Bradley Manning: I thought I'd die in custody

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning steps out of a security vehicle as he is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, for a pretrial hearing. Manning is charged with aiding the enemy by causing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to be published on the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks. / AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

FORT MEADE, Md. An Army private charged in the biggest security breach in U.S. history testified Thursday that he felt like a doomed, caged animal after he was arrested in Baghdad for allegedly sending classified information to the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.

Pfc. Bradley Manning testified on the third day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, outside Baltimore. His lawyers are seeking dismissal of all charges, contending his pretrial confinement in a Quantico, Va., Marine Corps brig was needlessly harsh.

Before he was sent to Quantico in July 2010, Manning spent some time in a cell in a segregation tent at Camp Arifjan, an Army installation in Kuwait.

"I remember thinking I'm going to die. I'm stuck inside this cage," Manning said under questioning by defense attorney David Coombs. "I just thought I was going to die in that cage. And that's how I saw it — an animal cage."

• Bradley Manning's proposed plea approved by judge
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The compact, 24-year-old intelligence analyst looked youthful in his dark blue dress uniform, close-cropped hair and rimless eyeglasses. He was animated, often swiveling in the witness chair and gesturing with his hands.

Manning is trying to avoid trial in the WikiLeaks case. He argues he was punished enough when he was locked up alone in a small cell for nearly nine months at a brig in Quantico, Va., and had to sleep naked for several nights.

The military contends the treatment was proper, given Manning's classification then as a maximum-security detainee who posed a risk of injury to himself or others.

Earlier Thursday, a military judge accepted the terms under which Manning would plead guilty to eight charges for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

Col. Denise Lind's ruling doesn't mean the pleas have been formally accepted. That could happen in December.

But Lind approved the language of the offenses to which Manning would admit.

She said those offenses carry a total maximum prison term of 16 years.

Manning made the offer as a way of accepting responsibility for the leak. Government officials have not said whether they would continue prosecuting him for the other 14 counts he faces, including aiding the enemy. That offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Under the proposal, Manning would admit to willfully sending the following material: a battlefield video file, some classified memos, more than 20 Iraq war logs, more than 20 Afghanistan war logs and other classified materials. He would also plead guilty to wrongfully storing classified information.

Meanwhile, Manning's lawyers are arguing that the charges against the soldier should be dismissed because of how he was treated while confined at Quantico.

Other prospective witnesses include a military psychiatrist who examined Manning at Quantico, and the former commander of the confinement facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Manning was later moved there, re-evaluated and given a medium-security classification.

[iamhe999]

American "secrets" hide embarrasing American Crimes.

16 out of 25 people will blindly align and follow a sociopath leader.*

9 out of 25, will stand up, and get in the face of the sociopath leader.*

I applaud the 9.

the 16 can't tell the good guys from the bad guys... and do not deserve any respect as human beings.

* Yale University, Milgram Experiment.

[cscialabba]

The amount of blind neopatriotism and unabashed nationalism displayed here is truly frightening. If anyone stands in opposition to anything the US government or the military does, they are a 'traitor' and should be put to death? And some are calling for a public execution? Do you not see how vicious and bloodthirsty you sound?

If anyone actually looked into the data Manning leaked you'd see how it detailed the killing of Iraqi civilians (over 100,000+ and counting since the invasion in '03) by our forces. The soldiers responsible for those murders will never see any retribution, but will likely be celebrated as heroes by the mindless masses when they return home. Because it's really heroic to hide in the most secure bases, with the best weapons, ammo, armor, and intel and claim you're 'defending freedom' by killing poor brown people who never wanted a war to begin with.

Yet Manning, who bravely stood by his morals and called out the most powerful military in the world for its crimes, is considered a traitor... Truly unbelievable.

This country is going to hell.

[ttipbc]

He thought he was going to die in custody? He SHOULD have died in custody.

[iamhe999]

I am so happy I am not a malevolent!

