Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20130710

Comey refuses to criticize the broad collection of phone records of americans and defends the indefinite detention of americans deemed to be enemy combatants. He also explains why he signed off on a memo authorizing waterboarding loss serving under james ashcroft. We will speak to a former fbi agent. And then Bradley Manning on trial. The former chief prosecutor, morris davis, testifies for the defense. Colonel davis joins us today. First, a political crisis escalates in egypt. We go to cairo for a report from sharif Abdel Kouddous. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Spain has a knowledge their request from the u. S. Prompting the blockade of a plane carrying bolivian president and evo morales. The plane was grounded in austria for 14 hours after spain, france, portugal, and italy closed their airspace over false rumors that Edward Snowden was aboard. The Spanish Foreign minister confirmed for the first time the rumor came from the u. S. Government. He went on to say he is willing to apologize to bolivia. There seems to be a misunderstanding, and if there is, i do not have any problem apologizing to president or less. Morales if president believes there has been a misunderstanding. In the air space nor landing were closed. Tuesday, able morales criticized European Countries for conceding to u. S. Demands. The invaders, the colonists, now they are the colonies and are invaded and are the want to submit to the United States. I do not understand what is happening in europe. I believe, along with the social movements in europe, we will defend the sovereignty of the people who are also our peers. On tuesday, a russian lawmaker fueled rumors of snowdens first step by saying that he accepted venezuelas asylum offer. After deletedsoon from his twitter feed. In an interview shortly after conducting an online chat with snowden, a journalist Glenn Greenwald said that pennzoil is a snowdens best bet. There is news that he has accepted qassam offer from venezuela. Whether those news reports are accurate or not, i do not want to comment on. Myself,ly, speaking for of the three options, that once seemed like the most plausible. Figuring out how to get to the country that has offered him asylum without the road lawless empire and that has present proven itself to engage in rote behavior to prevent him from getting there, that is the challenge. Glenn greenwald was speaking from brazil, where he is working on his latest book. He says surveillance has gone into the resources of foreign countries. Brazil has set up a task force to investigate the allegations. The standoff between egypt posset interim government and the Muslim Brotherhood Party Continues to widen. Egypt bought top prosecutor has ordered muhammed body and other officials on charges for inciting violence. The Muslim Brotherhood is accused of sparking the violence that ended in the armys shootings of at least 51 supporters of Mohamed Morsi. The charges come one day after the Muslim Brotherhood rejected a role in egypts interim cabinet. On tuesday, the egyptian interim president named Hazem El Beblawi as interim Prime Minister, and mohammed al barred by. Russia is backing Syrian Government claims that an alleged chemical attack earlier this year came from rebels fighting syrian president bashar alassad. The Russian Ambassador cited the findings of the team of russian experts on the ground. The analysis of clearly indicate the order in its use was not industrially itctured and was built proves it was not industrially manufactured. An absence of chemical stabilizers indicates that there was reason production. The project out involved is not a standard 14 chemical use. Therefore, there is every reason to believe it was the armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons. The russian team was allowed in after this hearing government blocked a un investigation. Projects se rejects russias claims. Confirmation hearings have begun for james comey, the former Bush Administration official tapped by president obama to head the fbi. On tuesday, he told an fbi Judiciary Committee that he now sees waterboarding as a form of torture, a shift from 2005 when he signed off on a memo justifying its use. He also gave his backing to president obamas to round program, saying it is under sufficient oversight. He is well known for reauthorizing the president spy program while forcing the Bush Administration to make changes. We will have more on his confirmation hearings later in the broadcast. A group of samesex couples have filed suit challenging pennsylvania samesex marriage ban, the first case over seat seeking to overturn a gay marriage ban since last months right. N to defend that in julia lubork spoke from the pennsylvania capitol in harrisburg. There is public sentiment here that is rolling ever forward toward freedom to marry. It is a tragedy that talented, loving, productive citizens have to leave the state because their marriage is not recognized. The aclu plans to file similar cases in virginia and north carolina. The texas house has given provisional approval to the bill that would shut down nearly all the states abortion clinics and ban abortion at 20 weeks post fertilization. Republicans are seeking to push the measure through after last months filibuster by texas state senator wendy davis. The texas house will hold a final vote today before sending the bill to the senate. A federal investigation of the Miami Police Department has uncovered a pattern of Excessive Force and delays in the investigation of police shootings. The probe was launched in 2011 after a spate of killings by miami officers of Young African american men, seven killed in the course of eight months. In recent years, miami has seen a Fatal Shooting for every two of the 20 Police Officers, compared to one for every 4300 Police