NY Times opposes the cruel treatment of Bradley Manning

[Eric J in MN]

Editorial
The Abuse of Private Manning
Published: March 14, 2011

Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been imprisoned for nine months on charges of handing government files to WikiLeaks, has not even been tried let alone convicted. Yet the military has been treating him abusively, in a way that conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects. Inexplicably, it appears to have President Obama’s support to do so.

Private Manning is in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. For one hour a day, he is allowed to walk around a room in shackles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/opinion/15tue3.html

Have other newpaper editorials been for-or-against how Manning is being treated?

[villager]

1. What a statement that many on this site are to the right of the NY Times...

so much for "Underground," I guess....

[MannyGoldstein]

We sure do live in strange times! nt

[hlthe2b]

10. I strongly suspect we have some...

sockpuppets that are pushing this meme. Sadly, it is difficult to be sure. But I have a hard time believing any true progressive would advocate such treatment for someone who had not been tried, nor convicted, nor sentenced for ANYTHING. I have been horrified to see some of those posts, though villager, certainly. I can only hope they will expose themselves for who/what they are.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Self-Delete

[midnight]

3. Good.... Every conscious person with a heart should be too...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. The New York Times have become "professional leftists".

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[villager]

6. well, hell, in a time when "Underground" has no meaning, either... why not?

:shrug:

[EFerrari]

5. But it's all legal, common and for his own good plus, he's a treasoner. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Don't you love the shackles? He's so dangerous he might escape and start embarrassing the bosses.

[EFerrari]

8. They discredit themselves and show, plainly, how much we need Wikileaks.

If they'd treated Manning decently, the whole country would probably line up against him but they're too stupid and inept to do that.

[Mimosa]

9. Stupid professional leftists never loved him!

They should shut up. There's a war against terrorism going on. We're in danger.

[ProSense]

11. This is ridiculous

From the OP:

<...>

Yet the military has been treating him abusively, in a way that conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects. Inexplicably, it appears to have President Obama’s support to do so.

<...>

Military officials say, without explanation, that these precautions are necessary to prevent Private Manning from injuring himself. They have put him on “prevention of injury” watch, yet his lawyers say there is no indication that he is suicidal and the military has not placed him on a suicide watch. (He apparently made a sarcastic comment about suicide.)

<...>

Not a single person has presented definitive evidence that Manning is being tortured. The same claim that he was stripped for his own safety (whether or not exaggerated) is being used to make that claim. Yet these hyperbolic statements linking the treatment to Bush administration's abuse of terror suspects are being advanced in the media. Why is that?

The NYT went out of its way to avoid labeling Bush's actions as "torture" despite concrete evidence of horrendous acts, including waterboarding.

NY Times's excuse for not calling waterboarding "torture" doesn't hold water

Yeah, I don't expect the Obama adminstration to condone torture. Still, it's ridiculous for the media to now use this one unconfirmed incident to try to trivialize the actions of the Bush administration by claiming that Obama now condones what Bush did and is now doing the same. Ludicrous.

[Luminous Animal]

12. The accusation that his treatment is inhumane came well before the stripping of his clothes.

[EFerrari]

13. Actually, the Pentagon has confirmed that Manning is enduring force nudity,

sleep disruption, isolation and sensory deprivation.

They haven't denied any of it, they only try to rationalize it.

And the UN Special Rappateur for Torture apparently doesn't think this is "ridiculous", either, because he has launched an investigation.

Pathetic. This isn't what I voted for.

[Eric J in MN]

14. Jose Padilla was driven insane with long-term solitary. NT

NT

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[_ed_]

27. I suppose Bush didn't torture, either...

because he also used forced nudity and sleep deprivation at Abu Gharib and Black sites around the world. Do you agree that Bush is also not a torturer, or does the definition of torture change for you if the President is of the other political party.

Also, how did you feel about Republicans who supported Bush for 8 years regardless of whether or not they agreed with him or even whether or not he acted conservatively?

