Bradley Manning Hearing Ends

After the hearing this week, which is the military equivalent of a grand jury, a decision will be made about whether to conduct a full court-martial. That process is likely to take several weeks. 

 Legal experts agreed it was almost certain that the 24-year-old soldier would be tried on at least some of the 22 charges against him, which range from aiding the enemy to adding unauthorized software to a classified computer.

 If he is court-martialed on the more serious charges, Private Manning could be executed, though prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.

Private Manning could also be sentenced to life in prison, but Mr. Coombs suggested that a more appropriate punishment would not exceed 30 years in prison, pointing out that such a sentence would put his client in jail longer than he has been alive.

Daniel Ellsberg, the whistle-blower responsible for this country’s last big leak of government secrets, the Pentagon Papers, has thrown himself into the center of these debates as an outspoken supporter of Private Manning’s. He was thrown out of the courtroom at one point this week for attempting to speak to the soldier during a recess.

 “It’s not that whistle-blowers believe there is no need for some things to be kept secret,” Mr. Ellsberg said. “It’s that they believe some things are wrongfully kept secret.”