Officers in new york city. Officers fired at people intentionally 33 times from 2008 to 2011. In a statement, and the aclu of florida said the findings should lead to prosecutions, saying supporters of the jailed civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart rallied outside a federal court in manhattan tuesday to oppose the denial of her compassionate release. A 73yearold grandmother fighting stage a cancer that has metastasized, spreading to her shoulders and lungs. She is serving a 10year sentence in fort worth, texas. She was found guilty of distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client, also known as the blind shake. The federal bureau of prisons rejected her transfer to a hospital last month despite the recommendations of her prison warden. Her husband said her condition is getting worse by the day. Getting sicker by the day. When i saw her, when everett i would not get to see her because she was in quarantine. That mean youre white blood cell count is so low, it is dangerous for her to be in populations. They did not stop her from visiting me, but she is still not in population. They said she is self sufficient. She does not do anything for herself. She does not eat, clean, maker of bed. They say she is selfsufficient, but she does nothing. To see more of a discussion on her case, you can go to our website, democracynow. Org. Those are some of the headlines. Democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Ahmed assem el senousy im amy goodman. Im nermeen shaikh. Egypt remains in crisis after afterd morsi left office days of protest. On tuesday, hazem elbeblawi was named as interim Prime Minister and also named nobel peace laureate mohamed of their day a. Several key groups have voiced concerns over the militarys plans, including egypts coptic church, salafis, and a youthled tamarod movement. This lays the foundation for a new dictatorship. The Muslim Brotherhood continues to oppose all moves to form a new government. This is a prominent cleric and Muslim Brotherhood supporter. The jets legitimate president is Mohamed Morsi. He alone has the right to appoint a Prime Minister or agree to others being appointed. With regard to the military and the person theyre calling the interim president , they are all thieves. It is not right to appoint ministers or Prime Ministers and we reject these appointments altogether. Meanwhile, the Prosecution Office has ordered the arrest of the leader of the motte Muslim Brotherhood movement. The arrest warrant is seen as part of a broader crackdown on members of the brotherhood. Hundreds of members and other Islamic Groups have been detained, along with the former president s top advisers. Egyptian armed forces shot dead more than 50 supporters of Mohamed Morsi during a protest where the deposed leader is believed to be held. Meanwhile, saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates have offered 8 billion in aid to the interim government to shore up the economy and counter qatars support of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sharif Abdel Kouddous is with us. Welcome back. You had just come from the site of the massacre. Now, egypts top prosecutor has ordered the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood leader mohamad body. Could you talk about the significance of this . Muhammed badie. Supreme gaya of the Muslim Brotherhood will be charged with incitement of violence outside of the Republican Guard headquarters. As you mentioned, more than 50 supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the ousted president , were killed early monday morning. Mostly by live ammunition. This of one of the bloodiest days since mubaraks overthrow. This is a troubling trend of an increasing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, still the largest Political Group in egypt. We have seen their members detained, now their figureheads ordered arrested. We have seen their Media Channels be shut down. State media and private media have completely adopted the militarys line, repeated their claims that the military came under attack first five armed assailants, are they showing any video or footage of the attack that left many dozens dead or wounded. They have called the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist and so forth. This has only increased polarization and division in the country. It will be very difficult, going forward, when we have this kind of crackdown by the army and state Security Forces, which has ridden the wave of popular anger against Mohamed Morsi, and is looking to reassert themselves into positions of authority. It could be very difficult, going forward, to have the biggest Political Group in the country not taking part and feeling like it has been oppressed, as it has under successive autocrats in the past decades. What do you think accounts for the disproportionate crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood . What has been in the relationship between the Security Forces and Muslim Brotherhood . The Muslim Brotherhood have long suffered repression under successive autocratic regimes. A coup against the monarchy in 1954. Many of their leaders have been jailed, many have been killed. Revolution, they sought to coopt parts of the state after coming into power through the ballot box, so they struck a deal with the army, granting everything it wanted in the constitution. Mohamed morsi thanked the police or their work, despite mass police kit killings and torture. Instead of addressing grievances of people, he is hoping to call up parts of the state but ultimately failed. Once a Popular Mobilization got going, in large part because of the steadily declining economy, as well as political isolation and no way for people to air their grievances, the army sought to step in, push the brotherhood out, and reassert itself into the state. Could you talk about a billion dollars promised by saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to try to prevent the collapse of the egyptian economy, but also seen as a beener to qatar, who has supporting the Muslim Brotherhood government. This is very significant. A billion dollars when the economy is on the brink of collapse. This certainly supports the shaky militaryled transition and comes in the wake of repeated cash injections from qatar, who have supported the brotherhood through this kind of aid, and have helped to prop up the egyptian economy in an artificial way when it was collapsing from and lack of foreign reserves. Saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which vary want very much wants to seek the return of an armyled return of the former regime, which they i think they are threatened by that, and his starkly have historically and at odds with qatar foreign policy. This is a significant cash injection. A billion dollars matches the total that qatar has given over many months, so it is clear support for this military coup and the armyled transition. Could you outline some of the more complicated aspects of the constitutional declaration and with the main opposition to the plan has been from all groups involved . This declaration establishing of the law of the land. It sets forth a speedy transition to civilian government. It is about 33 articles. It will essentially go in the order of amending the 2012 constitution within four months by a committee of legal scholars, all by parliamentary elections, and then president ial elections. Many say this is repeating a lot of the mistakes from the first armyled transition, that it was drawn up by an Anonymous Committee without any input from the main opposition groups calling for morsis ouster, including the National Salvation front, tamarod, who have voiced criticism for not being consulted in the process. It is a bare bones document that outlines the bare necessities, but given that it makes clear, shields the military from civilian oversight, that is clearly prioritizes the military. It promises inclusive this would give no procedural guidelines for how to do that. And the timetable is very fast. It looks like it is repeating a lot of the errors of the first transition which led to this political crisis here and we have seen the National Salvation front and others come out and be quite critical, which is a step forward. At least they are voicing concern that they are not being consulted, but we will have to see how much weight their voice carries with the military. The u. S. Is not quite willing to call what happened in egypt a coup, which would jeopardize the 1. 5 billion the u. S. Government gives to egypt. Could you talk about the significance of that and what people are saying in egypt . Protests,e largest larger than the antibork once, a youth group, tamarod, what they are saying . This is a very divisive question in egypt. Do you call it a coup or an uprising, overthrow of morsi . It is part of the growing polarization between different camps in egypt. I would say technically it is a coup. It was the army that ousted morsi. We saw the head of the Armed Forces Get on tv. The interim president and his constitutional declaration stated that his power comes from the statement. That is a clear sign that it was a military coup. Whatg said that, facilitated the military to come in was a mass popular uprising, one that even eclipsed the protest that we sought against hosni mubarak. It was a combination of different forces coming together, ordinary egyptians whose lives have become harder given the deterioration of the economy, Political Groups that felt rejected and not consulted on any policy by morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood, and we saw the brotherhood use its electoral mandate to push through all of its policies without really consulting civil iciety, and also, as mentioned, looking to call up elements of the state, like the army and police, not looking to perform them whatsoever. We have elements of the former regime as well coming together june 30 for a massive protest. That allows the military to reassert itself into politics in a real way. It is difficult right now because the military is possibly the most Destructive Force to egyptian politics, the most brutal force, the most economic interests to defend, and we are seeing them successfully reasserted themselves, use this wave of popular anger against morsi to try to clamp down on any kind of dissent that is being targeted at Islamic Group right now. We are seeing state and private media acting as a Conveyor Belt for the armys policies. So is a difficult time in egypt right now. During the attack on Muslim Brotherhood supporters, an egyptian photographer was killed. The 26yearold Ahmed Assem El senousy reportedly filmed his own death. His family released footage that reportedly shows an army sniper taking aim at him. This comes as several al jazeera reporters were arrested. In the past two weeks, a journalist and student had been killed while documenting protests. According to the committee to protect journalists, prior to these debts, only four journalists had been killed in egypt since 1992. Could you talk about the significance of this . What is happening to the media in the midst of these protests and the ousting of morsi . We saw the statement on july 3, the main channel of the Muslim Brotherhood, it went black. There were also raids and attacks on promorsi channels where workers were arrested. Those channels shut down. We have are they seen any coverage by the private media and state media, which has complete toed the military line. Hardly any coverage of the massacre that happened on monday at the hands of the military. There is this crackdown on the media and al jazeera, which has been seen especially since the beginning of what we have called the arab spring