Legal proceedings in the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, resumed yesterday, with the defense arguing in the military court at Fort Meade that all charges should be dropped with prejudice. That occurred as the Court and the Prosecution continued to refuse to provide the defense (and the media) with access to documents and materials relevant to the charges.

Court will once again be in session at Fort Meade in Maryland as the long and drawn-out pre-trial process for the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks resumes. The hearing is expected to take three days, with the bulk of deliberations happening on the first two days. Kevin will be liveblogging from the scene.

In the face of refusal from the US government to be transparent, the defense counsel for Bradley Manning has made an attempt to share court filings with the press that are usually made available during most federal trials but have not been available to press. However, the filings the defense posted—mainly defense motions—include redactions requested by the government, minimizing the value of the published filings. The process has become even less transparent than military trials at Guantanamo.

On Tuesday, I will return to Fort Meade, Maryland, where court martial proceedings against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, resume. The focus of those proceedings will involve an effort by David Coombs, Manning’s defense lawyer, to have an “aiding the enemy” charge dismissed. This is one of the more egregious charges Manning faces and is based on the contention by the government that Manning knowingly provided “intelligence” to al Qaeda and other related terrorist groups indirectly when he allegedly released information to WikiLeaks.

The government of Pakistan has presented the United States government with a list of demands that includes ending CIA drone strikes in the country immediately. The New York Times reports the government has also called on the Obama administration to apologize for “air strikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.” But, based on the track record of indifference the Obama administration has shown toward a country that has been destabilized by the continued use of drones to attack “militants” or alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda targets, it is unlikely the people of Pakistan get any reprieve at all.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.

Numerous complaints about United Kingdom press coverage of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange’s struggle against being extradited to Sweden have been made by Assange. Those complaints were submitted to the Leveson Inquiry, empaneled to examine culture, practices and ethics of the press in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The complaints reveal a dogged effort by Assange to challenge an inaccuracy often reported as fact: that he was charged with rape and that is why he is facing extradition.

The defense for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, has tried to put a halt to secrecy in Manning’s court martial proceedings by making court filings available to the public and the press. The government, however, remains opposed to efforts to make the proceedings more transparent. And now, as the defense moves to address concern that the proceedings are happening in secret, the government plans to interfere with the defense’s release of its filings and force the defense to make redactions.

At the start of the first hearing on a lawsuit challenging the Homeland Battlefield Act, a federal judge appeared to be “extremely skeptical” that those pursuing the challenge had grounds to sue the US government. However, by the end of the hearing, the judge acknowledged plaintiffs had made some strong arguments on why there was reason to be concerned about the Act, which passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on New Year’s Eve last year.

A federal judge allowed a lawsuit against the US government that charges an activist was targeted for his “lawful association” with the Bradley Manning Support Network, an organization initially established to help raise funds for Pfc. Bradley Manning who was accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks.