Washington, Aug 4 (IANS) WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, who is accused of leaking over 90,000 intelligence documents, should be given death if he is found guilty, says a US Congressman.
Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Michigan-based WHMI radio Monday that the charges against Pvt. Bradley Manning deserved capital punishment.
Rogers said: ‘We know for a fact that people will likely be killed because of this information being disclosed.’
‘That’s pretty serious. If they don’t charge him with treason, they ought to charge him with murder.
‘I argue the death penalty clearly should be considered here. He clearly aided the enemy to what may result in the death of US soldiers… If that is not a capital offense, I don’t know what is.’
Fox News Tuesday reported that Manning was being held at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in northern Virginia.
Manning is also accused of leaking a helicopter cockpit video from Iraq that WikiLeaks posted in April.
‘He put soldiers at risk who are out there fighting for their country,’ Rogers was quoted as saying.
‘And he put people who are cooperating with the United States government clearly at risk — them forever. Our soldiers will be out of that combat zone one day; those folks will never be.’
Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen have condemned the WikiLeaks organisation for endangering the lives of US soldiers by publishing over 90,000 classified US military documents.