as a promorsi channel, has also come under attack. A local affiliate was raided. Its director was held for the day. Subsequently, a lot of its workers resigned, claiming bias bias tomanagers influence the editorial line towards the Muslim Brotherhood. More than that, we have seen private channels demonize islamists, call them terrorists, and in a way, incite violence their own way, with no compassion for the dozens of deaths that took place on monday. There is a real polarization in the media. We hardly hear the voices of the promorsi can be silenced. We only have those that support the military, and it is a vicious dialogue capping right now over the airwaves. Finally, and the al jazeera arabic reporter who was kicked out of the Government News conference by other reporters who later applauded the spokesman we are going to play a clip. That is the sound and seen at a News Conference whenever throw out the al jazeera arabic reporter. Final comments . [inaudible] who forced out this Al Jazeera Group out of the press conference by the army, chanting before the press conference began. These are a lot of socalled journalists who completely toe the government line, who report the likely with the military says. After the armed spokesperson finished, loudly applauded his statements, which completely denies any wrongdoing of the killing of more than 50 people on the streets of cairo. Again, that is the kind of polarized media landscape we have, and frankly, terrible car from almost any side of what is happening. The significance of the appointment of the Prime Minister hazem elbeblawi, and the vicepresident , el baradei . Served aslbeblawi finance minister in 2011 under the first armyled transition. He has been somewhat critical of the military, wrote a book criticizing their approach of the first cabinet. He also submitted his resignation after a killing incident from the military. Important to remember, ideologically, he will not be around for long and his position is seen as a consensus candidate. What is important is how much consensus he can build around himself to build this new government. He has already reached out to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has rejected any participation in a new transition. Thank you again, sharif until conduce. His most recent piece to the nation, we will link to it. Sharif until produce. Sharif Abdel Kouddous we will be back in a minute. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. In our next segment, we looked at the trial of Bradley Manning. Im amy goodman. We turn now to james comey, the new appointed head of the fbi. He served under John Ashcroft in the Bush Administration. In this role he signed off on a controversial memo authorizing waterboarding prisoners and approved the indefinite detention of jose padilla, a u. S. Citizen held on a military brig for three years without charge. During his confirmation hearing, comey was questioned about these issues as well as his views on domestic surveillance. This is Committee Chair Patrick Leahy of vermont. I will ask you the same question that we asked general mukasey when he was before this board. I found his answers as unsatisfactory, but i will ask the same question. Do you agree waterboarding is illegal and torture . Yes. Thank you. Would you agree to answer this question the same when the matter who was president . Certainly. The surveillance powers of the fbi have grown. Americans are becoming increasingly concerned the fbi is more of a domestic surveillance in agency rather than an intelligence agency. Through the patriot act it can and vast amounts of information. The you believe the bulk collection of meta data for e mails and telephone calls is a corporate, even when the majority of individuals with whom those things are associated are lawabiding americans . Center, im not familiar with the details of the current programs. Obviously, i have been out apartment for eight years. As a general matter, i know that is acollection of meta data valuable tool in the fight against terrorism. While he describes waterboarding as torture and illegal, he alleges citing an authorization of its use while in the bush and administration. He did not say why his view on water boarding had changed since 2005. During the hearing, they praised him for refusing to reauthorize the Bush Administrations spy program while serving as attorney general. He alerted ashcroft and white house aides. According to news reports, the Surveillance Program later resumed under similar Legal Framework and senior bush of mission officials said that he raised few objections to other programs. For more on the nomination of james comey, were joined by fbi special agent colleen rowley. A Division Legal counsel and taught Constitutional Rights to fbi agents and police. Women2, she and two other were named as people possible people of the year. She testified about congresss billy to prevent the 9 11 attacks. Thelatest article questions fbi nominee. What do you think is significant for us to understand about who comey is it . To their credit, the senators did ask some of the questions, especially the ones that focused on james comeys authorization of waterboarding and sleep deprivation and especially that question was asked and answered. Not answered very well, but it was because james comey claim that it is now illegal, progress over mukasey, who deny that waterboarding is torture. But he could not explain why he had signed off on these authorities for cia that included sleep deprivation and waterboarding. So the senator did an ok job of asking some of the questions. James comey hedged on most of those, did not answer most of those. He claimed he did not know or the information was classified. Especially the hospital standoff question, he claimed that is still classified and could not explain what changed, and why he objected to the more it was