From "Free Speech Radio News": "Today, a military judge found Army Private Bradley Manning guilty on espionage, theft and computer fraud charges related to his leaking of hundreds of thousands of government and military documents to Wikileaks, but acquitted him of the most serious charge he faced of aiding the enemy. Judge Col. Denise Lind read the verdict from the bench at Ft. Meade, Maryland. She said she would release details of her findings later. Sentencing begins Wednesday. Manning, who had previously plead guilty to some of the 22 counts against him, could now face more than 100 years in prison. Outside the courtroom at Fort Meade, supporters for Manning gathered this morning ahead of the verdict. FSRN spoke to Mike Mckee, one of the organizers with the Bradley Manning Support Network. He described the gathering, larger than it had been in weeks. “We had about between 50 or 60 people here today as well as a rather revved up media presence as well, both representatives of American media and foreign as well. We’ve held a vigil on the first day of each week of court proceedings, attendance fluctuates, this was certainly one of the larger ones although the numbers weren’t totally uncommon. You saw a good variety of home-made signs as well as banners that people have made for various events and demonstrations that have been had for Bradley over the past year.” McKee said he made the trip from Oakland, California to witness today’s ruling because it was a key event in the debate on freedom and secrecy. “Well, I think the trial is of tremendous importance because what we’ve seen in the government’s argument and what we very well may see in the court’s decision is an approximation or a stand-in for the enemy is now equated to the general public at large and information being available and I think that is obviously very troubling.” Adam Klasfeld is a reporter with the Courthouse News Service. He’s been covering the Manning court martial. Speaking from Ft. Meade today, he said Manning’s act of bringing the material to the public would have implications for years to come. “The largest intelligence leak in US history. It has many different facets. Bradley Manning revealed the world of how diplomacy functions behind closed doors. What the secret conduct of war is and what the dimensions of these are and in learning that, in making sense of it, we come to learn a more intimate perspective.” Today’s ruling followed weeks of arguments and capped a three year period, during which at times Manning had been held in solitary confinement and under other restrictions. Klasfeld said the portraits of Manning that emerged from the prosecution and defense diverged and in the final weeks, language from the prosecution grew increasingly polarizing. “Describing Manning as a traitor, using that word for the first time, and a hacker and using the language of espionage and then we get this radically different perspective from the defense that the leaks did not cause the tremendous amount of damage that everyone had originally anticipated.” That question of damage could be an important factor during the sentencing phase of the trial, which begins tomorrow."