Bradley Manning Gets $15,000 From WikiLeaks for Legal Defense

Who has Bradley Manning's back?

Manning, an Army intelligence officer, remains in a Quantico, Va., maximum-security facility while he awaits trial on charges that he passed on a mountain of classified U.S. government material to WikiLeaks. Now WikiLeaks has donated $15,000 to help pay Manning's legal fees.
Other groups and individuals from around the world have also made donations to support Manning's defense, building a fund that's just $15,000 shy of the $115,000 his supporters say they'll need.
The fundraising effort (and the money) is being managed by the Bradley Manning Support Network, working in partnership with an anti-war grassroots organization called Courage to Resist. Founded in 2005, Courage to Resist's motto is "Support the Troops Who Refuse to Fight." It has worked with many war resisters and military objectors, providing strategic, financial and legal assistance to service members who face penalties for conscientious objection or refusal to fight.
The Bradley Manning Support Network is a more recent creation, launched in 2010 by "cyberactivist" Mike Gogulski, a resident of Slovakia who renounced his American citizenship in 2008. The Support Network has been collecting donations for Manning's defense since July.
What accounts for the $115,000 figure that Courage to Resist says will be needed for Manning's defense? The group says the number is based on the flat fee that Manning's civilian attorney, David Coombs, has agreed to accept, plus expenses for travel and defense witnesses.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces his own financial troubles: Visa, MasterCard and PayPal stopped processing donations to the WikiLeaks organization last month. Legal costs for WikiLeaks and Assange, who has been charged with rape in Sweden, are nearing $750,000.
But Assange may not have to rely on good will from grassroots groups in order to pay his lawyers. He's already signed book deals worth more than $1 million.

WikiLeaks: world press justifies publication of cables

The newspapers that led the controversial publication of details contained within 250,000 US state department cables, leaked by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, have justified their decision amid consternation from governments around the world.

U.S. warns India about possible WikiLeaks release

The United States has warned India and other key governments across the world about a new potentially embarrassing release of classified documents by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks which may harm the American interests and create tension in its ties with its “friends“.

“We have reached out to India to warn them about a possible release of documents,” State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

“We do not know precisely what WikiLeaks has or what it plans to do. We have made our position clear. These documents should not be released,” Mr. Crowley said, ahead of the expected release by the website of millions of sensitive diplomatic cables.

It is not known yet what is contained in these documents about India-related issues.

The WikiLeaks has said there would be “seven times” as many secret documents as the 400,000 Iraq war logs it published last month.

On his Twitter account, Mr. Crowley said the State Department officials have also contacted leaders in Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Britain, France and Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton too reached out to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, as the WikiLeaks, the whistle-blower website, is expected to release some three million classified U.S. cables involving some of its key allies including Australia, Britain, Israel, Russia, Turkey and India.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged WikiLeaks to stop “dangerous” leaks.

“I would hope that those who are responsible for this would, at some point in time, think about the responsibility that they have for lives that they’re exposing... and stop leaking this information,” Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN.

“It continues to be extremely dangerous,” he said. “We are very mindful of the announcement that WikiLeaks made earlier this week, that there is a release of documents pending at some point in the future.”

If the past is prologue, that would mean that certain news organisations may well already be in possession of specific documents, Mr. Crowley told reporters early this week.

“So we continue to work through, as we have throughout this process, evaluating both the material that we think was previously leaked from government sources to WikiLeaks and we continue to make clear that this is harmful to our national security. It does put lives at risk. It does put national interests at risk,” he said.

“Inherent in this day-to-day action is trust that we can convey our perspective to other governments in confidence and that they can convey their perspective on events to us,” Mr. Crowley said. “And when this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television and radio it has an impact.”