Audio of Bradley Manning's Statement in Court Leaked, Published

Got a wake-up call from old friend Dan Ellsberg this morning to alert me that an audio tape of Bradley Manning delivering his now famous statement in court two weeks ago, explaining his actions in leaking documents and a key video tape to WikiLeaks, had been "leaked."   Got to love that word coming from one legendary whistleblower about another.  He said the Today show would be airing it in a few minutes.  Well, Dan's sources, as we know, are usually pretty good, and sure enough, a few brief excerpts were just aired.

Turns out the tape had been recorded illegally in the courtroom and the Freedom of the Press Foundation ended up with it.  Here's the full hour-long  recording on their Web site along with their statement on why they are publishing and five-minute film mixing audio with footage.  (Huff Post also has the audio.)  The quotes used by Today were nothing we hadn't read  but as the Foundation notes, "While unofficial transcripts of this statement are available, this marks the first time the American public has heard the actual voice of Manning."   Trevor Timm of the Foundation was interviewed briefly, putting Manning in a positive light.  Ellsberg has written a full piece about it.

See my piece yesterday hitting NYT's Bill Keller for his very wrong column on Manning's motivations.  Link to transcript of Manning's statement.  My recent book on Manning  with Kevin Gosztola.

UPDATES  Glenn Greenwald with a report just up, going through Manning's statement issue-by-issue.

Ellsberg on Democracy Now! this morning slammed Keller's column this week as "ignorant, arrogant, condescending" and called him a "smart person" acting "stupid."  Also notes that importance of Manning audio is that now that the Army private has admitted his role in leaking the material he is now free to explain exactly why he did it, and put it in ethical and moral context.  Ellsberg said he did the same thing in Pentagon Papers case, admitting he did the leak and then being free to explain the need, and that fact that he had not delivered "espionage" to the enemy but facts to the American public.

Greg Mitchell's book "So Wrong For So Long," on media misconduct and the Iraq war, was published last week in an updated edition and for the first time as an e-book, with preface by Bruce Springsteen.