You probably thought that the story of Bradley Manning had come to a close, and for the most part youd be right. But there are still some inevitable legal details to play out, and one of those which everyone saw coming took place this week. Mannings defense team has officially requested a pardon from the President of the United States. (Ed noted that this was going to happen several weeks ago.) The Daily Mail covers the details, using the oh so politically correct trend of referring to Manning as a lady.

Chelsea Manning is seeking a presidential pardon for handing U.S state secrets to the WikiLeaks website because it was done out of a love for my country.

According to documents released today, Mannings lawyer, David Coombs, has sent a Petition for Pardon to President Barack Obama.

The White House said last month that if Manning requested a presidential pardon she would be considered the same as anyone else.

In the petition she wrote that she had started questioning the morality of U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan while reading secret military reports.

She said: When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and sense of duty to others.

Manning acknowledged she had broken the law, adding, I regret if my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States.

Manning signed the petition Bradley Manning, not Chelsea, as her name has not legally been changed.

This was a given, and virtually anyone who finds themselves convicted in a controversial case such as this with a national spotlight will often apply for a pardon. One of the legal experts contacted by the Daily Mail rated Mannings petition as having a zero per cent chance of success. And at least for the time being, that might not be a far fetched analysis. The President has already disappointed and disillusioned his most faithful, far Left allies by being the stingiest President of the modern era when it comes to the power of the pardon. (The Oval Office approves just 2% of applications these days.)

Of course, that may change quite a bit in 2016. Presidents are famous or infamous for granting a flurry of requests during the final months of their terms. Bill Clinton is an excellent example, having granted a total of 150 pardons over his eight years in office, but 140 of those all came on January 20, 2001. Would Obama do something similar? Some may believe that he would fret over his legacy in a case like this, and by the time he leaves office Manning would have only served roughly three years or less than 10% of his sentence. Thats far less time than convicts typically serve before getting a pardon. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.

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Bradley Manning files for presidential pardon - Hot Air

Updated / Thursday, 29 Jun 2017 15:32

Laura Poitras follows up her Oscar-winning documentary about Edward Snowden with this portrait of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. It is an itchy and disturbing experience.

One of the most surreal scenes in Risk, a documentary full of surreal scenes, is Wikileaks founder Julian Assange carefully applying a disguise so he can make one of his rare public appearances.

He hennas his hair, puts in contacts, glues on a false goatee, and dons full leathers so he can pass himself off as a London motorbike courier. As he goes through this ritual, his mother is waiting in the next room in the hotel. When Assange - one mans freedom (of information) fighter, anothers traitor - emerges from the bathroom he looks like... Julian Assange dressed up as a London motorbike courier.

Laura Poitras strange film is full of such comical but disturbing moments - from a testy Assange being interviewed by Lady Gaga, who seems to be dressed as a witch (Im not making this up), in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to Assange communicating via Post It notes and then burning them, to Assange calling up the White House and fully expecting to be put through to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Risk is a companion piece to Poitras Oscar-winning 2014 Edward Snowden documentary CitizenFour and while it may start out as a candid portrait of the embattled and besieged Assange, it ends up as a deeply acrimonious communication breakdown between a clearly frightened Poitras and her subject.

She begins to film as a fly on the wall in 2011 but by the time the film ends in 2016, around the time of continued allegations of Russian interference in the US election, she has become, to Assange at least, a fly in the ointment.

The director witnesses many of the key moments in the remarkable story of Wikileaks. When the first tranche of Iraq and Afghan warlogs are released in 2010, the world is agog; when revelations of mass government surveillance of their own citizens are made clear, anger erupts; we then see the arrest of Bradley Manning, the flight of Snowden; and then the hotly-debated issue of Assanges own extradition to Sweden to face multiple sexual assault allegations, which have now, of course, been dropped.

Along the way - behind the closely-guarded scenes - we meet Wikileaks lawyers, journalists and activists who all operate in orbit around this Sun King of secrecy and it is hard not to conclude that while the revelations they make may be very real, Assange himself is a preening narcissist.

At one point, he is forced to abort an interview with Poitras taking place in the forest outside the mansion in Norfolk he used as Wikileaks HQ because he keeps hearing rustling in the bushes. It is both funny and tragic and reminded me of the grim ending to Francis Ford Coppolas The Conversation when Gene Hackmans surveillance expert ends up ripping his own apartment apart in a desperate search for bugging devices.

