Bradley Manning's life just got harder. On Wednesday, it was reported that the U.S. Army has filed an additional 22 charges against Manning, the soldier accused of downloading tens of thousands of classified military and State Department documents and providing them to WikiLeaks. The most serious charge, that of "aiding the enemy," is a capital offense, but the AP reports that "the Army's prosecution team has notified the Manning defense team that it will not recommend the death penalty to the two-star general who is in charge of proceeding with legal action."

It's been reported that the new charges come at the end of a seven-month Army investigation of Manning's actions, though Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake, one of the many longtime observers of this story, finds the timing a little too convenient. "The government alleged nothing regarding 'aiding the enemy' when they originally charged Manning in July of 2010," Hamsher wrote on Wednesday. "Surely they must have new and compelling evidence to substantiate such serious charges. If not, they’re just bringing the full force of the state down on Manning’s head because he would not give them a false confession against Julian Assange they needed to make their case."

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