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| Prosecutor Calls Manning an Egotist Who Betrayed Nation’s Trust | Prosecutor Calls Manning an Egotist Who Betrayed Nation’s Trust |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| FORT MEADE, Md. — A military prosecutor on Thursday portrayed Pfc. Bradley Manning as an egotist who betrayed the trust of the United States government when he leaked vast archives of secret documents to WikiLeaks, lifting a veil on American diplomatic and military activities. | FORT MEADE, Md. — A military prosecutor on Thursday portrayed Pfc. Bradley Manning as an egotist who betrayed the trust of the United States government when he leaked vast archives of secret documents to WikiLeaks, lifting a veil on American diplomatic and military activities. |
| As closing arguments began in the high-profile court-martial trial, the prosecutor, Maj. Ashden Fein, focused squarely on the most controversial charge Private Manning is facing: that by giving information to WikiLeaks for publication on a Web site to which the entire world had access, he is guilty of “aiding the enemy.” | As closing arguments began in the high-profile court-martial trial, the prosecutor, Maj. Ashden Fein, focused squarely on the most controversial charge Private Manning is facing: that by giving information to WikiLeaks for publication on a Web site to which the entire world had access, he is guilty of “aiding the enemy.” |
| That charge, under which prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment, has never been brought in a leak case, and the theory behind it could establish a precedent with major implications for investigative journalism in the Internet era. But Major Fein said it was justified in Private Manning’s case. He argued that Private Manning’s “wholesale and indiscriminate compromise of hundreds of thousands of classified documents” for release in bulk by WikiLeaks, whom he called “essentially information anarchists,” should not be portrayed as an ordinary journalistic leak. | That charge, under which prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment, has never been brought in a leak case, and the theory behind it could establish a precedent with major implications for investigative journalism in the Internet era. But Major Fein said it was justified in Private Manning’s case. He argued that Private Manning’s “wholesale and indiscriminate compromise of hundreds of thousands of classified documents” for release in bulk by WikiLeaks, whom he called “essentially information anarchists,” should not be portrayed as an ordinary journalistic leak. |
| Leaking to “established journalistic enterprises like The New York Times and the Washington Post would be a crime,” he said, but, “that is not what happened in this case and under these facts. Pfc. Manning deliberately disclosed classified information to WikiLeaks knowing WikiLeaks would disclose it to the world in exactly the form they would receive it.” | Leaking to “established journalistic enterprises like The New York Times and the Washington Post would be a crime,” he said, but, “that is not what happened in this case and under these facts. Pfc. Manning deliberately disclosed classified information to WikiLeaks knowing WikiLeaks would disclose it to the world in exactly the form they would receive it.” |
| He added: “WikiLeaks was merely the platform which Pfc. Manning used to ensure that all of the information was available to the world, including the enemies of the United States.” | He added: “WikiLeaks was merely the platform which Pfc. Manning used to ensure that all of the information was available to the world, including the enemies of the United States.” |
| Private Manning’s defense lawyer, David Coombs, has portrayed Private Manning as a well-intentioned and principled — if naïve — protester who was motivated by a desire to help society better understand the world and who was selective about which databases he released in order to avoid causing harm. | Private Manning’s defense lawyer, David Coombs, has portrayed Private Manning as a well-intentioned and principled — if naïve — protester who was motivated by a desire to help society better understand the world and who was selective about which databases he released in order to avoid causing harm. |
| The first part of Major Fein’s opening focused on Private Manning’s exposure in training to an emphasis on avoiding the posting of sensitive information on the Internet. The prosecutor also focused on one of the few factual disputes in the case: the date when Private Manning downloaded and leaked an encrypted video of an airstrike in Gharani, Afghanistan, in which American forces killed 100 to 150 civilians, many of them women and children. | The first part of Major Fein’s opening focused on Private Manning’s exposure in training to an emphasis on avoiding the posting of sensitive information on the Internet. The prosecutor also focused on one of the few factual disputes in the case: the date when Private Manning downloaded and leaked an encrypted video of an airstrike in Gharani, Afghanistan, in which American forces killed 100 to 150 civilians, many of them women and children. |
| Private Manning contends he did so in the spring of 2010. Though access logs for the server on which the video was stored are incomplete, Major Fein argued that a variety of circumstantial evidence indicated that he instead downloaded it in late November 2009 — less than two weeks after he arrived in Iraq. | Private Manning contends he did so in the spring of 2010. Though access logs for the server on which the video was stored are incomplete, Major Fein argued that a variety of circumstantial evidence indicated that he instead downloaded it in late November 2009 — less than two weeks after he arrived in Iraq. |
| The timing is important because it goes to the dueling portrayals of Private Manning. The prosecution wants to show that he immediately seized upon his opportunity to release classified information through WikiLeaks, while the defense has argued that he only gradually decided to do so after being in Iraq for a while and seeing things that troubled him. | |
| Mr. Coombs may begin his closing statement later on Thursday afternoon. After speaking for nearly 90 minutes, Major Fein indicated that he had some two hours left to relay. The court was expected to recess for at least an hour for lunch. | Mr. Coombs may begin his closing statement later on Thursday afternoon. After speaking for nearly 90 minutes, Major Fein indicated that he had some two hours left to relay. The court was expected to recess for at least an hour for lunch. |
