Dan Ellsberg and 'Saving Private Manning' Share After many months in the shadows, Pvt. Bradley Manning, who sits in the brig at the Quantico base in Virginia in near-solitary confinement, has recently drawn some high-level defenders, from Hillary Clinton’s former chief spokesman at the State Department to editors at the New York Times and the Guardian. But none of them stand by Manning for his alleged crimes—he’s accused of leaking a massive number of classified documents to WikiLeaks—but instead protest the conditions of his harsh confinement. One person, however, has spoken up for Manning for his actual (alleged) actions as a whistleblower ever since his arrest last May. That would be Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers four decades ago. I’ve known Ellsberg pretty well for almost thirty years (and he turns 80 tomorrow), so this doesn’t surprise me one bit.
And the logs, Ellsberg noted, indicate that Manning had no intention of aiding any enemy. About ten days later, P.J. Former Quantico Comm. Objects to treatment. Via WarIsACrime.org, here’s a powerful letter to General James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, by retired Marine Corps captain David C. MacMichael, the former commander of Headquarters Company at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Virginia, where Pfc Bradley Manning, the young soldier accused of providing a trove of classified US government documents to WikiLeaks, is being held in conditions that amount to prolonged solitary confinement, as I explained in a recent article, Is Bradley Manning Being Held as Some Sort of “Enemy Combatant”? Capt. MacMichael makes a number of valid and powerful points, in particular asking why Manning is being held for so long before trial (in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights), and also questioning his conditions of confinement.
On the first point, he states, “I question the length of confinement prior to conduct of court-martial. General James F. Dear General Amos: This is not to equate North’s case with Manning. Sincerely, David C. Tortured? Dec. 18, 2010 Bradley Manning’s health is declining as the private of the US army accused of leaking documents to Wikileaks has been in prison for 7 months without a trial. Manning’s supporters say he has been detained and is the subject of harassment, intimidation and bribery charges from the US government have been attempted and are being brought to light.
Most likely the scenario is that US government agents are giving him the option to lie about his relationship with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and turn evidence against him. News comes from David House who is a computer researcher who has visited Bradley Manning several times a month that his health is deteriorating. House has noticed a decline in Manning’s mental and physical well being due to solitary confinement. House claims on a recent vacation to Mexico, several agents from Homeland Security detained him for questioning, causing him to miss his flight connection.
Source: UK Guardian David Coombs We Stand with Brad. Kucinich demands visit with accused Wikileaks source | Raw Story. By Friday, February 4, 2011 19:33 EDT A liberal congressman has demanded a chance to visit with accused secrets leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is being held in US military custody. “As you know, I am concerned about reports of his treatment while in custody that describe alarming abuses of his constitutional rights and his physical health,” Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates Friday. He continued, “His care while in the custody of the Department of Defense is the responsibility of the U.S. Recent reports have suggested that Manning’s condition has declined visibly during six months in solitary confinement. “If true, the Army’s treatment would obviously constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Rep. Kucinich urged that Manning be immediately provided with a mental health specialist should the accusations of unfair treatment before his deployment to Iraq prove correct. BM Incommunicado. On Jan 7, 2011, I spoke by phone (703-432-0289) to Lt. Brian Villiard, PR officer for Quantico Marine Base. He was courteous and responsive. It is his role to explain policies and procedures, not to enforce them. The information in italics is what Villiard told me: Quantico Marine Brig is the pretrial confinement facility for the Washington, DC, region for persons awaiting trial or on trial in all branches of the military.
There is a different area in the brig for detainees held in "solitary confinement. " The military distinguishes between being held in a solitary cell for 23 hours per day and being held in "solitary confinement" . . . a fine point, indeed. In order to visit Manning, he must put your name on his visitors' list. Manning is permitted to receive mail, but only if he puts the name of the sender on his list of people whom he will "allow" to send him mail. Bradley Manning is effectively shut off from receiving all mail from well-wishers. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. In Jerusalem. Inhumane imprisonment. Pfc. Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst suspected of providing documents to WikiLeaks, can't reasonably complain that the military has him in custody. But the conditions under which he is being held at the Marine detention center at Quantico, Va., are so harsh as to suggest he is being punished for conduct of which he hasn't been convicted.
