Adduunka Qof Baa beddala! Faallo Ku Saabsan Barnaamijkii Qiimee Qofkaaga:

Qalinkii/ Muuse M. Ciise ( Dalmar )xajidalmar@gmail.com……

Qof kastaba wanaagiyo,

Kartidiyo wax-qabadkiyo,

Waxa lagu qadariyaa,

Qawlkiyo run sheegee,

Maya dhaha qabiilkiyo,

Qoladayda weeyiyo,

Wixii qaranka dumin kara.

Kala danbaynta, isqadarinta, wax wada qabsiga iyo isqiimayntu waa furaha guusha. Waana jidka ay bulsho ku gaadho nolol rayn rayn iyo ladnaan badani ku dheehan tahay. Marka ay bulshadu qiimayso qofkeeda wanaagsan, garabna siiso keeda wax wanaagsan ku soo kordhiyay waxa hubaal ah inay bulshadaasi ku guulaysanayo hadafka ay nolosha ka leedahay.

Si xun wax u sheegu,

Sixir waa ka daran yee,

Adoo suubin kara wanaag,

Ha samayn xumaan iyo,

Wax Soomaali kala dila

Hudheelka Maansoor ee magaalada Hargeysa waxaa 20 bishan Febraayo 2013 lagu qabtay xaflad si weyn loo soo agaasimay, taasi oo abaalmarinno badan lagu guddoonsiiyay hal-door tiro badan oo bulshada qaybaheeda kala duwan ka socday. Barnaamijka munaasibadda buddhigga u ahaa oo magaciisu ahaa QIIMEE QOFKAAGA AAD QIIMO YEELATIDE, ayaa ahaa fikir iyo halabuurnimo cusub oo uu soo kordhiyay muwaadin reer Somaliland ah oo magaciisa la yidhaa Rashiid Sulub Caalin.

Qofka bini-aadamka ahi micno weyn buu dunida guudkeeda u joogaa, waxaana qof kasta looga fadhiyaa in uu wax wanaagsan ku soo kordhiyo bulshada uu la nool yahay. Haddaba tallaabadan ayaa ah mid ku dayasho mudan, una qalanta in la garab istaago muwaadinkan hawsha fiican bilaabay. Waxaana mihiim ah in la kobciyo, oo la horumariyo fikirkan cusub oo aan anigu qabo in uu yahay albaabkii guusha iyo horusocodka bulshada. Waxa aan barnaamijkan u arkaa in uu yahay shaandhadii kala haadin lahayd ee kala hufi lahayd dadka inta waxtarka leh iyo inta bulshada culayska ku haysa.

Tartan weeye noloshuye,

Tiigsiga qofkii wacan,

Diintaa tilmaantee,

Ha tabcayn walaalkaa

Labadii cisho ee u danbeeyay waxa aan warbaahinta qaybaheeda kala duwan ku arkaayay qoraallo naqdin iyo niyad-jabin u badan oo lagaga soo horjeeday barnaamijkaasi aynu kor ku xusnay. Iyada oo dadka intooda badani saluugsanayeen sida hal-doorka bulshada loo soo xulay. Waxa ugu weyn ee ay dhalliil ka dhigayeenna ay ahayd maxaa hebel looga tegay? iyo heblaayo inay ku jirtay ahayd. Nin habari dhashay hal ma seegi waydo, hawl aadame qabtayna ma dhalliil weydo. In wax la naqdiyaana waa habka ugu wanaagsan ee laysku sixi karo. Waa haddii naqdintaasi tahay mid wadata talooyin iy tusaalayaal lagu sixi karo wixii qaldamay. Bulshooyinka horumarayna midda kaliya ee ay ku liibaaneen waxa weeye; qiimaynta hawsha inteeda wanaagsan iyo naqdinta hawshaasi inteeda laangadhaynaysa oo la raaciyo xalka iyo dawada lagu dabiibi karo.

Han-yaridu ma fiicnee,

Ha xaqirin walaalkaa,

Adna hiigso meel sare.

