Defense Press Secretary Geoff Morrell appeared on MSNBC Thursday morning and among other topics, he responded to the charges by Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning’s supporters that he is being “tortured” in U.S. custody. Watch:
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Meanwhile …
Manning supporters begin to sketch out a “whistleblower” defense … even though it appears Manning’s actual lawyers, facing 22 new charges against their client — are going with a “diminished mental capacity” defense.
Glenn Greenwald headline-pimps the death penalty aspect of the new charges, despite acknowledging the fact that prosecutors have already said they do not plan to pursue the death penalty against Manning (in military prosecutions, charges of “aiding the enemy” ALWAYS carry a potential death sentence. And as the folks at Wired presciently pointed out:
The charge of aiding the enemy is a purely military charge from the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which applies only to service members. But the specter of a capital offense will likely be seized upon by lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who have claimed that Assange’s pending extradition to Sweden in a rape-and-molestation investigation there could somehow lead to him being shipped to the United States, where some politicians have called for Assange to be charged with a capital offense.
WTF Has Barack Obama Done So Far?
