Resisters support Manning

The small office of Courage to Resist,a nonprofit group in Oakland,is full of items featuring the smiling face of Pfc Bradley Manning,the Army intelligence analyst accused of passing secret government documents to WikiLeaks. Bradley Manning T-shirts,buttons,bumper stickers — even whistles— are for sale.

Jeff Paterson,the project director of the organisation,which has supported dozens of service members who have refused deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan,said the group began to raise money for Manning’s legal defence after he was arrested in May.

WikiLeaks was not supporting the 23-year-old private first class “who gave them information,” said Paterson,42,a former Marine,who was himself jailed for refusing to board a plane bound for Saudi Arabia after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The founder of WikiLeaks,Julian Assange,has said he has never spoken with Manning. “We never know the identities or of people submitting us material,” Assange said.