Untitled Document

6-19-10

Treasonous Pentagon Plugs Wikileaks Truth with Propaganda and Lies

Pentagon and US State Department propaganda describes a person connected with Wikileaks as a hacker and says Wikileaks has been given 260,000 classified government documents which Wikileaks is about to give people an ability to access and read. One article which logic dictates was effectively written by the Pentagon, although a Jerome Taylor, a writer for the The Independent, is stated as the author, states, "Hillary Clinton and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public".The Independent article states the Pentagon's claim Wikileaks has 260,000 classified documents comes from an Adrian Lamo, a journalist who says "a spy" named Bradley Manning told Lamo in emails and on line chats that Manning gave Wikileaks the documents.

Problems. The entire spy on line chat confessions make no sense. At the time of the logs the so called spy had already been busted and had no access to secrete information. So the entire set of logs is propaganda and merely a scripted play written by the Pentagon and or the State Department for their lame agenda. The Pentagon is not going to give Internet chat privileges to a guy they claim is a spy. Its funny the Pentagon gives the so called spy chat privileges and the spy confesses on line and gives so called important information and yet lawyers cannot make contact with the so called spy. The question becomes, Will the latest Pentagon scam, the most illogical so called confessions of a spy on line chat be more ridiculous than 1-26-10 This Week's CIA Nail Biting Episode of An war "Fake-Fake" Malayalam - "Ob ama Kills Cleric." O Shucks, Missed Him Again - Executive Order 13528-B or more ridiculous than 1-7-10 General Petraeus, Blackwater TSA Omega Agency Behind FLT 253 Underwear Bomber Christmas Show = Propaganda for Installing TSA Paid for 150 Full Body Scanners = Abu Ghraib Humiliation and Sexual Torture = Ameicans Furious at America = Classify Angry Americans Terrorists = Military Rule = Martial Law = General Petraeus = Dictator in Chief.

Does the Pentagon think Wikileaks is massively stupid? OK the Pentagon has isolated one of the Wikileaks' wheels and published this farcical on line chat.

The Washington Post says the Wikileaks big wheel "hacker" who has 260,000 classified files and is about to make them available to the public is hiding in Iceland. The Washington post is owned by the Rothschilds and Rockefellers and the Rothschilds and Rockefellers tell the Pentagon what to do. True Americans must refrain from spending any money with the Washington Post. The Washington Post is working with the Pentagon, the State Department, Goldman Sachs, and the Rothschilds to shut down Wikileaks.

Does the Pentagon actually think it can so anger Wikileaks that Wikileaks will respond to their dog and pony show made up on line chat? Read the so called original chat and see if it comes across to you as nonsense. Remember there is not one shred of evidence to show any of it is true. We do not have proof Manning even wrote what he is alleged to have written in the chats. Why would and how could Manning have written the chats if were sitting in a brig in Kuwait? We do not know whether or not Manning leaked the Gunship Massacre or that Manning leaked anything because there have been no charges filed against Manning and actually lawyers hired to represent him have been unable to make contact with him. Everything we hear about Manning is nothing more that Pentagon Propaganda. Propaganda because what is read about Manning is really meant to intimidate Wikileaks from posting another Pentagon Massacre the Pentagon does not want posted.

If you were associated with Wikileaks would you consent to a little chat with Pentagon operatives? Waterboard. Assassination. Solitary confinement. Indefinite detention. I don't think so. Some in the Pentagon are making war on the United States. They are in on September 11. They are in on blowing the Deepwater Horizon. They are in on the Haiti earthquake. They do not want to get caught. This why the Pentagon wants Wikileaks shut down.

Alleged Chat Logs ( Culled to show the logs were written by the Pentagon fantasy department) between Whistleblower and the Pentgon's man

A hacker blew the whistle on the US army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who allegedly handed that video to Wikileaks.

(1:47:01 PM) Manning: im an army intelligence analyst, deployed to eastern baghdad, pending discharge for “adjustment disorder” [. . .]

(1:58:31 PM) Manning: if you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?

(1:39:03 PM) Manning: i cant believe what im confessing to you :’(

(1:43:59 PM) Manning: im self medicating like crazy when im not toiling in the supply office (my new location, since im being discharged, im not offically intel anymore)

(1:45:40 PM) Lamo: like what? I’m genuinely curious about details.

(1:46:18 PM) Manning: uhmm… the Holy See and its position on the Vatican sex scandals

(1:51:14 PM) Lamo: Anything unreleased?

(1:51:25 PM) Manning: i’d have to ask assange

(2:05:38 PM) Manning: i mean, im a high profile source… and i’ve developed a relationship with assange… but i dont know much more than what he tells me, which is very little

(2:05:58 PM) Manning: it took me four months to confirm that the person i was communicating was in fact assange

(2:12:45 PM) Manning: I gathered more info when i questioned him whenever he was being tailed in Sweden by State Department officials… i was trying to figure out who was following him… and why… and he was telling me stories of other times he’s been followed… and they matched up with the ones he’s said publicly

(2:14:46 PM) Manning: based on the description he gave me, I assessed it was the Northern Europe Diplomatic Security Team… trying to figure out how he got the Reykjavik cable…

(2:15:57 PM) Manning: they also caught wind that he had a video… of the Gharani airstrike in afghanistan, which he has, but hasn’t decrypted yet… the production team was actually working on the Baghdad strike though, which was never really encrypted

(2:16:55 PM) Manning: but its not nearly as damning… it was an awful incident, but nothing like the baghdad one

(2:19:37 PM) Manning: i can’t believe what im telling you =L

(7:20:52 AM) Manning: i had a lot on my mind, keeping to myself

(7:24:46 AM) Manning: ran a barbecue… but no-one showed up… threw a lot of food away

(7:28:04 AM) Manning: there’s only one other person im aware of that actually knows anything about computer security… he’s a SIGINT analyst, of course

Manning described the first time he watched the Iraq video, after finding it in a network directory where an Army JAG officer left it.

(03:11:07 PM) Manning: i kept that in my mind for weeks… probably a month and a half… before i forwarded it to [Wikileaks]

(02:01:44 PM) Manning: hardest part is arguably internet access… uploading any sensitive data over the open internet is a bad idea… since networks are monitored for any insurgent/terrorist/militia/criminal types

(02:25:39 PM) Manning: it belongs in the public domain

Wikileaks is publishing things we need to read or see. Wikileaks is a hero organization. Not a bad thing. The world needs much more Wikileaks type of truth. If the Pentagon is successful and does shut down Wikileaks, this would be a horrible blow to freedom and a major win for the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Goldman Sachs and the communi$t$.

Buzzy Krongard, CEO of the CIA during September 11 is alleged to have had prior knowledge of September 11 and gave information to Alex.Brown and Company so some of Krongard's buddies could make a buck out of the work of treasonous Americans who hate and make war on the United States. Has Krongard gotten in trouble? Nope. Krongard hired Blackwater while running the CIA. If you put the pieces of the puzzle together and read between the lines the CIA through Blackwater financed and armed Saddam Husseins soldiers and trained them and what did Saddam Hussein's soldiers do? Killed our brave soldiers. To my mind this is the same as Krongard, Prince and Blackwater putting AR-15s to the heads of all our brave soldiers who have died in the Mid East and pulling the triggers. Did Krongar, Prince and the Pentagon get in trouble? No. Why? Because there were no leaks and the American people were not told what they did. Did the Pentagon know Blackwater was killing our brave soldiers by arming, financing and training Saddam Hussein's soldiers? In my opinion, yes. These are clear examples of Americans making war on Americans. Why don't the American people hear about Krongard, Blackwater and the Pentagon making war on the United States? Those who hate and make war on the USA are plugging the leaks.

A few true Americans and good people in the world are trying to get the truth to American people. Those who fight for truth have one heck of a battle on their hands. The Pentagon and the bad guys who want Americans in the dark fight whistleblowers. Wikileaks is trying to show the world the truth as to what the Pentagon is doing. Wikileaks courageously, a trait missing in the characters of Krongard, Prince, or the Pentagon, published a film taken by the military of a US helicopter gunship brutally and cowardly murdering eight or ten people in Iraq. Most Americans have never seen the tape. Why? Main stream media has not shown the video. Sometimes propaganda accompanying info on the Gunship massacre refers to the military killing two reporters and fails to mention the death toll was actually 10 or twelve dead. Logic dictates the military staked out and had the gunship in the air for the expressed motive of killing the two reporters. Do you get the drift? The Pentagon is deliberately directing our military to kill reporters because reporters are telling people things the Pentagon wants kept secrete.

The Pentagon is telling a massive lie to justify closing down Wikileaks. The Pentagon says Wikileaks has in their possession 260,000 classified documents. Just words. No proof. The Pentagon Wikileaks Alleged Spy chat logs articles hitting the Internet are propaganda because they are writings presented as truth which are really fabricated. The following line comes from this link.

Manning, 22, an intelligence analyst from Potomac, Maryland, who had been serving in Iraq, was revealed earlier this week as the source behind a highly damning leak earlier in the year that showed harrowing cockpit footage of an American Apache helicopter gunning down unarmed civilians in Baghdad three years ago.

