Earlier this week, the soldier accused of leaking thousands of confidential documents to WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, was handed an additional 22 charges as part of his ongoing court martial process. The 23-year-old, who has been in solitary confinement for more than seven months, stands accused of computer fraud, theft of public records and willfully communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it. He now also finds himself faced with a rare charge known as “aiding the enemy” – a capital offence for which he could face the death penalty.
Lots of stories this past week on blogs and alternative websites about him being stripped naked in his cell and worse (solitary for months, etc).
Apparently, guards are forcing Bradley Manning to strip in his cell—a humiliation tactic guards use in Guantanamo Bay. A spokesman for the Marines referred to this as, “standard operating procedure.”
Could the President who stopped torture and wanted Gitmo closed be so bold as to move it here? Can’t be! It must be a lone, rogue, out of control officer (a woman, no less!) doing these nasty things.
Given these circumstances, the decision to strip PFC Manning of his clothing every night for an indefinite period of time is clearly punitive in nature. There is no mental health justification for the decision. There is no basis in logic for this decision. PFC Manning is under 24 hour surveillance, with guards never being more than a few feet away from his cell. PFC Manning is permitted to have his underwear and clothing during the day, with no apparent concern that he will harm himself during this time period. Moreover, if Brig officials were genuinely concerned about PFC Manning using either his underwear or flip-flops to harm himself (despite the recommendation of the Brig’s psychiatrist) they could undoubtedly provide him with clothing that would not, in their view, present a risk of self-harm.
John and Adam discussed this on No Agenda with Adam suggesting Manning doesn’t exist. The CIA released the docs to Wikileaks to embarrass Hillary, certain governments, etc, and Manning is a cover story. Far fetched, but his point is where are the interviews with family, friends, his gay lovers (if fake, a perfect addition for the homophobic US)? Also, how did such a low level soldier get such easy access to just these particular materials? If he could, has far more been stolen by others? Or is this also part of a fake story?
What’s your take on Manning and his treatment? Assuming he really exists…
At what point, if any, does exposing the tyranny of ones superiors become an act of patriotism?
#21 – right after the trial at which your previous supervisors are executed as war criminals.
Of course if you don’t refuse their orders and they are convicted then you are guilty too.
If however you do refuse their orders and they don’t go to trial then you get executed instead.
Interestingly – what your superiors actually do is almost irrelevant.
“stands accused of computer fraud, theft of public records and willfully communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it. ”
Hmm..
theft of public records?? arnt they public?
Classified? it was the UN email system. there was NO SECURITY..
FRAUD?? he asked for NO MONEY..
>The US military is trying to “break” Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking secrets to WikiLeaks, but it is Defense Secretary Robert Gates that could end up with a blemish on his record, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said Monday. Manning attorney David Coombs revealed last week that for at least two nights in row, the Army private had been “stripped naked” for as long as seven hours at a time. In the mornings, he was left without clothes and forced to stand at attention.
– Raw Story
And without clothes, everyone would certainly see him whenever he stands at attention!
Seriously now, Curry’s position is dopey.
Every now and then Adam and John get something wrong. This is one of those times. I wish Adam would dedicate some time to explaining why he thinks Wikileaks is a CIA honeypot and why Manning doesn’t exist. I wonder if this is a pride thing, now.
People no longer know a patriot when they see one. Illegal doesn’t necessarily mean wrong.
Fortunately for the government people are so easily distracted that he probably should not have sacrificed himself for their benefit.
freeze in your cell and burn in hell
Based on what he dumped he didn’t have access to the more highly classified material. Some of it is still inflammatory.
It is my personal opinion that the Russians and others do have access to a lot of our classified material.
This is about the 400,000 military reports that was leaked. NOT the diplomatic emails. These were first hand reports from us armed forces in Iraq. More than 100,000 civilians killed just in these reports. Women, children, families tortured by our troops. Children shot in the head in front of their parents, etc. Video of unarmed people with hands in the air gunned down in cold blood. Reuters reporters killed, etc. Remember? The really horrible shit that got released to wikileaks.
How about not doing shit you wouldn’t want the public to find out about? That would make much more sense than going after this Manning guy who found out all this horrible shit and couldn’t make himself just sit on it. Too good of a man to keep quiet about war crimes and out right murder and he is being made the villain?
There was a really good explanation of the method of how this guy the info on the SecurityNow! podcast maybe a month ago.
It was due to an information sharing tool that would copy and make available the diplomatic cable if a specific flag was added. Dept of State people were mistakenly told to flag ALL their cables like that.
The system was supposedly very poorly designed. No way of telling who should, did, exported any specific bit of information.
The guy was caught because his local machine was searched and had data he’d exported from the system.
My understanding was that Manning was a private in the US Army. Then I heard more than a couple of talking heads on news shows refer to the leaker as a young “officer”.
Could the talking heads be so totally clueless that they would refer to an enlisted man as an officer?
Eh, yea, they probably could be that clueless.
You’d have to be a hydrocephalic pinhead, living under a rock, in order to not see the painfully obvious fact that WikiLeaks is a government PSYOP.
If the government didn’t want any of the info reported, you can bet that the corporate owned mainstream media would bend over backwards to accommodate. Instead, they hyped WikiLeaks to death with a concerted media circus barrage. These things don’t happen without a coordinated effort.
Just look at their behavior during the runup to the Iraq war for proof of such behavior.
We used to be a more just nation before George W. Bush!!!! We have since adopted some of the USSR ethics.
As Dostoyevsky note in his apocryphal quote, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”?
“We used to be a more just nation before George W. Bush!!!! We have since adopted some of the USSR ethics.”
Don’t believe it. GW was an ass, but he was only one in a long line puppets/power hungry people throughout history, current president included. Take “this” to the bank, Obama. You’re a liar.
Gee, in the America I know and love, someone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That must be why so many tea baggers are ready to hang the guy already.
@ #33, I might agree with you if the MSM was actually reporting on piles of cables, but the truth is, the amount of coverage on Assange and a broken condom dwarfs all released cables combined. Stranger things have happened though so I suppose time will tell.
I think that what Manning did should be mandatory not forbidden.
(Since everything should be either mandatory or forbidden.)
Adam Curry does it again…. once he starts to get normal he goes so far off that it is EMBARRASSING!!! And poor John has to make the best of it.
Sometimes I wonder if I bother to follow and contribute anymore. It is like Stern in the old days, to shock for the sake of attention… Why divert form the good analysis and deconstruction of the powers. Why come up with something as stupid as Julian Asange and now Manning being either invented persons or undercover CIA or whatever. I am frankly loosing interest…