Military judge deliberates in Manning case A US military judge has begun deciding the fate of Army soldier Bradley Manning, who could face life in prison for giving thousands of pieces of classified military and diplomatic information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks in one of the largest leaks in American history. The prosecution says the 25-year-old is a glory-seeking traitor. His defence lawyers call him a naive whistleblower who was horrified by wartime atrocities but didn't know that the material he leaked would end up in the hands of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Army Colonel Denise Lind began deliberating on Friday after hearing nearly two months of conflicting evidence and arguments about the 25-year-old intelligence analyst. A military judge, not a jury, is hearing the case at Manning's request. Lind said she will give a day's public notice before reconvening the court-martial to announce her findings. The most serious of the 21 charges against Manning is aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence in prison. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a telephone media conference on Friday that if Manning is convicted of aiding the enemy, it will be "the end of national security journalism in the United States." Prosecutors contend Manning knew the material would be seen across the globe, including by bin Laden, when he started the leaks in late 2009. Manning said he didn't' start leaking until February 2010. Defence lawyer David Coombs said Manning was negligent in releasing classified material, but lacked the "evil intent" that prosecutors must prove to convict him of aiding the enemy. Manning also faces federal espionage, theft and computer fraud charges. He has acknowledged giving WikiLeaks some 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and videos, but he says he didn't believe the information would harm troops in Afghanistan and Iraq or threaten national security.