Rashiid Sulub Caalin waxa uu mudan yahay in garab la siiyo, laguna biiriyo wixii aqoon, dhaqaale, fikir, waayo-aragnimo iyo taageero guudba ah. Waana hubaal in ay dhalliil yeelan karto hawshaa weyn ee uu Rashiid Kaligii u istaagay, laakiinse waxa mihiim ah in lagu wada dadaallo sidii ay barnaamijyada danbe u noqon lahaayeen kuwo la saxar tiray iyada oo laga faa’iidaysanayo waayo-aragnimada kan sannadkan 2013. Iyada oo Rashiid lagu sharfayo fikirka cusub ee uu keenayna waxa ila quman in barnaamijkan la balaadhiyo, oo halka laga odhanayo muwaadinbaa barnaamijka soo qaban qaabiyay waxa ila wanaagsan in laga dhigo urur ama haayad miisaankeeda leh ayna gacan ka gaysanayaan haayadaha dawladda ee ay khusayso iyo waliba qaybaha bulshada ee horumarku jecel.

Alloow eex ma tiraabine aqoon haygu cadaabin. Gaarriye IHN-tee.

W/Q Muuse M. Ciise ( Dalmar )

xajidalmar@gmail.com

http://www.musadalmar.wordpress.com

Stockholm, Sweden.

Warka xaqiiqada ah ee barnaamijka qaran ee qiimee qofkaaga si aad qiimo u yeelatid

Aniga oo ah DATA OFFICER kii barnaamijkan qiimee qofkaaga si aad qiimo u yeelatid waxaan maalmihii u danbeeyay arkayay maqaalo laga soo qoray barnaamijkii qaran ee qiimee qofkaaga arintaas oo ay dadweynuhu ku kala aragti duwanayaayeen ayaan qalinka u qaatay in aan ka turxaan bixiyo in badan oo dadweynaha ka mid ah oo si khaldan loo fahamsiiyay hadaba hadii aan waxrbixin kooban ka idhaahdho barnaamijkan qiimee qofkaaga. Figrada waxaa is lahaa muwaadin rashiid sulub caalin oo ah sakhsi aad iyo aad u jecel samofalka iyo taakulaynta dadka jilicsan.

Fikrada isaga ayaa noolayimi isla markaasna noosoo bandhigay aniga iyo intii kale ee nala shaqaynaysaba waanu la qaadanay in aanu kala shaqayno weliba si tuburuc ah anagoo aaminsan in aay tahay hawl qaran waxaanu ku faraxsanayn oo aanu ku niyad samayn dhamaantayoba in aanu u adeegno qarankayaga oo aanu hawl baaxadaas leeg u qabano.

Barnaamijkani waa fikrad saliim ah isla markaasna ka dhashay maskax caafimaad qabta.

Ujeedooyinkii barnaamijka

Ujeedooyinka barnaamijkani laga leeyahay waa arimo dhawr ah isla markaasna xambaarsan xigmado aad iyo aad u qotodheer

1.      in la abaal mariyo la qadariyo oo la qiimeeyo dadka  dalka iyo dadkaba waxyaabo la taaban karo u qabtay.

2.      in wax u qabashada dalka iyo dadka lagu dhiirigeliyo jiilalka cusub ee soo kacaya. Si aay ugu baraarugsanaadaan horuumarka wadanka.

3.      in bulshadeena la baro is qiimaynta iyo isu mahadcelinta si aaynu unoqono bulsho ixtiraamta kooda mudan.

4.      in la dhiirigeliyo lana kobciyo fikradaha munaasibka ah ee ka soo maaxanaya maskaxaha caafimaadka qaba.

5.      in la barto taariikh toganna laga reebo shakhsiyaadka ku suntan horuumarka dadka iyo dalka

6.      in lagu daro manhajka wax barashada ee dalka dadka mudan in lagu daydo si aay dhiiri gelin ugu noqoto dhalinyaradeena

*Sugnaanshaha iyo cadaalad u samaynta*

Waxaan kaloo aan jecelahay in aan idiin soo gudbiyo bal siyaabaha dadkani ku mutaysteen in aay gudoomaan bilada haldoor.

Run ahaantii dadkan dhamaantood waxaa u soo gartay isla markaasna soo qiimeeyay dadweynaha reer Somaliland. Dadku waxaay codkooda soo siiyeen qofwalbaa cidii uu islahaa wax qabad fiican buu dalka ku soo kordhiyay ama heer horuumarineed buu gaadhsiiyay  iyadoo lagu qiimaynayo dhamaanba

baahiyaadka aas aasiga ah ee bulshada.

