Charge of aiding the enemy. 202585rats, call 3880. For republicans, 2025853881. 5853882. Endents, 202 journal cspan. Org. Papersnt page of major carried a story about the Bradley Manning decision. Here is the wall street journal. Ot guilty aiding the enemy he was found guilty of taking information from government databases, why passing security activism using classified information for other than its intended purpose and other charges, and he could face a maximum of 136 years in prison. Front page of the baltimore sun. Leaks indict by leaks by manning. We will find more about that today as the fort made, we start the process of seeing how he will be punished. Here is how the Washington Times looks at it. Manning verdict is a warning guilty leaks are cut 19 charges likely to result in heavy sentencing. A military Court Tuesday convicted manning of violating the espionage act for the hundreds of thousands of classified documents to weaken the. While manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, which carried a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole, he still faces up to 136 years in prison when sentenced at fort meade. The hearing is expected to last most of august. We would like to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think of the decision by the military court, the military judge, and what do you think its implications are . What do you mean . We will talk with someone who works with whistleblowers and your thoughts . Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy and still may face a long jail term. A lowg was working as level Intelligence Analyst in baghdad when he was arrested three years ago. We will look at his sentence come as we mentioned, today. His case is one of two prominent ones involving highprofile leaks, reports reuters. Former u. S. Intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has been holed up in the transit area of moscow airport for more than a month. Despite u. S. Calls for russian authorities to turn him over. Here to talk more with us is scott malone, editor in charge and reuters. Good morning. Guest good morning. Host our guest has been writing about this case as well as doing editing. An expected decision . How anticipated was this verdict . Guest the big question going into yesterday had been the big charge, the aiding the enemy charge, which carries the life sentence. That was really the big variable. Would he be guilty of that or not . S, thesser charge conviction was expected. But the notguilty plea, his supporters took it as heartening the notguilty verdict, excuse me. Plead guilty to some of the charges against him. Take us through what he admitted to, what he took a plea with and what else is he facing . Guest he pled to some of the lesser charges of faith of sharing the information with wikileaks, and essentially what he was fighting was the charge that he had done this with the intention of helping foreign entities that the u. S. Regards as the enemy, and basically his argument was that he was trying to call attention to aspects of u. S. Foreign policy that may the average american was not aware about. Process go . Es this explain to us how the military court operates and how it might be different than what people richer civilian court to be like. Nott for starters, he was tried by jury. He had that option but requested to be tried by the judge, colonel denise lind, and left his fate essentially in her hands. Also, when he had pled guilty theier in the year to lesser charges, oftentimes in civilian Court Prosecutor might take that deal and avoid the rest of the trial. Therek in the military was clearly a reluctance to do that and perhaps a desire to send a stronger message. Host we are seeing pictures in the news of demonstrators supporting Bradley Manning. Are pictures in the Washington Post, supporters demonstrating outside the gate of fort meade. What has the crowd been like . What has the publicity of this case been like . Guest the publicity has been intense. This is closely watched, probably the most closely watched courtmartial we have seen in a few years. Supporters essentially argue that he did the right thing, that he called attention to activities that the American Public has the right to know, and that doing it through wikileaks was no different than doing it through more traditional news media outlets. Host scott malone, where do we go from here . In your story in reuters, you and your colleagues look at what happens next in terms of charges regarding Julian Assange. Certainly Julian Assange is the big question, and the first thing is obviously assange is living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in london, putting him out of reach of the u. S. Government. But, having gotten the conviction of bradley, the leaker in this case, would certainly be of interest in charging assange. The challenge there ac has more access to the the challenge there is that he has more access to protections than manning had. Manning does not have the protections that would make charging Julian Assange different. He would be charged in civilian courts. Look at a statement that Julian Assange put out on the Bradley Manning verdict. He said, this is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous predict a and anus precedent example of National Experience extremism. How significant is that . Guest it is very significant. And as the trial moves onto its sentencing phase, while avoiding the commission on the aiding the enemy charge, he did not avoid the he avoided the mandatory life sentence, he still faces the 136 year sentence. He is 25 years old. In that case you are splitting hairs. What is the difference in those sentences . Host scott malone, thank you for talking with us this morning. Guest thank you. Host we are asking you for your thoughts. Here are the call here are the numbers. 