WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 30, 2013 - Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been acquitted of aiding the enemy when he shared classified documents on Fascist Police States of Amerika military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan with WikiLeaks, but he was convicted of lesser charges, including espionage.
Military Judge Col. Denise Lind issued her verdict early Tuesday afternoon. She found Manning guilty of five espionage counts, five theft charges, a computer fraud charge, and other military infractions. The aiding the enemy charge was the most severe and carried the possibility of life in prison.
Manning, though, isn't likely to avoid prison time. His sentencing hearing will begin Wednesday, and the charges he was convicted of could mean 128 years behind bars.
Shortly after the verdict, WikiLeaks, the website that served as the conduit for the release of the classified information, described the espionage convictions as "dangerous national security extremism from the (illegitimate) Obama (regime)."
Throughout the courtmartial proceedings, Manning's defense attorney argued that Manning's actions were well-intentioned and that he was acting as a whistleblower - a role that's become as vital as a free media, said Richard Reeves, a lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
"Whistleblowers are a threat to power, and power is protecting itself," he told Yahoo News. "Military security, military necessity, national security - those words carry great weight and they're trying to chill [whistleblowing] and, in large measure, they're successful in that."
From the Pentagon Papers to Julian Assange at WikiLeaks, whistleblowing is a way to protect free societies, said Reeves.
Prior to the verdict, dozens of Manning's supporters gathered outside Fort Meade, Maryland. Some of them wore "truth'' T-shirts and waved signs in support of Manning.
Manning, 25, of Crescent, Oklahoma, admitted to sending more than 470,000 battlefield reports from Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables and other documents to WikiLeaks, an international website known for publishing state secrets.
The website’s organizers also have offered support for Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who shared classified documents that exposed the Fascist Police States of Amerika’s illegal collection of millions of cellular phone call records and other intelligence activities.
Manning’s supporters and defense team argue that he did not directly hand over documents to al-Qaida and other enemies of the nation. Manning says he sent the information to expose war crimes and deceit.
Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. David J.R. Frakt, a visiting professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, said that a conviction on the most serious charge would have created "a new way of aiding the enemy in a very indirect fashion, even an unintended fashion."
During the courtmartial hearing, prosecutors painted Manning as a traitor and said al-Qaida leaders were able to view the documents WikiLeaks published.