monitoring beforehand, but then went along with afterwards. During tuesdays confirmation hearing for the fbi director nominee, he was asked about his approval in 2004 of a legal memo that authorized to torture techniques designed to footplate to inflict pain. The memo was known as the bradbury memo. You talked about how sleep deprivation can be torture. I think you said in combination other methods. This is what the bradbury memo says about as good separation. The detainee is standing in handcuffs and the handcuffs are attached to a link a change to the ceilings. His hands are shackled in front of his body so that the detainee has a two to 3 foot diameter of movement. His feet are shackled to a bold and the floor. He also wears diapers and sleep deprivation can cause swelling in the lower extremities. The memo goes on to say that none of this amounts to torture and authorizes sleep deprivation for up to 180 hours. That is 7. 5 days. That is torture, isnt it . That was my reaction. I remember that description vividly, one of the things that led me to ask who are we as americans . We have to have that conversation, even if someone says it is effective there is the third question that that description cries for us to answer. I am out of time. That was a memo that you approved. That was one separate that the talked about in the first one. That was james comey being questioned by senator al franken. Colleen rowley, could you respond to that . The senators generally lauded james comey for a bang and upholding the law. They claimed he had spoken truth to power. But this episode where he signed off on waterboarding and sleep deprivation and i will interject that i am proud that al franken gave the graphic, gruesome description of what sleep depravation actually is, because maybe if some of these officials had understood that, they would not have signed up on this being legal. James comey also claimed the 1994 statute prohibiting torture in the United States is vague. In fact, there is a convention against torture that the United States has signed, and almost all experts say that that statute is very clear. So there is a strong irony here that the new, probably new fbi arector actually sign off on completely illegal method of interrogating prisoners. Talking to former fbi agent colleen rowley, named by times magazine as a person of the year. I want to go back to the comey hearing, back to the questioning up senator al franken. This is about the case of jose padilla. He was a u. S. Citizen held as in any conduct combat and by the george Bush Administration. He was held for three years without charge on a military brig in south carolina. Do american citizens always have the right to talk to an attorney when they are detained by their own government, on american soil . Was expert sure i enough, were still am, to give you a good answer to that. I think the answer is yes, except when that person is detained as a prisoner of war in an ongoing Armed Conflict. A prisoner of war. The person does not have the right to constitutional council. That was the position that the Justice Department took in mr. Padillas case. Who determines whether that person is a prisoner of war, an american citizen, on american soil. Who makes that determination . Doesnt that person an american citizen have the right to an attorney to make the case i am not a prisoner of war . Is certainly have a right to access to the courts to file a habeas corpus petition to challenge the president s decision and designation that they are involved in an Armed Conflict with United States. That is a different question from whether they have a constitutional right to have a lawyer. The district judge in that case said as a matter of his ability to oversee habeas corpus petitions, he thought the person ought to have a lawyer to assist him in the preparation of that petition. I do not think the judge found in the constitutional right to counsel. As you said, it is a oneoff case, and horrific one, difficult, and it is not a settled area, i do not know that it has happened other than in padillas case. Had with james, being questioned by al franken. Were anrowley, you agent for years. Your response to what he said and what else you know we should feel about you feel we should know about james comey . Officialcomey was the that held a press conference and strongly defended the ability of the United States to use this law of war and to hold enemy combatants incommunicado. Of course, in padillas case, he was held for nearly three years. Two years without an attorney. Because james comey spoke once in minnesota with walter mondale, and mondale asked him about that case, james comey went a step further in 2009 and this was in my questions in the op ed. He said we need to have an ability to incapacitate suspects when there is not adequate evidence to use in court or a Foreign Government gives to the United States evidence it needs to be secret. In 2009, which came quite a long time afterwards, he is still defending the concept of indefinite detention without the right to attorney, but even the right to be adjudicated in a criminal court. What did he mean by incapacitate . He made a reference to the way that we can hold mentally ill people through a different process rather than in adjudicating criminal guilt. He said if there was a way to sod the mentally dangerous that we can maintain safety, there must be a way to do this with dangerous terror suspects. During Tuesdays Senate confirmation hearing, and james comey was also asked about domestic surveillance. He insisted the secret Foreign Service intelligence act provide effective congressional oversight. I think folks do not understand the fbi operates under a wide variety of constraints, starting with the attorney generals detailed guidelines on how it is to conduct intelligence, criminal, and counterintelligence investigations. Sometimes