by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – Private First Class Bradley Manning, a former intelligence analyst for the US Army, read a statement at the sentencing phase of his court martial Wednesday. Pfc. Manning was convicted of 17 of 22 charges brought against him for leaking military intelligence to the information distribution system WikiLeaks.
While Pfc. Manning originally faced a maximum sentence of 136 years, Judge Colonel Denise Lind set aside some of the duplicate charges. Pfc. Manning now faces a potential sentence of up to 90 years in military prison.
Manning took the stand, stating “I’m sorry [my actions] hurt the United States.” Manning went on to say “When I made these decisions I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people.”
Earlier in the day, Judge Lind heard testimony from Army Commander David Moulton, a military psychiatrist, who explained that Manning showed signs of stress-induced behavioral disorders. Cmdr. Moulton offered an example from April 2010, when Manning struck a fellow soldier with a knife after soldiers found Manning curled up in ball. Moulton further revealed that Pfc. Manning was struggling with gender identity crisis during his deployment to Iraq.
Moulton noted that Manning’s lack of a support structure in dealing with his crisis added “incredible” pressure to the Private First Class.
Judge Lind also heard testimony that Manning emailed a picture of himself wearing a wig and lipstick to his superior, Master Sergeant Paul Adkins, who did not notify the brigade leaders. The email, which contained the subject line “My problem,” came to Adkins at a time when he admitted having increasing concerns about Manning’s mental health. NBC news reports that, in a memo written to psychologists at the time, Adkins stated that Manning’s mental health was a “constant source of concern.”
Adkins added that a when a captain saw the photograph of Manning several months after his arrest, the unnamed captain would have immediately pulled Manning from working in the vault where classified information was processed.
For more information, please see:
Daily News – Revealed: Photo of WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning dressed as a woman released – 14 August 2013
NBC News – ‘I’m sorry that I hurt the United States’: Bradley Manning apologizes in court – 14 August 2013
NPR – Bradley Manning: ‘I Am Sorry … I Hurt The United States’ – 14 August 2013
USA Today – Pfc. Bradley Manning’s apology – 14 August 2013
The Guardian – Bradley Manning supervisor ‘ignored photo of soldier dressed as woman’ – 13 August 2013