Bulshada ayaa ka markhaati kacaysa qaabkii aanu marnay nidaamka qiimaynta shakhsiyaadka loo aqoonsadey haldoor.

Waxaanu bulshada u bandhignay in aay fikirkooda ka dhiibtaan dadka aay is leeyihiin wax qabad muuqda oo la taaban karo ayay la yimaadeen.

Qofkastaana waxa uu fikirkiisa ku dhiiibanayay siyaabahan

1: in goobaha dadku ku kulmaan ee faras magaalah ah aanu dadka ugu qaybinay waraaqo u saamaxaya in aay si fuduud fikirkooda u cabiraan

2: ina aay dadku codkooda soo dhiibtaan iyagoo adeegsanaya mobilkooda

3: in dadku ku codeeyaan email khadka internetka iyo in aay ku soo codeeyaan websitka barnaamijka  taas oo u fuduudeysay in badan oo qurba jog ahi in aay soo dhiibtaan codkooda

4: anaga oo tagnay gobolada dalka oo dhan si loo helo cadaalad iyo sinaan loo dhanyahay.

Hadaba markii aay codbixintii ku soo dhamaatay sidaa aynu kor ku soo xusnay waxaa bilaabanatay kala saaristii dadka.

Anaga oo doonaynay in aay soo baxaan boqolka qof ee ugu codka sareeya qaybkasta waxaanu ka soo xulnay dhawrka qof ee ugu codka badan anaga oon u ee gayn qabiil iyo qofjeclaysi toona iyo cid aanu dano gaar ahaaneed ka leenahay taasna waxaa marag u ah oo qofkasta oo iiman lehna dawo u

noqonkarta dhamaan hawlwadeena shaqdan faraha ku hayay way wada dhaarsanaayeen.

Waxaan filayaa in aay intaasi bogsiinkarto daawona u noqonkarto in badan oo su aallo is weydiinaysay.

Hadaba waxaan bulshada reer Somaliland  u cadeeynayaa in aanay jirin cid aanu ku keenay is xanbaar cid aanu ku keenay qofjeclaysi cid aanu ku keenay dano gaar ah oo aanu ka leenahay

Hadaba waxaan leeyahay cid kasta oo fikrad khaldan ka aaminsan barnaamijkan qaran

Markaad walaalkaaga Muwaadinkaaga ah wax ka dhigto ayaad adiguna wax ku noqonaysaa

Aduun magac baa ka hadha gobina way maaxataa

Bradley Manning admits to leaking 'the most significant documents of our time

Protesters carry signs in support of US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. (AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards)

Bradley Manning, the US Army intelligence officer accused of passing sensitive military documents to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, has pleaded guilty to ten separate charges. The army, however, will pursue the grave charge of aiding the enemy.

Although the army judge has accepted Manning’s guilty pleas on ten counts, the remaining 12 charges are still to be reviewed. The army accuses Manning, 25, of aiding the enemy. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.


Private First Manning told a military court that he was responsible for uploading a trove of material to the website and pleaded guilty to 10 counts, RT's Andrew Blake reported from the courtroom.


After his plea was read to the court, Pfc Manning for the first time formally admitted guilt in the court, more than 1,000 days after being arrested. Reading a 35-page statement from his seat before Col. Denise Lind, Manning explained why exactly he risked his life to publish state-secrets.


Pfc. Manning pleaded not guilty to aiding the enemy and a number of other lesser charges, but told the court he’d like to take the blame for a series of other counts — charges that were not presented by the government but introduced by the soldier himself. In lieu of a laundry list of charges that could put Manning away in prison for life, he hopes the court will convict him of only ten lesser offenses that come with only a maximum sentence of 20 years.


Manning pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession and willful communication of sensitive material, including the hundreds of thousands of State Department cables and other materials provided to WikiLeaks. By pleading guilty, he waves the right to appeal a decision made earlier in the week in which the court ruled that Manning’s right to a speedy trial was not violated.

Bradley Manning (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)

In explaining himself, Manning told the court that he communicated with unidentified persons he believed to be working for WikiLeaks, and assumed he was speaking with founder Julian Assange. Manning says he only sent the anti-secrecy website material after being rejected by other outlets, however.


