A New Twist To The Wikileaks-Manning-Lamo Leak Situation

[This is the required apologies/acknowledgment-of-searching if this has already been explored.]

"if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time... say, 8-9 months... and you
 saw incredible things, awful things... things that belonged in the public
 domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC...
 what would you do? ... say... a database of half a million events during
 the iraq war... from 2004 to 2009... with reports, date time groups,
 lat-lon locations, casualty figures... ? or 260,000 state department 
cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how
 the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal 
perspective?"

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/224d91bdc0c6.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dd253d8b8764.jpg[/atsimg]

Like a lot of you probably are, I've been following the goings-on of Wikileaks, particularly after the last big-time release and the announcement of forthcoming heavy-duty stuff.

Then, of course, once Private Bradley Manning was arrested in Kuwait, the plot thickened. Manning is the alleged leaker of the "Collateral Murder" video evidence of an Apache helicopter attacking what appeared by many to be innocent and unarmed civilian journalists and children.

Next, it was revealed that Manning's alleged crimes were shared with authorities by infamous hacker, Adrian Lamo. Lamo, once in hot water himself (and still suffering consequences of federal crimes involving hackin) had become Manning's sorta underground confidant.

Here twists a story worthy of any good soap opera and though it's easy to be amused by the drama and salaciousness, we have to remember the potential crimes all over the place, determine which ones were/are real crimes, which ones were/are necessary disclosure and which ones are not just back stabs to individuals, but also, perhaps back stabs to the American public, the people of Iraq and, considering the fever pitch over the contents of yet-to-be-released material from Wikileaks, perhaps serious stuff affecting the people of countries all over the world, if not every person on the planet. This saga already has a death toll and it's not easy to imagine that before it's complete, that death toll will be higher than it stands now.

Manning pursued Lamo as a confidant using his knowledge of the hacking world and alias instant messenger identities. It's important to note that by this time Lamo has been released from custody for his crimes and is working as a "hacker/journalist" with a position at Wired magazine. While conducting communication with Manning, Lamo was doing so as a journalist and under the supposed supervision of his editor at Wired.

It appears Manning developed a relatively intense relationship with Lamo from the perspective that they had both been somewhat isolationist hackers who had major successes and either had experienced getting caught and prosecution or would soon. Furthermore, there seems enough evidence to easily conclude that both Lamo and Manning had feelings of being separate from most of the rest of the world ... but not just because they were hackers.

Former friends and acquaintances of Lamo have indicated his sociopathic personality goes beyond his hacking skills and proclivities to include a need to capture a person's trust for the purpose of being able to dominate that person through, almost a subliminal persuasion inflicted on their will. In addition, Lamo actively recruits for "wayward young hacker wannabes," for the purposes, one can only assume, of directing them to a more robust future without the pitfalls he has suffered? Needless to say, if this is the case, Manning could not have picked a worse person in whom to confide. It has come out that Lamo relieved Manning's apprehension of sharing information by indicating her was an ordained priest (and therefore protected by law form disclosing confidential information), as well as a journalist, protected by shield laws.

Wired has released quite a bit of the transcripts of the IM sessions between Manning and Lamo, but not all of them and some information has been redacted. Upon reading them, and to cut to the chase, it's possible to conclude, though not a fact, that Manning is a young man struggling with his identity and that he's potentially not a homosexual, but a person experiencing a gender issue. He talks of "figuring things out" and indicates his "CPU wasn't made for the motherboard."

Once married, Lamo has come out as bisexual as has worked pretty extensively with LGBT groups and causes. Likewise, on this Facebook profile, Manning had self-identified with a variety of liberal causes, as well as LGBT causes and organizations.

Lamo turned Manning in and Manning was apprehended and arrested in Kuwait in May 2010. Four weeks later, he is still being held, though has not been charged. What has the military justice system got on their hands? Is Manning guilty of treason? A whistle-blower deserving commendation? A person responsible for death? Or a person responsible for saving lives? Or, will Manning be charged with telling, even though he wan't asked?

How far did Lamo go to get information out of Manning? Does it matter? What is Wired magazine's true involvement and what is the role of Lamo's editor, Kevin Poulsen? Lamo has refused comment except to say he is preparing a press release for late this week or next. To my knowledge, Wired has not printed, nor expressed any interest in printing the full transcripts of Manning and Lamo's instant messaging sessions. They have indicated a desire to protect the privacy of the involved parties ... is that funny? Or were Manning's personal struggles utilized as a way to reel in the catch of the year? decade? century?

Meanwhile, Wikileaks has denied the possession of 260,000 classified US embassy cables that Wired has alleged Manning indicated he turned over to them [Wikileaks]. Reportedly, Manning has indicated [the cables will reveal] the presence of a diplomatic scandal wherever there is an American post. Wikileaks has also indicated an inability (and lack of desire) to determine whoever the source of the Apache helicopter video is (or any posted material, for that matter).

Wikileaks has taken measures to finance Manning's legal defense.

Further Reading:
Was Wikileaker Bradley Manning Betrayed By His Queer Identity? - Gawker Article
The Arrest Of Bradley Manning On Wikipedia

This thread will get almost no replies because it's not calling wikileaks disinfo, even though it's true that Lamo is what got Manning arrested.

saw a video earlier on youtube from australian news- sorry didn't save the link- but lamo is looking like a seriously medicated zombie, or someone that's been brainwashed to oblivion.

I understand he is on psychotropic medication. It's rather sad.

But he deserves all he gets and then some.

Lamo is just trying to be a hero, right?


he didnt need to talk to the press, neither say his name ...


this is smelling some huge hoax ... probably they never got the guy who did it, but the US need to show the world that they are fast ...

I dont know, it just doesnt seem right you know ...

first manning screws up BAD, giving up his name or surename to another person and talking about steal of military secrets;

then we have a hacker, that chooses to side AGAINST the TRUTH, and he just let his name fly the news ... how stupid is he? everyone would expect to be threatened, since, well, what he did is something COMPLETELY controversial

Originally posted by hadriana
saw a video earlier on youtube from australian news- sorry didn't save the link- but lamo is looking like a seriously medicated zombie, or someone that's been brainwashed to oblivion.

I understand he is on psychotropic medication. It's rather sad.

But he deserves all he gets and then some.

hey baby:

not hard to believe. it seems lamo has had, at the least, brushes with mental issues his entire life. and i wouldn't know, but for some reason, i imagine he is wrought with guilt now. could be totally wrong and he's just a major peter. but i can't help but believe there had to be some serious, serious (perhaps even involuntary) pressure on lamo to actually seek out people just like manning for the specific purpose of offering them false confidence and svengaliing there actions in order to produce the exact results that manning's situation epitomizes.

i don't find it hard to believe at all that, either voluntarily or involuntarily, he is drugged out of his mind. perhaps i'm all drama, but this whole story really does seem to be a movie plot and some day, we'll find out the details and it'll be much more convoluted than what we currently know.