Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

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Thanas
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Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

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Buzzfeed
Secret Report Contradicts US Position On Chelsea Manning Leaks

Prosecutors said WikiLeaks' disclosures about Iraq and Afghanistan posed a major threat to US national security. But it turns out the classified document they cited — newly obtained by BuzzFeed News — said almost the exact opposite.



In the seven years since WikiLeaks published the largest leak of classified documents in history, the federal government has said they caused enormous damage to national security.

But a secret, 107-page report, prepared by a Department of Defense task force and newly obtained by BuzzFeed News, tells a starkly different story: It says the disclosures were largely insignificant and did not cause any real harm to US interests.


Regarding the hundreds of thousands of Iraq-related military documents and State Department cables provided by the Army private Chelsea Manning, the report assessed “with high confidence that disclosure of the Iraq data set will have no direct personal impact on current and former U.S. leadership in Iraq.”

The heavily redacted report also determined that a different set of documents published the same year, relating to the US war in Afghanistan, would not result in “significant impact” to US operations. It did, however, have the potential to cause “serious damage” to “intelligence sources, informants and the Afghan population,” and US and NATO intelligence collection efforts. The most significant impact of the leaks, the report concluded, would likely be on the lives of “cooperative Afghans, Iraqis, and other foreign interlocutors.”

The June 15, 2011 report, written a year after the leaked documents were published by Wikileaks and an international consortium of news organizations, was obtained by BuzzFeed News in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed in 2015. Classified SECRET/NOFORN, meaning it was not to be shared with foreign nationals, the document was selectively cited by government prosecutors during Manning’s court-martial. Defense lawyers were not allowed to read it. More than half the report was withheld by the government.

To prepare it, more than 20 federal government agencies, including the FBI, NSA, CIA, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security, conducted a line-by-line review of more than 740,000 pages of classified documents “known or believed compromised” by WikiLeaks to assess the damage.

The report goes on to say that the documents the task force reviewed contained details about previously undisclosed civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, which “could be used by the press or our adversaries to negatively impact support for current operations in the region.”

The task force’s review also found that a so-called, password-protected “insurance file,” which WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said contained additional classified US documents and which he threatened to publicly release if anything happened to him, likely did not contain any information the task force hadn’t already reviewed.

Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth in May after President Obama commuted her 35-year sentence. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the arrest and prosecution of Assange, in connection with these and other documents, is now a “priority” for the Department of Justice.
Full report at the link.

Remember back then when the right-wing argued that the leaks were of course a direct danger and people asked for proof?

Also puts another light on Obama pardoning Manning after having him prosecuted on the basis of lies.
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Ralin
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

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So, skimmed it. May not have harmed the United States and its interests but, uh... does straight up say it probably endangered locals who cooperated with the US.

I support what Manning did and think this reflects way more on the US than on her, but that's not goddamn irrelevant.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

Post by Elfdart »

If we had anything resembling a justice system in this country, the prosecutors would be charged with falsifying evidence, perjury and violating Manning's civil rights.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

Post by Gandalf »

Thanas wrote:Also puts another light on Obama pardoning Manning after having him prosecuted on the basis of lies.
I find it amazing how quickly people went from "she's totally guilty" to "she's not guilty, but if Obama pardons her the Republicans might win in 2016."
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Well, I think we can safely say that any ethically dubious thing done on the basis of preventing a Republican victory in 2016 was wasted effort.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

Post by Simon_Jester »

Only if we abandon the argument that the Republican victory in 2016 was so close that very small changes could have tipped it.

Both you and I have advanced this argument in the past.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

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Elfdart wrote:If we had anything resembling a justice system in this country, the prosecutors would be charged with falsifying evidence, perjury and violating Manning's civil rights.
If I were her I would look into filing a complaint with the bar associations because this is not proper behaviour.

Then again the terms of her release might prevent her from doing so and I also could not fault her for leaving it behind.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

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Thanas wrote:If I were her I would look into filing a complaint with the bar associations because this is not proper behaviour.

Then again the terms of her release might prevent her from doing so and I also could not fault her for leaving it behind.
I'd probably bet on the latter. There are a lot of people who undergo a variety of very unpleasant experiences who have a good case to get their grievances redressed, but would rather just let the whole thing go because they don't want to relive the trauma and just want to get on with their lives.
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Re: Contrary to prosecution claims Manning's leaks were largely irrelevant

Post by Flagg »

Ralin wrote:So, skimmed it. May not have harmed the United States and its interests but, uh... does straight up say it probably endangered locals who cooperated with the US.

I support what Manning did and think this reflects way more on the US than on her, but that's not goddamn irrelevant.
Yeah, I don't get the "put no one at risk" when it flat out says that it put tons of people at risk.
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