While on break from the Army, Manning says he called up the Washington Post and claimed to have materials with “enormous value to the American public.” Manning told the judge that he “spoke for 5 minutes about the general nature” of the documents but said, “I do not believe she took me seriously.”


Rejected, Pfc. Manning approached The New York Times, an outlet he described as “the largest and most popular newspaper” in the world. “I left a message saying I had access to information about Iraq and Afghanistan that I thought was very important,” he said.


“I never received a reply from the New York Times,” claimed Manning, even though he left the paper with multiple ways to be reached, including his Skype name.


Believing there were few appropriate conduits for the materials he collected as an intelligence officer, he said WikiLeaks “seemed to be the best medium for publishing this information.”


In an interview with British public television, Assange referred to Manning as "America's foremost political prisoner," adding that "the only safe way to get these cowards to publish anything is to get WikiLeaks to do it first."


"All those involved in the persecution of Bradley Manning will find cause to reflect on their actions," Assange asserted.


During pre-trial motion hearings earlier in the case, prosecutors admitted that they would have charged the Times with releasing the information had they published them before WikiLeaks. In January, prosecuting attorney Capt. Angel Overgaard, said, "publishing information in a newspaper [can] indirectly convey information to the enemy." When Col. Lind asked if that would apply to WikiLeaks, Capt. Overgaard said, "'Yes, ma'am.



Manning is slated to go before a military court-martial this June, and faces life imprisonment if convicted of aiding the enemy, the most serious of the charges against him. On Thursday, however, the Kansas-born pleaded guilty to lesser charges in hopes of a more lenient sentence. Earlier, during this week’s pre-trial hearing, those in the Ft. Meade, Maryland, courtroom were told that Manning hoped releasing intelligence to WikiLeaks would “spark a domestic debate on the role of our military and foreign policy in general.” Last year, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange credited the materials attributed to Manning with helping end the US war in Iraq.


"If Bradley Manning did as he is accused, he is a hero and invaluable to all of us,” Assange said during a December address penned from London’s Ecuadorian Embassy. “It was WikiLeaks’ revelations — not the actions of President Obama — that forced the US administration out of the Iraq War… By exposing the killing of Iraqi children, WikiLeaks directly motivated the Iraqi government to strip the US military of legal immunity, which in turn forced the US withdrawal.”


Among the materials Manning said he handed over were State Dept. cables, Pentagon logs referred to today as the ‘Iraq and Afghan War Diaries,’ as well as video published by WikiLeaks under the title ‘Collateral Murder.’ With that release, WikiLeaks showed US soldiers onboard an Apache helicopter opening fire on Iraqi civilians, including a Reuters photographer.

Members of the Bradley Manning Support Group protest under the rain during a rally at the entrance of Fort George G. Meade military base in Fort Meade, Maryland (AFP Photo/Mladen Antonov)

"For me, this seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass,” Manning said Thursday of the footage. In regards to the war logs, he said his opinion remains that the releases consisted of “two of the most significant documents of our time.” The cables, he added, “documented backdoor deals and seemingly criminal activity that didn’t seem” to fit with the public’s perception of an ethically-sound America.


“I thought these cables were the perfect example of a need for more open state diplomacy,” he said.


Previously, Col. Lind expressed concern over having Manning read a sworn statement, instead perfering for him only to answer questions while on the stand. “He can try to read it, but I am going to stop him” if the contents are not relevant to being guilty of committing the lesser offenses of entered in the plea, she said.


“He understands his statement and he understands the elements he needs to plead guilty,” Manning’s attorney David Coombs told the judge.


Manning has been detained for over 1,000 days without a formal military trial, and will see the start of his fourth year behind bars this May. The only other time he has spoken publically on the stand was in December 2012, when he testified about the conditions he endured while detained at a military brig in Northern Virginia.


Lind agreed to take 122 days off any eventual sentence for Manning due to the poor treatment. Earlier this week, she dismissed an attempt by the defense to have all charges against Manning dropped over an alleged violation of the ‘speedy trial’ statute.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab on the back foot

Somali government forces backed by troops and armour sent by the African Union have flushed the Islamist group Al-Shabaab out of the strategic town of Burhakaba 160 kilometers southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The government has also seized control of the connecting road.