Manning may be Wikileaks's source, but Manning is just a guess until charges are filed against and Manning is proven the source of the Gunship Massacre. One could go through the media accounts word by word and its possible the entire investigation is a pack of lies for the single purpose of shutting down Wikileaks. One thing is for sure. The Pentagon lied to us about the Gunship Massacre and and since the Pentagon lied about the Iraq Gunship Massacre logic dictates the the Pentagon is lying that Wikileaks has 260,000 classified documents.

If the American people are told Krongard and others are making war on the USA, and get proof, the bad guys may lose their war to get rid of the US Constitution and enslave the people of the world. The bad guys have no choice except to terminate Wikileaks. The communi$t discredit whoever they want to terminate. The communi$t$ will discredit Wikileaks. The Pentagon says the following about Wikileaks and how they plan to deal with Wikileaks.

A counterintelligence report called the site "a potential force protection, counterintelligence, operational security (OPSEC, and information security(INFOSEC) threat to the US Army". It recommended “the identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this centre of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org web site".

Why do picadors lance the bull in a bullfight? It makes the bull's charges less dangerous and more reliable, enabling the matador to perform. Why does the Pentagon drop cluster bomblets which fool kids into thinking they are food and explode maiming them? Why does the Pentagon send helicopter gunships in the air indiscriminately killing Mid East men, women and children? Why does the Pentagon drop bombs from drones killing men, women and children? To make Mid East people less dangerous and more easily enslaved? As the photo to the left proves, sometimes things go wrong for those with the sword. We must start goring the bad guys or we will all end up as bulls in the ring. Why is the Pentagon shutting down Wikileaks? To keep the truth of their treason from the American people? Things Americans must do? Never ever advertise with or spend money buying NYTimes and Washington Post newspapers. In my opinion it never crossed the bad guys minds that the slowing economy could eliminate their all important propaganda arm big print media. Newspapers who do not tell the American people the truth (which means they must tell the people bombs were placed in the WTC buildings to bring them down, that the CEO of the CIA, Buzzy Krongard, had inside knowledge of September 11, that BP and the Administration may have hired Blackwater to blow the Deepwater Horizon, and other news big media fails to give the people) do not get advertising revenue or distribution receipts.

The following is an alleged wild exchange between Wikileaks and a druggie the Pentagon is using in the On Line Chat BS

Actually this so called email is probably from Pentagon fantasyland. Why would Julian Assage sign an email JA and actually show his name on the From Julian Assange? If the Pentagon can get hold of this email what haven't they contacted him?

To my mind the case boils down to who do you trust? The Pentagon who ordered our soldiers to cowardly massacre 8 Arabs. Or the people who courageously blew the whistle on the Pentagon? I believe the whistle blowers.

By Jerome Taylor
Saturday, 12 June 201
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pentagon-rushes-to-block-release-of-classified-files-on-wikileaks-1998313.html

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Alleged Chat Logs between Whistleblower and the Pentgon's man

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/manning-detainment/#ixzz0r5dgDsDq

May 21
This initial, brief chat with Lamo occurred after Manning had already sent the ex-hacker an e-mail. Manning very quickly identified his job in the military and his access to classified documents.

(1:41:12 PM) Bradley Manning: hi
(1:44:04 PM) Manning: how are you?
(1:47:01 PM) Manning: im an army intelligence analyst, deployed to eastern baghdad, pending discharge for “adjustment disorder” [. . .]
(1:56:24 PM) Manning: im sure you’re pretty busy…
(1:58:31 PM) Manning: if you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?
(1:58:31 PM) Adrian Lamo [AUTO-REPLY]: Tired of being tired
(2:17:29 PM) Manning: ?
(6:07:29 PM) Lamo: What’s your MOS?
(3:16:24 AM) Manning: re: “What’s your MOS?” — Intelligence Analyst (35F)

May 22
Manning told Lamo that he had provided Wikileaks with 260,000 classified State Department diplomatic cables. Lamo asked him for details on what scandals the cables might expose. Manning didn’t provide a lot of detail, but he pointed to one cable (a “test”) that Wikileaks already published. He didn’t elaborate on what he meant by “test.”

(1:39:03 PM) Manning: i cant believe what im confessing to you :’(
(1:40:20 PM) Manning: ive been so isolated so long… i just wanted to be nice, and live a normal life… but events kept forcing me to figure out ways to survive… smart enough to know whats going on, but helpless to do anything… no-one took any notice of me
(1:40:43 PM) Manning: :’(
(1:43:51 PM) Lamo: back
(1:43:59 PM) Manning: im self medicating like crazy when im not toiling in the supply office (my new location, since im being discharged, im not offically intel anymore)
(1:44:11 PM) Manning: you missed a lot…
(1:45:00 PM) Lamo: what kind of scandal?
(1:45:16 PM) Manning: hundreds of them
(1:45:40 PM) Lamo: like what? I’m genuinely curious about details.
(1:46:01 PM) Manning: i dont know… theres so many… i dont have the original material anymore
(1:46:18 PM) Manning: uhmm… the Holy See and its position on the Vatican sex scandals
(1:46:26 PM) Lamo: play it by ear
(1:46:29 PM) Manning: the broiling one in Germany
(1:47:36 PM) Manning: im sorry, there’s so many… its impossible for any one human to read all quarter-million… and not feel overwhelmed… and possibly desensitized
(1:48:20 PM) Manning: the scope is so broad… and yet the depth so rich
(1:48:50 PM) Lamo: give me some bona fides … yanno? any specifics.
(1:49:40 PM) Manning: this one was a test: Classified cable from US Embassy Reykjavik on Icesave dated 13 Jan 2010
(1:50:30 PM) Manning: the result of that one was that the icelandic ambassador to the US was recalled, and fired
(1:51:02 PM) Manning: thats just one cable…
(1:51:14 PM) Lamo: Anything unreleased?
(1:51:25 PM) Manning: i’d have to ask assange
(1:51:53 PM) Manning: i zerofilled the original
(1:51:54 PM) Lamo: why do you answer to him?
(1:52:29 PM) Manning: i dont… i just want the material out there… i dont want to be a part of it

In this chat, Manning discussed his role as a source for Wikileaks and his interactions with its enigmatic founder, Julian Assange. He also talked about two videos he claimed he provided Wikileaks — one of an airstrike in Iraq in 2007, which he said he gave Wikileaks in February and which Wikileaks said it spent three months decrypting before publishing it this last April; and another video taken during an air strike in Afghanistan in 2009, which Wikileaks has acknowledged it possesses but has not yet published.
(2:04:29 PM) Manning: im a source, not quite a volunteer
(2:05:38 PM) Manning: i mean, im a high profile source… and i’ve developed a relationship with assange… but i dont know much more than what he tells me, which is very little
(2:05:58 PM) Manning: it took me four months to confirm that the person i was communicating was in fact assange
(2:10:01 PM) Lamo: how’d you do that?
(2:12:45 PM) Manning: I gathered more info when i questioned him whenever he was being tailed in Sweden by State Department officials… i was trying to figure out who was following him… and why… and he was telling me stories of other times he’s been followed… and they matched up with the ones he’s said publicly
(2:14:28 PM) Lamo: did that bear out? the surveillance?
(2:14:46 PM) Manning: based on the description he gave me, I assessed it was the Northern Europe Diplomatic Security Team… trying to figure out how he got the Reykjavik cable…
(2:15:57 PM) Manning: they also caught wind that he had a video… of the Gharani airstrike in afghanistan, which he has, but hasn’t decrypted yet… the production team was actually working on the Baghdad strike though, which was never really encrypted
(2:16:22 PM) Manning: he’s got the whole 15-6 for that incident… so it wont just be video with no context
(2:16:55 PM) Manning: but its not nearly as damning… it was an awful incident, but nothing like the baghdad one
(2:17:59 PM) Manning: the investigating officers left the material unprotected, sitting in a directory on a centcom.smil.mil
(2:18:03 PM) Manning: server
(2:18:56 PM) Manning: but they did zip up the files, aes-256, with an excellent password… so afaik it hasn’t been broken yet
(2:19:12 PM) Manning: 14+ chars…
(2:19:37 PM) Manning: i can’t believe what im telling you =L

May 23
(7:19:12 AM) Lamo: hey you
(7:19:19 AM) Lamo: resend?
(7:19:19 AM) Manning: whats up?
(7:19:29 AM) Manning: i just said hello
(7:19:46 AM) Lamo: waking up. got up about an hour ago, 0615.
(7:20:10 AM) Manning: heh, the evening is still young here
(7:20:26 AM) Lamo: how’re you feeling today?
(7:20:37 AM) Manning: im feeling a little better…
(7:20:52 AM) Manning: i had a lot on my mind, keeping to myself
(7:22:18 AM) Lamo: anything new & exciting?
(7:24:21 AM) Manning: no, was outside in the sun all day… 110 degrees F, doing various details for a visiting band and some college team’s cheerleaders…
(7:24:43 AM) Lamo: cheerleaders.
(7:24:46 AM) Manning: ran a barbecue… but no-one showed up… threw a lot of food away
(7:25:20 AM) Manning: yes, football cheerleaders… visiting on off season… apart of Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) projects
(7:25:39 AM) Lamo: *sigh*
(7:26:01 AM) Manning: >shrug<
(7:26:37 AM) Manning: im sunburned… and smell like charcoal, sweat, and sunscreen… thats about all thats new
(7:26:47 AM) Lamo: Is there a Baghdad 2600 meeting? ;>
(7:28:04 AM) Manning: there’s only one other person im aware of that actually knows anything about computer security… he’s a SIGINT analyst, of course
(7:28:41 AM) Lamo: Is he the other one who pokes around t he network?
(7:29:26 AM) Manning: no… afaik, he doesn’t play around with classified networks… but im sure he’s capable
(7:30:09 AM) Lamo: then it stands to reason that you have at least 3 people who have some infosec knowledge
(7:31:15 AM) Manning: im not quite sure what you’re saying
(7:31:23 AM) Manning: infosec knowledge of what?
(7:31:29 AM) Manning: the networks?
(7:32:13 AM) Manning: i know a lot of computer security people
(7:32:44 AM) Lamo: i mean, in a way that would lend itself to a meeting.
(7:33:33 AM) Lamo: i’m writing a message trying to tie meetings together globally with a sampling of only ~3000 people to work with and get to go out and evangelize, so i have it on the brain
(7:33:50 AM) Manning: not really… different types of people… know how to, but dont
(7:34:33 AM) Manning: you don’t want these people having a meeting
(7:34:48 AM) Manning: though… i guess you do

