US Case Against Wikileaks’ Julian Assange Collapses

[G_j]

Juan Cole has been one of the most reliable reporters on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military matters for the past decade. This report is HUGE.

www.juancole.com


US Case Against Wikileaks’ Julian Assange Collapses
Posted on 01/25/2011 by Juan

The US government, according to NBC correspondent Jim Miklaszewski, now admits that it cannot tie Pfc. Bradley Manning to Wikileaks leader Julian Assange.

The military also admitted that Manning was put on suicide watch improperly twice last week by the base commander at Quantico, essentially as a form of punishment and with no consultation with psychiatrists. During the watch they took his glasses from him so he could not read.

As for Assange,

‘ The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, there is apparently no evidence he passed the files directly to Assange, or had any direct contact with the controversial WikiLeaks figure. ‘

The admission appears to close off the most plausible legal strategy for the US to prosecute Assange. Since there is no Official Secrets Act in the United States, it is not clear that it is illegal to possess or to pass on classified documents. Manning himself would have broken a contractual obligation as a US government employee if he leaked classified documents, but civilians who received such documents are difficult to prosecute.

..more..

[gateley]

1. Boy, I hope he's correct. If Bushco were in power, they'd "find" the "proof" -

although I've always been puzzled why they didn't discover WMD. Guess they didn't need to go that far once we were there.

[ThomCat]

4. I think they will still "find" proof even now if they think they need to.

It doesn't matter who is in the big office. We have already seen that Obama is happy to keep far too many of Bush's worst policies, and even make them worse than they were under Bush.

[gateley]

5. Frankly I was shocked and dismayed that they went after Facebook users (or was

it Twitter?). I keep expecting more fairness, at least.

[Robb]

2. Then Assange should have no problem with returning to Sweden, eh?

;)

[gateley]

6. Oh! Good point! He was fearful that he'd be extradited to the US if he did, right? nt

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Good.

[Sonoman]

7. He can't read without his glasses?

How in the world did he get into the Army?

Sonoman

[G_j]

8. wearing glasses does not

exclude one from joining the military.

[Sonoman]

9. I know that. But not being able to see without them does.

Maybe they are letting borderline legally blind folks in, these days.

Hell, they're letting everyone else in.

Sonoman

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. It's not just Manning they want to keep from reading. It's all of us.

They've become pathetic in their attempts to keep the public from finding out what our government does.

[librechik]

11. It's quite clear that passing documents is NOT illegal

otherwise every journalist at the WaPo would have gone to jail

[Better Believe It]

12. K & R

[treestar]

13. Not necessarily - he still got the documents somehow

Whatever he did remains the same.