WikiLeaks calls Manning verdict ‘extremism;’ others have mixed response

The website that served as U.S. soldier Bradley Manning’s conduit for leaking classified government secrets is describing his espionage convictions as “dangerous national security extremism from the Obama administration.”

That was the immediate response from WikiLeaks on Twitter after Manning was found guilty Tuesday of five espionage counts and other offences but cleared of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy.

Others who considered Manning wrongly charged had a measured response.

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist, commentator and former civil rights lawyer who first reported former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosure of U.S. surveillance programs, said Manning’s acquittal on the charge of aiding the enemy represented a “tiny sliver of justice.”