That's incorrect. Assange was trying to brute force the administrator password on a DoD system to give Manning elevated access on the host that she didn't have

That's incorrect. Assange was trying to brute force the administrator password on a DoD system to give Manning elevated access on the host that she didn't have at the time. It wasn't an obfuscation exercise, it was an attempt to uncover classified information Manning wasn't privy to with her current account access. *Edit: and it was done after Manning had handed over everything she could access with her own account. At least that's what the charge is in the initial indictment.