Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg, Kevin Goztola, will be speaking about Bradley Manning in Berkeley on January 31st.

Kevin Gosztola reports that the government is now attempting to block discussion of materials being inappropriately classified.

The government argues that overclassification of documents has no relevance to the charges. However Bradley Manning’s lawyers argue that over-classification is relevant. It is not a simple question of the material being classified which should determine if it is a threat to national security, because too much information is being classified unreasonably. The defense has a number of important witnesses ready to testify that the material did not cause any harm to national security, and that Bradley Manning was trained and skilled enough to know that the information he allegedly released would not cause harm.

Kevin Gosztola will be speaking along with whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg and Patricia Ellsberg at a speaking event in Berkeley on January 31st. The event, Presented by Courage to Resist and KPFA Radio, will be held at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Supporters in the Bay area are encouraged to attend! $12 advance tickets at Brown Paper Tickets, or at: Pegasus Books (3 locations), Marcus Books, Mrs. Dalloway’s, Moe’s Books, Walden Pond, DIESEL, A Bookstore, Modern Times. $15 tickets may be available at the door. Visit the Facebook event page. 

And more reports from last week’s hearing discuss the government motion to gag reference to Bradley Manning’s whistle-blower motives, and to the lack of harm caused by the documents published by WikiLeaks. Thankfully some evidence of Bradley Manning’s whistle-blowing will be allowed. Ed Pilkington writes,

“In a limited victory for the defence, Coombs and the defence team will be allowed to talk about the soldier’s motives on two narrow counts: where it can be used to show that he did not know that his leaks would be seen by al-Qaida; and as evidence that he consciously selected certain documents or types of documents in order to ensure they would not harm the US or benefit any foreign nation.”

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Bradley Manning has been imprisoned 968 days without trial. Last week the defense argued to have the case dismissed based on the government’s failure to assure a speedy trial, based on the government’s ongoing trial delays, and its failure to arraign Bradley Manning within 120 days of his arrest. The judge will rule on the motion to dismiss the charges at the next pre-trial hearing, February 26th. We encourage supporters to attend.