State Department Spokesperson Says Bradley Manning Is Being Mistreated
from the they-just-noticed? dept
We've written a few times about how we believe Bradley Manning's treatment in prison is horrifying. It goes beyond what's reasonable, and in recent weeks has only gotten worse, as he's now being stripped naked every night.However Glenn Greenwald points us to the very surprising news that State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley has now come out to say that he believes Manning is being "mistreated" in prison. This is a huge surprise. After all, the State Department has taken the brunt of the leaks that Manning is accused of facilitating. And Crowley has been the State Department's go to guy for massively exaggerating the leak's impact on world affairs. For him to come out and say that Manning is being mistreated is a huge surprise. I'm curious if the folks in our comments who were vocally defending the treatment of Manning as perfectly normal are still willing to defend it, when even one of their biggest allies is backing down.
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Filed Under: bradley manning, pj crowley, treatment, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks
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Please...
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Disgusting
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Re: Disgusting
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Re: Disgusting
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Of course they will
Of course they will. The state is ALWAYS right, after all. According to the previous defenders on this subject, accusation equals guilt, and the guilty deserve whatever they get, and damn the constitution, law, human rights, and anything else that gets in the way.
They will rebut by attacking Manning even MORE. Watch.
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If Manning is gulity,
Unfortunately, most of the reporting you quote comes from Glenn Greenwald. I consider him to be an unreliable source.
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Re: If Manning is gulity,
But that report will be classified and leaking it would cause the opening of a vortex which would swallow the entire known universe, so - yeah - investigating the allegations is probably not such a good idea. Everyone now cover their eyes, ears and mouths like good citizens.
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"I spent 26 years in the air force. What is happening to Manning is ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid, and I don't know why the DoD is doing it. Nevertheless, Manning is in the right place." There are leaks everywhere in Washington - it's a town that can't keep a secret. But the scale is different. It was a colossal failure by the DoD to allow this mass of documents to be transported outside the network. Historically, someone has picked up a file of papers and passed it around - the information exposed is on one country or one subject. But this is a scale we've never seen before. If Julian Assange is right and we're in an era where there are no secrets, do we expect that people will release Google's search engine algorithms? The formula for Coca Cola? Some things are best kept secret. If we're negotiating between the Israelis and the Palestinians, there will be compromises that are hard for each side to sell to their people - there's a need for secrets."
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Re:
Already released about a week ago. Confirmed based on comparisons to an old diary/log book from the foundation of the coca cola company.
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But it's still more of the same, at heart.
If you've got a west wing office, you can leak to your heart's content. If not, you're doing naked inspection.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Mar 11th, 2011 @ 7:02pm
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P.J. Crowley says "he believes" Manning is being mistreated
Secretaries Clinton and Gates seem to normally be pretty much in sync so this would seem to be a departure from that situation if Mr. Crowley was indeed authorized to make that comment.
We'll have to see how this turns out...
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23 hour lockdown- standard in any max security facility
no clothes/handcuffed to a bunk- standard for harm prevention, suicide watches (and the inmate doesnt get to decide if he is or isn't a danger to himself)
solitary confinement- standard for a prisoner in danger from other inmates, which for that guy, in a military brig is pretty much everyone.
If you want to get offended, get offended because this is all NORMAL. not because of Manning.
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What about his Article 10 right to a speedy trial? In United States v. Thompson in 2009, a 145 day detention was sufficient to trigger an Article 10 hearing. I believe Manning has now been detained about twice as long.
Is it normal to restrict exercise for the detainee to figure eights in a room while shackled?
Why was it a scandal when we stripped foreigners at Abu Ghraib, but it's not a scandal when we strip US soldiers on US soil?
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an awful lot of people seem to forget that the only true difference between democrats and republicans, is entirely who they pick to blame for all the country's problems.
(on a random unrelated note, someone seems to have broken firefox's spell check. it doesn't even recognize 'only' as a word at the moment)
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Consider that Bradley Manning has yet to be charged with a crime.
Try stewing on that one for seven months in a 6ft x 6ft concrete room without a book or other personal article with which to pass the time. Without the ability to even perform the simplest of exercises because permission has been denied by officials under false and misleading pretenses.
Maybe a better question is what's it gonna take to get people pissed off?
We the people... ya right.
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When is our day of rage?
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Re: When is our day of rage?
lots of people like to forget that.
and it amuses me how utterly most americans miss that their entire political spectrum is massively right-shifted compaired to the rest of the world, economically speaking.
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Re: Re: When is our day of rage?
Where are you getting this definition? Or were you just trolling?
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What is with these government agencies and their irrepressible need to see naked people? First everyone travelling by airplane gets seen naked, then they start buying vans that show passersby with their clothes off, now they've got prisoners doing involuntary stripteases?
They should get their porn online like everyone else, rather than going to these ridiculous lengths.
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I imagine the motivation is similar to that of a rapist. It's about the exercise of power over others. Stripping you down to your naked body while they keep their clothes on demonstrates that they have the power.
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and yet we all know the emperor has no clothes.
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When I read that line, my first response was to be annoyed at an exaggeration. Then upon thinking about it some more, I realized that the exaggeration was only slight. And now, all I feel is sadness and anger. There are a lot of people who should go to jail for their abuse of power.
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It's extremely rare that rape is solely about power or even majorly/half about power.
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I think both of you may be overstepping in your claims. Particularly your claim that rape is not about power would require a strong citation to be credible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation_for_rape
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Bradley Manning
Never mind that the sum total of damage that all these leaked documents has caused has been...what, exactly? Exactly.
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Next up...
Next up...P.J. Crowley fired, I mean asked to resign.
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Who Cares
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Re: Who Cares
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Re: Re: Who Cares
I think it is someone who has traits, you know certain characteristics.
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Re: Who Cares
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my opinion
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Mistreatment
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Re: Mistreatment
Prison is supposed to be about redemption. Hell, I don't understand why Manning is even being held in prison in the first place. They could put a ankle bracelet on the guy, take away his internet access in his home, and leave him in his home until the trial.
Just no legitimate reason for them to be holding him in a cell until his trial.
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23 hour lock down
The problem is that some people make money from other people being in jail. So the more people, the more money.
~~ Nehmo
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Re: 23 hour lock down
And this is a good example as to why certain functions should never be run by the private sector. Barney Fife would have us all locked up by the time Andy returns from Mount Pilot.
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This just in - PJ Crowley is out
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Re: This just in - PJ Crowley is out
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Re: Re: This just in - PJ Crowley is out
I would say that if a person has a job spinning the corporate line to the media and wishes to keep that job, it may be better to keep personal opinions personal.
If Mr. Crowley sincerely disapproves of Manning's current situation, then maybe his resignation is a sign that he is sticking to his principles. If this indeed the case, good for him.
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Re: Re: Re: This just in - PJ Crowley is out
He simply said, in public, what others refuse to admit.
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Overton Window
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