US Can't Link Manning, Assange

The US military has been unable to establish a link between Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, US military officials tell NBC. Though investigators have determined that Manning unlawfully downloaded tens of thousands of military files and gave them to an unauthorized person, there’s no evidence he passed them directly to WikiLeaks. Assange said last month that he couldn’t be sure Manning was the source of the leak.

“I never heard of the name of Bradley Manning before it appeared in the media,” Assange said. “That’s not how our technology works, that’s not how our organization works.” Military officials also confirmed that the commander of the brig where Manning is being held violated procedure when he put the private on suicide watch last week. But they denied that Manning is being mistreated, saying that he is handled just like any other maximum security prisoner. (More Bradley Manning stories.)