In an ominous turn of events the pre-trial hearing of Bradley Manning is now being used to build a future case of espionage against Julian Assange. The military prosecution has now introduced evidence that supposedly not only directly links Julian Assange to Bradley Manning but that Assange directly "coached" Manning into how to obtain government documents. The evidence comes in the form of selected transcripts of supposed chat logs between the two men found on Manning's computers.
As the World Socialist Website points out this is especially ominous given that the prosecution is also alleging that Manning directly aided Al Qaeda through the release of the information to Wikileaks. They state "The attempt of the prosecution in the Manning case to make an amalgam between Manning, Assange and Al Qaeda is particularly ominous given the passage last week of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes authorization for the US president to order the indefinite military detention without trial of anyone, citizen or non-citizen, whom the president names as a terrorist."
The decision on Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden to face questions on rape charges is expected soon in London. However as these developments show it is clear that the U.S. does indeed to try to extradite Assange to the U.S. via Sweden and is very serious in its intent to make an example of Assange for his "crime" of exposing U.S. war crimes.
More coverageAssange coached U.S. Army whistleblower claim prosecutors: Daily Mail