Bradley Manning trial postponed amid debate over pre-trial confinement

[struggle4progress]

5. I believe that is a reference to the fact that the defense has requested (and has been granted)

permission to plea to certain substitute charges, which would apparently include an admission of some transfers to Wikileaks

It seems that not all charges would be covered by the plea to substitutes, so the object of the plea, if made, is conjectured to be reduction of the complexity of the defense on the remaining charges, which would still be tried

Apparently the fact that the court has granted permission to such pleading does not require the defense to so plead. But it is difficult to imagine why the permission might be sought, if the defense did not seriously contemplate the plea, and the fact that the defense seriously contemplates the plea is hard to understand as anything except an admission that Manning released documents to Wikileaks. On the other hand, it is my understanding that if the defense having been granted permission to offer such a plea) never actually offers such a plea, then the court may not draw any legal conclusions whatsoever from the request for permission to offer such plea