FT. MEADE, Md. (CN) - Witnesses in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning spoke Wednesday about whether all low-level analysts had the same intimate access to military data that the WikiLeaker had.
Manning, who turned 25 in December, leaked more than 700,000 files including, among others, diplomatic cables, incident reports from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, profiles of Guantanamo detainees, and a video of a Baghdad airstrike that WikiLeaks titled "Collateral Murder."
His supporters, who regularly fill the courtroom in T-shirts emblazoned with the word "Truth," credit him for revealing death counts of the Iraq war, backroom diplomatic dealings and faces on those indefinitely detained without charge.
For the most part, Manning does not contest that he was the source of the leaked files, but he denies having "aided the enemy," a charge that could put him away for the rest of his life.
The young soldier swore months before trial that he had authorized access to the files he disclosed in his capacity as an analyst, and that he carefully considered whether the databases contained newsworthy information that was safe for release before uploading them for publication.
Nearly every eyewitness in the case says that the other American soldiers in Iraq shunned and taunted Manning - a skinny and 5-foot-4 bespectacled intellectual who wore custom-made dog tags that read "Humanist."
His interactions were particularly rocky with a former supervisor, ex-Spc. Jihrleah Showman.
At Manning's Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, Showman testified that Manning had punched her in the face. Manning also described the incident in an online chat with his confidant-turned-informer Adrian Lamo.
The topic did not come up again when Showman returned to the stand on Wednesday, rounding out the first week of the Manning's trial.
Instead Showman testified about Manning's supposed proclivity for "extreme Democratic" politics, martini parties and code-cracking of military portals. The latter allegation, which she made for the first time this morning, could help prosecutors convict on several counts of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Grilling Showman on this point, Manning's lead attorney, David Coombs asked, "Did anyone at that point say, 'Hey, that's against the [Acceptable Use Policy]?'"
Showman said she could not remember.
Manning said that he first discovered the "Collateral Murder" video when he found Showman and other soldiers watching what he assumed was mere war porn.
He then overheard the soldiers discussing how two Reuters journalists were among 12 killed in the Bagdad airstrike that the footage depicts.
The Pentagon has said the pilots mistook the cameras carried by the Reuters employees for guns.
Reuters filed a Freedom of Information Act request to uncover the cockpit video, but the government rebuffed every request.
Coombs prodded Showman's memory of the video.
Although she recalled seeing a Baghdad airstrike video, Showman said that she never compared it with the footage that WikiLeaks released. She also swore that she could not remember any of her discussions about the version she saw. Showman told one of the prosecutors, Capt. Angel Overgaard, that she accessed the video on a secret database, but prior testimony has established that the video was unclassified.
Showman also acknowledged that soldiers in her unit regularly listened to music, watched movies and played video games on military computers.