202 5853880. Republicans, 202 5853880. , 202 5853882. Ray, you are on. Caller i was in the military. People,d wiped out 29 they would have called it Collateral Damage or a mistake. But then we will release in our prison system here in different states, murderers as early as seven years after they have killed somebody. I just dont understand the thinking. I think the guy is a hero. Theink this other guy about nsa, naturally the government is upset, because if you are spying on me or other people, treating everybody like a terrorist, we are getting in dangerous territory. We are no longer a democracy, and a freedom of speech people anymore. Int this is going to do this administration or any other 1 if anyone goes out to tell everybody what the administration is doing, right or wrong, risks losing their job, their pension if they are working for the government, and going to jail. I think this guy is hero it because we have not heard whether he has released all the information. We dont have to go with the government says. Host caller, what do you think . Calls agree with ray, who Bradley Manning a hero . The wall street journal looks at the four allegories of information that Bradley Manning at the four categories of information. An apacheshows helicopter firing on a group of people including journalists from reuters. Was edited and called collateral murder. Private mannings lawyers said the material in the video have been previously released to the public. Prosecutors said that militants could learn about American Military tactics by watching the video. That information in the wall street journal. John, from virginia, republican. Caller how are you doing . I am just appalled that we have a group of young men in this country that signed up, they to protect this country, and then they turn around and give our secrets out to folks, and people die on the other end of that. I spent years in the military. This Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, people die with stuff like this. Giving out embassy secrets happens. Ateral damage but those are american secrets, private orot some low level individual, it is not up to them to take up a flag and give away our nations secrets. That is wrong, and it does not the generation of young kids. It does not set the right example that we should be setting for our country. Freedoms were paid for in in blood by our forefathers, our grandfathers, and these kids, for them to give this stuff away it is just horrible. For me, they are traitors, and they should be punished as such. John in beverly, newt jersey. A democrat. Good morning. I agree with caller i agree with the previous caller. Manning has a scar he will have to live with the rest of his life. He will not ever get access to a phone or a computer. He is in the rehabilitation process of incarceration, he is going to be taught new tactics to live by. He is going to be live in some authorities. He is a young man, very agile. There are going to be sick people there that need to be taken care of. Help feed them. He will learn humility. He is going to be there for a long time. I dont think he is going to get 136 years, but i know for a fact he took anage oath to secrecy. Those wikileaks documents are available from china, and we have no reciprocity with china. Those documents are Still Available on the internet, no matter how much the United States tries to block them. Hackers from the United States can use processes to get to them. I am sorry this will let down a lot of callers. In terms of snowden, it is a different document because he is of subject to the swearing the secrecy for classified information, so he is more of, ok, he is some kind of a journalist. So he will be handled by civilian court. Host Edward Snowden still had clearance, even though he worked for a contractor. Caller i dont know. All i know is, these guys have got to stop doing what they are doing because there are secrets on those tapes and china can turn around and say whatever they want about them. China listens to these lessons by make yourself invisible prior to war. Thank you very much. Host this tweet from bill beatty on twitter it is enough for me to see those hands ton bin ladens say he is guilty. Insurmountable damage could have killed troopers. Joe tweeting in and saying, none of that stuff should have been classified. At some point the American People must know what our government does. From louisiana, independent. Standing up and exposing injustices that happen around the world, they are putting their life at risk by Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning. Heronk this young man is a for notld be commended caring about his own wellbeing but the wellbeing of society. And showing the atrocities of what happened. If you look at what happened in iraq, it is terrible. It is chaotic. The war put these people back i dont know how many years. We should stand by these young people. They are fighting for better wages, exposing the atrocities happening with this. We should applaud them. Do you think, what about the verdict we saw a rendered yesterday by the military court . He was found not guilty of aiding the enemy, but Bradley Manning was found guilty of a thatr of other charges could carry a jail sentence of over 130 years. , forr i think the verdict not being found guilty of aiding the enemy, is good. But overall it is a terrible situation. He is a hero. Exposing what is they should have been doing their job instead of being , shouldith the military be telling us what is happening around the world and the country. From twitter manning is being persecuted for having the guts to tell the truth. The law requires military personnel to report crimes, and he did. The Washington Post breaks down the verdict. After an eight week trial, Bradley Manning was found guilty of most of the crimes which with which he was charged, but not guilty of aiding the enemy. 