Bradley Manning trial: prosecution details al-Qaida interest in WikiLeaks

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US government presents evidence for 'aiding the enemy' charge which must prove Manning knowingly harmed US security
Ed Pilkington in New York
Monday 1 July 2013 13.34 EDT

... Prosecutors read into the trial record a statement already discussed in court, that reveals that the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden personally asked for WikiLeaks material to be provided to him. Bin Laden wrote a letter to an assistant requesting that he gather the material, and in response was sent battlefield reports from Afghanistan, known as the Afghan warlogs, as well as some of the embassy cables published by WikiLeaks.

Bin Laden's letter and response was found on digital items recovered by the team of US Navy Seals who burst into his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed him in May 2011.

The Bin Laden material was put into the record with no elaboration by prosecutors, though it is clear that the al-Qaida leader's personal interest in WikiLeaks will be used as a star item in its attempt to prove that Manning "aided the enemy", an offence that carries a possible sentence of life in military custody with no chance of parole. To flesh out the point, the prosecution also read to court the testimony of a US military adviser on Islamist militancy who portrayed al-Qaida as an internet- and media-savvy organisation.

Youssef Aboul-Enein said that al-Qaida and its offshoots, including al-Qaida, in the Arabian Peninsula routinely used the media to inspire individuals and enhance fundraising for its missions. "From its inception media perception was important to al-Qaida," he said, adding that acknowledgement of successful attacks on US forces would boost the network's morale and establish its credentials as an effective terrorist organisation ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/01/bradley-manning-wikileaks-al-qaida

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1. Prosecution wrapping up its case against Army private who gave classified info to WikiLeaks

By Associated Press
Updated: Monday, July 1, 1:48 PM

FORT MEADE, Md. — Al-Qaida leaders reveled in WikiLeaks’ publication of reams of classified U.S. documents, urging members to study them before devising ways to attack the United States, according to evidence presented by the prosecution Monday in the court-martial of an Army private who leaked the material.

“By the grace of God the enemy’s interests are today spread all over the place,” Adam Gadahn, a spokesman for the terrorist group, said in a 2011 al-Qaida propaganda video. The video specifically referred to material obtained from WikiLeaks, according to a written description of the propaganda piece submitted at the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Prosecutors also submitted excerpts from the winter 2010 issue of al-Qaida’s online magazine “Inspire,” telling readers that “anything useful from WikiLeaks is useful for archiving” ...

Lead prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein said the government planned to call its final witness Monday afternoon. That witness, a Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence official, would be the government’s 28th live witness in the trial that began June 3. The government also has presented more than 50 written witness statements ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-department-cables-remain-focus-as-gis-trial-in-wikileaks-case-enters-5th-week/2013/07/01/6ee00d90-e21f-11e2-8657-fdff0c195a79_story.html

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4. WikiLeaks 'most wanted' list becomes evidence in Manning trial

By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News

A military judge on Monday allowed prosecutors in the Bradley Manning trial to use a WikiLeaks “most wanted" list as evidence against the Army private who revealed secret documents to the world.

WikiLeaks’ "Most Wanted Leaks of 2009" list was proposed as evidence Manning in order to support the most serious of the 21 charges that Manning faces — aiding the enemy.

Military prosecutors argue that Manning assisted al Qaeda by dumping a slew of classified documents into the hands of the anti-secrecy advocates at WikiLeaks in 2010.

According to the WikiLeaks website, their “Most Wanted Leaks of 2009” was a wish-list of knowledge from the frivolous, “The Editorial Guidelines for Fox News” to the more serious requests for information on Guantanamo Bay detainees ...

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/01/19237613-wikileaks-most-wanted-list-becomes-evidence-in-manning-trial

[WovenGems]

2. After Action Reports

Your AAR bounced of enemy AAR of the same battle don't reveal operational info and thus no more helping the enemy than TV reports are.

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3. Manning seems to have competent counsel, and there was extensive pretrial wrangling over

the availability of harm-assessment documents, so I expect if Manning's counsel will make some such a defense if he thinks he can

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5. Pre-Iraq War Intelligence Officer Testifies Against Bradley Manning

Matt Sledge
Posted: 07/01/2013 6:40 pm EDT
Updated: 07/01/2013 6:45 pm EDT

... Navy Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein did not mention Manning or WikiLeaks by name in his written testimony. But he did say that the terrorist group al Qaeda uses the Internet to "searc<h>for information related to the United States government that would have been used for propaganda to undermine the United States or its allies."

Military prosecutors are trying to build a case that Manning, an Army private first class who sent sensitive military documents about Iraq to WikiLeaks while stationed there, should have known that his disclosures could wind up in the hands of the enemy.

Aboul-Enein, a recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, works for the Defense Intelligence Agency and teaches part-time at the National Defense University. He writes frequently about terrorism for the Small Wars Journal and is the author of the books Militant Islamist Ideology and Iraq in Turmoil ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/bradley-manning-iraq_n_3530694.html