Throughout the making of Risk, Poitras kepta "production journal" in which she recordedaudio as a running commentary on her observations of Assange as she gets to know him better. Unfortunately, she uses entries sparingly but as she observes towards the fraught closing minutes of her film, it is Assange'scontradictions that have become the storyand not what he calls his crusade to "expose the crimes of the US empire."

Just like its subject, this is a jarring, non-linear and chaotic documentary. Even before its release, Risk has arrived front-loaded with claim and counter-claim and legal threats from Wikileaks, who are unhappy with the changes they claim Poitras made to the "new" version of her film.

Assange may not be very good at wearing disguises but he is a master of ambiguity who runs Wikileaks like an intelligence agency. Shot by both sides, by the end of Risk he has become as paranoid and controlling as the very state monoliths and governments he is trying to expose.

Alan Corr @corralan

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Julian Assange's mask slips once again in Risk - RTE.ie

Chelsea Manning got a lively welcome at Sundays LGBTQ Pride event, marking the second time in a month that a New York parade featured cheering for someone whod committed major crimes against the United States.

Like unrepentant terrorist Oscar Lpez Rivera, Manning won clemency from President Barack Obama on his way out of office, in her case release after seven years of a 35-year sentence for violating the Espionage Act.

Unlike OLR, her presence in a city parade came as a late surprise. Plus, she was a featured guest of the ACLU; the parade committee never planned to honor her.

So its understandable that the crowd focused on her as just a famous trans person, in many eyes a martyr not as a traitor.

But the fact remains that Pfc. Bradley Manning in 2009-10 pulled off the then-largest-ever theft of US classified information, sending three-quarters of a million documents to WikiLeaks.

In the civil liberties and anti-war world, he/she won praise as a whistleblower. On the national security side, the leaks cost America prestige and, worse, lives.

Having made such a stink over Lpez Rivera, we think itd be rank discrimination if we didnt note for the record that, in our eyes, Manning is still a traitor who shouldnt be honored in any parade.

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Chelsea Manning didn't deserve those Pride cheers - New York Post

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 16: CIA Director Mike Pompeo delivers remarks at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) June 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The OSS was the precursor to the CIA and was established to "collect and analyze such strategic information as may be required by the United States". (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)Win McNameeGetty Images

(WASHINGTON) CIA Director Mike Pompeo says he thinks disclosure of America's secret intelligence is on the rise, fueled partly by the "worship" of leakers like Edward Snowden.

"In some ways, I do think it's accelerated," Pompeo told MSNBC in an interview that aired Saturday. "I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase."

Pompeo said the United States needs to redouble its efforts to stem leaks of classified information.

"It's tough. You now have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff, but non-state, hostile intelligence services, well-funded -- folks like WikiLeaks, out there trying to steal American secrets for the sole purpose of undermining the United States and democracy," Pompeo said.

Besides Snowden, who leaked documents revealing extensive U.S. government surveillance, WikiLeaks recently released nearly 8,000 documents that it says reveal secrets about the CIA's cyberespionage tools for breaking into computers. WikiLeaks previously published 250,000 State Department cables and embarrassed the U.S. military with hundreds of thousands of logs from Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are several other recent cases, including Chelsea Manning, the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning. She was convicted in a 2013 court-martial of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Manning said she leaked the documents to raise awareness about the war's impact on innocent civilians.

Last year, former NSA contractor Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was accused of removing highly classified information, storing it in an unlocked shed and in his car and home. Court documents say investigators seized, conservatively, 50 terabytes of information, or enough to fill roughly 200 laptop computers.

Pompeo said the Trump administration is focused on stopping leaks of any kind from any agency and pursuing perpetrators. "I think we'll have some successes both on the deterrence side that is stopping them from happening as well as on punishing those who we catch who have done it," Pompeo said.

On other issues, Pompeo said:

North Korea poses a "very real danger" to U.S. national security. "I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the president asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding to that threat. It's very much at the top of his mind." He said the North Koreans are "ever-closer to having the capacity to hold America at risk with a nuclear weapon."

Pompeo said U.S. national security also is threatened by Iran, which he described as the world's largest state sponsor of terror.

