Tag Archives: Wikileaks

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Susan Manning, mother of Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea (born Bradley) Manning with Gerard Conlon of the Guildford Four this evening in the Edmund Burke Theatre, Trinity College Dublin.

An Evening for Bradley Manning, hosted by Afri, followed a meeting between Chelsea’s family and TDs earlier today to lobby their support for her early release.

Pvt Manning Support Network

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

175044515-2231Bradley Manning, above, who faced nearly two dozen charges in connection with what is considered the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history.

Manning is required to serve one-third of the sentence, minus three and half years of time served, before he is eligible for parole. That will be in eight years when he is 33.

Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years (Washington Post)

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“Today Bradley Manning, a whistleblower, was convicted by a military court at Fort Meade of 19 offences for supplying the press with information, including five counts of ’espionage’. He now faces a maximum sentence of 136 years.

The ’aiding the enemy’ charge has fallen away. It was only included, it seems, to make calling journalism ’espionage’ seem reasonable. It is not.

Bradley Manning’s alleged disclosures have exposed war crimes, sparked revolutions, and induced democratic reform. He is the quintessential whistleblower.

This is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short sighted judgment that can not be tolerated and must be reversed. It can never be that conveying true information to the public is ’espionage’.

President Obama has initiated more espionage proceedings against whistleblowers and publishers than all previous presidents combined.

In 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama ran on a platform that praised whistleblowing as an act of courage and patriotism. That platform has been comprehensively betrayed. His campaign document described whistleblowers as watchdogs when government abuses its authority. It was removed from the internet last week.

Throughout the proceedings there has been a conspicuous absence: the absence of any victim. The prosecution did not present evidence that – or even claim that – a single person came to harm as a result of Bradley Manning’s disclosures. The government never claimed Mr. Manning was working for a foreign power.

The only ’victim’ was the US government’s wounded pride, but the abuse of this fine young man was never the way to restore it. Rather, the abuse of Bradley Manning has left the world with a sense of disgust at how low the Obama administration has fallen. It is not a sign of strength, but of weakness.

The judge has allowed the prosecution to substantially alter the charges after both the defense and the prosecution had rested their cases, permitted the prosecution 141 witnesses and extensive secret testimony. The government kept Bradley Manning in a cage, stripped him naked and isolated him in order to crack him, an act formally condemned by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for torture. This was never a fair trial.

The Obama administration has been chipping away democratic freedoms in the United States. With today’s verdict, Obama has hacked off much more. The administration is intent on deterring and silencing whistleblowers, intent on weakening freedom of the press.

The US first amendment states that ‘Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’. What part of ’no’ does Barack Obama fail to comprehend?

Julian Assange

Statement by Julian Assange on Verdict in Bradley Manning Court-Martial (Wikileaks.org)

Bradley Manning cleared of ‘aiding the enemy’ but guilty of most other charges (The Guardian)

Pic: Storiesfromthefed

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A plane full of thirsty journalists flying from Moscow to Cuba teetotal while their quarry heads for Ecuador.

Edward Snowden due to quit Moscow in Ecuador asylum bid (BBC)

Via Matthew Molehouse

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A new campaign video has been released featuring celebrities and activists highlighting the plight of Bradley Manning.

With the commencement of Manning’s trial for leaking confidential information, let us remind ourselves of our own Eamon Gilmore.

And his briefing with CIA officials at the US Embassy, Ballsbridge.

“I think the Lisbon Treaty is dead. The Irish people have now decided in a referendum that they do not wish to have it ratified therefore Ireland cannot ratify the Lisbon Treaty and therefore the Lisbon Treaty falls.”

Eamon Gilmore, June 13, 2008

 

“There is no basis for believing that a second referendum would produce a different result which is any different from the first one.”

Eamon Gilmore following a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, July 21, 2008

 

“Gilmore, who has led calls against a second referendum has told the embassy separately that he fully expects, and would support holding a second referendum in 2009. He explained his public posture of opposition to a second reference as ‘politically necessary’ for the time being.”

Ambassador Thomas Foley, in a cable sent on July 23, 2008

 

 

Bradley Manning and us: a soldier for truth on trial (Guardian)

Previously: Wikileaks Day 2: Here Lies Eamon Gilmore

Gilmore ‘took opposing views in public and in private’ Irish Independent, June 1, 2011)

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Gawker reports that the New York Times and NBC News have been truffling through Wikileaks records for cables relating to the world’s favourite outgoing leader, Muammar Gaddafi/al-Qadhdhāfī/Gadafy/El Kadhafi.

Turn Ons: sharing his ‘theories’ on global affairs; his Ukranian nurse Galyna, flamenco dancing.

Turn Offs: travelling over water; staying in the upper floors of hotels, eye-contact.

Turns out: he’s as mad as a balloon. Who’d have guessed it?

The Best of Wikileaks’ Qaddafi Dirt (Gawker)

WikiLeaks Cables Detail Qaddafi Family’s Exploits (New York Times)

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