Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Jim Miklaszewski, Chief Pentagon Correspondent for NBC News, reported on Monday that investigators have not been able to find a direct connection between Bradley Manning, the army private suspected of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, and Julian Assange. Last month, Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, told MSNBC that he was not sure that Manning was the source for the leaked documents that were posted on his site.
According to Miklaszewski, U.S. military officials have said that investigators have determined that Manning allegedly downloaded thousands of documents to his own computer unlawfully and then passed them on to an unauthorized individual. There is, however, no evidence that Manning passed the documents directly to Assange. “That’s not how our technology works, that’s not how our organization works,” Assange said. “I never heard of the name of Bradley Manning before it appeared in the media.” Assange has also claimed the allegations that WikiLeaks had conspired with Bradley Manning were “absolute nonsense.”
If it is true that the U. S. government has no proof of a direct link between Pvt. Manning and Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald believes this leaves the Department of Justice with two options:
- Prosecute Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange for receiving and publishing classified information—which Greenwald says is not a crime in the United States “and could not be prosecuted as one without criminalizing much of investigative journalism.”
- Honor the First Amendment, and admit that Wikileaks did not commit a crime.
Sources:
Elaine and Jill, thanks for finding the documents that worked so well to flesh out this story, well done and very informative.
Eniobob and Tony C, well said and I agree with your assessments.
In addition to Elaine’s good footwork, I would like to add that Pvt. Manning has heard from WikiLeaks about paying for his defense as they promised when they contributed $15,000 to his defense. Although it is substantially less than the $50,000 originally promised or the $20,000 promised this last December, it is a move in the right direction.
Jill,
In re David C. MacMichael’s letter:
A most eloquent letter. Thanks for relaying it.
This is valuable research Elaine … thank you for taking the time and keeping us informed.
Buckeye,
I haven’t found any information regarding Manning’s view of Assange.
Here are two articles I found on the subject of the leaked banked documents:
Swiss banker who exposed tax evasion and gave documents to Wikileaks has been arrested
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Ex-Swiss_banker_hands_over_files_to_WikiLeaks.html?cid=29261696
Excerpt:
(Reuters) – The founder of whistleblower site WikiLeaks attacked Switzerland on Sunday for arresting a Swiss banker on suspicion of breaching banking secrecy instead of investigating the tax evasion he said he had uncovered.
In an interview published in the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag, Julian Assange, whose website has angered Washington by releasing confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, said Switzerland’s actions were drawing renewed international attention to its controversial banking practices.
On Friday the Swiss prosecutor’s office said former banker Rudolf Elmer would be detained over the weekend after police questioned him about breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws. A judge will decide on Monday whether to remand him for longer.
Police took Elmer into custody on January 19 after he handed computer discs to Assange for WikiLeaks at a news conference in London earlier in the week. Elmer indicated the CDs contained details of as many as 2,000 offshore bank accounts.
“Mr. Elmer is in prison because he has revealed a criminal offshore system of tax evasion in which Swiss banks play a leading role,” Assange was quoted as saying in an interview.
“Instead of investigating these offshore structures and going after the tax evaders, the authorities are going after Mr. Elmer,” he said.
*****
Ex-Swiss banker hands over files to WikiLeaks
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Ex-Swiss_banker_hands_over_files_to_WikiLeaks.html?cid=29261696
Excerpt:
A former Swiss banker on Monday handed over documents to WikiLeaks that he claims detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.
Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Bank Julius Bär, said the account holders included “high net worth” celebrities, business leaders and lawmakers from the United States, Britain and Asia.
The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, appeared with Elmer in London to collect the files, and praised the ex-banker’s attempts to expose alleged shady practices in the financial industry. Assange said that, with his organisation now publishing about 250,000 diplomatic cables, it could be several weeks before Elmer’s files are reviewed and posted on the WikiLeaks website.
