"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," - Reuters

[sad sally]

40. Some things never change...sad

Scooter Libby v. Bradley Manning
by SAUL LANDAU

After 9/11, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a Yale graduate with a law degree from Columbia, and fellow neo cons plotted to twist and invent “intelligence” data to convince the public that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, so as to build a case for invading Iraq.
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A jury later convicted Libby of obstruction of justice and perjury around the case. A judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison, and fined him $250,000. Bush, months later, commuted his term. But no one got charged with plotting to distribute false information to lure the public to war. The New York Times had even helped the campaign by publishing the lies as news stories on its front page.
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Now look at Private Bradley Manning’s ordeal. He had access to and allegedly released — to Julian Assange of Wikileaks — hundreds of thousands of secret documents. These documents exposed not secrets vital to our enemy, but lies, corruption and crimes by US officials and those of other countries. Manning’s defense team stresses that what Wikileaks published wasn’t or shouldn’t have been secret.
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The 24 year-old Manning faces 22 charges, including “aiding the enemy.” If convicted, the government will call for life imprisonment, unless Manning implicates Julian Assange in the “conspiracy” to expose the “secret” sins of US national security. Members of the Icelandic Parliament have nominated Manning for a Nobel Peace Prize. Let’s help him win it – as a free man.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/09/scooter-libby-v-bradley-manning/