Thus, as Juan Cole says, the case against Assange collapses. If there's no link from Bradley Manning to Assange, the U.S. has nothing. This from MSNBC, in an article written by NBC's chief Pentagon correspondent:
U.S. military officials tell NBC News that investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between a jailed army private suspected with leaking secret documents and Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.The rest of the piece offers standard fare — Assange is wanted for questioning for "rape" and "U.S. military officials also strongly denied allegations that Manning ... has been 'tortured' and held in 'solitary confinement' without due process" (even though, from the same article, "The officials told NBC News, however, that a U.S. Marine commander did violate procedure when he placed Manning on “suicide watch” last week"). U.S. government pass-along stuff.
The officials say that while investigators have determined that Manning had allegedly unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of documents onto his own computer and passed them to an unauthorized person, there is apparently no evidence he passed the files directly to Assange, or had any direct contact with the controversial WikiLeaks figure.
But the lead is big news. Professor Cole comments (my emphasis):
The admission appears to close off the most plausible legal strategy for the US to prosecute Assange. Since there is no Official Secrets Act in the United States, it is not clear that it is illegal to possess or to pass on classified documents. Manning himself would have broken a contractual obligation as a US government employee if he leaked classified documents, but civilians who received such documents are difficult to prosecute.I found the bolded phrase striking, to say the least. The latest on Bradley Manning is explained by Jane Hamsher in an interview with Dylan Ratigan. Glenn Greenwald's comments are here.
Assange, in London, is fighting extradition charges initiated by Sweden on grounds of minor sexual misconduct (not rape as is usually alleged in the US press). His lawyers have expressed fears that if the UK acceded to the Swedish request, its conservative government would promptly hand him over to the US, which would attempt to execute him for espionage.
The USG admission today undermines that legal strategy, since it is an announcement that Washington has no grounds to prosecute for conspiracy to commit espionage.
GP