Elmer, who has previously leaked banking documents to WikiLeaks, which posts confidential information on its site from mainly anonymous sources, told journalists that he wanted to expose the offshore banking system. “I want to let society know how this system works. It’s damaging society,” he said. His decision to release the new files to WikiLeaks comes two days before he is due to appear before a Zurich regional court to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws. Elmer said he would not reveal what specifically was in the documents, and said that he personally would not disclose “individual companies or individual names” of the account holders.
Wow Elaine, great find….we all have our causes and to expose this for the truth that it is is great….Thank you….this is just crazy….
I’m still waiting for the bank information Mr. Assange promised us. Maybe when he finishes his book and gets the movie of his life finished he will enlighten us.
Has anyone heard any information on Pvt. Manning’s current view about Mr. Assange? Or Mr. Assange’s current view about Pvt. Manning?
and then they took the toilet seat so he couldn’t hit himself over the head and drowned.
Elaine,
Thanks for printing this article. I saw in on Firedoglake the other day, but I still can’t understand why his glasses were taken away from him. Did they expect him to try to harm himself with his glasses? At a certain point it reminds me of “Alices Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie when his belt was taken away from him so he wouldn’t hang himself for the charge of “littering”!
Breaking news: Manning Supporters Detained by Quantico
(1/23/2011)
http://www.bradleymanning.org/16034/breaking-news-manning-supporters-detained-by-quantico/
Excerpt:
David House, supporter and personal friend of Bradley Manning, traveled to Quantico with journalist Jane Hamsher to visit Manning earlier today. Though House is an approved visitor, he was prevented from seeing Manning. They were detained for over 40 minutes. House and Hamsher communicated their detainment via Twitter status updates. In addition to visiting Manning, House was planning to deliver a petition with 42,000 signatures calling for the humane treatment of Bradley Manning. Military officials demanded Hamsher’s Social Security number and prevented her from leaving the base. Their car was then searched and impounded. House was unable to visit Manning.
Manning’s prolonged solitary confinement and confined to his cell for 23 hours per day for 7 months, conditions which many have likened to torture and have resulted in enormous public outcry. Manning’s lawyer has formally protested the conditions. For two days earlier this week, Manning was placed on “suicide watch” against the advice of two psychiatrists, only days after 150+ protesters gathered at Quantico. During that time, he was stripped of all clothing except his boxer shorts, his prescription glasses were confiscated and he was held in his cell for 24 hours per day. The UN special rapporteur on torture is investigating allegations of mistreatment and Amnesty International has a written a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates protesting Manning’s pre-trial confinement conditions.
Jill,
That was an amazing letter by the former Marine captain. I hope it helps.
This letter is interesting. It’s from the former commander of Quantico. “From DAVID C. MACMICHAEL
General James F. Amos
Commandant of the Marine Corps
3000 Marine Corps Pentagon
Washington DC 20350-3000
Dear General Amos:
As a former regular Marine Corps captain, a Korean War combat veteran, now retired on Veterans Administration disability due to wounds suffered during that conflict, I write you to protest and express concern about the confinement in the Quantico Marine Corps Base brig of US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.
Manning, if the information I have is correct, is charged with having violated provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by providing to unauthorized persons, among them specifically one Julian Assange and his organization Wikileaks, classified information relating to US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and State Department communications. This seems straightforward enough and sufficient to have Manning court-martialed and if found guilty sentenced in accordance with the UCMJ.
What concerns me here, and I hasten to admit that I respect Manning’s motives, is the manner in which the legal action against him is being conducted. I wonder, in the first place, why an Army enlisted man is being held in a Marine Corps installation. Second, I question the length of confinement prior to conduct of court-martial. The sixth amendment to the US Constitution, guaranteeing to the accused in all criminal prosecutions the right to a speedy and public trial, extends to those being prosecuted in the military justice system. Third, I seriously doubt that the conditions of his confinement—solitary confinement, sleep interruption, denial of all but minimal physical exercise, etc.—are necessary, customary, or in accordance with law, US or international.
Indeed, I have to wonder why the Marine Corps has put itself, or allowed itself to be put, in this invidious and ambiguous situation. I can appreciate that the decision to place Manning in a Marine Corps facility may not have been one over which you had control. However, the conditions of his confinement in the Quantico brig are very clearly under your purview, and, if I may say so, these bring little credit either to you or your subordinates at the Marine Corps Base who impose these conditions.