folks also do not understand what the fisa court is. They hear secret court, sometimes they hear rubber stamp. In my experience with the fisa court, folks do not realize it is a group of independent federal judges who sit and operate under a statutory regime to review requests by the government to use Certain Authority to gather information, and it is anything but a rubber stamp. Anyone who knows federal judges knows that calling them a rubberstamp shows you do not have experience before them. Almostfisa court issued 1800 surveillance orders last year. Every single government request was approved. Colleen rowley, your response . Courts number of fisa orders is over double what it was before 9 11. There is a huge shipment between when a criminal court carefully analyze is probable cause for purposes of monitoring, and what the fisa court does. I will go back to the hospital room standoff because there is a piece that the public does not understand about james comeys famous hospital standoff. He was not objecting to the massive Data Collection as much as he was objecting to the legal putting up what was probably john yoos theory of unbridled executive power and the ability to override congress. It looks like there was a period of time before the fisa court got this blanket authority under the fisa amendments act to rubberstamp orders, blanket orders for everyones telephone and email data. It looks like there was a period of time where james comey went along with bushs message Data Collection under a new theory, goldsmiths theory was that it was pegged to the authorization to use military force, and when they use that authorization to use military force, of course, to repeal parts of the fisa, none of the congress would have understood that when they voted in october 2001 to authorize the United States to go to war in afghanistan, that they were also repealing a part of solid Foreign Intelligence Service act la. James comey also discussed his position on whistleblowing. Also atleblowers are critical element of a functioning democracy. Folks have to feel free to raise their concerns, and if they are not addressed up the chain of command, to take it to an appropriate place. It is interesting, we are talking about this as Edward Snowden is, we believe, in the russia applying for political asylum. Democratic senators congratulating comey for his questioning of the wireless warrantless wiretapping. And yet, you do not see anything like their same response when it comes to question what president obama has been doing with the nsa. That is right. They did ask him some good questions about the law that allows the government to read e mails after six months and they asked some questions about pending legislation to fix the nsa. Comey kind of hedge on those questions and said he could not offer an opinion. The key thing here is that comey did not really opposed warrantless monitoring, and actually looks like he just wanted the legal underpinnings to be adjusted. As far as whistleblowers, of course, in the fbi and in many of these other intelligence agencies, there is no recourse in court. Of course, senator grassley mentioned this. There is no other option for people who would this troupe illegality, as Edward Snowden did. What do you do when you are witnessing a violation of the constitution and there is no internal chain of command or mechanism to get that information out. Comey, of course, i do not think its not going to answer that because he does not want to prejudice the situation right now of the government prosecuting adverts noted. Edward snowden. Believe she should be confirmed he pete he should be confirmed . What is said here is that it looks like the next fbi director will be someone who signed off on the legal torture, cannot explain why, but yet, it is sadder still that amounts the pool that they considered appropriate candidates for fbi director, comey might actually be one of the better ones. This is a sad state of affairs right now. I want to thank you very much, calling rally. If confirmed, he serves a 10 year term. Colleen rowley was a special agent for the fbi. She taught Constitutional Rights to fbi agents and police. She was named a person of the year by time magazine. When we come back, the Bradley Manning trial. [music break] the drum thing, by john coltrane. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Defense attorneys for grabbing manning are trying to show that much of the information he was charged with leaking were already available. At his courtmartial, his lawyers asked for a not guilty verdict, arguing the government has not been able to prove he committed espionage or other offenses. Public files include assessment briefs for prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison. On monday, they began playing the video he leaked of u. S. Forces shooting and killing iraqi citizens from a helicopter in 2007. The prosecution had blocked the viewing of the video in court calling it not relevant. They also issued a transcript to show that the video had already been circulated before manning made it public. His defense also asked the court to drop a number of charges including aiding the enemy. During his pretrial hearing, manning a knowledge he gave the classified documents to wikileaks and said he wanted people to learn from his revelation. To learn more, we are joined. Y Kevin Gosztola colonel morris davis is a retired air force colonel. He resigned as the former chief military prosecutor in guantanamo in 2007 and testified at the trial monday and tuesday. Welcome both. Colonel davis, lets begin with you. What did you say in court yesterday . Part of the charges in the case relates to documents from guantanamo called detainee assessment briefs that i was familiar with from my tenure as chief prosecutor. There were five particular detainees that the government had selected as a