the testimony by qualified military mental health professionals citing the constant willful failure of those who held Private Manning in close confinement to listen to, or act, on their recommendations during those periods
Judge Lind, the military judge
who has heard all the pre-trial arguments in the case thus far, has essentially
ruled unfavorably on that motion to dismiss given the potential life sentence
Private Manning faces. As she announced at an early January pre-trial hearing
the military acted illegally in some of its actions. While every Bradley
Manning supporter should be heartened by the fact that the military judge ruled
that he was subject to illegal behavior by the military during his pre-trial confinement
her remedy, a 112 days reduction in any future sentence, is a mere slap on the wrist
to the military authorities. No dismissal or, alternatively, no appropriate
reduction (the asked for ten to one ratio for all his first year or so of illegal
close confinement which would take years off any potential sentence) given the
seriousness of the illegal behavior as the defense tirelessly argued for. And the
result is a heavy-handed deterrent to any future military whistleblowers, who already
are under enormous pressures to remain silent as a matter of course while in
uniform, and others who seek to put the hard facts of future American military
atrocities before the public.
Here is the Bradley Manning Support Network’s take
on Judge Lind’s decision:
“Judge
ruled abusive treatment at Quantico was unlawful, awards sentencing credit
Following
over two weeks of testimony from Quantico guards and higher officers about
keeping Bradley in a 6×8 cell for 23 hours a day and denying him exercise time
and easy access to basic hygiene items Judge Denise Lind ruled that Bradley was
treated harshly and awarded him 112 days off of a potential sentence. This is a
meager rebuke and a scant reduction when compared to the life sentence Bradley
could face, but it is an important symbolic vindication for those who fought so
hard to raise awareness of the disturbing treatment and to move Bradley from
Quantico.”
**********Some other important recent news, this from the November 2012 pre-trail sessions, is the offer by the defense to plead guilty to lesser charges (wrongful, unauthorized use of the Internet, etc.) in order to clear the deck and have the major espionage /aiding the enemy issue (with a possibility of a life sentence) solely before the court-martial judge, Judge Lind (the one who has been hearing the pre-trial motions, not some senior officer, senior NCO lifer-stacked panel. A wise move, a very wise move.). Also there has been increased media attention by mainstream outlets around the case (including the previously knowingly oblivious New York Times), as well as an important statement by three Nobel Peace Laureates (including Bishop Tutu from South Africa) calling on their fellow laureate, United States President Barack Obama, to free Private Manning from his jails. Check the Bradley Manning Support Network -http://www.bradleymanning.org/ for details and future updates.
*Contribute to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund- as
the trial date approaches funds are urgently needed!
*Sign the online petition at the Bradley Manning
Support Network site to the Secretary of the Army to free Bradley Manning-1000
days is enough!
*Call, write, e-mail the White House to ask President
Obama to pardon Bradley Manning- in federal cases the President of the United States
can pardon the guilty and the innocent, the convicted and those awaiting trial-
Free the whistleblower!
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