"Today, we find it with enormous influence, influence that far outstrips where it was six or seven years ago," said Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas. "Whether it's the influence they have over the government in Baghdad, whether it's the increasing strength of Hezbollah and Lebanon, their work alongside the Houthis in Iran, the Iraqi Shias that are fighting along now the border in Syria -- certainly the Shia forces that are engaged in Syria. Iran is everywhere throughout the Middle East."

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CIA Chief Says Intelligence Leaks Increasing Due to Leaker 'Worship' - TIME

You may have noticed WikiLeaks coming up in the news a few times lately. Recently, its founder, Julian Assange, saw the Swedish investigation into rape allegations levied against him suspendedalthough he does still face arrest if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy in London. And Chelsea Manning, who leaked a massive number of documents to WikiLeaks, was just released from prison after her sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama.

Wikileaks, which was launched in 2006 with the purpose of providing government and other relevant documents to citizens, has been all over the news since its inception. But what exactly is it, who is its founder, and why do you need to about it? Read on to learn more.

Wikileaks officially launched in 2006 and the first document was posted in December of that year, but the domain name WikiLeaks was registered that October.

WikiLeaks calls itself a not-for-profit media organization that seeks to increase transparency worldwide. Despite the similarity in names, theres no connection between WikiLeaks and Wikipedia. Instead, WikiLeaks is associated with an organization called Sunshine Press, which handles some of the private aspects of WikiLeaks business.

WikiLeaksstates its missionas:

Our goal is to bring important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure, and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists (our electronic drop box). One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth.

Australian Julian Assange is usually attributed as its main founderalthough there are many other people, some anonymous, who worked on the project. Alsoassociated with the project was investigative journalist Gavin MacFadyen, Assanges mentor. He was the director of WikiLeaks. Before his death in 2016, MacFadyen founded the Julian Assange Legal Defense Committee. Sarah Harrison,a British journalist and researcher, has also been publicly identified as one of the organizations associates. Shes best known for aidingEdward Snowdens trip out of the U.S.after he leaked a trove of classified documents.Many of the other people associated with WikiLeaks are anonymous, but the organization claims that they include accredited journalists, software programmers, network engineers, mathematicians, and others.

How Does WikiLeaks Operate?

The organization is somewhat secretive in how it operates. But it is currently funded by donors and has no one permanent location or office. It has servers in multiple countriesand claims it does so to protect the organization in case one country decides to crack down on its operations. In 2016, Assange told Der Spiegel that the organization had posted over 10 million documents in 10 years.According to WikiLeaks, it is sent documents anonymously through email or other anonymous electronic means, and then those documents are vetted and uploadedalthough it isimportant to note that therehas been significant criticism about the veracity of some of those documents. WikiLeaks has occasionally workedwith media organizations, including Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and The New York Times, although its relationships with some of those organizations have fluctuated over the years.

Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning is one of the most widely-known names associated with WikiLeaks. Manning, a U.S. soldier then known asPte First Class Bradley Manning, sent more than 720,000 secret documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. At the time, she was working as an intelligence analyst.One of the most notable things included in this leak was video footage of a U.S. helicopter firing on and killing Iraqi citizens and journalists in 2007. She also leakedState Department cables, information related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and data about the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

Manning was convicted of 20 charges associated with this leak, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. President Barack Obama commuted most of Mannings sentence before he left office. When she was released in May 2017, she had spent seven years in prison.Mannings sentence was controversial; many claimed it was too harsh, including advocates for whistleblower protections, transparency, and some human rights groups like Amnesty International. Others claimed that the punishment fit the crime. President Donald Trump, for instance, has called Manning an ungrateful TRAITOR.

Mannings punishment was complicated by the fact that she is a transwoman who was confined in a mens prison. Mannings difficulty transitioning while incarcerated was made public, and her struggles to obtain that care worried human rights advocates.

The video below discusses Chelsea Mannings case in more detail:

Edward Snowden

Perhaps the most recognizable whistleblower in the world is Edward Snowden. Snowden worked for the CIA and then for well-known government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. In 2013,he leaked hundreds of thousands of documents that, among other things, revealed the NSAs surveillance of American citizens as well as information about British surveillance programs.

Snowden did not release this information to WikiLeaks, instead, he gave the documents to media sources. According to Snowden, the only two who were given the full array of documents wereGlenn Greenwald, who worked for The Guardian and Laura Poitras, who later made Citizenfour, the award-winning documentary about Snowden. However, in the aftermath of the leaks, Snowden was aided by WikiLeaks-associated individuals. After Snowden fled the United States, Sarah Harrison helped him get set up in Russia and avoid American detection. WikiLeaks also submitted asylum requests to multiple countries on Snowdens behalf.