(8:01:30 AM) Lamo: Does Assange use AIM or other messaging services? I’d like to chat with him one of these days about opsec. My only credentials beyond intrusion are that the FBI never got my data or found me, before my negotiated surrender, but that’s something.
(8:01:53 AM) Lamo: And my data was never recovered.
(8:02:07 AM) Manning: no he does not use AIM
(8:02:37 AM) Lamo: How would I get ahold of him?
(8:02:59 AM) Manning: he would come to you
(8:03:26 AM) Lamo: I’ve never failed to get ahold of someone.
(8:03:29 AM) Manning: he does use OTR though… but discusses nothing OPSEC
(8:03:42 AM) Lamo: I cornered Ashcroft IRL, in the end.
(8:04:19 AM) Manning: he *might* use the ccc.de jabber server… but you didn’t hear that from me
(8:04:33 AM) Lamo: gotcha
(8:06:00 AM) Manning: im going to grab some dinner, ttyl
(8:06:18 AM) Lamo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31130826&id=704990
(8:06:47 AM) Lamo: i didn’t pass security, either. or rather, i did ;>
(8:06:52 AM) Lamo: enjoy dinner.
(8:06:55 AM) Lamo: twys.
(9:12:38 AM) Manning: bk
(9:22:54 AM) Manning: interesting… marine uniform… illegal, but certainly easy
(9:24:11 AM) Manning: why ashcroft?
(9:24:24 AM) Manning: oh, nevermind… DoJ
(9:24:29 AM) Manning: >yawn<
(9:26:52 AM) Manning: im really not familiar at all with FBI stuff
(9:27:04 AM) Manning: americans have so many more rights than non-americans
(9:31:42 AM) Manning: its awful
(9:46:11 AM) Lamo: Ashcroft´s DOJ tried to use the USA PATRIOT Act on me.
(10:06:24 AM) Lamo: around?
(10:12:34 AM) Manning: yeah
(10:12:57 AM) Lamo: are you baptist by any chance?
(10:13:34 AM) Manning: raised catholic… never believed a word of it
(10:13:59 AM) Manning: im godless… i guess i follow humanist values though
(10:14:15 AM) Manning: have custom dogtags that say “Humanist” [...]
(10:17:56 AM) Manning: i was the only non-religous person in town
(10:18:17 AM) Manning: more pews than people…
(10:18:37 AM) Manning: i understand them though
(10:18:53 AM) Manning: im not mean to them… they *really* don’t know
(10:19:39 AM) Manning: i politely disagree… but they are the ones who get uncomfortable when i make, very politely, good leading points…
(10:20:48 AM) Manning: (by leading points, i mean ask multiple questions, with obvious answers, then ask a question based on the answers from the previous questions that challenges their normal response to the same question)
(10:21:26 AM) Manning: [excellent example of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhN1IDLQjo]
(10:28:21 AM) Manning: new yorker is running 10k word article on wl.org on 30 may, btw
(10:33:07 AM) Lamo: one moment fone
(10:33:30 AM) Manning: (tracking device)
(10:37:28 AM) Manning: trust level increasing? [quantify]

May 25
Lamo asked Manning if he was concerned that the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division might be investigating the Wikileaks investigation. Manning replied that any incriminating evidence of his activities had been erased (“zerofilled”) from his computers. He also discussed the Iraq video he gave Wikileaks and how he felt connected to Army Specialist Ethan McCord, who was pictured in the video carrying wounded children from a van. Manning added McCord as a friend on Facebook after the video came out.

(02:03:10 AM) Manning: amazing how the world works
(02:03:27 AM) Manning: takes 6 degrees of separation to a whole new level
(02:04:12 AM) Lamo: hey, vacaville
(02:04:18 AM) Lamo: er
(02:04:23 AM) Lamo: vacaville
(02:05:12 AM) Manning: its almost bookworthy in itself, how this played
(02:07:41 AM) Manning: event occurs in 2007, i watch video in 2009 with no context, do research, forward information to group of FOI activists, more research occurs, video is released in 2010, those involved come forward to discuss event, i witness those involved coming forward to discuss publicly, even add them as friends on FB… without them knowing who i am
(02:08:37 AM) Manning:they touch my life, i touch their life, they touch my life again… full circle
(02:08:58 AM) Lamo: Life’s funny.
(02:09:24 AM) Lamo: *random* are you concerned aboutCI/CID looking into your Wiki stuff? I was always paranoid.
(02:09:40 AM) Manning: CID has no open investigation
(02:10:28 AM) Manning: State Department will be uber-pissed… but I dont think they’re capable of tracing everything…
(02:10:44 AM) Lamo: what about CI?
(02:10:51 AM) Manning: might be a congressional investigation, and a joint effort to figure out what happened
(02:11:23 AM) Manning: CI probably took note, but it had no effect on operations
(02:11:48 AM) Manning: so, it was publicly damaging, but didn’t increase attacks or rhetoric…
(02:12:10 AM) Lamo: *nod*
(02:12:34 AM) Manning: re: joint effort will be purely political,”fact finding”… “how can we stop this from happening again”
(02:12:46 AM) Manning: regarding State Dept. cables
(02:13:12 AM) Lamo: Would the cables come from State?
(02:13:21 AM) Manning: yes
(02:13:25 AM) Manning: State Department
(02:13:29 AM) Lamo: I was always a commercial intruder.
(02:13:51 AM) Lamo: Why does your job afford you access?
(02:13:59 AM) Lamo: except for the UN.
(02:14:03 AM) Manning: because i have a workstation
(02:14:15 AM) Lamo: and World Bank.
(02:14:17 AM) Manning: *had*
(02:14:36 AM) Lamo: So you have these stored now?
(02:14:54 AM) Manning: i had two computers… one connected to SIPRNET the other to JWICS…
(02:15:07 AM) Manning: no, they’re government laptops
(02:15:18 AM) Manning: they’ve been zerofilled
(02:15:22 AM) Manning: because of the pullout
(02:15:57 AM) Manning: evidence was destroyed… by the system itself
(02:16:10 AM) Lamo: So how would you deploy the cables? If at all.
(02:16:26 AM) Manning: oh no… cables are reports
(02:16:34 AM) Lamo: ah
(02:16:38 AM) Manning: State Department Cable = a Memorandum
(02:16:48 AM) Lamo: embassy cables?
(02:16:54 AM) Manning: yes
(02:17:00 AM) Manning: 260,000 in all
(02:17:10 AM) Manning: i mentioned this previously
(02:17:14 AM) Lamo: yes
(02:17:31 AM) Lamo: stored locally, or retreiveable?
(02:17:35 AM) Manning: brb latrine =P
(02:17:43 AM) Manning: i dont have a copy anymore
(02:17:59 AM) Lamo: *nod*
(02:18:09 AM) Manning: they were stored on a centralized server…
(02:18:34 AM) Lamo: what’s your endgame plan, then?
(02:18:36 AM) Manning: it was vulnerable as fuck
(02:20:57 AM) Manning: well, it was forwarded to WL
(02:21:18 AM) Manning: and god knows what happens now
(02:22:27 AM) Manning: hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms
(02:23:06 AM) Manning: if not… than we’re doomed
(02:23:18 AM) Manning: as a species
(02:24:13 AM) Manning: i will officially give up on the society we have if nothing happens
(02:24:58 AM) Manning: the reaction to the video gave me immense hope… CNN’s iReport was overwhelmed… Twitter exploded…
(02:25:18 AM) Manning: people who saw, knew there was something wrong
(02:26:10 AM) Manning: Washington Post sat on the video… David Finkel acquired a copy while embedded out here
(02:26:36 AM) Manning: [also reason as to why there's probably no investigation]
(02:28:10 AM) Manning: i want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public
(02:28:10 AM) Lamo : I’m not here right now
(02:28:50 AM) Manning: if i knew then, what i knew now… kind of thing…
(02:29:31 AM) Manning: or maybe im just young, naive, and stupid…
(02:30:09 AM) Lamo: which do you think it is?
(02:30:29 AM) Manning: im hoping for the former
(02:30:53 AM) Manning: it cant be the latter
(02:31:06 AM) Manning: because if it is… were fucking screwed
(02:31:12 AM) Manning: (as a society)
(02:31:49 AM) Manning: and i dont want to believe that we’re screwed
(02:32:53 AM) Manning: food time… ttys