It would be inappropriate, I think, to use this letter, in which I urge you to use your authority to make the conditions of Pfc. Manning’s confinement less extreme, to review my Marine Corps career except to note that my last duty prior to resigning my captain’s commission in 1959 was commanding the headquarters company at Quantico. More relevantly, during the 1980s, following a stint as a senior estimates officer in the CIA, I played a very public role as a “whistleblower “ in the Iran-contra affair. At that time, I wondered why Lt.Col. Oliver North, who very clearly violated the UCMJ—and, in my opinion, disgraced our service—was not court-martialed.
When I asked the Navy’s Judge-Advocate General’s office why neither North nor Admiral Poindexter were charged under the UCMJ, the JAG informed me that when officers were assigned to duties in the White House, NSC, or similar offices they were somehow not legally in the armed forces. To my question why, if that were the case, they continued to draw their military pay and benefits, increase their seniority, be promoted while so serving, and, spectacularly in North’s case, appear in uniform while testifying regarding violations of US law before Congress, I could get no answer beyond, “That’s our policy.”
This is not to equate North’s case with Manning. It is only to suggest that equal treatment under the law is one of those American principles that the Marine Corps exists to protect. This is something you might consider.
Sincerely,
David C. MacMichael
There is a lot of good information on Manning at WarisaCrime.org (this letter is there)
Jill, eniobob and Tony C.,
I couldn’t agree more with all of your statements. If all of the prisoners in the Quantico brig are being held in solitary confinement and being drugged, then somebody has to look more closely at the adminstration of that facility. Of course, I am not holding my breath.
I think 100% of what is being done to Manning, and to Julian Assange, is our government showing our people what to expect if they try to reveal anything to anyone.
It is like the Mafia breaking a few bones and inflicting a few baseball-bat bruises just to teach people a little respect. IMO our government doesn’t care if Manning is guilty or not; and I am sure they know full well Assange is not guilty of any crime. They just want to make it perfectly clear to potential whistleblowers that they risk their lives and sanity if they blow. They want to make it perfectly clear to journalists that they are literally willing to blow some brains out if they leak anything embarrassing, or stray too far off the reservation.
This is about terrorizing people, including us, into compliance.
DoD Spokesman: Everyone in Quantico Brig At Risk of Harming Themselves
By: Jane Hamsher Wednesday January 26, 2011 3:31 pm
“Things are worse at Quantico brig than I ever imagined:
Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.
“I think the manner in which he is being held is completely appropriate and completely consistent with how any and all detainees at the brig are treated,” Morrell said.”
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/
Manning is being tortured to provide his freely given confession of: 1. his own “guilt” and 2. the connection between him and Assange. Strangely, the govt. has not been able to charge Manning with any crime, let alone, link him to Assagne. In the meantime they have tortured him, according to the UN and Amnesty International. They have consistently violated his legal rights. Finally, they illegally detained his visitor last weekend.
If another country did these things, say Iran, we would call it a police state action and we would protest this. In fact, the US has done so on behalf of people who were treated just this way in other nations whom we do not like. This is American exceptionalism at its very worst. We ought to pay every attention to what is happening here and not excuse it, even for a moment. Jane Hamsher believes it is only due to the loud protests of our citizens that Manning has any hope of fair treatment. I agree with this assessment.
Many thanks for the article, Elaine. This just highlights how awful the government’s actions have been since this started; another sign of jumping the gun before all facts are in.
I think you are right puzzling. Although, there has been some coverage lately about the “leaks” being more embarassing than damaging to national security.
The government focus on Manning is designed to divert attention from the leaked materials themselves. It’s working.
Thanks Elaine
The United States government looks foolish … once again.
Excellent article Elaine. The detention of Manning that has bordered on Torture, needs to come to a halt. The CO of the brig at Quantico was recently released because he put Manning on Suicide watch improperly. It remains to be seen if his detention situation has actually improved yet.