Posted on 07/29/2010 11:28:55 AM PDT by OldDeckHand
WASHINGTON—Investigators have found concrete evidence linking Pfc. Bradley Manning with the leak of classified Afghanistan war reports, a U.S. defense official said.
A search of the computers used by Pfc. Manning yielded evidence he had downloaded the Afghanistan war logs, which span 2004-2009, the official said. It isn't clear precisely what that evidence is.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
HANG HIS SORRY ASS!
So apparently a “computer hacker” turned in the Army Military Intelligence PFC — politics turns the world on its head.
Left is already building up a defense fund for him.
Wow, that’s some fast intel work! How they comin’ on finding out ANYTHING about the C-in-C?
Yeah, that’s what I thought....
Yep, he did. I listened to an interview with the "hacker" Lamo, and he had some pretty tough words for Manning. He thought it was despicable someone - to especially include a uniformed soldier - would put other service member's lives at risk with this leak.
In “giving aid and comfort to the enemy” alone, I’m sure the UCMJ has a more permanent solution for him than life in prison.
Life, no parole, hard labor.
Lots of luck with that. This clown is going to face a military court martial. The court will NOT be sympathetic and NO courtroom antics will be permitted.
What is truly disturbing is that he apparently took out the information by loading it onto RW DVDs disguised as music CDROMS. Where I work music CDROMS have been verboten for a long, long time. Individually assigned computers have the DVD drives removed, you can only access a DVD drive in a public area. Nothing I work on is nearly as sensitive as this.
All downloads and uploads from DVD drives are logged, so a simple activity audit should have uncovered this activity. Even if his specific job was copying DVDs there should have been some sort of accountability. Freaking unbelievable.
I would charge him for any subsequent deaths of informants and military members that are connected with his spying. I think the death penalty is warranted, but Obama would probably commute it.
The UCMJ does prescribe death in some instances of Espionage (Art 106a). The problem is, to qualify for the DP in espionage cases, the government must prove that the defendant was knowingly working with...
(A) a foreign government;I only skimmed the Manning charge sheet, but the government elected to not charge him under 106a, and instead alleged several specifications of Art. 92 and Art. 134. I doubt the government has developed the requisite information to successfully prosecute for Espionage. BUT, they could add literally tens of thousands of additional specification, which could be served concurrently, sentencing Manning to "hundreds" of years confinement.
(B) a faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States; or
(C) a representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen of such a government, faction, party, or force.
Sounds to me like security is pretty lax where he wrks.
If there is evidence that his release of documents and tapes have caused the death of Americans or allies, then he should get the death penalty. Otherwise, he should get 20 or 25 years, they have to send the message.
“downloaded”???
It’s that f**king easy now? Not when I was around classified information.
Punitive Articles of the UCMJ
Article 106a—Espionage
“(1) Any person subject to this chapter who, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate, deliver, or transmit, to any entity described in paragraph (2), either directly or indirectly, anything described in paragraph (3) shall be punished as a court-martial may direct, except that if the accused is found guilty of an offense that directly concerns (A) nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, or other means of defense or retaliation against large scale attack, (B) war plans, (C) communications intelligence or cryptographic information, or (D) any other major weapons system or major element of defense strategy, the accused shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Can you say “Treason”. Penalty - Death.
Can you say “Treason”. Penalty - Death.
“He thought it was despicable someone would put other service member’s lives at risk with this leak.”
The main damage may be to expose Afghan intelligence sources.
Concurrent sentences do not add time.
It would have to be consecutive to add time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.