Manning discussed his growing disillusionment with the Army and U.S. foreign policy. He also addressed the lack of security at the base that allowed him to siphon material from classified networks without being noticed and described methods for delivering data to Wikileaks. He asserted that any incriminating evidence of his activity had already been “zeroed” out.
(02:26:01 PM) Manning: i dont believe in good guys versus bad guys anymore… i only a plethora of states acting in self interest… with varying ethics and moral standards of course, but self-interest nonetheless
(02:26:18 PM) Manning: s/only/only see/
(02:26:47 PM) Lamo: the tm meant i was being facetious
(02:26:59 PM) Manning: gotchya
(02:27:47 PM) Manning: i mean, we’re better in some respects… we’re much more subtle… use a lot more words and legal techniques to legitimize everything
(02:28:00 PM) Manning: its better than disappearing in the middle of the night
(02:28:19 PM) Manning: but just because something is more subtle, doesn’t make it right
(02:29:04 PM) Manning: i guess im too idealistic
(02:31:02 PM) Manning: i think the thing that got me the most… that made me rethink the world more than anything
(02:35:46 PM) Manning: was watching 15 detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police… for printing “anti-Iraqi literature”… the iraqi federal police wouldn’t cooperate with US forces, so i was instructed to investigate the matter, find out who the “bad guys” were, and how significant this was for the FPs… it turned out, they had printed a scholarly critique against PM Maliki… i had an interpreter read it for me… and when i found out that it was a benign political critique titled “Where did the money go?” and following the corruption trail within the PM’s cabinet… i immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on… he didn’t want to hear any of it… he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees…
(02:35:46 PM) Lamo : I’m not here right now
(02:36:27 PM) Manning: everything started slipping after that… i saw things differently
(02:37:37 PM) Manning: i had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth… but that was a point where i was a *part* of something… i was actively involved in something that i was completely against…
(02:38:12 PM) Lamo: That could happen in Colombia.
(02:38:21 PM) Lamo: Different cultures, dude.
(02:38:28 PM) Lamo: Life is cheaper.
(02:38:34 PM) Manning: oh im quite aware
(02:38:45 PM) Lamo: What would you do if your role /w Wikileaks seemed in danger of being blown?
(02:38:48 PM) Manning: but i was a part of it… and completely helpless…
(02:39:01 PM) Lamo: sometimes we’re all helpless
(02:39:34 PM) Manning: try and figure out how i could get my side of the story out… before everything was twisted around to make me look like Nidal Hassan
(02:40:15 PM) Manning: i dont think its going to happen
(02:40:26 PM) Manning: i mean, i was never noticed
(02:41:10 PM) Manning: regularly ignored… except when i had something essential… then it was back to “bring me coffee, then sweep the floor”
(02:42:24 PM) Manning: i never quite understood that
(02:42:44 PM) Manning: felt like i was an abused work horse…
(02:43:33 PM) Manning: also, theres god awful accountability of IP addresses…
(02:44:47 PM) Manning: the network was upgraded, and patched up so many times… and systems would go down, logs would be lost… and when moved or upgraded… hard drives were zeroed
(02:45:12 PM) Manning: its impossible to trace much on these field networks…
(02:46:10 PM) Manning: and who would honestly expect so much information to be exfiltrated from a field network?
(02:46:25 PM) Lamo: I’d be one paranoid boy in your shoes.
(02:47:07 PM) Manning: the CM video came from a server in our domain! and not a single person noticed
(02:47:21 PM) Lamo: CM?
(02:48:17 PM) Manning: Apache Weapons Team video of 12 JUL 07 airstrike on Reuters Journos… some sketchy but fairly normal street-folk… and civilians
(02:48:52 PM) Lamo: How long between the leak and the publication?
(02:49:18 PM) Manning: some time in february
(02:49:25 PM) Manning: it was uploaded
(02:50:04 PM) Lamo: uploaded where? how would i transmit something if i had similarly damning data
(02:51:49 PM) Manning: uhm… preferably openssl the file with aes-256… then use sftp at prearranged drop ip addresses
(02:52:08 PM) Manning: keeping the key separate… and uploading via a different means
(02:52:31 PM) Lamo: so i myself would be SOL w/o a way to prearrange
(02:54:33 PM) Manning: not necessarily… the HTTPS submission should suffice legally… though i’d use tor on top of it…
(02:54:43 PM) Manning: but you’re data is going to be watched
(02:54:44 PM) Manning: *your
(02:54:49 PM) Manning: by someone, more than likely
(02:54:53 PM) Lamo: submission where?
(02:55:07 PM) Manning: wl.org submission system
(02:55:23 PM) Lamo: in the massive queue?
(02:55:54 PM) Manning: lol, yeah, it IS pretty massive…
(02:55:56 PM) Manning: buried
(02:56:04 PM) Manning: i see what you mean
(02:56:35 PM) Manning: long term sources do get preference… i can see where the “unfairness” factor comes in
(02:56:53 PM) Lamo: how does that preference work?
(02:57:47 PM) Manning: veracity… the material is easy to verify…
(02:58:27 PM) Manning: because they know a little bit more about the source than a purely anonymous one
(02:59:04 PM) Manning: and confirmation publicly from earlier material, would make them more likely to publish… i guess…
(02:59:16 PM) Manning: im not saying they do… but i can see how that might develop
(03:00:18 PM) Manning: if two of the largest public relations “coups” have come from a single source… for instance
(03:02:03 PM) Manning: you yeah… purely *submitting* material is more likely to get overlooked without contacting them by other means and saying hey, check your submissions for x…

Manning described the first time he watched the Iraq video, after finding it in a network directory where an Army JAG officer left it. He speculated that Washington Post writer and book author David Finkel already had a copy of the video when he wrote his book The Good Soldiers, published last year. (Finkel addressed this issue recently.)
(03:07:26 PM) Manning: i recognized the value of some things…
(03:07:33 PM) Manning: knew what they meant… dug deeper
(03:07:53 PM) Manning: i watched that video cold, for instance
(03:10:32 PM) Manning: at first glance… it was just a bunch of guys getting shot up by a helicopter… no big deal… about two dozen more where that came from right… but something struck me as odd with the van thing… and also the fact it was being stored in a JAG officer’s directory… so i looked into it… eventually tracked down the date, and then the exact GPS co-ord… and i was like… ok, so thats what happened… cool… then i went to the regular internet… and it was still on my mind… so i typed into goog… the date, and the location… and then i see this http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html
(03:11:07 PM) Manning: i kept that in my mind for weeks… probably a month and a half… before i forwarded it to [Wikileaks]
(03:11:54 PM) Manning: then there was the Finkel book
(03:12:16 PM) Manning: im almost certain he had a copy

Manning discussed how common and easy it was for soldiers to bring removable media into their work environment, making it easy for him, or anyone else, to siphon data from classified networks without raising suspicion.
(01:52:30 PM) Manning: funny thing is… we transffered so much data on unmarked CDs…
(01:52:42 PM) Manning: everyone did… videos… movies… music
(01:53:05 PM) Manning: all out in the open
(01:53:53 PM) Manning: bringing CDs too and from the networks was/is a common phenomeon
(01:54:14 PM) Lamo: is that how you got the cables out?
(01:54:28 PM) Manning: perhaps
(01:54:42 PM) Manning: i would come in with music on a CD-RW
(01:55:21 PM) Manning: labelled with something like “Lady Gaga”… erase the music… then write a compressed split file
(01:55:46 PM) Manning: no-one suspected a thing
(01:55:48 PM) Manning: =L kind of sad
(01:56:04 PM) Lamo: and odds are, they never will
(01:56:07 PM) Manning: i didnt even have to hide anything
(01:56:36 PM) Lamo: from a professional perspective, i’m curious how the server they were on was insecure
(01:57:19 PM) Manning: you had people working 14 hours a day… every single day… no weekends… no recreation…
(01:57:27 PM) Manning: people stopped caring after 3 weeks
(01:57:44 PM) Lamo: i mean, technically speaking
(01:57:51 PM) Lamo: or was it physical
(01:57:52 PM) Manning: >nod<
(01:58:16 PM) Manning: there was no physical security
(01:58:18 PM) Lamo: it was physical access, wasn’t it
(01:58:20 PM) Lamo: hah
(01:58:33 PM) Manning: it was there, but not really
(01:58:51 PM) Manning: 5 digit cipher lock… but you could knock and the door…
(01:58:55 PM) Manning: *on
(01:59:15 PM) Manning: weapons, but everyone has weapons
(02:00:12 PM) Manning: everyone just sat at their workstations… watching music videos / car chases / buildings exploding… and writing more stuff to CD/DVD… the culture fed opportunities
(02:01:44 PM) Manning: hardest part is arguably internet access… uploading any sensitive data over the open internet is a bad idea… since networks are monitored for any insurgent/terrorist/militia/criminal types
(02:01:52 PM) Lamo: tor?
(02:02:13 PM) Manning: tor + ssl + sftp
(02:02:33 PM) Lamo: *nod*
(02:03:05 PM) Lamo: not quite how i might do it, but good
(02:03:22 PM) Manning: i even asked the NSA guy if he could find any suspicious activity coming out of local networks… he shrugged and said… “its not a priority”
(02:03:53 PM) Manning: went back to watching “Eagle’s Eye”

