Update | Manning branded a 'traitor and anarchist' at court martial
Soldier passed secrets to help al-Qaeda, says prosecutor in wrap up of court martial
Soldier Bradley Manning betrayed his country by passing secret files to "information anarchists" at WikiLeaks and knew al-Qaeda would see the documents online, a prosecutor said in closing arguments.
As Manning's espionage court martial entered its final stage, the prosecution asked the judge to find him guilty of "aiding the enemy", dismissing the defence's portrait of the accused as a naive but well-intentioned truth-teller.
"He was not a troubled young soul, he was a determined soldier with the knowledge, ability and desire to harm the United States in its war effort," lead prosecutor Major Ashden Fein told the court.
"Your honour, he was not a whistle-blower, he was traitor."
As an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Manning pledged under oath to safeguard sensitive information held by the government, but he "abused and destroyed this ", Fein said.
In an online chat, Manning described the impact of his release of documents as a "beautiful and horrifying thing", the prosecutor added. "These are not the words of a humanist, but the words of an anarchist," he said.