Since 2013,Snowden has been loosely associated with WikiLeaks at other times. At various points, Snowden has weighed in on the accuracy of documents leaked by the organization. For example, in March 2017, Snowden publicly said that he believed the documents related to CIA hacking techniques released by WikiLeaks were true.

But, Snowden has also been critical of WikiLeaks. In July 2016,Snowden criticized WikiLeaks for not curating the information it released, instead just indiscriminately posting documents related to the U.S. election. In response, WikiLeaks accused Snowden of trying to curry favor with the then-front-runner in the election, Hillary Clinton.

There are lots of criticisms consistently levied against WikiLeaks and the people associated with it. Here are some of the most prevalent:

Julian Assanges Legal Troubles

Julian Assange has spent the last five years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange was accused of sexual assault by two women in Stockholm, Sweden in 2010. Assange claims that the sexual encounters with the two women were both consensual and that they were only accusing him of assault because of political reasons. In 2012, Assange sought asylum from Ecuador and was granted the ability to stay in the countrys embassy in London. While Sweden recently announced that it was no longer seeking his arrest, he still isnt likely to leave the embassy any time soon. U.K. officials have said they can arrest him on other charges, like jumping bail. And if hes extradited to the United States, he could be subject to a variety of charges related to WikiLeaks. If he is ever extradited to the U.S. forcharges related to release of documents stolen by ChelseaManning, he could be in serious trouble.

Redactions Wanted

WikiLeaks leak all for transparencys sake approach to releasing information has garnered it some criticism. In July 2016, WikiLeaks claimed to publish a number of documents related to Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan. The so-called Erdogan emails didnt really appear to contain any political bombshells, but did include links to databases containing the information of Turkish citizens. One database had the personal information of almost every woman in the country. The info included things like addresses, cell phone numbers, and political information. Essentially, WikiLeaks doxxed almosthalf the country. While the files were eventually taken down, WikiLeaks was criticized for going beyond transparency to potentially harming private individuals.

2016 Election Hacks

WikiLeaks has recently been criticized for its role leaking documents pertaining to the 2016 election. WikiLeaks leaked DNC emails that reflected negatively on Hillary Clintons presidency campaign. Charlie Savage of theNew York Times arguedthat Assange specifically timedthe release of the DNC emails to come out at the most politically damaging time for Clinton, a claim bolstered by Assanges own admission that he saw Clinton as a personal foe. In addition to releasing emails from the DNC, Wikileaks also published a trove of emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas personal email account. Those were also released in batches in a way that kept much of the information in the news as the campaign progressed. WikiLeaks has even been accused of colluding with Russias attempts to propel now-President Donald Trump to the presidency. The U.S. intelligence community issued a reportthatattributed the DNC hack to Russian intelligence services, which caused many to question the extent to which WikiLeaks is associated with the Russian government. WikiLeaks has refused to divulge the source of the documents and has so far denied any connection with Russia.

As a political topic, WikiLeaks is no doubt controversial. In the era of fake news, and distrust in the media and government institutions, WikiLeaks has often garnered credit for being willing to provide ordinary citizens with primary sources. On the other hand, WikiLeaks mystique, founders legal issues, and accusations of bias and irresponsible dissemination of information has led to plenty of criticism. In fact, in the last year, plentyof think pieces have been written, accusing WikiLeaks of losing its friends and losing the moral high ground. But given the space it has carved out as a repository for leaked information, and the relative fame of some of the people associated with it, including Julian Assange, its unlikely to disappear from our radars anytime soon.

Anneliese Mahoney is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelors degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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What is WikiLeaks and Who is Julian Assange? - Law Street Media

Former Army solider-turned government spy Chelsea Manning was cheered by throngs of supporters at the 48th annual Pride Parade in Manhattan Sunday the second controversial anti-government figure to be lauded during a city parade this month.

I guess these recent parades only honor convicted terrorists and convicted traitors, one law enforcement source said.

Just weeks ago, former terror leader Oscar Lpez Rivera sparked outrage when he was offered the National Freedom Hero honor by the organizers of the citys Puerto Rican Day Parade. Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican nationalist, eventually backed out and marched as a participant instead.