(02:12:23 PM) Manning: so… it was a massive data spillage… facilitated by numerous factors… both physically, technically, and culturally
(02:13:02 PM) Manning:: perfect example of how not to do INFOSEC
(02:14:21 PM) Manning: listened and lip-synced to Lady Gaga’s Telephone while exfiltratrating possibly the largest data spillage in american history
(02:15:03 PM) Manning: pretty simple, and unglamorous
(02:16:37 PM) Manning: *exfiltrating
(02:17:56 PM) Manning: weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counter-intelligence, inattentive signal analysis… a perfect storm
(02:19:03 PM) Manning: >sigh<
(02:19:19 PM) Manning: sounds pretty bad huh?
(02:20:06 PM) Lamo: kinda
(02:20:25 PM) Manning: :L
(02:20:52 PM) Lamo: i mean, for the .mil
(02:21:08 PM) Manning: well, it SHOULD be better
(02:21:32 PM) Manning: its sad
(02:22:47 PM) Manning: i mean what if i were someone more malicious
(02:23:25 PM) Manning: i could’ve sold to russia or china, and made bank?
(02:23:36 PM) Lamo: why didn’t you?
(02:23:58 PM) Manning: because it’s public data
(02:24:15 PM) Lamo: i mean, the cables
(02:24:46 PM) Manning: it belongs in the public domain
(02:25:15 PM) Manning: information should be free
(02:25:39 PM) Manning: it belongs in the public domain
(02:26:18 PM) Manning: because another state would just take advantage of the information… try and get some edge
(02:26:55 PM) Manning: if its out in the open… it should be a public good
(02:27:04 PM) Manning: *do the
(02:27:23 PM) Manning: rather than some slimy intel collector
(02:29:18 PM) Manning: im crazy like that
(03:38:07 PM) Manning: its not much of a pic, but here’s harry ponting http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2814062024_c39d25f27d.jpg the man who’s mission it is to sell the benefits of NCD throughout the State Department, Military, and IC
(03:38:18 PM) Manning: i feel terribly, terribly sorry for the guy
(03:39:17 PM) Manning: im not a bad person, i keep track of everything
(03:39:30 PM) Manning: i watch the whole thing unfold… from a distance
(03:40:07 PM) Manning: i read what everyone says… look at pictures… keep tabs… and feel for them
(03:40:18 PM) Manning: since im basically playing a vital role in their life
(03:40:29 PM) Manning: without ever meeting them
(03:40:53 PM) Manning: i was like that as an intelligence analyst as well
(03:41:09 PM) Lamo: i know the feeling, in a way.
(03:41:44 PM) Manning: most didnt care… but i knew, i was playing a role in the lives of hundreds of people, without them knowing them… but i cared, and kept track of some of the details, make sure everybody was okay
(03:42:07 PM) Manning: them knowing me
(03:43:27 PM) Manning: i dont think of myself as playing “god” or anything, because im not… im just playing my role for the moment… i dont control the way they react
(03:44:15 PM) Manning: there are far more people who do what i do, in state interest, on daily basis, and dont give a fuck
(03:45:01 PM) Manning: thats how i try to separate myself
(03:45:13 PM) Manning: from my (former) colleagues
Lamo asked what additional material Manning gave to Julian Assange at Wikileaks.
(04:32:05 PM) Manning: oh, the JTF GTMO papers… Assange has those too
(04:32:16 PM) Lamo: Read it.
(04:33:21 PM) Lamo: Anything else interesting on his table, as a former collector of interesting .com info?
(04:33:44 PM) Manning: idk… i only know what i provide him xD
(04:34:14 PM) Lamo: what do you consider the highlights?
(04:35:31 PM) Manning: The Gharani airstrike videos and full report, Iraq war event log, the “Gitmo Papers”, and State Department cable database
(04:35:50 PM) Lamo: Not too shabby.
(04:36:03 PM) Manning: thats just me….
(04:36:26 PM) Manning: idk about the rest… he *hopefully* has more

(04:42:16 PM) Manning: im not sure whether i’d be considered a type of “hacker”, “cracker”, “hacktivist”, “leaker” or what…
(04:42:26 PM) Manning: im just me… really
(04:44:21 PM) Manning: starts off like every physics / astro class intro… ever
(04:44:21 PM) Lamo : I’m not here right now
(04:44:45 PM) Manning: albeit without the algebraic proofs
(04:45:20 PM) Lamo: or a spy
(04:45:48 PM) Manning: i couldn’t be a spy…
(04:45:59 PM) Manning: spies dont post things up for the world to see
(04:46:14 PM) Lamo: Why? Wikileaks would be the perfect cover
(04:46:23 PM) Lamo: They post what’s not useful
(04:46:29 PM) Lamo: And keep the rest
(Image: Facebook.com)

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-chat/#ixzz0rASs3ApB

3 Weeks After Arrest, Still No Charges in Wikileaks Probe

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/manning-detainment/#ixzz0r5dgDsDq

By Kim Zetter and Kevin Poulsen June 16, 2010

PFC Bradley Manning, 22, is being held at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and has been assigned a military defense attorney. The Army and State Department are investigating claims Manning made to an ex-hacker in online chats that he disclosed classified information.

An Army legal advisor in Washington, D.C., says the delay in filing charges is unusual but is not a violation of regulations.

“I think if you were able to make a timeline of all the cases, [three weeks] would be at the high end,” said Lt. Col. Chris Carrier, chief of the policy branch of the criminal law division in the Judge Advocate General’s office (JAG) in Washington, D.C.

Carrier, who has no direct knowledge of the Manning case, said the military is required to produce a charge sheet “in a timely fashion,” but the complexity of this case may be causing the delay.

“It strikes me that this [case] may be relatively complicated in terms of obtaining, handling, managing the evidence and explaining things,” he said. “They have to figure out what they’re dealing with.”

Beyond the complex nature of the case, there may be other reasons for not jumping to charge Manning too quickly.

In 2004, the Army accused a military Muslim chaplain named James Yee of espionage and sedition after investigators found a document in his possession that listed the names of Guantanamo detainees and interrogators — information deemed classified at the time. The military formally charged Yee with mishandling classified information, but later dropped those charges, claiming a trial would reveal sensitive information. Critics suspected the real reason was lack of evidence.

In Manning’s case, in his chats with former hacker Adrian Lamo last month Manning described a crisis of conscience that led him to leak a headline-making video that Wikileaks published in April. The video depicted a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of several innocent civilians.

Manning also boasted of leaking a separate video to Wikileaks showing the notorious 2009 Garani air strike in Afghanistan, a classified Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a security threat, a detailed Army chronology of events in the Iraq war and a database of 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables.

Lamo tipped off Army investigators to Manning’s claims, prompting the soldier’s arrest at the end of May in Iraq, where he was deployed. Now investigators are searching for evidence to determine if his claims were true. On Friday, a State Department spokesman said Manning’s computer hard drives had been sent from Iraq to Washington for forensic examination.

Lamo said he met with Army and State Department investigators for 12 hours in California on Sunday to give a sworn statement, and that he also provided investigators with his computer hard drives. He said investigators gave him assurances in writing that information on his drives would not be used against any targets other than Manning — such as other hackers who might have had contact with Lamo.

Lamo said paperwork that investigators gave him to sign indicated that Manning was under investigation for possible violations of three federal criminal laws: unauthorized disclosure of classified information, espionage and the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Any trial, regardless of whether the charges involve federal statutes or military codes, would unfold in a military court, not a civilian criminal court, said Carrier. It would be “highly unusual,” he said, for the Justice Department to be involved in the prosecution.

“Certainly somebody [from Justice] might provide advice,” he said, “but as far as [being] on the actual prosecution team, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that.”

Carrier also said that the local military jurisdiction would be in charge of the case, and that there is great sensitivity about interference from military personnel outside that jurisdiction. That means investigators and prosecutors in Iraq would be calling the shots.

“So here in Washington, certainly people are interested in what’s going on, and there is some information passed up the chain, but … people in Washington are not going to be calling up and telling them what to do or managing this from afar,” said Carrier.

Carrier said that pre-trial confinements are not very common, since most cases involve less serious allegations. But when they do arise, there are a number of procedures for a local jurisdiction to follow.

Under the rules for military judicial proceedings, a soldier’s company, battalion or brigade commander can order his pre-trial confinement, based on information provided by Army Criminal Investigation Division officers or other investigators.

Generally, a probable-cause review must be conducted within 48 hours to determine if the reasons for confinement are valid, said Carrier. The informal review is conducted between the commander who ordered the confinement, the JAG officer representing the government, the defense counsel and a “neutral and detached” officer. If the confinement was ordered by someone other than the soldier’s immediate commander, the soldier has the right to also have his commanding officer review the information within 72 hours to determine that his confinement is appropriate.

A military magistrate who is independent of the soldier’s command must then conduct a more formal review within seven days of the start of the confinement to determine if the soldier should continue to be held.

According to Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, Manning had this latter review on May 30, and the military magistrate determined that “continued pretrial confinement was warranted.”

