Now we get to see how things worked between Assange and Manning.
Just before Thanksgiving, the Army posted to its FOIA reading room a large tranche of documents from Chelsea Manning’s court martial, including an 88 megabyte zip file containing the prosecution’s unclassified exhibits in the case. Buried in that file is Exhibit 123, a log of a chat that an Army forensics expert recovered from the unallocated space on Manning’s computer. The chat is between Manning (“dawgnetwork”) and a WikiLeaks contact the Army says is Julian Assange.
The highlights of the conversation — from a prosecutor’s perspective — have already aired in Manning’s court martial and earlier hearings: in particular, Assange’s offhand agreement to try and crack an Army desktop password for Manning was offered as evidence that WikiLeaks was more like an intelligence agency than a publisher. But the full transcript is fascinating in its own right for what it shows of the give-and-take between Assange and his key source at this historically important moment in the WikiLeaks story. An excerpt:
(2010-03-17 22:50:55) pressassociation: saw the film today
(2010-03-17 22:51:04) pressassociation: it’s looking great
(2010-03-17 22:51:31) dawgnetwork: which film?
(2010-03-17 22:51:50) pressassociation: projectb
(2010-03-17 22:51:58) pressassociation: the massacre
(2010-03-17 22:52:01) dawgnetwork: gotchya
(2010-03-17 22:52:32) dawgnetwork: uploaded file
(2010-03-17 22:53:01) dawgnetwork: marked as requested
(2010-03-17 22:53:11) pressassociation: thanks
(2010-03-17 22:53:18) dawgnetwork: n/p
(2010-03-17 22:53:20) pressassociation: you’re great
(2010-03-17 22:54:03) pressassociation: is there some way i can get a cryptophone to you?
(2010-03-17 22:54:14) dawgnetwork: not at this time
(2010-03-17 22:54:40) pressassociation: actually …
(2010-03-17 22:54:47) pressassociation: probably best if you just order one?
(2010-03-17 22:54:57) pressassociation: or rather some friend
(2010-03-17 22:55:14) pressassociation: bit pricy though
(2010-03-17 22:55:26) pressassociation: actually never mind
(2010-03-17 22:55:29) dawgnetwork: yes, i dont have access at present
(2010-03-17 22:55:38) pressassociation: these things are good for urgent contact, but it’s safer to avoid due to location tracking possibilities
(2010-03-17 22:56:35) dawgnetwork: i know that very well
(2010-03-17 22:56:47) pressassociation: although there is a satphone module
(2010-03-17 22:56:56) dawgnetwork: forget the idea for now
(2010-03-17 22:57:21) pressassociation: yes. you just contact us
(2010-03-17 22:57:45) pressassociation: but don’t disappear without saying why for an extended period or I’ll get worried ;)
(2010-03-17 22:58:03) dawgnetwork: i wont
(2010-03-17 22:58:16) dawgnetwork: you’ll know if something’s wrong
(2010-03-17 22:58:39) pressassociation: ok
(2010-03-17 22:58:57) pressassociation: you can just tell me “all the ships came in”
(2010-03-17 22:59:09) pressassociation: via email or any other mechanism
(2010-03-17 22:59:15) dawgnetwork: >nod<
The newly-released documents have disappeared from the Army’s website for some reason. Full Transcript here
Image Credit : Patrick Semansky/AP; Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
From Wired