Reports say not a single shot was fired.

Al-Shabaab remains in control in areas further to the southwest.

Since the early 1990s, Somalia has been faring without a central government.

Voice of Russia, TASS

Ex-backer denounces "cultish devotion" to WikiLeaks founder

Britain's Jemima Khan, former wife of Pakistani politician Imran Khan, leaves City of Westminster Magistrates Court in central London December 14, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Paul Hackett

LONDON | Wed Feb 6, 2013 12:53pm EST

 (Reuters) - Jemima Khan, a celebrity backer of Julian Assange who put up bail money for him, has gone public with her frustrations about the WikiLeaks founder, saying he demands "blinkered, cultish devotion" and should face justice in Sweden.

An article by Khan published on Wednesday on the website of British magazine The New Statesman gives an insight into how Assange, whose whistleblowing website angered Washington by releasing thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010, has alienated some of his staunchest allies.

Assange was arrested in Britain in December 2010 on an extradition warrant from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual abuse made by two women.

After losing a protracted legal battle to avoid extradition, which went all the way to Britain's Supreme Court, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London last June. He has been inside the building ever since.

Khan, who first rose to prominence as an heiress but is now a campaigner and an associate editor of The New Statesman, described in her article how she had gone from "admiration to demoralization" on the subject of WikiLeaks.

"The problem is that WikiLeaks - whose mission statement was 'to produce ... a more just society ... based upon truth' - has been guilty of the same obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose, while its supporters are expected to follow, unquestioningly, in blinkered, cultish devotion," she wrote.

Khan was executive producer of a documentary film about WikiLeaks entitled "We Steal Secrets" which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.

Khan said the film, directed by Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney, sought to present a balanced view of the WikiLeaks story but Assange had denounced it before seeing it.

"When I told Assange I was part of the We Steal Secrets team, I suggested that he view it not in terms of being pro- or anti-him, but rather as a film that would be fair and would represent the truth," she wrote.

"He replied: 'If it's a fair film, it will be pro-Julian Assange.'"

Khan's article praised WikiLeaks for exposing corruption, torture, war crimes and cover-ups but criticized it for a "with us or against us" mentality that was detrimental to its cause.

"WOMEN HAVE RIGHTS TOO"

She wrote that she was among those who had found the timing of the sexual abuse allegations against Assange suspicious, as they came at the height of the furor over the revelations on WikiLeaks, but had come to the conclusion that the allegations had to be dealt with through Swedish due process.

"The women in question have human rights, too, and need resolution. Assange's noble cause and his wish to avoid a U.S. court does not trump their right to be heard in a Swedish court," she wrote, referring to Assange's fears that Sweden could be a first stop on the way to an espionage trial in the United States.

"I don't regret putting up bail money for Assange but I did it so that he would be released while awaiting trial, not so that he could avoid answering to the allegations," Khan wrote.

Khan has not disclosed how much money she put up and whether she has had to surrender it since Assange skipped bail.

Khan wrote that it was hardly surprising that a man who had spent his life "committed to this type of work, wedded to a laptop, undercover, always on the move", would have an unusual personality.

"I have seen flashes of Assange's charm, brilliance and insightfulness - but I have also seen how instantaneous rock-star status has the power to make even the most clear-headed idealist feel that they are above the law and exempt from criticism."

(Reporting By Estelle Shirbon; editing by Andrew Roche)

Plan floated at U.N. to lift Somalia arms embargo for a year

By Michelle Nichols | Reuters 

Reuters/Reuters - A Somali National Army soldier rests on the frontline with his rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher beside him, while marching towards the town of Buurhakaba on February 24, 2013 in this picture provided by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team (AU-UN IST). REUTERS/Tobin Jones/AU-UN IST PHOTO/Handout

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A proposal to lift a U.N. arms embargo on the Somalian government for a year but leave in place restrictions on weapons like surface-to-air missiles has been floated among a deeply split 15-member U.N. Security Council, diplomats said on Wednesday.

The Somali government has requested that the 21-year-old arms embargo be lifted so it can strengthen its poorly equipped, ill-disciplined military - more a group of rival militias than a cohesive fighting force loyal to a single president - to battle al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist rebels.

