Story highlights 900 Afghans identified in Manning leaks; unclear if any harmed, ex-general says

He escaped a life sentence without parole when he was acquitted of aiding the enemy

Manning was found guilty on 20 counts that include violations of the Espionage Act

Civil rights organizations have come out in support of Manning

When an attorney involved in Pfc. Bradley Manning 's sentencing hearing made reference Wednesday to something being "normal" in the WikiLeaks case, the former general promptly cut him off.

"There was nothing about WikiLeaks that was normal," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Robert Carr, a 31-year veteran.

The prosecution called Carr to testify about his time with the Information Review Task Force put together when WikiLeaks first started releasing the documents leaked by Manning.

The task force was charged with determining if any coalition members, intelligence sources or methods that had been put at risk by the leaks.

About 900 Afghans were identified in some way in the documents, Carr said, but he didn't say if any of them were harmed.

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Asked if Manning had made the jobs of junior intelligence analysts more difficult by damaging their superiors' trust in them, Carr said it was "hugely important to empower these young intel analysts."

As Manning's sentencing phase began Wednesday, the convicted leaker has already tallied 1,274 days behind bars.

The question now is how many more of the potential 136 years he'll serve.

The military will give Manning credit for each of his 1,162 days of pre-trial confinement, plus the judge, Col. Denise Lind, credited Manning with an additional 112 days for the harsh treatment he suffered while being held at a Marine Corps Base Quantico brig.

The defense has also filed motions to have four of the charges on which he was found guilty merged into two. Lind isn't expected to rule on that motion before Friday.

Convictions and acquittal

Lind acquitted Manning of the most grievous charge of aiding the enemy . Had she convicted him of that one charge, he could have spent life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Manning still faces the prospect of a lengthy prisoner term. He was found guilty of 20 counts that include violations of the Espionage Act. Twelve of them carry maximum sentences of 10 years each.

Lind may decide not to slap him with the maximum for each count. She may rule that he'll serve the sentences concurrently, rather than consecutively.

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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden revealed himself as the source of documents outlining a massive effort by the NSA to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. He says he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded," he said. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after initially fleeing to Hong Kong. He has been charged with three felony counts, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, over the leaks. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers in 1971. The top-secret documents revealed that senior American leaders, including three presidents, knew the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire. Further, they showed that the government had lied to Congress and the public about the progress of the war. Ellsberg surrendered to authorities and was charged as a spy. During his trial, the court learned that President Richard Nixon's administration had embarked on a campaign to discredit Ellsberg, illegally wiretapping him and breaking into his psychiatrist's office. All charges against him were dropped. Since then he has lived a relatively quiet life as a respected author and lecturer. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Starting in 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service studied untreated syphilis in black men who thought they were getting free health care. The patients weren't told of their affliction or sufficiently treated. Peter Buxtun, who worked for the Public Health Service, relayed information about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment to a reporter in 1972, which halted the 40-year study. His testimony at congressional hearings led to an overhaul of the Health, Education and Welfare rules concerning work with human subjects. A class-action lawsuit was settled out-of-court for $10 million, with the U.S. government promising free medical care to survivors and their families. Here, participants talk with a study coordinator. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers In 2005, retired deputy FBI director Mark Felt revealed himself to be the whistle-blower "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal. He anonymously assisted Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward with many of their stories about the Nixon administration's cover-up after the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The stories sparked a congressional investigation that eventually led to President Nixon's resignation in 1974. The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Felt was convicted on unrelated conspiracy charges in 1980 and eventually pardoned by President Ronald Reagan before slipping into obscurity for the next quarter-century. He died in 2008 at age 95. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Mordechai Vanunu , who worked as a technician at Israel's nuclear research facility, leaked information to a British newspaper and led nuclear arms analysts to conclude that Israel possessed a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its weapons program. An Israeli court convicted Vanunu in 1986 after Israeli intelligence agents captured him in Italy. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Since his release in 2004, he has been arrested on a number of occasions for violating terms of his parole. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers President Ronald Reagan addresses the media in 1987, months after the disclosure of the Iran-Contra affair . A secret operation carried out by an American military officer used proceeds from weapons sales to Iran to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua and attempted to secure the release of U.S. hostages held by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mehdi Hashemi, an officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, leaked evidence of the deal to a Lebanese newspaper in 1986. Reagan's closest aides maintain he did not fully know, and only reluctantly came to accept, the circumstances of the operation. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Tobacco industry executive Jeffrey Wigand issued a memo to his company in 1992 about his concerns regarding tobacco additives. He was fired in March 1993 and subsequently contacted by "60 Minutes" and persuaded to tell his story on CBS. He claimed that Brown & Williamson knowingly used additives that were carcinogenic and addictive and spent millions covering it up. He also testified in a landmark case in Mississippi that resulted in a $246 billion settlement from the tobacco industry. Wigand has received public recognition for his actions and continues to crusade against Big Tobacco. He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 film " The Insider ." Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers For 10 years, Frederic Whitehurst complained mostly in vain about practices at the FBI's world-renowned crime lab, where he worked. His efforts eventually led to a 1997 investigation that found lab agents produced inaccurate and scientifically flawed testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. The Justice Department recommended major reforms but also criticized Whitehurst for "overstated and incendiary" allegations. He also faced disciplinary action for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into how some of his allegations were leaked to a magazine. After a yearlong paid suspension he left the bureau in 1998 with a settlement worth more than $1.16 million. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley accused the bureau of hindering efforts to investigate a suspected terrorist that could have disrupted plans for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. In 2002 she fired off a 13-page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller and flew to Washington to hand-deliver copies to two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and meet with committee staffers. The letter accused the bureau of deliberately undermining requests to look into Zacarias Moussaoui , the only person convicted in the United States of playing a role in the attacks. She testified in front of Congress and the 9/11 Commission about the FBI's mishandling of information. Rowley was selected as one of Time magazine's People of the Year in 2002 , along with whistle-blowers Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Sherron Watkins, a former vice president at Enron, sent an anonymous letter to founder Kenneth Lay in 2001 warning him the company had accounting irregularities. The memo eventually reached the public and she later testified before Congress about her concerns and the company's wrongdoings. More than 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs, and many also lost their life savings, when the energy giant declared bankruptcy in 2001. Investors lost billions of dollars. An investigation in 2002 found that Enron executives reaped millions of dollars from off-the-books partnerships and violated basic rules of accounting and ethics. Many were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Enron scandal Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Cynthia Cooper and her team of auditors uncovered massive fraud at WorldCom in 2002. They found that the long-distance telephone provider had used $3.8 billion in questionable accounting entries to inflate earnings over the past five quarters. By the end of 2003, the total fraud was estimated to be $11 billion. The company filed for bankruptcy protection and five executives ended up in prison. Cooper started her own consulting firm and told her story in the book "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower." Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers In 2003, federal air marshal Robert MacLean anonymously tipped off an MSNBC reporter that because of budget concerns, the TSA was temporarily suspending missions that would require marshals to stay in hotels just days after they were briefed about a new "potential plot" to hijack U.S. airliners. The news caused an immediate uproar on Capitol Hill and the TSA retreated, withdrawing the scheduling cuts before they went into effect. MacLean was later investigated and fired for the unauthorized disclosure of "sensitive security information." Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Joe Darby is the whistle-blower behind the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq. He says he asked Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner Jr. for photos from their travels so he could share them with family. Instead, he was given photos of prisoner abuse. Darby eventually alerted the U.S. military command, triggering an investigation and global outrage when the scandal came to light in 2004. Graner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the abuse. He was released in 2011 after serving 6½ years of his sentence. The military and members of Darby's own family ostracized him, calling him a traitor. Eventually he and his wife had to enter protective custody. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers The New York Times reported in 2005 that in the months after the September 11, 2001, attacks, President George W. Bush authorized the U.S. National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court warrant on people in the United States, including American citizens, suspected of communicating with al Qaeda members overseas. The Bush administration staunchly defended the controversial surveillance program. Russ Tice, an NSA insider, came forward as one of the anonymous sources used by the Times. He said he was concerned about alleged abuses and a lack of oversight. Here, President Bush participates in a conversation about the Patriot Act in Buffalo, New York, in April 2004. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was convicted July 30 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges but acquitted of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy. Manning is set to speak in his defense when he takes the stand during the sentencing phase of his court-martial on Wednesday, August 14. He could face up to 90 years in prison if the judge imposes the maximum sentence. Hide Caption 15 of 15