representative sampling. But i did was take a classified documents and went out to open source material, much of it available on government websites, and was able to find the vast majority of the information in the public the main. Were trying to establish there is no harm from the release of the documents on wikileaks. Can you describe court room scene. What surprised you as you went in there . There was a large crowd, a lot of manning supporters in the court room, as there have been dropped. It was the first chance i had to see private manning in person. He is a fairly diminutive in size, got to speak with him briefly after words. I would say he is in good spirits, positive, but you can see this has taken a toll on him and is wearing on him, as im sure it would with anyone in his circumstance. You also suggested the of wikileaks documents were one of the inaccurate. Could you explain why you said that . Just to add to that, president obama appointed the Guantanamo Review Task force that issued a report on january 22, 2010. If you look at the report, his task force came to the same conclusion, that the detainee assessments, which were a general biographical accounting of who the individual was, assessment of how big of a risk they were, and even the task force came to the same conclusion that many of the reports were inaccurate, some were overinflated, some under inflated. So you cannot tell. You do not know if it is right, wrong, how it really fits in. My experience from the chief prosecutor is that, looking at the detainee assessment had no value. They are based on underlying documents, and those documents are important. We refer to them as baseball cards because it gives you the persons name, height, weight, place of birth. Really had no significant value and i cannot see how it would help al qaeda to have access. Who are the five detainees in the case . This is extremely significant that you testified on the defenses behalf and mannings behalf as the former chief military prosecutor at guantanamo. As an example, the level of absurdity in the case, i cannot tell you the five names because the detainee assessment briefs are classified. However, the open source documents i compared to are admitted into evidence, not classified. Three of the five are in a feature film called road to guantanamo. You have a pretty good idea of who three of the five are in the assessment briefs. At least for now, that information is classified. You also spoke on monday to some of private Bradley Manning s colleagues and superiors in the military. Could you explain to me what they said, what struck you, and your conversation with private manning . On monday, there were ever you are former military colleagues of his, two former captains, chief officer, and sgt. Iraq. Ere with him in it was interesting to talk with them, in the witness waiting area, but also in their testimony. The government has painted a picture of private manning being in debt, a malcontent. Their testimony was that he was there go to guy. The guy that really knew what was going on if you need information. He was the person to go to. He was a star performer. It was a totally opposite perspective from the way he has been portrayed by the government as a malcontent. After i testified, i had a brief opportunity to talk with private manning. He shook my hand and thanked me for testifying on his behalf. I just told him to hang in there, there were a lot of people pulling for him. It is wearing on him but he appeared to be in good spirits. His attorney is also doing a stellar job of representing him. We are also joined by Kevin Gosztola. He is in his car in the fort meade parking lot, where Bradley Manning is being court martialed, where the trial is taking place. Kevin, the prosecution wrapped up their case last week, and now it is the defenses turn. What is most significant for us to know in the trial at this point . What people should Pay Attention to is this push to get charges dismissed, which you mentioned at the beginning of the segment. Aiding the enemy charge is the most severe charge he faces, and i think people should really Pay Attention to how they are charging it because they are dangerously completing the act that wikileaks is engaged in publishing, which is a First Amendment act, with treason, espionage against the United States. The prosecutors, through their arguments, have suggested that manning was working on behalf of wikileaks, going into secret Government Networks and harvesting information. Say do it so they do not believe manning was doing what he did, wanted to change the world and spark reform. I think people should really consider we know that if you shout fire in a crowded theater, that is frowned upon. Well, the prosecutors in this case should not be able to shop terrorism in a military court room when there is no evidence at all that his act had any connection whatsoever to terrorism. There has been no evidence presented that manning did any searches for al qaeda, al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, this spokesperson for al qaeda, adam gadahn, who was in a propaganda video which was entered into evidence, no evidence that he ever looked at and al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula magazine. And even though al qaeda use this as propaganda, there is no strategic or Tactical Advantage that it can be seen at al qaeda used to launch any attacks against the United States. Yet, after the fact, prosecutors are trying to paint him as someone who aided terrorism. We have to leave it there, but we will continue the conversation and post the rest of the conversation at democracynow. Org. Kevin gosztola is speaking to us from the fort meade parking lot. He is a Civil Liberties reporter for firedoglake. For firedoglake. We also want to thank colonel soft piano music narration on my way to the city of oaxaca, mexico,