Ist Assange genau so ein Verschwörer wie die deutsche Exekutive?

@Marc B. auch wenn ich einen vorherigen Kontakt zwischen Assange und Manning für sehr unwahrscheinlich halte, Ihre Argumentation basiert auf der Annahme, dass es ausschließlich die Netzstruktur gibt, über die Menschen kommunizieren können. Aber es gibt ja auch noch das Telefon. Und  man kann sich tatsächlich auch noch im realen Leben zum Händeschütteln treffen, auch wenn das überraschend klingt.

Immerhin hat Manning solche Kontakte behauptet, so schreibt die New York Times (Quelle):

"Among materials prosecutors are studying is an online chat log in which Private Manning is said to claim that he had been directly communicating with Mr. Assange using an encrypted Internet conferencing service as the soldier was downloading government files. Private Manning is also said to have claimed that Mr. Assange gave him access to a dedicated server for uploading some of them to WikiLeaks.Adrian Lamo, an ex-hacker in whom Private Manning confided and who eventually turned him in, said Private Manning detailed those interactions in instant-message conversations with him. He said the special server’s purpose was to allow Private Manning’s submissions to “be bumped to the top of the queue for review.” By Mr. Lamo’s account, Private Manning bragged about this “as evidence of his status as the high-profile source for WikiLeaks.”

Kann natürlich nur Angeberei sein.

Selbstverständlich dürfte eine solche "conspiracy" nicht strafbar sein, denn dann müssten auch Journalisten bei vorherigem Kontakt zu whistleblower-Quellen dadurch zu Mittätern von deren Geheimnisbruch werden - kaum vorstellbar in einem Land, das die Meinungsfreiheit so hoch hält wie die USA.

In diesem Interview mit John Bellinger, einem Rechtsberater im Außenministerium der Bush-Regierung, werden die Schwierigkeiten einer Strafverfolgung von Assange durch die USA sehr deutlich benannt - von einem Juristen, der Assange sehr gern verfolgen würde (Quelle).

Ausschnitt:

MARK COLVIN: And the first amendment which protects freedom of speech would come into play there?

JOHN BELLINGER: In cases like this in the past, although there has not been one of this magnitude in the past, certainly individuals have raised their first amendment rights and with Mr Assange, in particular, who has said that he is a journalist engaged in news gathering, I think we can certainly expect that he would raise those issue as a defence.

(...)

MARK COLVIN: (...) What about the possibilities of extradition, either from Sweden or the UK?

JOHN BELLINGER: Well that may be potentially even harder. (...)
The United States has well functioning extradition agreements with both Britain and Sweden. There's a relatively new Extradition Treaty between the US and the UK. On the other hand both of those treaties have got exception for political offences and I think we can certainly expect that Mr Assange's lawyers would argue that at least charges under the Espionage Act count as political offences. And certainly in the UK with respect to extraditions in recent years, we have seen the British bar kick up huge legal battles.

MARK COLVIN: There's a British hacker who was arrested in 2002, Gary McKinnon, for hacking into US military computers. He was arrested in 2002 as I say and he's still in Britain despite the US's best efforts to extradite him.
(...) Could that happen to Julian Assange?

JOHN BELLINGER: I think that could potentially take a very long time to litigate his extradition. Obviously in this case Mr Assange has got a number of individuals who are supporting his case as an example of freedom of expression.

Kim Zetter (wired) publiziert sogar das chat-Protokoll zwischen Lamo und Manning, in dem Manning über seine Kontakte mit Assange berichtet

Manning also discussed his role as a source for WikiLeaks and indicated that he had developed a relationship with Assange:

(2:04:29 PM) Manning: im a source, not quite a volunteer
(2:05:38 PM) Manning: i mean, im a high profile source… and i’ve developed a relationship with assange… but i dont know much more than what he tells me, which is very little
(2:05:58 PM) Manning: it took me four months to confirm that the person i was communicating was in fact assange

(Quelle)

Aber es ist schon fraglich, ob so etwas als Beweismittel vor einem amerikanischen Gericht zugelassen wird (hearsay-rule), solange Manning nicht selbst Assange belastet.

Weitere skeptische Einschätzungen aus den USA:

John Hudson (the Atlantic)

Josh Gerstein (politico)