A draft resolution to renew a U.N.-mandated African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, reconfigure the U.N. mission and decide on the arms embargo request is likely to be circulated among Security Council members this week, diplomats said.

The Security Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution next Wednesday before the mandate of the 17,600-strong AU peacekeeping force, known as AMISOM, expires the next day, March 7.

"What we may see is a lifting for a defined period ... as far as the government itself is concerned but with some caveats," said a council diplomat. "For example, excluding some types of equipment, which would continue to be embargoed."

He said the proposed defined period could be a year.

The United States has been urging council members to agree to demands by the government in Mogadishu for the embargo to be lifted, while Britain and France were reluctant, council diplomats said. Negotiations were ongoing, they said.

The Security Council imposed the embargo in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. The country last year held its first national vote since 1991 to elect a president and prime minister.

SUPPORT VERSUS SECURITY

"It sends shivers down the spine," one council diplomat said of the proposal to lift the embargo. "This move would come with significant security risks and would set a deplorable precedent as the situation is still extremely volatile."

He said the current embargo provided sufficient exemptions for the Somali security forces to be properly equipped and that the council was very divided over the issue.

Another U.N. diplomat said the Security Council's Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, an independent panel that reports on compliance with U.N. sanctions, had reported that some al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants had infiltrated units of the Somali security forces.

U.N. monitors have also warned that the Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving weapons from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats have told Reuters.

"There's a good argument for sending a strong signal that Somalia now has a government that is increasingly establishing itself as a proper government ... but on the other hand of course there is continuing concern about security," a council diplomat said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month that the council should consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia's security forces and consolidate military gains against al Shabaab militants.

AU troops from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Ethiopia are battling al Shabaab militants on several fronts in Somalia and have forced them to abandon significant territory in southern and central areas of the Horn of Africa country.

The militants, who merged with al Qaeda in February last year, launched their campaign against the government in early 2007, seeking to impose sharia, or strict Islamic law, on the entire country.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Court Cases: Manning makes his plea for role in WikiLeaks documents

The US Army private accused of feeding documents to WikiLeaks has pleaded guilty to misusing classified material, but denies aiding the enemy. Bradley Manning faces life in prison if convicted of that.

 Manning entered his pleas on Thursday, ahead of his June 3 court martial for the biggest leak of government secrets in US history. Though he pleaded not guilty to aiding the enemy, Manning did cop to a series of 10 lesser charges related to misusing classified information.

 The documents he released to WikiLeaks, Manning said, "represent the underground realities of the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan."

 Manning, a private working in Army intelligence, was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq and charged with downloading thousands of documents, diplomatic cables and combat videos and forwarding them to WikiLeaks. The website began exposing the government secrets that same year, outraging US officials.

"Domestic public debate"

Reading a statement to the tribunal, Manning said that he had initially attempted to contact traditional media outlets - The Washington Post, The New York Times and Politico - before deciding to pass the documents on to WikiLeaks. He sent the organization two military logs of daily incidents during the US campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 "At the time I believed, and I still believe, these are two of the most significant documents of our time," Manning said, adding that he wanted to "spark a domestic public debate about our foreign policy and the war in general."

 Manning provided various diplomatic cables and cockpit video from a US gunship that shot at Iraqi civilians. He explained that he had chosen WikiLeaks because it seemed to him that the group "exposed illegal activities and corruption" and was "almost academic in nature."

Facing lengthy imprisonment

 Manning faces 20 years for the charges he has admitted to. He also admitted to misuse of documents from the US Southern Command pertaining to Guantanamo Bay, a memo from an unnamed intelligence agency, and records from a military operation in Afghanistan's Farah province.

 He is prepared to take the witness stand to read aloud from a 35-page statement defending himself against charges of aiding the enemy, but only after the judge rules on how much of it he will be allowed to read.

 Under a ruling last month by the presiding judge, Denise Lind, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the harsh treatment he received during his initial confinement. While at Quantico, Manning was placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with guards checking on him every few minutes. After a 14-month investigation, a UN special rapporteur on torture concluded that Manning's treatment had amounted to cruel and inhumane treatment.

 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June. He is wanted for questioning over alleged sex crimes in Sweden, but has fears the country would extradite him to the US, where he says WikiLeaks is currently the subject of a grand jury investigation.

 mkg/dr (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)