Manning who donned a plaid dress and pixie-like hair-do was aboard an ACLU float beaming to an adoring crowd, despite being convicted for leaking government secrets.

Honored to represent the @aclu at this years @NYCPrideMarch, tweeted Manning, who was released from Leavenworth last month.

Lost my voice from screaming so much thank you, she added with rainbow and heart emojis.

Manning sentenced to 25 years in prison after admitting to leaking more than 700,000 classified documents in 2013 was released after being pardoned by President Obama. Her float was pulled by a red sports car with rainbow banners across their chests.

Happy first Pride March, Chelsea Manning! the ACLU tweeted.

Manning served seven years for violating the federal Espionage Act when she dumped hundreds of thousands of documents on Wikileaks. She was born Bradley Manning and came out as transgender while in prison.

She has just as much right to be here as the rest of us, parade-goer Antonia Jimenez, 32, said of Manning. Today is about community and pride and being together.

Some attendees of the parade that strung from 34th Street to the West Village wore Make America Gay Again hats and cheered, while others wearing Black Lives Matter shirts walked silently and held signs with a fist and a rainbow background.

Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast

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Chelsea Manning gets float spot in NYC Pride parade | New York Post - New York Post

Sacramento Bee

CIA chief: Intel leaks on the rise, cites leaker 'worship' Sacramento Bee There are several other recent cases, including Chelsea Manning, the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning. She was convicted in a 2013 court-martial of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks ... and more »

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CIA chief: Intel leaks on the rise, cites leaker 'worship' - Sacramento Bee

Much has been written about the Celtics' 1st round decisions. Not to be overlooked, however, is their next selection in the 2017 NBA Draft, which happens to be No. 37 overall (from Minnesota via Phoenix)

Below is a breakdown of five potential players the Celtics could take in the Second Round at No. 37.

Frank Jackson

Guard

(Duke)

It might seem counter intuitive for the Celtics to draft a guard given the logjam there is at the position. With Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart, and Avery Bradley manning the backcourt, it would seem the Celtics are pretty stacked at this position. (Plus 2015 First Round Pick Terry Rozier is a 6'1" guard).

While this pick may seem further puzzling given that Jackson recently underwent foot surgery and was precluded from working out for NBA teams, there are valid reasons why he is worthy of consideration at No. 37.

For one, he is an athletic slasher who can create his own shot, a skill that is at a premium in today's NBA. He has a 42" vertical and has a nice mid-range jump shot, a skill that is not a given for even lottery picks.

Also, if the Celts draft Jayson Tatum third overall, Jackson would be reunited with his former college teammate.

Jordan Bell

Power Forward

(Oregon)

Bell is a coach's dream. He is unselfish enough to sacrifice big scoring nights for the sake of doing the dirty work down low. Last year, he had no problem deferring scoring responsibilities to Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey. A gritty rebounder, Bell averaged 8.8 boards per game last year for the Ducks. He was also a defensive stopper in the paint and showed the uncanny versatility to guard multiple positions.

At times, the Celtics ran with a smaller lineup and lacked depth in the frontcourt so having Bell's services could fill a gaping hole, whether it be this year or down the road should Bell first play in the D-League.

Tyler Lydon

Power Forward

(Syracuse)

Lydon enters the NBA as the quintessential power forward of the modern era. A textbook "stretch four," Lydon is a big man who can knock down a 17-footer and stretch out the opponent's defense. Over 71 games for the Orange, Lydon drained threes at an impressive 39.8 percent clip and hauled in 8.6 rebounds per contest last year as a sophomore.

Lydon's got the height (6'9") but many consider him underweight. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Syracuse, Lydon packed on over a dozen pounds, but many draft experts still consider him too light to match up against NBA big men. That said, at the college level, Lydon showed some versatility through playing both forward positions and center. If he can bulk up, perhaps that's an asset Lydon can bring to the next level.

If the Celtics don't sign Kelly Olynyk to a long-term contract extension, Lydon could be a nice back-up to Al Horford at the power forward position.

Alec Peters

Forward

(Valparaiso)

The biggest concern about Peters is the season-ending stress fracture he suffered in his right foot back in February. For Peters, this was a devastating blow as he was tearing up the Horizon League on both ends of the floor. He also has shown signs of being a ferocious rebounder. Similar to Lydon, Peters can stretch out the opposing defense with his three-point shooting. Not only is Peters a threat from outside, but he can score with his back to the basket and get to the charity stripe, where he has converted at a healthy clip.

