WikiLeaks’ founder condemns Manning verdict, Obama

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wikileaks founder Julian assange 4WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused President Barack Obama of “national security extremism” on Tuesday after an American military judge convicted Bradley Manning over the biggest leak of classified documents in U.S. history.

Praising Manning as “the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen”, Assange said the U.S. soldier, who prosecutors said had supplied WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents, did not receive a fair trial and called for the verdict to be overturned.

“The government kept Bradley Manning in a cage, stripped him naked and isolated him in order to break him, an act formally condemned by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for torture. This was never a fair trial,” Assange said from inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, his home for more than a year.

Assange said WikiLeaks and Manning’s own legal team would not rest until the judgment was overturned.

“It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short-sighted judgment that cannot be tolerated and it must be reversed.”

Assange did not confirm or deny whether Manning had in fact supplied WikiLeaks with classified documents, always using the word “alleged” when talking about the leak. WikiLeaks did not reveal its sources, he said, and always protected them.

Manning’s conviction on five espionage and 14 other charges poses a potential problem for Assange since the severity of the judgment, which carries a jail sentence of up to 136 years, might deter would-be whistleblowers, the lifeblood of Assange’s organization.

It is also a reminder of his own fate. Wanted in Sweden on sexual abuse allegations he denies, Assange has sought sanctuary in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London because he fears he would be extradited to the United States to face trial over his own alleged role in the leak case if he agreed to go to Sweden.

Manning’s is one of two high-profile leak cases involving Americans. Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has been holed up at a Moscow airport for more than a month, despite U.S. calls for Russian authorities to turn him over.

Dressed in a dark suit, Assange said Obama had initiated more espionage proceedings cases against whistleblowers and publishers than all previous U.S. presidents combined and had made a mockery of his own words in the process.

“In 2008, the then presidential candidate Barack Obama ran on a platform that praised whistleblowing as an act of courage and patriotism. That platform has by Barack Obama’s actions been comprehensively betrayed,” said Assange.

Assange had nothing but praise for Manning, holding up his behavior as a model of how to be a whistleblower.

“His actions as alleged are unquestionably heroic. He in that sense is an example for others to follow.”

Reuters

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10 responses to “WikiLeaks’ founder condemns Manning verdict, Obama”

  1. wargame1 Avatar
    wargame1

    Bradley Manningi the real thing and thats why he is not free. The video he leaked where US helicopter killing journalist in Iraq. When the other people came to recover the body the US army shot at them again. There was a school bus full of children and the Army shot at them too. This is one such single evidence on how the US army kill civilian with drone and later claim that they killed Al-Qaeda suspect. Bradley Manning doesn’t need any certificate from Assange or any other.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      True. One bad video – and used now like the video of the ‘mentally-disturbed-by-war’ guy cutting out a dead heart and pretending to eat it. Great for propaganda – which YOU push. Desired to be Hidden because it’s embarrassing to ‘The Admins’.
      (Although we MUST note that it wasn’t destroyed, right?)
      But it is not ‘ALL’ that Americans shot at either, or the only people they shoot at now, just like not all Sunnis are eating hearts for dinner – although there is evidence that organs have many desirable vitamins, enzymes, and minerals.
      Now – as for Assange – he pushes his own agenda. I highly doubt that Manning is “the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen” …. give us a break, Assange.
      (He might be going strange just blogging from an Embassy all the time 😉
      However, we certainly know about the USA’s “national security extremism”, and how the ‘Lobbyists’ USE the ‘fear-factor’ to keep the populace worried about more than their shrinking wallets – in the land of the free and poor. (50% in poverty) And 136 years is ludicrous for an ‘under-managed secrets-holder’ to get, because he ‘had a vision’ and felt ‘in his heart’ that the ‘truth must be known’. In this case, it didn’t set him free … and, of course, we hear nothing about his ‘department managers’. 😉
      I guess they wanted to make a guy living in an airport sweat a little – although airports can be more interesting places in which to live, than Embassys, and they have AC. ;-))))

      1. wargame1 Avatar
        wargame1

        I have found three good analysis about Bradly Manning where you can hear his testimony in the court and other issues. Three Youtube video with brilliant analysis.

        /watch?v=Xaa9tsQKgYY
        /watch?v=d-PV4lozgP8
        /watch?v=8cO95VlEA18

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Look up the record-holder for a guy forced to live in an airport…..

  2. wargame1 Avatar
    wargame1

    Bradley Manningi the real thing and thats why he is not free. The video he leaked where US helicopter killing journalist in Iraq. When the other people came to recover the body the US army shot at them again. There was a school bus full of children and the Army shot at them too. This is one such single evidence on how the US army kill civilian with drone and later claim that they killed Al-Qaeda suspect. Bradley Manning doesn’t need any certificate from Assange or any other.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      True. One bad video – and used now like the one of the ‘mentally-disturbed-by-war’ guy cutting out a dead heart and pretending to eat it. Great for propaganda – which you push. Desired to be Hidden because it’s embarrassing to ‘the Admins’.
      But it is not ‘ALL’ that Americans shot at either, or the only people they shoot at now, just like not all Sunnis are eating hearts for dinner – although there is evidence that organs have many desirable vitamins, enzymes, and vitamins.
      Now – as for Assange – he pushes his own agenda. I highly doubt that Manning is “the most important journalistic source that the world has ever seen” …. give us a break, Assange.
      (He might be going strange just blogging from an Embassy all the time 😉
      However, we certainly know about the USA’s “national security extremism”, and how the ‘Lobbyists’ USE the ‘fear-factor’ to keep the populace worried about more than their shrinking wallets – in the land of the free and poor. (50% in poverty) And 136 years is ludicrous for an ‘under-managed secrets-holder’ to get because he ‘had a vision’ and felt ‘in his heart’ that the ‘truth must be known’. In this case, it didn’t set him free … and, of course, we hear nothing about his ‘department managers’. 😉
      I guess they wanted to make a guy living in an airport sweat a little – although airports can be more interesting places to live, than Embassys. 😉

      1. wargame1 Avatar
        wargame1

        I have found three good analysis about Bradly Manning where you can hear his testimony in the court and other issues. Three Youtube video with brilliant analysis.

        /watch?v=Xaa9tsQKgYY
        /watch?v=d-PV4lozgP8
        /watch?v=8cO95VlEA18

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Look up the record-holder for a guy forced to live in an airport…..

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    I suppose the Americans should be really happy that Woodrow Wilson had the foresight in 1917 to create the ‘Espionage Act’ … And like a Prophet, well perhaps a ‘Visionary’ for the age of ‘cyber crime’, he foresaw leakers telling secrets and informing Americans about … O, wait , errrr … about ‘the enemy’? Oh my …. has anyone looked at that law in 96 years ???
    Oh well … it’s ok .. he was found not guilty on the worst things. 😉

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    I suppose the Americans should be really happy that Woodrow Wilson had the foresight in 1917 to create the ‘Espionage Act’ … And like a Prophet, well perhaps a ‘Visionary’ for the age of ‘cyber crime’, he foresaw leakers telling secrets and informing Americans about … O, wait , errrr … about ‘the enemy’? Oh my …. has anyone looked at that law in 196 years ??? 😉

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