Gender identity struggle figured in Manning's detention
By Dan De Luce (AFP) – 8 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hQXIzEr2Wl8nQqvI-vkq0zvBLP9wFORT MEADE, Maryland — The US military held WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning under strict "suicide watch" partly because his gender identity struggle showed he was mentally "not stable," a witness said.
The 24-year-old Manning, a former army intelligence analyst in Iraq, is accused of the biggest intelligence leak in American history for allegedly passing a massive trove of classified documents to Julian Assange's anti-secrecy website.
Manning's purported gender struggle came up at a pre-trial hearing as his defense urged a military judge to dismiss the case, citing alleged "unlawful punishment" endured by the soldier during nine months of solitary confinement.
Master Sergeant Craig Blenis, who served as a counselor at the Quantico military base where the WikiLeaks suspect was detained, said the gender issue "on top of other things" was a factor that determined his detention status.