Manning has been charged with unlawfully downloading classified information and transmitting it "with reason to believe that the information could cause injury to the United States. " He has been incarcerated at Quantico for five months and has yet to receive the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing. Nevertheless, Manning is in "maximum custody. " Some speculate that by treating Manning harshly, officials hope to induce him to implicate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (though Assange would be subject to civilian, not military, justice).
Manning's status is periodically reviewed. Left Naked in Cell. Ten Liberal Perspectives on Manning - Matthew Shaffer. Yesterday, P. J. Crowley was forced to an early resignation from his post as State Department spokesman. His blunder? At an event at MIT last Thursday, he said that “what is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the Department of Defense,” and that Manning was being mistreated.
President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s State Department evidently thought those comments went beyond the pale and eagerly accepted his resignation. Afterwards, Obama publicly stated that he had “asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of [Manning’s] confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.” But liberal intellectuals and activists have gone much farther than Crowley. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Dr. A. Gawande: Solitary Confinement = Torture. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: I want to switch gears for a moment. You wrote a remarkable piece about the effects of solitary confinement on prisoners, on people who have been held in isolation for a long time. On this issue, I just want to turn to the case of the four prisoners in a supermax prison, the Ohio State Penitentiary.
This week they launched a hunger strike to protest what they call their harsh mistreatment under solitary confinement. The prisoners — Bomani Shakur, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Namir Abdul Mateen — were sentenced to death for their involvement in the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio. For over 17 years, they’ve been held in 23-hours-a-day solitary lockdown. STAUGHTON LYND: They are held in more restrictive confinement than the more than 100 other death sentence prisoners in the same prison. GLENN GREENWALD: He’s been held for seven months without being convicted of any crime. DR. DR. DR. Punishing Pfc. Manning. Illustrating 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. FOR THE RECORD: Manning: A March 15 editorial said that new charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning were filed last week. Manning, who is being held in the brig at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, has been confined to "maximum custody. " 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. Pfc. Bradley Manning doesn’t deserve humiliating treatment. IF THE ALLEGATIONS are true, Pfc. Bradley Manning facilitated a damaging breach of national security by funneling thousands of classified documents to the rogue Web site WikiLeaks.
But even if so, Mr. Manning does not appear to deserve the treatment he has been receiving at the military brig in Quantico, Va. Mr. Manning, who could face life behind bars if convicted, has been held in maximum security at the Virginia facility since July. He spends 23 hours a day in his cell. For three days in January, Mr. Senior Defense Department officials say the current level of security is appropriate because of the seriousness of the charges against Mr. Some at the Defense Department may feel pressured to exercise all precautions to prevent harm from befalling Mr.
The episodes of forced nudity are particularly disturbing. Before abruptly resigning his post this week, State Department spokesman P.J. The Abuse of Private Manning. Marines change commander. Pfc. Bradley Manning 's attorney has complained that Manning is being unfairly treated in detention. The change of commander is not in response to attorney's complaint, Marines contendManning's attorney filed the complaint after Manning was put on suicide watchHe has been moved back to "prevention of injury" watch status Washington (CNN) -- The Marines have changed the commander of the detention facility where WikiLeaks suspect Pfc.
Bradley Manning is being held, days after his attorney filed a complaint claiming that Manning is being unfairly treated in detention. Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart, who had been in charge of the detention facility at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, was replaced by Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes, Quantico spokesman Lt. The change in command was ordered back in October and is not related to the concerns raised by Manning's lawyer, said Villiard. "We are hopeful that she will do a complete review of Pfc.