Bin Laden Sought WikiLeaks Documents: Prosecutors

Osama bin Laden asked an al-Qaeda member for materials Pfc. Bradley Manning allegedly passed to WikiLeaks, prosecutors in Manning's trial plan to say. As the hearings continue, prosecutors will show Internet conversations between Manning and Julian Assange, the New York Times reports; one reveals the pair "laughing" over a Times report saying the Pentagon had dubbed WikiLeaks dangerous to military security.

The trial is set to resume June 3 after a review of classified materials that could turn up in court, judge Col. Denise Lind says. Manning is willing to plead guilty to crimes adding up to a maximum 20-year sentence, his lawyers said yesterday. Otherwise, he could face life in prison. Lind has yet to determine whether military law allows such a plea. She recently asked a prosecutor whether charges would be the same if the documents had gone directly to the Times instead of Assange's site; the prosecutor said yes. (More Bradley Manning stories.)