Before the injury, Peters was projected to be a late first-round pick. Now, he could potentially drop to late second round. It's a gamble for the Celtics but they do have the luxury of having three second-round picks if Peters remains hampered by his injury for an extended period of time.

Mathias Lessort

Forward/Center

(France)

What he lacks in size and scoring touch, Lessort makes up for with his relentless rebounding on the offensive glass. The feeling among many scouts is that if Lessort can improve his defensive rebounding skills, he could be an elite rebounder, perhaps one of the best in this class. On the other side of the ball, Lessort runs the floor well and sets a good screen for the pick-and-roll.

Overall, the Frenchman is an athletic freak, with uncanny lateral agility and top-tier closing speed. He's got raw talent, for sure, but with time and the right coach, he could mature into an effective two-way player.

From an intangibles perspective, Lessort fits into Brad Stevens' system well: he brings constant energy and hustle to the parquet each and every night.

Of course, a pick this late in the draft may never pan out. Or it could take years to have a considerable impact. But who knows, maybe one of these aforementioned players will become the next second round gem a la Paul Millsap or Carlos Boozer.

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Looking Past the First Round - CLNS Radio (blog)

The Australian-born Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in2006 and he has been a wanted man ever since.

Designed asa "not-for-profit media organization," it was dreamed upby Assange, because he felt mainstream media was not properly holding governments toaccount and was too scared oflosing its advertising or being closed downif it exposed serious wrongdoing.

AP Photo/ Markus Schreiber

In this Oct. 4, 2016 file photo, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange participates via video link at a news conference marking the 10th anniversary of the secrecy-spilling group in Berlin. WikiLeaks said on Monday, Oct. 17, 2016, that Assange's internet access has been cut by an unidentified state actor.

Assange had registered the domain name, a play onWikipedia, in1999 and it was always his intention toget hold ofhighly confidential material.

On its website it says: "WikiLeaks specializes inthe analysis and publication oflarge datasets ofcensored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying and corruption."

For the US government, and many others, that statement alone makes it a hostile organization which threatens the secrecy which the CIA, the Secret Service and the US diplomatic corps rely on.

When WikiLeaks published its most damaging revelations inthe spring of2010 diplomatic cables which had been leaked byUS soldier Bradley Manning Assange was threatened bythe US withprosecution underthe 1917 Espionage Act.

In August 2010 the Swedish prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant forAssange, inconnection withallegations ofrape and molestation bytwo women dating fromincidents earlier that summer.

In May 2012, Britain's Supreme Court ruled that he should be extradited toSweden and the followingmonth Assange accepted Ecuador's offer ofsanctuary and vanished behindthe doors ofthe Latin American nation's embassy. He has been there ever since.

But despiteall this WikiLeaks did not fold. So how was it able tosoldier on?

As WikiLeaks grew Assange realized he had tocooperate withlike-minded individuals and he worked withpeople likeDaniel Domscheit-Berg, inGermany, and others.

But Assange's abrasive personality makes him a hard person toget alongwith and Domscheit-Berg quit in2010, setting uphis own site, OpenLeaks, withlittle success.

A source withknowledge ofhow WikiLeaks operates said:

"WikiLeaks hasn't operated withoutJulian. It doesn't exist independently ofhim atall. It consists ofhim and whoever he has persuaded tohelp him atany point," the source told Sputnik.

"If there's money, some ofthem get paid a little. If not, they're just volunteers. There have never been more thana handful ofhelpers. There have been times when it was Julian alone," they added.

"For the last five years, he has been running things frominside the Ecuadorean embassy."

WikiLeaks reportedly employs a small paid staff, who work invarious secret locations and is supported byaround a thousand volunteers.

In December 2010, the US government forced PayPal and a number ofcredit card companies tostop accepting donations forWikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks has also been the target ofseveral Denial ofService attacks byhackers, possibly employed bythe US government.

REUTERS/ Toby Melville

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a copy of a U.N. ruling as he makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, Britain February 5, 2016.

Bradley Manning, the soldier who has undergone a sex change and is now known asChelsea Manning, was released fromprison last month afterPresident Obama commuted the sentence.