[EFerrari]

15. Los Angeles Times: Punishing Pfc. Manning

Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was right to say that the Pentagon's treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning is "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

March 14, 2011, 4:37 p.m.

llustrating the fact that telling the truth can be fatal in Washington, an Obama administration official has resigned after characterizing the Pentagon's handling of Pfc. Bradley Manning as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was referring to the harsh treatment that has been visited on Manning, who is suspected of turning over several hundred thousand confidential documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning, who is being held in the brig at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, has been confined to "maximum custody." He also has been subject to a "prevention of injury" order. The result is that he is kept in his cell 23 hours a day. According to his attorney, Manning is also denied sheets, forbidden to exercise in his cell and not allowed to sleep between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Most recently, the attorney has alleged that Manning has been stripped naked at bedtime — the result, apparently, of Manning's sarcastic comment that if he wanted to commit suicide, he could use the elastic band in his underwear or his flip-flops. After requiring him to sleep naked for several days, the Pentagon says Manning now sleeps in "tear-proof garments."

Undercutting the argument that Manning needs to be protected from himself is the fact that he is not on suicide watch, which requires a recommendation from a brig mental health official. According to Manning's attorney, a brig psychiatrist said that Manning's comment about the elastic in his underwear was in no way prompted by his psychiatric state. It's unclear whether President Obama knew these details when he told reporters last week that the conditions in which Manning was held were "appropriate" and that "some of this has to do with Private Manning's safety."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-manning-20110314,0,986384.story?

[Eric J in MN]

19. Thanks, I was looking for editorials like that. NT

NT

[EFerrari]

21. An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton

An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton

An Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Regarding P.J. Crowley’s Resignation

March 14, 2011

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madam Secretary,

We the undersigned are writing to express our severe disappointment at the resignation of P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs at the State Department.

A number of us were present at the meeting where Mr. Crowley expressed his personal opinions, but all of us are concerned to learn that Mr. Crowley’s statements appear to have led to his resignation. In the context of an open and honest discussion in an academic institution, we were eager to hear Mr. Crowley’s views and willing to give him our opinions and advice. It is this type of openness to dissenting opinions, frankness of assessments, and honesty of discourse that leads to both the advancement of human knowledge and the healthy function of an open, democratic society. We are discouraged to find such dialogue prompting the resignation of a public official. If public officials are made to fear expressing their truthful opinions, we have laid the groundwork for ineffective, dishonest, and unresponsive governance.

We hope that you agree with such sentiments and we look forward to seeing renewed support for frank civic dialogue at the State Department.

Signed:

Dan Schultz
Research Associate, MIT Center for Future Civic Media

(Signitures at link)

http://protecthonesty.tumblr.com/

[sabrina 1]

16. Every decent human being on the planet is appalled

at what they are learning about the U.S. policies even towards their own soldiers.

Not that they didn't already know we have sunk to the level of the dictators we have been supporting for decades. But now it's out in the open.

And to see this kind of inhumane and sadistic treatment of a human being, no matter who it is, approved of the man most people hoped would bring about change is a statement that the U.S. has passed the point of no return on human rights issues.

The U.S. now ranks among the worst human rights abusing countries in the world.

And there are actually people attempting to excuse this.

As others have said recently, I no longer wonder how Germany happened.

[sabrina 1]

17. I forgot, good for the NYT. The numbers are growing of people

who are speaking out about our appalling human rights abuses.

I think that PJCrowley's statements and subsequent firing for telling the truth has lit a fire under people, forcing them to face the fact that it wasn't just Bush. This IS our culture, cruelty, sadism, torture, slaughter of innocents for profit. I think finally, Americans are beginning to ask 'what kind of country do we want to live in'?

[Eric J in MN]

18. Yes, the firing of PJ Crowley means more attention to Bradley Manning's prison conditions.

Maybe administration officials will be afraid to speak out now, but others will be more likely to speak out.

[sabrina 1]

20. I just read that Manning is now being given clothing to wear

at night. That is a beginning and shows that speaking out can have a positive effect.

I agree that their stupid reaction to PJCrowley's remarks has only increased the attention given to this case.

[EFerrari]

25. Real clothing or that smock they had him in?

[Eric J in MN]

28. They gave Manning a smock to sleep in. NT

NT

[chill_wind]

23. As does the ludicrous DOD foot-dragging

on letting Kucinich verify or not their claims about his treatment.

[LAGC]

24. Is the New York Times feeling remorseful?

After their hit piece against Wikileaks, maybe they're feeling bad for creating this atmosphere of hate and contempt surrounding Manning?

[EFerrari]

26. More like they don't want to be seen as so far out of the mainstream

of media opinion. You need a conscience to feel remorse.