Once prosecutors have finished gathering evidence, a military court will hold a hearing to determine if the case should proceed to a court martial. The so-called Article 32 hearing involves a judge, prosecutors and defense counsel.

If the case involving Manning proceeds to trial, it’s unclear where the proceedings will occur. Lamo said officials have not told him where a trial would be held. Carrier said that generally a court martial is held where the soldier’s unit is based.

Manning’s unit is currently in Iraq. But the 10th Mountain Division, in which Manning serves, is headquartered at Ft. Drumm in New York, which could also become a venue for trial if Manning’s attorney were to argue that his defense could be more easily conducted in the United States, where witnesses (such as Lamo) live. Manning’s friend Tyler Watkins, who could also be called as a witness, is in Massachusetts. Last April, according to Watkins, Manning indicated to Watkins that he was responsible for leaking the Iraq helicopter video to Wikileaks.

Although Manning was deployed at Forward Operating Base Hammer near Baghdad, Iraq, he’s been confined in Kuwait because that’s where the detention facility is for the U.S. Central Command, Carrier said. Detention facilities in Iraq are for prisoners of war, he said, and military prisoners cannot be confined with them or with foreign nationals.

Although Manning was assigned a military lawyer at the time he was detained, he can opt to hire a civilian defense attorney at any point.

Wikileaks has claimed in an e-mail to Lamo and in e-mail to supporters that it has commissioned a defense team for Manning, although the organization has not acknowledged Manning was a source. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said in a fundraising plea this week that he needed donations to cover the unspecified cost of “flying a legal team to Kuwait.”

Assange’s move to defend Manning was regarded with curiosity by some members of the media who were scheduled to appear on a journalism panel with him last Friday in Las Vegas, before Assange canceled due to “security concerns.”

“There is this question of, is he, by offering to defend the source, acknowledging the source?” asked panelist Rhonda Schwartz, senior investigative producer for ABC News, about Assange’s fundraising appeal. “And does he make it worse [for Manning]?”

An Army representative did not indicate whether Manning had retained civilian counsel, but said on Wednesday in an e-mail that Capt. Paul Bouchard, senior defense counsel at Camp Liberty in Iraq, was still Manning’s attorney of record. Manning’s family members have not responded to calls seeking comment about the matter. Bouchard would not answer questions and referred inquiries back to the Army’s public affairs office.

Any attorney representing Manning might need to have a security clearance, if evidence in the case contains classified information. The attorney would also be required to agree not to pass classified information to Wikileaks or anyone else, Carrier said. To safeguard such information, the attorney might be allowed to inspect classified evidence only in a secure room, but not be given copies of the evidence. Information could also be provided in such a way that “its disclosure would be recognizable,” Carrier said.

Should the case proceed to trial and Manning be convicted, it’s unclear what kind of sentence would be handed down.

In 2007, former Navy lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz was court-martialed for providing classified information to an unauthorized party. While stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Diaz mailed a 39-page document that contained the names and details of detainees being held at the camp to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which was suing the government to have the names of the secret detainees disclosed. Diaz was sentenced to six months in the Navy brig for his leak.

Manning, however, is potentially facing more serious charges if prosecutors find evidence that he did indeed leak 260,000 classified cables to Wikileaks.

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/manning-detainment/#ixzz0rARiI7mB

Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange has pioneered the use of information mainstream media are unable to publish

It has the ingredients of a spy thriller: an American military analyst turned whistleblower; 260,000 classified government documents; and rumours that the world's most powerful country is hunting a former hacker whom it believes is about to publish them.

Pentagon and State Department officials are desperately trying to discover whether Bradley Manning, a US army intelligence officer currently under arrest in Kuwait, has leaked highly sensitive embassy cables to Wikileaks.org, an online community of some 800 volunteer cyber experts, activists, journalists and lawyers which has become a thorn in the side of governments and corrupt corporations across the globe.
Reports in the US say officials are seeking to apprehend Julian Assange, the website's founder who has pioneered the release of the kind of information the mainstream media are either unwilling or unable to publish.

Manning, 22, an intelligence analyst from Potomac, Maryland, who had been serving in Iraq, was revealed earlier this week as the source behind a highly damning leak earlier in the year that showed harrowing cockpit footage of an American Apache helicopter gunning down unarmed civilians in Baghdad three years ago.
But the Apache video may have proven to be one leak too far. Adrian Lamo, a former US hacker turned journalist who had been conversing with Manning online and later gave up his name to the authorities, said he also claimed to have handed 260,000 classified US embassy messages to Wikileaks.
According to Mr Lamo, Manning said the documents showed "almost-criminal political back dealings" made by US embassies in the Middle East which, if true, would cause enormous embarrassment to key allies in a notoriously volatile area of the world. Mr Lamo claims Manning said that "Hillary Clinton and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public".
If those responsible for the site wanted any confirmation that the US military have them in their sights, they only need to look at their own website. In March this year Wikileaks published a leaked 32-page intelligence report which described the site as a "threat to the US Army". The report added: "The possibility that current employees or moles within [the Department of Defence] or elsewhere in the US government are providing sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out."
The site has previously shown that it is prepared to publish sensitive documents from US embassies. In January Wikileaks posted a classified cable from the US embassy in Reykjavik which described a meeting between embassy chief Sam Watson, the British Ambassador, Ian Whiting, and members of the Icelandic government.
In an interview with the BBC news website – the only one he has given since Manning was arrested – Mr Assange refused to confirm whether the intelligence analyst was the source of the Apache video. He also said he had no knowledge of the 260,000 further files that Manning claimed to have leaked.
But while Mr Assange may be shunning media interviews, he seems to be making no attempt to keep a low profile. Yesterday afternoon, the site's Twitter page announced that Mr Assange would be appearing in Las Vegas later in the day for a panel discussion about protecting anonymous sources – appearing alongside former CIA agent Valerie Plame and Leonard Downie Jr, a former editor of the Washington Post who supervised much of the paper's coverage of the Watergate scandal.
An earlier tweet suggested Wikileaks would not look kindly upon any US government interference. "Any signs of unacceptable behaviour by the Pentagon or its agents towards this press will be viewed dimly," the post said.
Website that breaks news
*Although Wikileaks is nominally hosted in Sweden, it fiercely protects both itself and the identity of its sources by routing all leaks through a series of servers around the world, which makes them virtually impossible to trace or shut down. "It's a very effective measure to mask who a whistleblower is and where they are connecting from," says Rik Fergusson, a cyber security expert at Trend Micro. "The only way to track it is in real time, which is almost impossible."
*Founded in 2006 by Australian-born former hacker Julian Assange, it has no paid staff and relies on volunteers and donations.
*In the past four years the site has released, among other items, the British National Party's membership list, detailed US military procedures for handling prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Sarah Palin's emails, the University of East Anglia's "Climategate emails" and 570,000 pager messages intercepted after the 11 September terrorist attacks.
*Wikileaks claims its next big scoop will be to publish video footage of an air strike in Afghanistan that killed scores of civilians.
-----------

Pentagon hunting Wikileaks founder
Julian Assange hopefully on the run
11 Jun 2010 12:37 | by John W. Daly | posted in Internet

The Daily Beast is reporting the Pentagon has a manhunt currently underway for Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange.
Investigators from the Pentagon are flocking out and "are desperately searching" for the white-haired sage of openness and accountability. The US is apparently convinced that whistleblower Bradley Manning, who was arrested two weeks ago, did indeed hand over 260,000 US diplomatic cables concerning the Middle East over to Wikileaks.

Due to the multinode nature of Wikileaks', however, simply catching the website's spokesperson Julian Assange and "asking" him for cooperation will not prevent the content of the cables from being publicised in the internet, now or in the future. This also means Assange is in relative security, as Wikileaks is a hydra with many heads. In ancient times before the internet, being connected by the US security apparatus with such a leak would have had greater ramifications. Assange being a public figure and Wikileaks receiving a lot of coverage from major news outlets means the US has to watch out how it will tread.

If Assange were on US soil, though, he would certainly be arrested due to a presumed connection to the Manning case. Indeed, US officials did not tell The Daily Beast how Assange would be processed if he were tracked down, they did however say " they would have many more legal options available to them if he is still somewhere in the United States".

Wikileaks has so far denied it is in possession of 260,000 diplomatic cables. The possession of 1000 would still have a very damaging effect. The site leaked two US diplomatic cables in January, one concerning a meeting in regards to Icesave, another containing profiles of the Icelandic prime minister, ambassador to the US and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade. The release caused quite a stir in Iceland and abroad. Wikileaks utilised the cables for the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, a law proposal designed to bring in best-practice freedom of press standards.

New efficiencies lie ahead

The US intelligence apparatus is currently trying to figure out how to come to terms with Wikileaks. A counterintelligence report called the site "a potential force protection, counterintelligence, operational security (OPSEC, and information security(INFOSEC) threat to the US Army". It recommended “the identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this centre of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org web site".

Now that Bradley Manning has been arrested and is being investigated for his whistleblowing activities, the main focus of which has been the release of the Collateral Murder video showing US gunships in Baghdad indiscriminately killing civilians, the US might be making a slight inroad in regards to deterring potential leakers. However, Manning unfortunately simply couldn't keep his lips tight about his actions, something which future whistleblowers will have to keep in mind.

