Remember that Adrian Lamo was on the FBI radar before producing these chat logs, it could well be that he dealt with the FBI by producing chat logs that implicate someone else. It wouldn't exactly be the first time someone has lied to the FBI to get a reduced sentence, or avoid prosecution.
We also know that the US gov't engages in torture to extract confessions so you should be skeptical of anything anyone who has been in US custody says. It's not just middle easterners, Canadian citizens have been tortured under US auspices.
Yeah, that's true. Although I think it's more likely that Lamo would falsify/misrepresent the chat logs because of his sketchy political views or because he lives off of media attention. His public defense of his actions seems too enthusiastic to be coming from someone who made up a story just to avoid jail time. We don't know what other evidence the government has against Manning, if any. If they only have Lamo's chat logs and testimony, that's pretty flimsy. (Not that the government needs evidence of a crime to keep someone in jail indefinitely. You know, see above.)
We also know that the US gov't engages in torture to extract confessions so you should be skeptical of anything anyone who has been in US custody says. It's not just middle easterners, Canadian citizens have been tortured under US auspices.