Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 31, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A11 winnipegfreepress. com WORLD WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 A 11 WE'RE THERE FOR YOU COMMUNITY PROFILE The cast of" Legally Blonde The Musical" The Manitoba Bar Association OMG, you guys! From April 23 to 27, 2013, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre ( MTC) and the Manitoba Bar Association ( MBA) presented Legally Blonde The Musical at the Tom Hendry Warehouse. MTC's 21st Lawyers Play would not have been possible without the partnership of the MBA and the sponsorship of PwC. The MTC/ MBA Lawyers Play is an important annual fundraiser for MTC and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. MTC is very grateful for the loyal support of the MBA and their members, without whom we would not have raised more than $ 850,000 over the years. The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre extends a heartfelt thanks to the talented cast and hardworking crew, as well as our many volunteers, sponsors, advertisers and audience members. Presenting Sponsor PwC Silver Sponsor Lawton Partners Reception Sponsors Delta Winnipeg The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre Design Sponsor Doowah Design Wine Sponsor De Luca Fine Wines Gala Food Donors Brooklynn's Bistro denise et jean- louis Catering Committee Robin Kersey - co- chair Jim McLandress - co- chair Joan Holmstrom Shawn Hughes Candray Mehkary Marika Nerbas Vivian Rachlis Brad Regehr Garth Smorang Neil Steen Kerry Dangerfield - ex- officio Staff Camilla Holland - General Manager, MTC Stephanie Lambert - Special & Donor Events Coordinator, MTC Chuck McEwen - Executive Producer, Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival Melinda Tallin - Artistic Coordinator, MTC Join us April 29 to May 3, 2014 as MTC and Manitoba's legal community present the hilarious musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Thank you to the following sponsors. Bradley D. Regehr, MBA Director of Advocacy & Public Relations, and Jim McLandress, Committee Co- Chair & MTC Board Member Tony Catanese, Office Managing Partner, PwC Winnipeg and Jim McLandress, Committee Co- Chair & MTC Board Member Mark Mancini of Lawton Partners and Jim McLandress, Committee Co- Chair & MTC Board Member Ashley Kozak of The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre and Joan Holmstrom, Committee Member Kate Holden of De Luca Fine Wines and Joan Holmstrom, Committee Member F ORT MEADE, Md. - U. S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy - the most serious charge he faced - but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges Tuesday, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, deliberated for about 16 hours over three days before reaching her decision in a case that drew worldwide attention as supporters hailed Manning as a whistleblower. The U. S. government called him an anarchist computer hacker and attention- seeking traitor. Manning stood at attention, flanked by his attorneys, as the judge read her verdicts. He appeared not to react, though his attorney, David Coombs, smiled faintly when he heard not guilty on aiding the enemy, which carried a potential life sentence. When the judge was done, Coombs put his hand on Manning's back and whispered something to him, eliciting a slight smile on the soldier's face. Manning was convicted on 19 of 21 charges, and he previously pleaded guilty to a charge involving an Icelandic cable. He faces up to 136 years in prison. His sentencing hearing begins today. Coombs came outside the court to a round of applause and shouts of " thank you" from a few dozen Manning supporters. " We won the battle, now we need to go win the war," Coombs said of the sentencing phase. " Today is a good day, but Bradley is by no means out of the fire." Supporters thanked him for his work. One slipped him a private note. Others asked questions about verdicts they didn't understand. Manning's court- martial was unusual because he acknowledged giving the anti- secrecy website more than 700,000 battlefield reports and diplomatic cables and video of a 2007 U. S. helicopter attack that killed civilians in Iraq, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. In the footage, airmen laughed and called targets " dead bastards." A military investigation found troops mistook the camera equipment for weapons. Besides the aiding- the- enemy acquittal, Manning was also found not guilty of an espionage charge when the judge found prosecutors had not proved their assertion Manning started giving material to WikiLeaks in late 2009. Manning said he started the leaks in February the following year. Manning pleaded guilty earlier this year to lesser offences that could have brought him 20 years behind bars, yet the government continued to pursue all but one of the original, more serious charges. Manning said during a pre- trial hearing in February he leaked the material to expose the U. S military's " blood- lust" and disregard for human life, and what he considered American diplomatic deceit. He said he chose information he believed would not the harm the United States and he wanted to start a debate on military and foreign policy. He did not testify at his court- martial. Coombs portrayed Manning as a " young, naive but good- intentioned" soldier who was in emotional turmoil, partly because he was a gay service member at a time when homosexuals were barred from serving openly in the U. S. military. He said Manning could have sold the information or given it directly to the enemy, but he gave it to WikiLeaks in an attempt to " spark reform" and provoke debate. Counterintelligence witnesses valued the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs at about $ 5.7 million. Coombs said Manning had no way of knowing whether al- Qaida would access the secret- spilling website and a 2008 counterintelligence report showed the government itself didn't know much about the site. The defence attorney also mocked the testimony of a former supervisor who said Manning told her the American flag meant nothing to him and she suspected before they deployed to Iraq that Manning was a spy. Coombs noted she had not written up a report on Manning's alleged disloyalty, though had written ones on him taking too many smoke breaks and drinking too much coffee. The government said Manning had sophisticated security training and broke signed agreements to protect the secrets. He even had to give a presentation on operational security during his training after he got in trouble for posting a YouTube video about what he was learning. - The Associated Press Soldier cleared of aiding enemy But convicted of espionage in WikiLeaks case By David Dishneau and Pauline Jelinek MADRID, Spain - The driver was on the phone with a colleague and apparently looking at a document as his train barrelled ahead at 153 kilometres an hour - almost twice the speed limit. Suddenly, a notorious curve was upon him. He hit the brakes too late. The train, carrying 218 passengers in eight carriages, hurtled off the tracks and slammed into a concrete wall, killing 79 people. On Tuesday, investigators looking into the crash announced their preliminary findings from analysis of the train's data- recording " black boxes," suggesting human error appears to be the cause of Spain's worst railway disaster in decades. The derailment occurred late last Wednesday near Santiago de Compostela, a city in northwestern Spain. Some 66 people injured in the crash are still hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition. The accident cast a pall over the city, which is the last stop for the faithful who make it to the end of the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that has drawn Christians since the Middle Ages. The crash occurred on the eve of annual festivities at the shrine, which subsequently were cancelled. The disaster also stunned the rest of Spain, with Spanish royals and political leaders joining hundreds of people in Santiago de Compostela's storied 12thcentury cathedral Monday evening to mourn the dead. According to the investigation so far, train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo received a call from an official of national rail company Renfe on his work phone in the cabin, not his personal cellphone, to tell him what approach to take toward his final destination. Garzon was provisionally charged Sunday with multiple counts of negligent homicide. The investigation is ongoing. - The Associated Press Train driver on phone, reading before crash By Jorge Sainz and Barry Hatton PATRICK SEMANSKY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bradley Manning was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. A_ 11_ Jul- 31- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A11 7/ 30/ 13 9: 26: 07 PM ;