[twobuttes60]

No country in the world can have it's military ratting to the world about things that can do great harm to their country. I wonder how many secret agents and others lost their life because of this one Bozo. In any other country except the U.S. he would have been shot the next day. Johnny,

[cscialabba]

The answer to your question is 0. Zero Americans lost their lives over this information. The same can't be said for the thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, boys, and girls whose lives were snuffed out by faulty intel or an inaccurate drone.

[gymnastix]

Bradley Manning, while in the United States Armed Services, gave up information to the enemies of the United States of America, a violation of his professional military oath to defend his country "against all enemies foreign and domestic." As such, the verdict against Manning should be he is guilty of treason against the same United States of America, pure and simple. The penalty should be life without possibility of parole.

But I don't think Manning's crime, however abhorrent, rises to the level of the death penalty. Let him spend the rest of his natural life away from society at-large, unable to speak to the media and gain profit from his actions as a traitor, thus gaining the attention his warped, self-centered, narcissistic personality so obviously, desperately craves.

Manning's case may also serve to prove a posit vis-a-vis military service and sexual orientation. As soon as politically expedient, the Congress of the United States should pass a law overturning the edict of Barrack Obama, to revert to the United States' longstanding policy previous to the so-called "Don't ask, don't tell" policy homosexuality and military service are incompatible, as both contrary to proper military morale, but also a potential threat to national security.

[cscialabba]

So now Manning's sexuality is a 'threat to national security'? Wow, conservatives love to resort to scare tactics in order to reinforce their outdated social views. But I guess in this 'War on Terror' era that we live in, you can use 'national security' as a means to frighten the weak-minded into believing anything you say.

[AmericanFrog]

Traitor??!! This man is a HERO you fools! The traitor is GW Bush! The man with blood on his hands, who Obama should have immediately put under investigation after assuming office. He and his cohorts!! THE IRAQ WAR WAS A LIE, SENSELESS LIE THAT KILLED AMERICANS FOR NOTHING! THEY EITHER DIED FOR NOTHING OR HAVE BEEN MAIMED FOR NOTHING. Classified intelligence was CHANGED, REWRITTEN, EDITED so Bush could get back at Saddam Hussein for his daddy. Bush needs to answer for his actions in a court of law, not Manning.

[askagain]

Manning can rot in prison for many years. He gave out secrets while on the military's payroll paid for by American taxpayers. That is pretty low and he deserves whatever punishment comes his way. By the way, some people sleep naked every night. Big deal!

[iamhe999]

Malevolent personalities always are finding ways, "reasons and justifications" to hurt other people, they are anti-social personalities, a genetic defect, that effects the physiology of brain development, the psychology of the person and social interactions where they negatively effect every social relationship in which they are allowed to participate. They use unconscionable tactics to accomplish unconscionable agenda, they lack empathy and sympathy, and they align and kiss up to authority, uniforms, power... even when that authority/power is a sick sob with a sick agenda. It is a life long pathology, with no cure.. they are blind to their lack of conscience, and impossible to respect as a human being, the general response to their obnoxious character is to want to smack them, or urinate on them. they are anti-social personality disorders, a genetic pathology.

[takobaka]

Put the war criminals in jail and free this hero. That we could all be as courageous.

[Jaycody23]

If he is found guilty of his crimes, he should be executed. Military espionage is a serious threat, and should be dealt with as such. Allowing him to live will only promote more attempts in security breaches. If he is guilty, then he is a traitor should be treated like one.

[Stopfmg]

FREE BRADLEY MANNING! Whistleblower being persecuted. Are you afraid of the truth?

[Jaycody23]

He is a traitor our country, how can you support this? Do you want Iran to have our nuclear technology? The release of any classified documents by a member of our armed services is a serious threat to national security.

[cscialabba]

JAYCODY23, relax with fearmongering. When did Iran come into any of this? What Manning leaked related to US war crimes (i.e. murder of civilians/reporters), not anything to do with nuclear secrets. I hate how we live in a society where anyone can revert to a 'b-but the scary Muslim terrorists!' to win an argument.