104aiding the enemy. Specific charges were al qaeda. He pled not guilty and was found not guilty. You can see here is please, the not you can see here his toas he admitted guilt storing classified information, then he pled guilty to a lesser offense, including state Department Records and classified cables. That is under the computer abuse and fraud act. He also pled guilty to a lesser offense for the iraqi airstrike video, classified memos, military records, database files and so on. He pled not guilty to stealing government property, was found guilty on those charges, and he pled not guilty to publication of intelligence, but he was found guilty on that. The Washington Post breaks down the sentence, what it could be for them. The army judge will spend weeks hearing from defense and prosecution witnesses. The government is expected to provide a classified assessment of the damage created by mannings disclosures. They are also expected to see the lawyer for Bradley Manning continue to portray his client as a patriot who followed his conscience. Expressing gratitude to his legal team and supporters. Our next caller in taylor, michigan, on the democrats line. Hi, don. Caller hello. Tank you for cspan. Thank you for cspan. Gave anom line is they oath to the constitution, nobody else. All he did was show emails. Thousands of people are reading them. Biden said something about them. The thing is, you have to think about our forefathers. Werent they all whistleblowers on the British Government . They knew the wrongs of those British Government, so that is why they wrote the constitution. Give their oath to the constitution, not to an administration or a corporation. Manning to me, they are heroes. Bush, clinton, obama they all lied, they all said they were going to do one thing. Look at the nsa, we are being recorded. I look at the nsa as not sees as nazis screwing americans. They are patriots to me. But i have got to say one more thing. The truth is they are telling the truth. That is what they are upset about. If we dont get together with the truth, this is why we are in this mess. We are not finding out the truth. Host the headline in usa today the manning verdict redefines traitor. A classic case of a mold linking leaking of a mole leaking sensitive documents to a foreign country has been replaced by a junior analyst releasing troves of data to the public with a few keystrokes. Is from twitter the troopers have a right to know what they are being asked to fight and die for. See don ritchie writing, manning is guilty of espionaging to the public. David is up next from st. Josephs, missouri, republican line. Thatr i want to say manning and all the people who support him are traitors. The left has always hated this country. They will do anything to get us killed and ruin our missions on protecting this country. Continue toeople deny it is terrorists that destroyed the twin towers. In fact, they celebrate it. Many people they say that the people who died in the terrorist attacks deserved it. Host who said that . Caller the people that support this punk, ok . Host david, why are you so angry about this . Have served my i country and i had friends who served their country and went to they have people like this manning edit what is going on so they can portray them as matures. As butchers. Sun,in the baltimore the case unfolding in maryland at fort meade, they write, a balanced verdict. The law noinst matter his motivations, but it did not amount to aiding the enemy. Some other Opinion Pieces in usa today. The manning case sets a framework for assessing leakers. He is a criminal but not a traitor. The judges reason he has broader implication as well. The framework for assessing the actions of not just manning but Edward Snowden and a host of lesser known leakers pursued the pursued by the Obama Administration as if they were spies. An opposing view says, manning deserves the nobel peace prize. s opposing today views section. He wall street journal the wikileaks source was heedless of the harm his leaks might do here co. The wall street journal says, his defenders described him as a whistleblower. Heedless of the content or the harm he might do american interests. What do you think . Louisiana, independent. Caller i am disgusted by the sitg men and women who behind a desk on the computer, not actually out there putting their lives on the line. They were entrusted with all kinds of different documents that contain Vital Information to the wellbeing of our young men and women out there fighting. Therethey need to get out and get a sense of what and how they are endangering our men and women. That theymy heart have disgraced the United States that way. They have no moral code, which is such an important part of being in the military. What the United States stands for. Where is our american morality . Where does it stand now . I just think it is real sad. Host kelly in louisiana. Writing to us by email from cspan junkie, why do we pile on charges . Why not one charge and if he beats it, he is free . He has already suffered over a year harsh prison time. Democrat, new york, go ahead. Caller what i would like to say is the judge has taken the mitigating circumstances up. The sins of omission or coalition. If she sees a crime in her case, is she not to report it or sweep it under the rug and not do anything about it . If any of us saw a crime, we would be shocked to see what he saw, the machinegunning of people from a helicopter on the street. The other thing is, during the nuremberg trials, we said you were all out killing people, civilians who were doing weg, and we helped held the high officials to accountability for killing people for no good reason. So if we are not to