| Earlier on Thursday, the judge, Col. Denise Lind, rejected a defense request that she immediately acquit Private Manning of five theft-related counts before the closing arguments. | Earlier on Thursday, the judge, Col. Denise Lind, rejected a defense request that she immediately acquit Private Manning of five theft-related counts before the closing arguments. |
| The trial has been unusual because Private Manning has already confessed to being a WikiLeaks source and has pleaded guilty to lesser versions of the charges he faces. As a result, there has never been much doubt about most of the basic facts, and the primary open question has been how his actions should be understood. | The trial has been unusual because Private Manning has already confessed to being a WikiLeaks source and has pleaded guilty to lesser versions of the charges he faces. As a result, there has never been much doubt about most of the basic facts, and the primary open question has been how his actions should be understood. |
| But because prosecutors decided to press forward with the more severe versions of the charges — like violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy — they had to spend weeks introducing evidence establishing that Private Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, had indeed downloaded various batches of files at his base in Iraq and sent them to WikiLeaks. | But because prosecutors decided to press forward with the more severe versions of the charges — like violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy — they had to spend weeks introducing evidence establishing that Private Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, had indeed downloaded various batches of files at his base in Iraq and sent them to WikiLeaks. |
| As the trial has moved toward its conclusion, the more philosophical questions confronting Colonel Lind are re-emerging center stage — including whether WikiLeaks played a journalistic role and whether providing information to the anti-secrecy group was any different, for legal purposes, from providing it to a traditional news outlet. | As the trial has moved toward its conclusion, the more philosophical questions confronting Colonel Lind are re-emerging center stage — including whether WikiLeaks played a journalistic role and whether providing information to the anti-secrecy group was any different, for legal purposes, from providing it to a traditional news outlet. |
| Critics of the case have warned that a conviction on the aiding-the-enemy charge would establish the government’s theory on which it is based — that giving information to an organization that publishes it online is the same as giving it to an enemy — as precedent in leak cases. | Critics of the case have warned that a conviction on the aiding-the-enemy charge would establish the government’s theory on which it is based — that giving information to an organization that publishes it online is the same as giving it to an enemy — as precedent in leak cases. |
| Yochai Benkler, a Harvard law professor, has argued that the case carries major ramifications for the future of news media freedoms and investigative journalism, and he testified in Private Manning’s defense, arguing that WikiLeaks was playing a journalistic role in the Internet era. | Yochai Benkler, a Harvard law professor, has argued that the case carries major ramifications for the future of news media freedoms and investigative journalism, and he testified in Private Manning’s defense, arguing that WikiLeaks was playing a journalistic role in the Internet era. |
| Major Fein criticized that testimony on Thursday, saying that whatever Mr. Benkler’s theories — based largely on reading news articles about WikiLeaks — they were different from what Private Manning thought the organization was. Citing chat logs and government reports about WikiLeaks that Private Manning had read, Major Fein portrayed the organization as more like an intelligence agency. | Major Fein criticized that testimony on Thursday, saying that whatever Mr. Benkler’s theories — based largely on reading news articles about WikiLeaks — they were different from what Private Manning thought the organization was. Citing chat logs and government reports about WikiLeaks that Private Manning had read, Major Fein portrayed the organization as more like an intelligence agency. |
| The prosecution of government officials for leaking information for public consumption used to be extraordinarily rare, but it has become common in recent years. The Justice Department brought charges in such a matter for the first time in a generation in 2005, and over the second term of the Bush administration it developed two other leak investigations that led to charges in 2010 under the Obama administration. | The prosecution of government officials for leaking information for public consumption used to be extraordinarily rare, but it has become common in recent years. The Justice Department brought charges in such a matter for the first time in a generation in 2005, and over the second term of the Bush administration it developed two other leak investigations that led to charges in 2010 under the Obama administration. |
| In all, there have been seven leak-related cases under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents. | In all, there have been seven leak-related cases under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents. |
| Last week, the Obama administration won a major ruling from an appeals court limiting press freedoms in the leak case against a former Central Intelligence Agency official accused of leaking to James Risen, a New York Times reporter, for a 2006 book. The court ruled that the Constitution provided no protections to investigative reporters from having to testify as witnesses in the criminal trials against people accused of leaking to them. | Last week, the Obama administration won a major ruling from an appeals court limiting press freedoms in the leak case against a former Central Intelligence Agency official accused of leaking to James Risen, a New York Times reporter, for a 2006 book. The court ruled that the Constitution provided no protections to investigative reporters from having to testify as witnesses in the criminal trials against people accused of leaking to them. |