US Army Private Bradley Manning, convicted of leaking more than 700,000 classified military documents and diplomatic cables to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks, has apologised before a military judge, conceding for the first time that his actions had hurt the United States.
“I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that they hurt the US,” said the 25-year-old army intelligence analyst-turned-whistleblower, who faces up to 90 years in prison after his conviction last month of a host of charges including espionage, theft and illegal disclosure of sensitive secrets. He, however, had been acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.
“I am apologising for the unintended consequences of my actions,” he told Army Judge Col. Denise lind at Fort Meade in Maryland, adding: “When I made these decisions I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people. The last few years have been a learning experience.” Implicitly seeking leniency, Manning said: “Unfortunately, I can’t go back and change things. I can only go forward. I want to go forward. Before I can do that, I understand that I must pay a price for my decisions and actions. Once I pay that price, I hope to one day live in a manner that I haven’t been able to in the past….”
“I hope that you can give me the opportunity to prove, not through words, but through conduct, that I am a good person and that I can return to productive place in society,” he added. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, reacting to the development, charged that Manning’s apology had been “extorted from him under the overbearing weight of the US military justice system”, but he praised the US whistleblower for having “changed the world for better”.
“Bradley Manning’s apology was extracted by force, but in a just court the US government would be apologising to Bradley Manning,” Assange said in a statement from london, adding: “As over 100,000 signatories of his Nobel Peace Prize nomination attest, Bradley Manning has changed the world for the better. He remains a symbol of courage and humanitarian resistance.”
Wikileaks said it continues to support Manning and called for his full release, noting: “The US Government admitted that his actions did not physically harm a single person, and he was acquitted of ‘aiding the enemy’. His convictions solely relate to his alleged decision to inform the public of war crimes and systematic injustice.”