Criminal Pentagon Withholding Crucial Information in Manning Case - International Injustice/Law

Criminal Pentagon Withholding Crucial Information in Manning Case
by judd Sunday, Jun 24 2012, 11:37pm
international / injustice/law / commentary

This case already makes a mockery of military 'justice' and will no doubt go down in history as one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice in American legal history -- unfortunately for prosecutors and the suckers presiding over this case, who either got the short straw or were clearly selected for the fall, their already odorous names will go down in INFAMY!

So take heart WORLD and prisoner of conscience Bradley Manning; exposing war crimes is every soldier's DUTY and Bradley Manning is a hero in every sense of that word.

The MORAL case is ALREADY won and as each day passes the criminal charade masquerading as a military trial (farce) further compromises an already corrupt and PROVEN criminal, US military and Washington Executive. [How many innocent children and civilians have we Drone-killed today, Mr president?]

Unfortunately for some, the case has an international profile and cannot be easily manipulated by corrupt powers -- reputations are on the line and all irregularities and compromises are painstakingly encoded in the HISTORICAL record!

Take heart Bradley Manning and fight hard, Mr Coombs, it is a fight worthy of humanity's best efforts!

[Misleading and Vague] Guardian (UK) report follows:

Pfc. Bradley Manning's legal defense team won a partial victory on Monday as Military Judge Denise Lind ordered federal prosecutors to hand over key documents to the court that Manning's lawyer David Coombs maintains were intentionally withheld because they will aid Manning's case.

Lind ruled that prosecutors will have to turn over reports from the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive that show the government's assessments of the impact of Manning's actions. The prosecution has not provided any such documents, and Coombs maintains that he was only made aware of some of the documents after the last round of pre-trial hearings concluded on June 8.

Manning is accused of leaking governmental cables to the website Wikileaks, and has subsequently been accused of 'aiding the enemy' through releasing classified information. Manning's defense had requested the assessment papers in a bid to show that the Wikileaks release did not aid terrorist organizations in anyway, and thus did not damage national security.

"The Obama administration can't hide from reality forever" said Jeff Paterson, a lead organizer with the Bradley Manning Support Network. "Any ruling in favor of the truth is a victory for Bradley Manning, because the government's strategy of abuse, obfuscation and outright deception simply won't stand the light of day."

Manning faces life in prison if found guilty of the 'aiding the enemy' charge.

* * *

The Bradley Manning Support Network: Bradley Manning Defense Claims Victory on Due Process Motion

Judge Denise Lind ordered military prosecutors to provide a detailed account of their discovery of evidence that could help PFC Bradley Manning's defense. The ruling came in response to a motion by lead defense counsel David Coombs, who cited misleading statements made by government lawyers about their efforts to locate required materials.

"The Obama administration can't hide from reality forever" said Jeff Paterson, a lead organizer with the Bradley Manning Support Network. "Any ruling in favor of the truth is a victory for Bradley Manning, because the government's strategy of abuse, obfuscation and outright deception simply won't stand the light of day."

Judge Lind also ruled that the government must provide impact assessments and other reports from the CIA, the FBI, the Department of State, and the Office of the National Counter Intelligence Executive (ONCIX). Coombs complained that he was only made aware of an additional assessment produced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the last round of hearings concluded on June 8.

"They knew DHS was doing an assessment for ONCIX and didn't tell the court," said Coombs, citing earlier suggestions made by prosecutors that there was no ONCIX assessment. "The court needs to pull at the string of this argument, because if you do, it falls apart."

PFC Manning's lawyers contend that these documents would show that there was no substantive harm posed to national security by the WikiLeaks releases.

On Sunday, hundreds of supporters of the accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower marched in LGBT Pride Parades in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Supporters are preparing for another round of demonstrations to coincide with pre-trial hearings scheduled for July 16 to 20 at Fort Meade.

Support Group:
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

It is the horrific moment an Afghan man is blown apart by a US missile.

But in a moment of twisted inspiration an American helicopter pilot decided to give it a impromptu soundtrack - by singing ‘Bye, bye Miss American pie.’

He belted out the most famous line of the Don McLean classic at the moment of impact when a fireball consumed at least one man.

The video on LiveLeak.com appears to be from an on-board camera of a pilot from the 101st Airborne Division in an AH64 Apache helicopter.

According to the caption the victims were ‘innocent farms planting poppy seeds in the middle of the road,’ although that has not been verified.

The weapon used on them was supposedly a one kilogram Hellfire missile.

The caption reads: ‘At the 01:39 mark you can hear the pilot singing ‘Bye Bye Ms. American Pie’ right before impact then BOOM....the rest is history.’

Another pilot can also be heard saying, ‘Nice’ moments after the impact.

Two other men can then be seen running for their lives as the pilots shoot at them but miss.

The reaction on LiveLeak was one of disgust and Ozzieabroad wrote: ‘It’s disturbing and bordering on sanctioned psychopathy to enjoy killing so much’.

Based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the 101st Airborne Division became famous for their courage in World War II, the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War.

Its pilots are among the most dedicated and decorated in the US military.

The footage is the latest clip to emerge on LiveLeak which will prove embarrassing to top brass.

In January footage emerged on the website which showed four American soldiers urinating on dead bodies in what appeared to be Afghanistan.

