Plea deal if Manning rats out Assange?

The Independent is reporting that Private First Class Bradley Manning has been offered a plea deal to reduce his sentence if he agrees to name Julian Assange as a co-conspirator in the famous/infamous leaks. Manning, of course, was the guy who loaded all those documents onto a disc labeled “Lady Gaga”, the documents then made their way to Wikileaks. If this is true it’s an interesting strategy: going easier on the guy who actually lifted the sensitive documents, crack down on the guy who published them. This comes as Assange supporters say that a grand jury is being impaneled in northern Virginia for possible charges against Assange. The Justice Department didn’t comment.