Poetry

Malcolm Minino reads Collateral Murder, a poem with introduction about Bradley Manning.  Uploaded July 9, 2013.



Bradley Manning was found not guilty today of "aiding the enemy," the most serious charge, but guilty of 19 other offenses, including 5 espionage counts, subjecting him to a possible maximum sentence of 136 years.  The sentencing phase begins Wednesday.

Julian Assange released a statement through wikileaks today saying that the "aiding the enemy charge" was "only included, it seems, to make calling journalism 'espionage' seem reasonable."  He decried the verdict pointing out the noticeable absence of any real victim beyond the government's "wounded pride" and the fact that the government never even claimed that Bradley Manning was working for a foreign power.

Cindy Cohn at the Electronic Frontier Foundation describes the case as part of an overall "Hacker Madness strategy," continuing "a trend of government prosecutions that use familiarity with digital tools and knowledge of computers as a scare tactic and a basis for obtaining grossly disproportionate and unfair punishments, strategies enabled by broad, vague laws like the CFAA and the Espionage Act."