It may take several days before she reaches a decision.

Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating about 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks. The leaks dealt with everything from U.S. military strategy in Iraq to State Department cables outlining foreign relationships. They also included a secret military video from the Iraq war.

WikiLeaks has never confirmed the soldier was the source of its information.

The military accused him of putting lives in danger, saying some of the material was found in Osama bin Laden's compound.

Lind, in acquitting Manning of the main charge, said he didn't know that al Qaeda would get the material and therefore did not aid the enemy.

Free speech

Manning said he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing.

WikiLeaks supported his claim in a statement Tuesday blasting the convictions on the other counts as "a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism."

"It can never be that conveying true information to the public is 'espionage.' "

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to talk about the verdict live on the Internet on Wednesday, according to a tweet from WikiLeaks' confirmed feed.

Civil rights organizations also came out in support of Manning as a hero of free speech.

"The only reason why the government decided to proceed with this trial is so that it could pursue this dangerous theory that equates leaks to the press with aiding the enemy," said ACLU spokesman Ben Winzer.

Others saw the acquittal on the main charge as a victory for free speech.

"It shows that a really very junior enlisted person can do battle with the federal government in a case where the government is really mad as hell about what happened here, throws everything it has at him, and its biggest charge fizzles," said Gene Fidell from the National Institute of Military Justice.

Citizen journalist

During Manning's sentencing hearing, Congress will convene a hearing on the future of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs in the wake of a second major intelligence leak: Edward Snowden's leaks of records to journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Greenwald, who writes for the British daily newspaper The Guardian, believes Manning's convictions are evidence of differential justice, he told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.

He said the soldier was just doing the job journalists should do to make government transparent to Americans.

Greenwald compared Manning to famed journalist Bob Woodward, who gained international fame when he broke the iconic Watergate wiretapping scandal. Its cover-up led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

"Bob Woodward has written book after book after book and has become extremely rich by publishing secrets way more sensitive than anything Bradley Manning ever published," Greenwald said.

The difference in the eyes of U.S. justice, in Greenwald's opinion: Woodward is well connected with senior officials who leak to him.

Manning, he said, is not.