Adrian Lamo on Bradley Manning: 'I knew my actions might cost him his life' [View all]

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(Interview in Jan. 4, 2013 edition of The Guardian by Ed Pilkington)

Ed Pilkington: Let's start with the reason we're having this IM chat: Bradley Manning. We heard Manning himself recently describe his treatment during the nine months he was held in Quantico marine base on suspicion of having leaked hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents and videos to WikiLeaks. Have you been following the proceedings, and if so how closely?

Adrian Lamo: My only exposure to the proceedings right now is the things that people ask me whether I've heard. That sometimes disturbs folks' sense of perspective, as though it's wrong of me to have more to my life than Bradley Manning. It's not because I take it lightly, but because I take it as seriously as I do. Making the choice to interdict a man's freedom knowing it could mean his life, is something that's easy to judge but can only really be understood by living it. You either fold it into your character, come to terms and go on with your life, or you get stuck in that moment forever. For a while I thought I would be. I took it badly. But I came to terms and continued my life some time ago. It has, after all, been two years.

EP: We heard harrowing testimony from Manning. Locked in his 8x6ft cell for 23 hours and 40 minutes a day, stripped naked at night, made to stand to attention at morning call in the nude. And on and on … I appreciate that you might not want your life to be stuck on Manning, but hearing such details must have an impact on you. Did you expect him to face such harsh treatment when, as you put it, you chose to interdict his freedom by passing his details to the FBI?

AL: As a clarification, I co-operated with the Department of Defense in this matter, not the FBI. This is the army's prosecution, and while there's some overlap, the FBI is looking at another spectrum of issues. To speak to your question, I don't have first-hand knowledge of his conditions while detained. But a lot of choices by a lot of people went into taking this case where it is today. It's clear the circumstances would be very different if it weren't for my involvement, but you can only label something a proximate cause within so many degrees of separation of what it's putatively causal of.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/03/adrian-lamo-bradley-manning-q-and-a