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How WikiLeaks Has Survived While Julian Assange Has Been Holed Up in London - Sputnik International

Imagine this scenario for a moment. You are a budding novelist, and you present a new proposal to your agent. The agent looks it over and sends it back, assuring you no publisher would ever go for it. Its just too far-fetched, you are told. Best to go back to the drawing board.

What was the scenario you concocted? It went like this.

There was a gay private in the army who gained access to a cachet of nearly one million secret military documents. When his gay lover broke up with him, he was depressed. Sohe decided to download and release these documents, likely costing the lives of our men and women on the field.

He was tried and convicted of crimes against the state and sentenced to 35 years in prison. However,while in prison, he insisted he was actually a woman, not a man. Eventually, the government paid for his sex-change surgery, after which the president decided to commute his sentence. After which he was hailed as a national hero and did his first TV interview, now as a woman.

Well, I could see why a publisher would reject such a story. Who would ever believe a narrative like this? It strains credulity especially the part about this guy becoming a national hero. But, as the saying proves true once again, truth is stranger than fiction.

As you realized from the opening lines of this article, this is the true story of Bradley Chelsea Manning, not the plot of some far-fetched fiction novel.

Welcome to America, 2017, the country that generates headlines like this: Transgender man and father-of-two adopted children happily announces he is pregnant with his gay husband, a year after suffering a miscarriage.

Now that Bradley is Chelsea, how could he not be an LGBT hero? Being courageous enough to transition from male to female (or vice versa) as a public figure is the instant path to fame. Then, getting pardoned by the president what more could you ask for?

Try to wrap your brain around that one for a while. A transgender man is pregnant. He has a gay husband. He previously suffered a miscarriage.

In other words, this is a woman who identifies as a man, who is married to a man who is attracted to men (even if they have female private parts and woman), and he is now pregnant after having a miscarriage.

It reminds me of another story I read some years ago in the Village Voice, originally published in 2000 (yes, 17 years ago). It was titled, Two Dads with a Difference: Neither of Us Was Born Male. (Check out the couples picture here.) As the article, written by one of the Dads explained, We are transgendered men (female-to-male, or FTM). My boyfriend is the mother of my child.

So, in this case, two women, apparently attracted to men, chose to identify as gay men. But at least one of them still had her female organs and so could conceive and give birth to a child. (I wonder what happened to that precious child?)

Against backdrops like this, I guess the Bradley-Chelsea Manning story isnt that unbelievable at all, if not for the political intrigue.

According to reports in 2010, The US Army intelligence analyst, who is half British and went to school in Wales, appeared to sink into depression after a relationship break-up, saying he didnt have anything left and was beyond frustrated.

In an apparent swipe at the army, he also wrote: Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment, and quoted a joke about military intelligence being an oxymoron.

Manning claims that he released the documents to Wikileaks because I have a responsibility to the public. Our military, he argues, was covering up atrocities we committed against our enemies. So with little or no thought to the consequences of his actions, he decided to play the hero.

Interestingly, although Manning has become an LGBT icon, not everyone in the LGBT community has celebrated his actions.

Writing for Out.com in 2012, James Kirchick declared, Bradley Manning is No Gay Hero. He felt Manning disgraced the names of gays who had served with distinction in the military, writing, Rather than claim Bradley Manning as a hero of the gay community and campaign for his release, we should be the ones advocating most loudly that he face the strictest possible punishment for his treachery.

But now that Bradley is Chelsea, how could he not be an LGBT hero? Being courageous enough to transition from male to female (or vice versa) as a public figure is the instant path to fame. Then, getting pardoned by the president what more could you ask for?

I seriously doubt that Bradley Manning would have been pardoned by the president if he had been a conservative, heterosexual Christian. And I seriously doubt that he would have been hailed as a hero by other conservatives, even if felt it his duty to expose alleged military abuses.

But because he was: 1) gay; 2) upset with the military; and 3) transgender, his cause proved irresistible.

So, maybe you can write that novel after all.

Or better still, how about adding a surprise ending to the plot, a real twist? Chelsea Manning has a radical encounter with God, resulting in a dramatic conversion, after which he goes back to being Bradley, marries a fine Christian woman, and spends the rest of the years undoing the damage he did.

I would buy that book.

Read the rest here:
The True Bradley Chelsea Manning Story is Stranger Than ...