Chat with David House About New ACLU Lawsuit. Please welcome David House in the comments The ACLU has filed suit on behalf of FDL blogger David House, the friend of Bradley Manning who had his laptop seized by Homeland Security agents last November. The ACLU suit charges that the government abused its powers to enforce customs and immigration laws at international airports by taking House’s computer without either a warrant, or reasonable suspicion. Being harassed at airports for hours by the FBI, Homeland Security and immigration agents is a regular occurrence for David.
Every time he travels in or out of the country I’m always anxious until I hear that this time isn’t the time they decide to accelerate their harassment with some new abuse of power. Ellen Nakashima broke the story in the Washington Post this morning: The George W. The harassment of House and others is part of a pattern of government abuse of power, designed to threaten and intimidate its critics. David joins us in the comments to talk about the suit.
U.N. torture investigator slams U.S. for denying him access to Bradley Manning. By Stephen C. WebsterTuesday, April 12, 2011 10:32 EDT A United Nations special rapporteur on torture claims U.S. authorities refused to give him access to Army Private Bradley Manning, 23, the lone soldier accused of leaking secret files to WikiLeaks. Juan Mendez, the U.N. representative on torture, said he had visited numerous other nations where he’d been allowed unmonitored communications with prisoners. The U.S. Department of Defense on Friday, however, denied his request to visit with Manning, saying he may not speak with the soldier unless a government monitor is present. The difference between those two is that “official” visits by a U.N. special rapporteur on torture must be unmonitored. In a monitored conversation, anything Manning says could be used against him before a military court. “[For] my part, a monitored conversation would not comply with the practices that my mandate applies in every country and detention center visited,” Mendez said.
Stephen C. Stephen C.
MISC. Balkinization. A Statement on Private Manning's Detention Bruce Ackerman (updated below) Yochai Benkler and I invite members of the academic legal community to join us in signing the following statement, asking the Administration either publicly to justify, or end, the humiliation and mistreatment of Private Bradley Manning, the suspected whistleblower who is said to have leaked classified government documents to Wikileaks. For background, you can read this editorial in today’s New York Times, The Abuse of Private Manning and get more details from Soldier in Leaks Case Will Be Made to Sleep Naked Nightly. If you'd like to add your signature, please send your name and institutional affiliation to manningprofletterjoin@gmail.com. Signatories added below in periodic updates. 295 signatories. UPDATE:Our initial draft relied on news reports in the major news outlets. Other responses we have received suggest that there are claims of myriad other abuses that make conditions worse in various ways than we describe.
WH forces P.J. Crowley to resign. Obama Fully Owns Torture of Manning. PJ Crowley forced to resign. The spokesman for the Department of State in the Obama administration, PJ Crowley, resigned today for having criticized the inhumane treatment of U.S. political prisoner Bradley Manning as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid. " Commentary in TIME and Politico strongly suggest that Crowley's resignation was a forced move by an administration that does not bear internal criticism. Politico indicates that insider sources have been heralding the replacement of Crowley - with NSC spokesman Mike Hammer - for a long time, and that the Manning incident allowed this to be expedited.
Crowley has publicly expressed his pleasure that Hammer will replace him on his twitter account. Late last week, commentators on the treatment of alleged whistleblower Bradley Manning were surprised when Crowley unequivocally criticized the Department of Defense at a small seminar in MIT on new media. “I spent 26 years in the air force. Crowley enlarged upon these statements on Friday, to ForeignPolicy.com:
PayPal Backs Down. Apparently reacting to enormous backlash from supporters and criticism in the media, PayPal has reinstated the account of Courage to Resist, an organization which has partnered with the Bradley Manning Support Network to raise funds for the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning. The change in account status came only hours after the nonprofit organization published a press release drawing attention to the matter. Over 10,000 people signed the petition hosted by Firedoglake today urging PayPal to reinstate the charitable account, while many more supporters called PayPal directly to voice their criticisms.
Within hours, PayPal responded — reinstating the account so that Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network can continue their work. Jeff Paterson, Project Director of Courage to Resist and member of the Bradley Manning Support Network’s steering committee, provided the following statement: Do more to help Bradley Manning! Sign our petition. New charge carries death penalty. High performance access to file storage The US Army has filed 22 additional charges against accused WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning, including one that carries a potential death sentence. The aiding the enemy offense filed against the Army intelligence analyst is the military equivalent of treason, but prosecutors said on Wednesday that they planned to seek only a sentence of life in prison if he is convicted on the charge. The decision ultimately rests with the presiding military judge, who would be free to sentence Manning to death if he is found guilty, according to NBC News.
Manning, 23, was arrested in May and charged in July with downloading confidential documents and later supplying them to WikiLeaks. The whistleblower website has been publishing the material since July. Pentagon and military officials told NBC News that investigators have made no direct link between Manning and Assange, and none of the charges filed against Manning make any reference to WikiLeaks. PayPal Cuts Service. UPDATE (2/24/11): PayPal has backed down and reinstated the Courage to Resist account. Read more here. The online payment provider PayPal has frozen the account of Courage to Resist, which in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network is currently raising funds in support of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. “We’ve been in discussions with PayPal for weeks, and by their own admission there’s no legal obligation for them to close down our account,” noted Loraine Reitman of the Bradley Manning Support Network (Support Network).
“We exchanged numerous emails and phone calls with the legal department and the office of executive escalations of PayPal,” explained Jeff Paterson. The Support Network repeatedly requested and was refused formal documentation from PayPal describing their policies in this matter. PayPal is a private company and thus under no legal obligation to provide Courage to Resist, the Bradley Manning Support Network, or anyone else with services. Timeline. PayPal Backs Down.
SUPPORT. NO LINK TO ENCOURAGEMENT. BM and the Rule of Law. DETENTION. COLLATERAL MURDER. Charge Sheet. The original Charge Sheet for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is appended below. There are two charges. Charge I has four (4) specifications, and Charge II has (8) specifications. The source for this document and comments is: 2010-07-06 42 comments SPECIFICATION 1: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 2: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 3: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 4: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECFICATION 1: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 2: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 3: In that Private First Class Bradley E.
SPECIFICATION 4: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 5: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 6: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 7: In that Private First Class Bradley E. SPECIFICATION 8: In that Private First Class Bradley E. Unlikely story Lamo/Wired. I’ve now gone through just about everything I can find of various accounts of what transpired between Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo, Wired and the federal government.
(A data base of all the relevant media can be found here.) And having reviewed all the material, I cannot tell you how implausible I find the cover story to be (Wired 6/6/2010, CJR 6/18 2010). Furthermore, I cannot believe that anyone of any journalistic standing has not seriously questioned it before going into print using Lamo as a source. Although Lamo’s own accounts vary, this appears to be the basic structure of events: May 20: Bradley Manning contacts Adrian Lamo via email. May 21: Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo begin chatting over IM. The code name and details of a government investigation being conducted regarding the attacks on Google, about which Lamo later claims “he could not say anything more or risk arrest for disclosing classified information.” Right. May 27: Lamo meets with Wired and hands over the chat logs. Chat Logs.