Incarcerating Julian Assange would be a minor success, however this would not be legally possible outside of the USA. Any action against Assange could also backfire, making a martyr of the man. In the end, it will depend to what lengths the US is ready to go to keep diplomatic cables from being put out in the public, and if the apparatus would make the error of mistaking Assange as an individual, instead of the entire Wikileaks organisation

Read more: http://www.techeye.net/internet/pentagon-hunting-wikileaks-founder#ixzz0qZ7Vswvg

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Wikileaks Commissions Lawyers to Defend Alleged Army Source
By Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter June 11, 2010

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wants a copy of the chat logs in which a U.S. intelligence analyst discussed providing classified materials to the whistle-blower site, according to an e-mail shown to Wired.com by the ex-hacker who turned the analyst in.
Assange says he’s arranging the legal defense for 22-year-old Bradley Manning, now in his third week in military custody.
In the Friday e-mail to Adrian Lamo, Assange (or someone convincingly posing as him) claims he wants to forward the logs to attorneys he says he’s hired to represent Manning, though the e-mail doesn’t explain why the unnamed lawyers aren’t approaching Lamo directly.
The e-mail also contains talking points Assange would like to see Lamo adopt in describing Manning, and in explaining his decision to report the suspected leaker to law enforcement.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-to-lamo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+(Wired%3A+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

Subject: Manning’s defence; logs; strategy
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:20:40 +0100 (BST)
From: Julian Assange
To: adrian@adrian.org
CC: Julian Assange.
Manning’s defence team, which I have commisioned, urgently requires all emails and chat logs you alleged to have come from Mr. Manning. Please send them to me, if necessary through our online submission system. They will be used strictly for Mr. Manning’s defence, but must be complete.
In addition, it would be helpful if you described Mr. Manning, as a “whistleblower”, who had already lost his access over an unrelated issue, held no data, and was of no meaningful threat to anyone. In particular Mr. Manning was not an “alleged spy”, and it is wrong for you to describe him as such, or to suggest that there were no other approaches to resolving the situation.
It would also be helpful to all concerned if you stopped trying to justify your behavior by whipping up sentiment against Mr. Manning in other ways. Your most effective personal strategy is to say you were scared due to your previous experiences, unthoughtful due to recent drug problems, and made a decision which you now bitterly regret and would under no circumstances repeat. Going around like a poor man’s Tsutomu, constantly drawing attention to yourself through the destruction of a young romantic outlaw figure, will leave you permanently reviled by history–and me.
JA
Wired.com could not confirm that Manning has accepted Assange’s offer of legal assistance. A phone call to his aunt, who has been in contact with Manning following his arrest, was not returned Friday. Assange did not immediately respond to inquiries from Wired.com.
Lamo says he hasn’t attempted to whip up sentiment against Manning, and that he doesn’t intend to comply with Assange’s request.
“No, I’m not going to give the logs to someone who suggests that I might have been drug-addled when I decided to turn in a spy,” says Lamo, who takes prescription medication for depression and Asperger’s Disorder. “Private Manning’s attorney can get them by discovery like everyone else.”

In his chats with Lamo, copies of which were provided to Wired.com by the ex-hacker, Manning described a crisis of conscience that led him to leak a headline-making video of a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of several innocent civilians. He also boasted of leaking a separate video showing the notorious 2009 Garani air strike in Afghanistan that Wikileaks has previously acknowledged is in its possession; a classified Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a security threat, which the site posted in March; a detailed Army chronology of events in the Iraq war; and a cache of 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables.
Wikileaks has neither confirmed nor denied that Manning leaked information to the site, but on Sunday it tweeted that “Allegations in Wired that we have been sent 260,000 classified US embassy cables are, as far as we can tell, incorrect.”
Manning told Lamo that he expected the cables to be released in a “searchable format” to the public. The prospect of the cable leak appears to be of particular concern to the United States. One or more of Manning’s hard drives were flown to Washington on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, and State Department diplomatic security agents are examining them for evidence of the allegedly downloaded cables. The Daily Beast reported that the Pentagon is attempting to locate Assange before he publishes the cables, though it’s not clear what defense officials plan to do if they find him.
Responding to the report, Wikileaks tweeted Friday, “Any signs of unacceptable behavior by the Pentagon or its agents towards this press will be viewed dimly.”
Assange was previously scheduled to speak at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time Friday at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas. On Friday, Wikileaks tweeted that Assange still plans on participating on the panel, but IRE told the Daily Beast that Assange actually canceled several days ago.
Last week, Assange was scheduled to appear beside Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, but he wound up participating from Australia over Skype instead.
Updated 20:00
Top photo: Julian Assange (Lily Mihalik/Wired.com). Bradley Manning photo via Facebook.com

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-to-lamo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+(Wired%3A+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))#ixzz0qgo7PuWU

http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/06/11/state-department-assessing-damage-from-cables-leak-2/
State Department assessing damage from cables leak
State Department studying the extent of damage from reported compromise of classified cables
ROBERT BURNS
AP News
Jun 11, 2010 19:14 EDT
The State Department says it is studying the computer hard drives used by an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, trying to assess the potential damage if allegations are true that the analyst leaked tens of thousands of classified diplomatic documents to a whistle-blower website.

Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is assisting in the forensic analysis of the data stored on one or more hard drives from computers believed to have been used by Army Spc. Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md.
Manning, who has not been charged with any crime, is being detained in Kuwait pending an Army criminal investigation of unauthorized leaks of classified information.
"We take this seriously," Crowley said. "Any release of classified material to those who are not entitled to have it is a serious breach of our security and, you know, can cause potential damage to our national security interests."
Former computer Hacker Adrian Lamo says that Manning claimed in a series of online chats that he downloaded 260,000 classified or sensitive State Department cables and transmitted them by computer to the website Wikileaks.org.
Crowley said examination of the hard drives, which arrived in Washington on Thursday from Baghdad, should allow officials to verify what documents Manning may have downloaded and whether he sent them to an unauthorized recipient.
In a post on Twitter, Wikileaks has denied that it was provided with 260,000 classified documents, but it has not further clarified the matter.
Wikileaks' chief spokesman, Julian Assange, was scheduled to appear as part of a panel Friday night an Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas, Nev.
In April, Wikileaks posted a leaked video that shows Apache helicopters gunning down unarmed men in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.
Lamo has said Manning told him he was the source of the 2007 video, a story first reported by the website of Wired magazine.
Lamo has said he reported Manning to military authorities after Manning confided to him in a series of online chats that he had also leaked the diplomatic cables and other classified material. Lamo has said he feared posting of secret documents could cost lives.
According to a transcript of Lamo's online chats with Manning, published by Wired's website, the intelligence analyst provided one diplomatic cable to Wikileaks as a "test."
That cable — a Jan. 13, 2010, note from the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, summarizing discussions with Icelandic officials about the country's financial troubles — was posted on Wikileaks.org.
Mark Kimmitt, a retired Army brigadier general and former assistant secretary of state, said in an interview that if the compromised documents include information about U.S. security assistance programs — such as arms sales to friendly governments — they would, if published, "not only be diplomatically embarrassing but would also be a security breach that would have some measure of negative impact."
It would not be the first time sensitive internal government documents have leaked. In November 2006, The New York Times published a secret memo written by Stephen Hadley, then national security adviser to President George W. Bush, questioning whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could be a reliable U.S. partner.
Steven Aftergood, who writes Secrecy News, an e-mail newsletter on government secrecy policies, said if the leaked documents contained only candid assessments, they would not do any damage to national security. But they could still greatly complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts.
"It is a big deal because if the government cannot communicate on a confidential basis, then diplomacy can be crippled," Aftergood said in an interview. "Our foreign interlocutors will be censoring themselves when they speak with us and our own embassies may feel inhibited about what they put in writing."
Aftergood, who has followed government secrecy issues for many years, said that while there have been innumerable isolated cases of leaked secrets, "in terms of voluminous quantities of classified records, there may be no parallel since the Pentagon Papers" case.
He was referring to The New York Times' disclosure in 1971 of a top-secret Pentagon study of the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

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http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/06/11/transcript-daniel-ellsberg-says-he-fears-us-might-assasinate-wikileaks-founder/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignSilo+%28Jane+Hamsher+Campaign+Silo%29&utm_content=Twitter