The Marine Corps began an official investigation over the clip in which one of the men can be heard saying: ‘Have a great day, buddy’ to laughter from his colleagues.

Another of them joked, ‘Golden like a shower’ and said ‘Yeahhhh!’ as they groaned with relief whilst urinating.

The reputation of America’s military has also still not fully recovered from the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal in Baghdad.

Then there was the ‘Thrill Kill’ squad which murdered three Afghan civilians for sport and took their body parts as trophies.

MailOnline has reached out to the US military for comment.

Copyright applies.

Follow link for video.

The US' increasingly unhinged rhetoric reached a new level of absurdity this week as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Western nations and their Arab proxies to "make it clear that Russia and China will pay a price because they are holding up progress" in regards to the US' premeditated campaign of terrorism and violent regime change in Syria.

It was made public as early as 2007 by Seymour Hersh in his report "The Redirection" published in the New Yorker that the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and others were gathering, funding, arming, and deploying a front of violent sectarian extremists, many with ties to Al Qaeda, to undermine, destabilize, and eventually lead to the overthrow of the governments of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. The violent campaign was rolled out publicly in the wake of a similarly premeditated geopolitical ploy, the so-called "Arab Spring," and has since then been clearly exposed as the work of violent terrorist networks. Ironically, these terrorist networks are those allegedly the impetus of the "War on Terror," now paradoxically being funded, armed, and politically backed by the West.

It was reported that Libyan terrorists led by Abdul Hakim Belhaj, commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a US State Department-listed "Foreign Terrorist Organization," had joined the so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) along with sectarian extremists from Iraq who specialize in the indiscriminate terrorist bombings now ravaging Syria.

In fact, the true nature of Syria's "rebels" has become so well known, that recent attempts to sway public opinion with continued, but unsubstantiated reports of "atrocities" aimed at demonizing the Syrian government have been met with skepticism, doubt, and even indignation by the public - giving nations like Russia and China not only the opportunity to defy Western dictates, but a moral imperative to do so as well.

Collapsing Legitimacy Leads to Collapsing Empires

The global hegemony of Wall Street and London has been built behind a facade of "human rights," "freedom," and "democracy." As these principles are eroded back home in the West, their use for dressing up otherwise naked imperialism, corporate monopolization, and military aggression abroad has become overt and increasingly ineffective.

While the US Secretary of State attempts to blame Russia and China for "holding up progress" in the West's campaign of premeditated destabilization in Syria, it is more likely that the West's own loss of legitimacy is the true reason it has not successfully convinced the world to go along with what is increasingly appearing to be a self-serving and very untenable agenda.

Should the US fail in its attempts to overthrow the government of Syria, and quite likely even if it does manage to succeed at this late hour, so much damage has been done to the West's credibility, as well as to the credibility of its allegedly independent institutions, that future gambits will be even more difficult to execute. As the West's economy and geopolitical power crumbles and its reach becomes less subtle and more adversarial, shareholders will seek more secure investments, financially, politically, and even tactically.

Maintaining an empire relies on an immense global infrastructure the West still possesses - but it is an infrastructure that is meeting competition from not only rival hegemonies, but from within individual nations as well, on both a national and grassroots level. Empires are also built on psychological factors such as faith in one's institutions and fear of one's military prowess. The West has been increasingly faltering in all respects in a world where these concepts are becoming increasingly challenged by shifting social, economic, and technological paradigms.

What the West should be doing is positioning itself for this changing world - instead it is clinging to a crumbling empire, scrambling to build a global paradigm rendered antiquated long before it has even been implemented. Boycotting the corporate-financier interests behind this attempt at establishing global hegemony will accelerate and ensure its failure - while resolving ourselves to creating genuine institutions on a local and national level for and by the people will ensure that we are not left in disarray once these corrupt globalist institutions are rendered moot.

Author retains copyright.

The fact that accused war criminals -- Pentagon/US military -- cannot sit in judgement of the accuser, prisoner of conscience and alleged data leaker Bradley Manning, seems to have somehow escaped the attention of US legal eagles. That fact notwithstanding we have the (recorded) extremely prejudicial remark made by none other than the President of the totally corrupt United States of regime change and resource theft, Barack ‘lawyer and lecturer in law’ Obama, who stated clearly and emphatically to the WORLD that “he [Manning] broke the law,” when no determination had been made regarding Manning’s guilt or innocence! Obama’s monstrous tactic in prejudicing the Manning case also seems to have escaped the attention of the very partial sitting female judge – give the world a break, criminal US military!

The Manning trial has entered the realm of the absurd, judicial farce would be putting it mildly. This Alice in Wonderland case only serves to highlight the monumental corruption that prevails in the USA; not the slightest attempt has been made to disguise the idiotic legal irregularities which plague the Manning case.

Should we also mention that it is the Pentagon -- not Manning -- that should be on trial for indefensible war crimes and other crimes against humanity? How many civilians have we killed today, Mr Kenyan born, Barack ‘extra-judicial kill list’ Obama?

The first consideration of all criminal activity is secrecy; stupid Americans commit their crimes openly, supplying reams of incriminating data and abundant evidence for future war crimes trials.

The writing is in the statutes and on the wall and if 'pride goeth before the fall' then criminal arrogance precedes the execution. It is indeed fortunate that the USA has not abandoned the death penalty – the people are in for a treat, bet on it!

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