Audio of Bradley Manning In Court Statement Now Public---But Not on Lawfare

Josh Gerstein of Politico is reporting:

A group has posted audio online of Bradley Manning’s speech to a military court in Fort Meade explaining his decision to release classified military information to Wikileaks, the first time the public has heard Manning’s voice since his arrest in 2010, the group claims. Recording the proceedings was against court rules. The Freedom of the Press Foundation posted the audio to its website Monday, an hour and seven minute-long statement, as well as transcripts of excerpts on Tuesday. The excerpts highlight Manning discussing his motivations behind releasing the cables and logs, contacting media outlets and how he submitted the information to WikiLeaks.

According to Gerstein:

The foundation said it was releasing the audio “to make sure that the voice of this generation's most prolific whistleblower can be heard—literally—by the world.” It makes no indication of how it obtained the recording, and urged visitors to the site to embed the audio and spread “Bradley Manning's words across the Internet.” . . . The U.S. Army Military District of Washington released a statement to POLITICO: "The U.S. Army Military District of Washington has notified the military judge presiding over theUnited States vs. Pfc. Bradley Manning court martial that there was a violation of the rules for court. The U.S. Army is currently reviewing the procedures set in place to safeguard the security and integrity of the legal proceedings, and ensure Pfc. Manning receives a fair and impartial trial."

I sat on this story overnight trying to decide whether or not to embed the audio on Lawfare. I have decided not to. On the one hand, an embed does not involve actually hosting the content, just creating a pointer to it on the site that can be accessed without leaving Lawfare. In that sense, to the extent its release violated a court order or the rules of the court martial, embedding it on Lawfare would does not compound the injury, just offer a convenience to Lawfare readers. On the other hand, that distinction feels technical to me. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has specifically urged people to embed the audio as an act of solidarity with Manning and to spread his words. I don't want anyone to confuse a service and convenience to Lawfare readers with an act of solidarity or an endorsement of what he did. So readers who want to listen to the statement can follow the links in the Gerstein story.