[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:07.73]this is In The News.
[00:10.17]An American military judge this week
[00:13.55]sentenced Army Private Bradley Manning
[00:16.70]to 35 years in prison for espionage.
[00:20.92]Manning provided more than 700,000
[00:25.44]classified files and other materials
[00:28.47]to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
[00:32.72]Officials have described the case
[00:35.87]as the largest leak of restricted documents
[00:39.61]in American history.
[00:41.49]The judge, Colonel Denise Lind,
[00:45.29]announced the sentence Wednesday
[00:47.56]at a military base in Maryland.
[00:50.55]She said the 25-year-old former intelligence specialist
[00:56.43]would be dishonorably discharged
[00:59.11]from the armed forces.
[01:01.08]He will be barred from future military service
[01:05.34]and lose rights to any pay he is owed.
[01:09.05]The Oklahoma native has already spent
[01:13.40]three years in detention.
[01:15.38]He had faced as long as 90 years in prison
[01:20.18]for providing American secrets to WikiLeaks.
[01:24.43]Government lawyers called for a 60-year sentence.
[01:29.59]Under military rules,
[01:32.23]Manning could be considered for
[01:35.38]a conditional release from prison
[01:37.77]in less than nine years.
[01:40.41]The sentencing followed a 12-week trial
[01:44.72]and a long legal battle over the release
[01:47.87]of hundreds of thousands of records.
[01:51.11]They included diplomatic messages
[01:54.35]and American battlefield reports
[01:57.28]from Iraq and Afghanistan.
[02:00.05]One video showed an American helicopter attack
[02:04.78]that killed two civilians.
[02:07.41]Manning says he wanted to show the wrongfulness of war
[02:12.71]and American actions overseas.
[02:15.60]But government lawyers say he betrayed his country.
[02:20.68]Morris Davis formerly served as the government's main lawyer
[02:26.51]in cases against accused terrorists
[02:29.64]at Guantanamo military base in Cuba.
[02:33.33]He says the Manning case required a strong sentence.
[02:38.96]He adds that the information given to WikiLeaks
[02:43.36]did more to damage the image of the United States
[02:47.35]than harm national security.
[02:50.08]"There was no real value to al-Qaida
[02:52.66]or anyone else from these classified documents
[02:55.15]when they could go on Google
[02:56.97]and get the same information.
[02:58.88]It's hard to see where there's any real
[03:01.51]harm here other than just embarrassment
[03:03.99]to the United States government."
[03:05.54]The judge cleared Manning
[03:07.37]of the more serious charge of aiding the enemy.
[03:10.55]In court, Manning expressed regret
[03:14.61]for harming the country.
[03:16.34]The soldier and his lawyers said
[03:19.39]he had idealistic goals in releasing the information.
[03:23.79]They said he believed he could publicize the truth
[03:29.07]about American involvement in the wars
[03:32.15]in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[03:34.63]His lawyer, David Coombs,
[03:38.02]compared Manning's actions to anyone who exposed wartime truths.
[03:43.74]He called the case a defining event in press freedom
[03:48.30]that threatens the flow of information to the public.
[03:52.08]The case raised questions about
[03:55.60]why the Army put Manning in a sensitive position.
[03:59.25]The court heard evidence that he had emotional problems.
[04:03.84]A military doctor described him
[04:07.25]as having a gender identity disorder.
[04:10.49]Manning did not receive treatment while in Iraq.
[04:14.70]On Thursday, Manning announced
[04:18.59]that he is female
[04:20.36]and wants to live as a woman named Chelsea.
[04:24.56]Tommy Sears heads the Center for Military Readiness.
[04:29.82]The group has criticized the military's cancellation
[04:34.41]of a ban on homosexuals openly serving in the armed forces.
[04:40.27]He says the leaks might not have happened
[04:43.37]if Manning had been given help for his emotional issues.
[04:48.27]And that's In The News from VOA Learning English.
[04:54.40]I'm Bob Doughty.