Daniel Ellsberg, the former US military analyst who released the pentagon papers in 1971, appeared on MSNBC today with Dylan Ratigan. He said he fears for the safety of Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, who is reportedly on the verge of leaking secret State Department cables. The Daily Beast reports that Assange is currently being sought by the Pentagon, and Ellsberg advises him not to reveal his whereabouts.
“We have after all for the first time, that I ever perhaps in any democratic country, we have a president who has announced that he feels he has the right to use special operations operatives against anyone abroad, that he thinks is associated with terrorism,” says Ellsberg. “Now as I look at Assange’s case, they’re worried that he will reveal current threats. I would have to say puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now. And I say that with anguish. I think it’s astonishing that an American president should have put out that policy and he’s not getting these resistance from it, from Congress, the press, the courts or anything. It’s an amazing development that I think Assange would do well to keep his whereabouts unknown.”
Full transcript:
RATIGAN: Do you see direct parallels between what’s developing here and what you went through?
ELLSBURG: Yes, there does seem to be an immediate parallel between me and whoever leaked the video on the assault on the 19 or 20 Iraqis. Someone–allegedly, it was Bradley Manning–did feel that that deserved to be out. the “Reuters,” whose newspapermen were killed in the course of that, had been trying to get that through the freedom of information act for two years, as I understand it and had been refused. Let’s say whoever did it, hypothetically, Bradley Manning, showed better judgment in putting it out than the people who kept is secret from the American people and from the Iraqis.
RATIGAN: What is your sense of disclosure of information to the American people today, compared to the period of time that you lived through, where there was similar issues with, with the perception of reality of information being withheld from the public?
ELLSBURG: Look, there’s no doubt at all, that enormous amounts of energy that should be made public are being withheld and that hundreds, probably thousands of people, I’m speaking now of the run-up to the Iraq war, which has a very great similarity to the lying and the secrecy that got us into Vietnam. I think if many people had recognized that their oath of office, which called them in to support the Constitution, really contradicted their promise to keep certain secrets, when those secrets concealed lies, concealed deception to the American public and getting us into a hopeless war, they should have given priority to the oath of office and they should have put that information out to Congress and the public. They should have done what I wish I had done much earlier than I did I had been in that position, too. I knew years before the Pentagon Papers came out that the Americans were being lied in to an essentially hopeless war. I’m not proud of the fact that it didn’t occur to me that my oath of office, which was to support the Constitution, called on me to put that information out and say, ‘64, when the war might have been avoided. But I certainly am glad that I finally came aware of what my real responsibilities were there. And I did put it out years later. At times, at that time, which published it, the “Times,” and the 18 other newspapers, which defied President Nixon’s injunctions and did put it out, were in the position of Julian Assange is in now. I’m very happy that he put it out and I congratulate him for it.
RATIGAN: What was your conclusion as to the direct liability for you? I know that at one point you faced life imprisonment. What do you perceive to be the liability for whoever the leak may be to asange, Mr. Manning or anybody else?
ELLSBURG: I didn’t understand that we don’t have an official secrets act in this country, criminalizing the disclosure of certain information. Except with certain narrow forms of information which is not involved in the pentagon papers or in this. The nuclear weapons data. The identities of covert agents, those things are subject to law. The classification system as a whole is an administrative system that doesn’t have legal force in this country. We’re almost alone among countries in that. I didn’t know that at the time. I assumed I must be breaking some law, that we had some equivalent. And so i didn’t know to start with, that I was the first person ever prosecuted for a leak. The first person to have the Espionage Act provisions used not for espionage, but for revealing information to the American public. There have only been a couple of people who have been indicted since then. Samuel Loring Morrison. And the APEC under George W. Bush. The only cases and conviction was for Morrison. President Obama, who came in promptsing transparency in government, and an end to the excessive secrecy has totally violated that pledge. and it so happens that he’s not only brought two indictments, more than any other president for leaking before any other president had done. but with now, with Bradley Manning, under arrest, if he’s under prosecution, that will be three. A new, a new record for President Obama. That’s really not the kind of change I voted for when I voted for him.
RATIGAN: Phillip, what is your understand of where Mr. Assange is right now and how highly desired he is as a target, of either state department or pentagon investigators?
SHENON: We in the press corps would like to know where he is, we have no idea. He was supposed to speak at a panel in Las Vegas, but he apparently canceled on them at the last minute. He was supposed to appear in New York last week at a separate conference you made reference to. He chose not to attend and was apparently in his native Australia.
RATIGAN: His absence is one thing, an understanding of the degree of interest is one thing, and federal government is the other. Do you have a sense of whether his absence correlates to avoiding the American authorities in any way?
SHENON: Yeah, he said last week, at this New York gathering that he had been instructed by his lawyers not to return to the United States.
ELLSBURG: You know, may I say, the expression he used, I was supposed to do a dialogue with him at that conference, that’s why I went to New York. And he explained, the explanation he used was that he was understood that it was not safe for him to come to this country. And then later he explained now when the Bradley Manning arrest was announced, he said now you understand why I didn’t come. I think it’s worth mentioning a very new and ominous development in our country. I think he would not be safe, even physically entirely, wherever he is. We have after all for the first time, that I ever perhaps in any Democratic country, we have a president who has announced that he feels he has the right to use special operations operatives against anyone abroad, that he thinks is associated with terrorism. That he suspects of it. And that includes American citizens. One American citizen has even been named. Now Assange is not an American citizen. But I listen to that with a special interest. Because I was in fact the subject of a White House hit squad in November on May 3rd, 1972. A dozen Cuban assets were brought up from Miami with orders, quote, quoting the prosecutor, to incapacitate Daniel Ellsberg totally. on the steps of the capital, it so happens when i was in a rally during the vietnam war. And I asked the prosecutor, what does that mean, kill me? And he said, the words were “to incapacitate you totally.” But you should understand, these guides, meaning these c.i.a. operatives never use the word “kill.” i actually think it was to silence me at that particular time. For worries they had that I would leak president Nixon’s nuclear threats, which he was making at that precise time in 1972. Now as I look at Assange’s case, they’re worried that he will reveal current threats. I would have to say puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now. And I say that with anguish. I think it’s astonishing that an American president should have put out that policy and he’s not getting these resistance from it, from congress, the press, the courts or anything. it’s an amazing development that I think Assange would do well to keep his whereabouts unknown.

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WikiLeaks Founder Has Massacre Video

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-15/wikileaks-founder-has-garani-massacre-video-according-to-new-email/?cid=hp:mainpromo1

Julian Assange, who the Feds fear may release State Dept. secrets, denies having them—but he’s readying video of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan.
After several days underground, the founder of the secretive website WikiLeaks has gone public to disclose that he is preparing to release a classified Pentagon video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan last year that left as many as 140 civilians dead, most of them children and teenagers.
In an email obtained by The Daily Beast that was sent to WikiLeaks supporters in the United States Tuesday, Julian Assange, the website’s Australian-born founder, also defends a 22-year-old Army intelligence specialist who is now under arrest in Kuwait on charges that he leaked classified Pentagon combat videos, as well as 260,000 State Department cables, to WikiLeaks.
“Mr. Manning allegedly also sent us 260,000 classified US Department cables, reporting on the actions of US Embassy’s [sic] engaging in abusive actions all over the world,” Assange said in an email. “We have denied the allegation, but the US government is acting as if the allegation is true.”
American officials have said they are eager to determine the whereabouts of Assange, who canceled an appearance last Friday in Las Vegas, to discourage him from releasing any more classified information on his website, which is nominally based in Sweden and promotes itself as a global resource for whistleblowers. As recently as two weeks ago, Assange, who first gained global notoriety as a computer hacker, was in his native Australia.
In April, his website posted a copy of a classified Pentagon video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Baghdad in which a dozen people were killed; that video is also believed to have been leaked by the Army intelligence analyst, Specialist Bradley Manning of Potomac, Maryland.
• Philip Shenon: Leaker May Face Espionage Charges

• Philip Shenon: Pentagon Manhunt

• Philip Shenon: The State Department’s Worst Nightmare

• Sam Bungey: The Man Behind WikiLeaks While denying again that WikiLeaks has the State Department cables, Assange acknowledges in the email today that he is in custody of the May 2009 video that shows the airstrike on the Afghan village of Garani, believed to be the most lethal combat strike in Afghanistan—in terms of civilian deaths—since the United States invaded the country in 2001. Assange writes that “we are still working on” preparations for release of the video of “the Garani massacre.”
The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately comment on Assange’s email message.
American officials have acknowledged in the past that they are concerned about the release of the Garani video, fearing that it could undermine public support for the American military campaign in Afghanistan both in that country and in the United States. Pentagon officials were outraged by WikiLeaks’ release of the Baghdad video this spring.
State Department officials are especially alarmed by the potential that Assange might post the huge library of classified department memos that Manning is reported to have bragged of providing to WikiLeaks earlier this year. The department has confirmed that it is conducting a forensic examination of Manning’s computer equipment for evidence of what he may have downloaded.
In the email, Assange does not confirm any relationship between the website and Manning, describing him as “one of our alleged sources.”
But he suggests that Manning is being treated unfairly—“detained and shipped to a US military prison in Kuwait, where he is being held” without trial.

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WikiLeaks Video on Afghan Attack Said to Be Imminent

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/18/wikileaks-video-on-afghan-attack-said-to-be-imminent/

Video Reportedly Shows Farah Air Strike From May 2009
by Jason Ditz, June 18, 2010

With WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange still in hiding there is growing speculation, fueled by comments from Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir, that the release of Wikileaks’ next classified US military video is imminent.

WikiLeaks has been reported to be in possession of the video in question for months, which shows the May 5 2009 US air strike against a village in Farah Province.

Afghan investigators concluded that the attack killed upwards of 140 civilians, and that more than half of them were children. The US claimed the villagers deliberately exaggerated the toll to get more compensation from the military.

While massive death tolls in air strikes have been pretty common over the course of the Afghan War, the repeated changes in official US stories on the incident (including an initial claim that the whole attack was a myth invented by the Taliban) and the secrecy surrounding the internal probe, the video could deal a massive blow to the claims about the attack.

The wildcard in all of this is comments from officials that the military “didn’t follow the rules” in the Farah killings, which given the shocking nature of the last WikiLeaks video, which the Pentagon insists shows troops acting appropriately, has sparked enormous speculation about what the video might reveal.