Twitter Revelation in Manning Court-Martial
There is proof that Bradley Manning visited the WikiLeaks Twitter, a forensic analyst testified on rebuttal, submitting evidence he failed to uncover in the main case.
Though Manning generally does not deny that he is the source of the biggest disclosure of U.S. intelligence in history, he denies that he answered a plea from WikiLeaks for the official email addresses of military personnel, among other more trouble some charges.
Sometime after WikiLeaks posted such a request via Twitter on May 7, 2010, the website got its hands on a “Global Address List” with contact information for 74,000 military personnel stationed in Iraq.
Prosecutors say the Twitter post proves that Manning took cues from WikiLeaks to help the organization undermine military secrecy, but they had not shown before now that Manning ever browsed the WikiLeaks Twitter feed.
On redirect Thursday, they called their main forensic analyst, David Shaver, back to the stand to testify that he found such evidence in a new search. Though the witness still could not prove that Manning ever viewed this particular Tweet, he found web addresses on Manning’s computer associated with two other WikiLeaks postings.
One dated Feb. 20, 2010, said, “Finally cracked the encryption to US military video in which journalists, among others, are shot. Thanks to all who donated $/CPUs.”
This is an apparent reference to “Collateral Murder,” video of an airstrike in Baghdad that Manning admits to having leaked.
More: Courthouse News Service