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"U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and war reports to WikiLeaks, will be arraigned before a military judge at Fort Meade, Maryland on Feb. 23, the Pentagon announced Thursday.\nSome of the 22 charges against Manning include aiding the enemy, disclosing classified information to a person not authorized to receive it, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the internet knowing that it is accessible to the enemy, and violating Army computer use rules.\nThe charge of aiding the enemy potentially carries the death penalty, but Army prosecutors have said they will seek a life sentence if Manning is found guilty of all charges. Manning's defense has argued that the Army didn't do enough to deal with Manning's emotional and behavioral problems.\nIn a court martial, an arraignment is used to inform a defendant of the charges against him. Manning will also be given the chance to enter a plea and request a military judge or jury.\nBradley's court martial was first announced last Friday, but no date was then set. In a preliminary hearing held last December, military lawyer and official investigator in the case Lt. Col. Paul Almanza approved all of the military's charges against Manning.\nUnder the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Manning has the right to a trial within 120 days of being arrested or 1 of the \u201Cpreferral of charges.\u201D Manning's arrest happened in late May of last year, more than 400 days ago. But his \"clock\" was stopped twice, once while Army doctors determined if he was fit to stand trial and again while evidence and security clearances were being sorted out.\nAfter his arrest, Manning was held in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico, Virginia. His transfer to a medium-security facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas came after public outcry against the Pentagon's handling of the accused solider.\nManning previously served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq where he held top-secret clearance. His alleged leak included over 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, 400,000 U.S. Army reports dealing with Iraq and 90,000 referencing Afghanistan as well as video footage including the now-infamous \"Collateral Murder\" video. \nMeanwhile, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is appealing an extradition order to the British high court. Should the court deny his appeal, he will be sent to Sweden to answer allegations of rape and sexual misconduct.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, LeggNet"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/02/09/bradley-manning/>