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| In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Bradley Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. Manning emailed his military therapist the photo with a letter titled, "My problem," in which he described his issues with gender identity and his hope that a military career would "get rid of it." |
FORT MEADE, Md.
(AP) -- Pfc. Bradley Manning took the stand Wednesday at his
sentencing hearing in the WikiLeaks case and apologized for hurting his
country, pleading with a military judge for a chance to go to college
and become a productive citizen.
He addressed
the court on a day of often emotional testimony from family members
about his troubled childhood and from a psychologist who said Manning
felt extreme mental pressure in the "hyper-masculine" military because
of his gender-identity disorder - his feeling that he was a woman
trapped in a man's body.
"I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I'm sorry that they hurt the United States," he said as he began.
The
soldier said that he understood what he was doing but that he did not
believe at the time that leaking a mountain of classified information to
the anti-secrecy website would cause harm to the U.S.
Though
he often showed little reaction to court proceedings during most of the
two and a half month court-martial, Manning appeared to struggle to
contain his emotions several times Wednesday during testimony from his
sister, an aunt and two mental health counselors, one who treated him
and another who diagnosed him with several problems.
Manning,
25, could be sentenced to 90 years in prison for the leaks, which
occurred while he was working as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq in
2010. The judge will impose the sentence, though exactly when is
unclear. The next session, for any prosecution rebuttal testimony, is
set for Friday.
Speaking quickly but
deliberately, Manning took only a few minutes to make his statement
Wednesday. He appeared to be reading it from papers he was holding and
looked up a number of times to make eye contact with the judge. It was
an unsworn statement, meaning he could not be cross-examined by
prosecutors.
He said he realizes now that he
should have worked more aggressively "inside the system" to draw
attention to his concerns about the way the war was being waged. He said
he wants to get a college degree, and he asked for a chance to become a
more productive member of society.
His
conciliatory tone was at odds with the statement he gave in court in
February, when he condemned the actions of U.S. soldiers overseas and
what he called the military's "bloodlust."
Defense attorney David Coombs told Manning supporters that Manning's heart was in the right place.
"His one goal was to make this world a better place," Coombs said.
Manning's
apology could carry substantial weight with the military judge, said
Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale.
"He
faces extraordinarily long confinement and if he is coming across
subjectively as contrite, I think that may do him some real good with
the sentencing," Fidell said.
Manning's
attorneys contend he showed clear signs of deteriorating mental health
before and during his deployment that should have prevented commanders
from sending him to a war zone to handle classified information.
Manning
eventually came out to Capt. Michael Worsley, emailing the clinical
psychologist a photo of himself in a long, blond wig and lipstick. The
photo was attached to a letter titled "My problem," in which Manning
described his internal struggle and said he had hoped that a military
career would "get rid of it."
Worsley testified Wednesday that the soldier was struggling under extreme conditions.
"You
put him in that kind of hyper-masculine environment, if you will, with
little support and few coping skills, the pressure would have been
difficult to say the least," Worsley said.
Worsley's
testimony portrayed some military leaders as lax at best and
obstructionist at worst when it came to tending to soldiers with mental
health problems.
"I questioned why they would want to leave somebody in a position with the issue they had," Worsley said.
Navy
Capt. David Moulton, a psychiatrist who spent 21 hours interviewing
Manning at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., after his arrest, testified as a
defense witness that Manning's gender identity disorder, combined with
narcissistic personality traits, idealism and his lack of friends in
Iraq, caused him to conclude he could change the world by leaking
classified information.
He said Manning was
struggling to balance his desire to right wrongs with his sense of duty
to complete his Army tasks and his fear of losing his GI benefits and
the opportunity to attend college.
"His decision-making capacity was influenced by the stress of his situation for sure," Moulton said.
Moulton
also reported for the first time in open court that Manning has
symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome and Asperger syndrome, which is an
autism spectrum disorder.
Also Wednesday,
Manning's sister Casey Major, 36, testified that they grew up with two
alcoholic parents in a rural home outside Crescent, Okla. She said their
mother attempted suicide with a Valium overdose after Brian Manning
left his wife when Bradley Manning was 12.
After
looking tearfully at a series of childhood photographs presented by
defense attorney David Coombs, Major said Manning has matured since his
arrest.
"I just hope he can be who he wants to
be. I hope he can be happy," she said. After the court went into
recess, Manning went to his sister, hugged her and said something while
touching his right hand to his heart.
At least 46 international journalists and 78 spectators were in attendance. Many spectators wore black "Truth" T-shirts.
