Bradley Manning in Court- Defense Witnesses Tossed

America’s most famous gay soldier is in court for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. And all but 2 of the defense witnesses were rejected out of hand.

From the BBC here:

A US army appeals court has rejected a request for the officer overseeing the hearing of an army analyst accused of leaking government secrets to withdraw.

The military court case of Private Bradley Manning, 24, is set to go into its second day with Lt Col Paul Almanza presiding. The defence had accused the investigating officer of “bias”.

The hearing offers the first opportunity for his defence team to present their case since he was arrested in Iraq in May 2010 and placed in military custody. It is taking place under tight security at an army base at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Lt Col Almanza is a former military judge who now works for the Department of Justice, which has its own investigation into Wikileaks. A defence lawyer said his refusal to accept all but two of 38 defence witnesses meant the defence could not adequately make their case.

But late on Friday an army appeals court rejected these concerns.

If Manning’s entire defense strategy is that the judge is biased and no one was actually hurt, Manning is in deep trouble. And I’m sure all of the defense witnesses were leftist thinktank policymakers who were going to testify that Manning was a brave misunderstood boy and the release of information didn’t really hurt anyone. Which is, of course, irrelevant. Manning doesn’t get to decide what stays classified and what gets declassed.