Bin Laden Raid Member To Be WikiLeaks Witness

the simurgh writes in with the latest in the court-martial of Bradley Manning. "A military judge cleared the way Wednesday for a member of the team that raided Osama bin Laden's compound to testify at the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning charged in the WikiLeaks massive classified document leak. Col. Denise Lind ruled for the prosecution during a court-martial pretrial hearing. Prosecutors say the witness, presumably a Navy SEAL, collected digital evidence showing that the al-Qaida leader requested and received from an associate some of the documents Manning has acknowledged leaking. Defense attorneys had argued that proof of receipt wasn't relevant to whether Manning aided the enemy, the most serious charge he faces, punishable by life imprisonment. 'The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the intelligence is given to and received by the enemy,' Lind said. The judge disagreed."

Re:Smart

[abigsmurf]

The helicoptor was in an active combat zone. There were reports of RPG fire. The press were not wearing identifying uniforms that press in an active warzone are expected to wear. The children in the van were only visible when looking carefully at the footage and freeze framing, not in a combat situation (wtf were they doing driving children to the site of a bombing) and the van appeared to be insurgents recovering the weapons and preventing wounded combatants being captured.. There was an RPG launcher and an AK-47 clone visible in the footage (in addition to the pilots mistaking the camera for another RPG). The pilots waited for authorisation before firing.

As tragic as it was, procedure was followed and there a combination of circumstances contributed to the mistake. It was not a war crime.

Re:Surveillance

[captainpanic]

It is not about sacrificing... it's just casting your vote. There are already 3rd party options... just vote for them.

As for the cesspool... I am pretty pleased with my west-European country and my government. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. You're welcome to have a look, and we don't even ask you get a visa for that. Just hop on a plane.

Re:Surveillance

[s.petry]

It does not need to state it in the Constitution. The US Government was founded as a Republic. If a citizen can not determine what the Government is doing, there is no Republic. The Government becomes some other form of Government.

If you are not clear about my statement, I'd recommend you go study what a Republic is. Why not go to the source and study Plato's Republic!

Re:He swore to uphold the constitution.

[Arker]

This is just utter nonsense.

"...criminally stupid enough to wander towards an active military firefight walking with individuals carrying AK's and RPG's."

Dont recall there being any RPGs. Definitely plenty of AKs, because it would have been criminally stupid to be out driving around Baghdad without them. A civilian doesnt magically become something else simply because he is armed, and the US, with our second amendment, should be acutely aware of that.

They had AKs because everyone in that area carried AKs and it would have indeed been "criminally stupid" for them to travel in that area without bodyguards. They took no aggressive actions, and they didnt 'roll up into a firefight' they attempted to render assistance to the wounded AFTER the firefight had come to a conclusive ending.

The video is direct evidence of a war crime on its face. It's not Manning, but everyone else who had access and did NOT leak it, who should be charged for that. The cables reveal many other crimes and misbehaviour by the US government, are essentially all over-classified, and constitute information that the citizens have a right to see, and a NEED to see, in order to do our job in the republic.

The fact that we keep promoting criminals and throwing whistleblowers in the brig instead of the other way around is probably the biggest threat to the national security of this country today.