Will Obama and Clinton testify for Manning?/RT

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Should Manning have the right to face his accusers?

http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-manning-wikileaks-government-447/

As the defense attorneys for alleged WikiLeaks aide PFC Bradley Manning prepare for a pre-trial hearing, the US government is trying to shut down all of the nearly 50 witnesses they’ve asked to testify, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Manning has been under strict and severe military custody for nearly two years for his suspected involvement in WikiLeaks, Julian Assange’s whistleblower site that the government says is detrimental to the security of the nation. Attorneys for Manning, however, believe that they have a strong case to support their client, though are now encountering a new road block with the government giving them the run around.

David E Coombs, attorney for Manning, has asked for both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify during the Article 32 hearing scheduled to begin next week. Slated to start December 16, the hearing will serve as precursor to further judicial action and will determine if Manning’s case will be fit for a full-scale court martial hearing. Coombs hopes that by grilling the president over remarks he made earlier this year, he will be able to show that the commander-in-chief was out of place by what he says was an expression of “unlawful command influence.”

Back in April, Obama remarked on Manning publically, saying that the soldier had “broke the law.” Such a statement, says Coombs, can cause the case to collapse, noting in a recent court filing that a “superior officer in the chain of command is prohibited from saying or doing anything that could influence any decision by a subordinate in how to handle a military justice matter.”

[PETRUS]

1. Interesting.

The treatment of Manning has been disgusting as is the focus on attacking whistle-blowers while treating the perpetrators of corruption with kid gloves.

[tblue]

2. They won't lift a finger.

I'll never forget that Obama said Manning broke the law. Truly irresponsible. I thought he looked forward not backward, so he's a hypocrite too. And don't get me started on what he once promised to do for whistleblowers. Egad! While the torturers and war criminals go free unimpeded. No, they go on book tours!

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. The Obama Administration's treatment of Manning has been disgusting. This comes from the top.

And of course Obama's first target in his anti-whistleblower campaign was the NSA whistleblower who made the articles possible that led to the Bush wiretapping scandal, which necessitated Obama and Senate Dems to pass a new law legalizing warrantless wiretapping to protect Bush's telecom cronies. So who gets charged with a crime? The whistleblower. For saying what everyone in DC already knows about data mining.