Bradley Manning guilty - "espionage"

The Empire has delivered a predictable Empire verdict against whistle-blower Bradley Manning. He's now facing a sentence of over 100 years, despite being found not guilty of "aiding the enemy" which carries the death penalty.

For the Empire cheer squad, this will be marvellous news. For the rest of us who have a brain, this is a huge slap in the face for democracy and freedom of information. Despite the Empire being caught with it's pants down and exposed to the world for the heartless thugs that run it, the Empire will accept no criticism and has punished a patriot who genuinely cares about his country and what it's doing to innocent people. Despite Manning being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by countries outside the Empire, the Empire will have none of it.

As soon as I read the news I just went straight to Wikileaks to see what Assange had to say about it. Couldn't be bothered with the lame reporting of it in the main stream media. Assange is, to put it mildly, scathing of said Empire. Follow the link if you want to read his whole statement:

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’.

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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. more