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Suspected WikiLeaker Manning is ‘in decline’
Former intel analyst kept in solitary confinement as US sets sights on Assange
As Julian Assange enjoys his freedom after nine days in jail, the young man the US authorities are expected to paint as his partner in crime is said to be in a steep decline after seven months' solitary confinement.
Bradley Manning, the former US army intelligence analyst widely assumed to have passed American diplomatic cables to whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, is experiencing a "decline in his mental and physical wellbeing" in a US military jail, a supporter says.
The fresh-faced 23-year-old was arrested on July 29 after he was betrayed by a friend, Adriam Lammo, and is being held at a Virginia military base. Manning (above) allegedly told Lammo he had passed WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of secret documents.
Seven months on, David House, a computer researcher from Boston who befriended Manning after his imprisonment and now visits him frequently, says the former private is deteriorating.
"Over the last few weeks I have noticed a steady decline in his mental and physical wellbeing," House told the Guardian. "His prolonged confinement in a solitary holding cell is unquestionably taking its toll on his intellect; his inability to exercise due to [prison] regulations has affected his physical appearance in a manner that suggests physical weakness."
House told the paper he does not believe the military's claim that Manning is being kept in solitary confinement for his own safety, saying: "As time passed and his suicide watch was lifted, to no [ill] effect, it became clear that his time in solitary – and his lack of a pillow, sheets, the freedom to exercise, or the ability to view televised current events – were enacted as a means of punishment rather than a means of safety."
While Assange's stay in Wandsworth jail was also in solitary confinement – at the request of his own legal team – it does not seem to have dented his enthusiasm for the free flow of information: he told the media last night that WikiLeaks would redouble its efforts.
There were also rumours last night that US prosecutors had prepared in indictment against Assange, though British diplomats said, off the record, that there had been no approach over extradition.
Some experts think the US's only chance of convicting Assange is if it paints him as Manning's collaborator. Assange could be protected by the First Amendment if he is merely a publisher – but if he can be said to have encouraged the leaks, he could be shown to have committed a crime.
One US expert, laywer Paul Abrams, said yesterday: "There would certainly be an indictment if Assange had encouraged [Manning] to provide the information and a mechanism to do so. That would make it easier for the justice department to bring a conspiracy charge. I do think [the odds are] better than even they will proceed."
However, even if an indictment is brought, there are still the small matters of extradition and conviction.
At least Assange isn't a wanted man in one country: his homeland. Australian federal police said today that, despite PM Julia Gillard's recent description of its activities as illegal, neither WikiLeaks nor Assange have broken any Australian laws.
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Manning needs all our support. There comes a point where a man under military orders can become a war criminal for aiding and abbetting war crimes. A great number of war crimes have been exposed and if Manning exposed any he should be lauded. Looks more likely that a load more prisons should be built in the country that has the highest prison population in the world with sections for CIA, diplomats, goverment officials, political leader and of course the military leaders responsible. Nuremburg criteria might be used. Marshal Goering was hanged for being head of the German Airforce... If that was fair in War... Anybody who points a finger at Manning or Assange is obnoxious.
Why does the word vindictive seem an appropriate one to apply to the US justice system. Even judgments of the Supreme Court deem to be suspect. The system is over politicised and far from independent or objective. Vindictiveness is a quality expressed when the high and mighty get upset and/or feel their position threatened. It is not the trial Assange needs to fear if ever extradited to the US but the conditions in which he will be help and the treatment that he could receive from those appointed "to take care of him" as seems to be the case with Manning.
A past President called the Soviet Union an evil empire. I think we know who the evil empire is. This young man saw what he saw as wrong and tried to fix it. Too bad he had a problem keeping a secret. I like being a part of the information war and refuse to take sides but the USA is so obviously wrong and so adamant about their entitlement to rule the world it makes me want to vomit. What goes around comes around as we will see with the unfolding of events in war and war on terrorism and war on drugs and the one I like the most, the war on the middleclass who refuse to grab a brain.
Brian Elwin Pomeroy
"[B]etrayed by a friend?" You are certainly kidding, aren't you? Manning signed a secrecy agreement when he was granted his clearance and if he did not believe what he was signing it shows me that he is beneath contempt.
Whether he sent the documents to Assange out of some misplaced view of his duty to humanity or because he had a broken love affair does not matter at all.
He is a cur who needs to be slammed to the extent of the law. If he is "in decline" perhaps it will save us all from hearing some whining excuse for betraying his oath and his country.
Any dolt can make an excuse for releasing secrets and anyone who defends the dolt is even stupider.
Despite Assange's cockeyed view that everything including diplomatic communication does better in the open, it does not.
So a pox on both of them.
Saves having a trial, and if found guilty, of execution. It is Julian I am worrying about. In his case he will be tortured if the current eunuch PM gives him up to the USA. Glad to see Australia standing by their man despite big mouth.