Posted on 12/20/2010 7:38:35 PM PST by Libloather
Alleged WikiLeaks source suffers out of spotlight
The Irish Times - Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Concern is growing over the harsh conditions of Bradley Manning’s detention as he awaits his court martial, writes LARA MARLOWE, Washington Correspondent
WHILE JULIAN Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, celebrated his release on bail last week with cocktails before being driven to “mansion arrest” at a 650-acre estate in Sussex, Private First Class Bradley Manning was mouldering away in solitary confinement in the brig at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia, deprived of exercise, news or even a sheet or pillow.
Assange (39) is preparing for an extradition trial in February, which will determine whether he is sent to Sweden on charges of sexual assault. Manning, who turned 23 last Friday, was arrested seven months ago in Iraq, where he served as a US army intelligence analyst. He was jailed for two months in Kuwait before being transferred to Virginia in July.
Manning is believed to have leaked the “collateral murder” video of a US Apache helicopter killing 11 people in Baghdad in 2007, including two Reuters journalists. Two children were wounded in the same attack. The classified video was published by WikiLeaks in April.
Manning is also suspected of having provided hundreds of thousands of documents, many of them classified, about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and US diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks.
Manning was charged on June 6th with two counts of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including eight criminal offences and four non-criminal violations of army regulations. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are arguing about who should conduct his psychiatric evaluation.
Jeff Paterson, the project director of Courage to Resist and a member of the Bradley Manning Support Group, said a pre-trial hearing will be held in February or March, the court martial about six months later. If convicted, Manning could face 52 years in prison.
It is not clear whether Assange was a passive recipient of the material leaked by Manning, or a co-conspirator who may have provided him with software that enabled him to download material from a classified military computer. It is believed that the two never met, but communicated via an encrypted message service.
Assange told ABC News that “WikiLeak’s technology (was) designed ... to make sure that we never know the identities or names of people submitting us material.” After the Senate repealed the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving openly in the US military last weekend, US media began asking whether Manning was a victim of the discriminatory policy. “Back in Manning’s home town, they’re wondering if his troubled home life and his service in an army that would not allow him to be openly gay had an impact on his decision to leak sensitive documents,” NBC News reported from Crescent, Oklahoma.
On December 15th, a report entitled “The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning’s detention” on the widely read liberal website salon.com quoted “several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning’s detention”, including Lt Brian Villiard, a Quantico brig official.
Manning is kept in his cell for 23 hours each day, is barred from exercising in his cell on the grounds he might injure himself, and is under constant surveillance. He has been denied a pillow or sheets, is allowed no access to news or current events programmes during the hour he is taken out, and is regularly administered anti-depressants. In his one hour outside the cell, Manning takes a shower and walks.
“His primary objection to the conditions is that he is being deprived of exercise,” Mr Paterson said. David House, an MIT student who is Manning’s most frequent visitor, says his physical condition is visibly deteriorating because of inactivity and sleep deprivation. Guards wake him up often during the night, ostensibly to be sure he is well. “The conditions of his detention amount to torture,” Mr Paterson said.
Hundreds of new people have contacted the support group in the five days since the conditions of Manning’s imprisonment were revealed. Mr Paterson said the group has raised $130,000. “We are well on the way to being able to cover all his defence expenses.”
To some, like Roger Campbell, a Marine interviewed by NBC in Manning’s home town, the army private is a traitor who should be executed. To the support group, whose advisory board members include the filmmaker Michael Moore, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and former State Department and CIA officials, Manning is a hero.
“Expose War Crime. Free Bradley Manning,” said the placards at a rally at Washington’s Lafayette Park on December 16th. Daniel Ellsberg, now 79, compared his own leaking of the Pentagon’s secret history of the Vietnam War to Manning’s action, calling Manning a “brother” who committed “a very admirable act.” Manning is a dual US and British citizen, because his mother Susan is Welsh.
He had an unhappy childhood in Oklahoma and Wales, where he was reportedly teased for being gay, drinking Dr Pepper, having an American accent and spending so much time in front of the computer. Manning returned from Wales to Oklahoma, but his father kicked him out of the house when he learned he was gay.
Say again? It had an impact, so what? This whack job is pissed at the whole world. I suppose when the pyschologist is done confirming he is crazy, they will let him out for this crime and then he will go postal somewhere and the libs will blame the military for letting him out. (can I say postal?)
Liars... he gets to watch TV news on a TV rolled up to his cell according tothe original whiney bleedingheart report. He just doesn't get to have the thing in his cell.
Meanwhile we are still waiting for that Libyan terrorist the bleedinghearts were claiming was on "death's door" years ago to kick the bucket.
LOL took the words out of my mouth
I suppose just because you made me laugh you think you’re funny.........
“The conditions of his detention amount to torture”
I bet the people who are now hunted in Afghanistan and Iraq would gladly trade places. F%#@ing scum bag needs executed soon.
Yeah, drinking Dr. Pepper always made me feel sullen and rejected. I had to fight the urge to commit treason.
/s
Manning’s motivation for his treason was that he supposedly broke up with his ‘boyfriend’ and was upset about DADT. His efforts were rewarded on Saturday, courtesy traitors like Gates and Mullen. For all practical purposes, Bradley Manning is the poster-boy for the new homosexual American military. Pardon me while I vomit. Evil has truly descended on this country.
I suppose just because you made me laugh you think you’re funny.........
Later in the article it says he gets an hour a day to shower and walk. This is certainly not being "deprived of excercise."
Lib press can't even keep their stories straight in the text of one article.
Ellsberg, you filthy POS, you nutcases encouraged young messed up suckers like this to do your treasonous dirty work for you knowing full well they could get prison time or worse, while you and your fellow travelers could milk leftwing dupes worldwide for donations to cover "lawyer fees" and "PR campaigns" when your lawyer buddies defend him and the money will roll in whether you are successful or not, so it matters not what becomes of the guy or what crime he committed. Madoff would be proud. How much money did the lefty lawyers make off that douchebag Mumia, I wonder?
Put him out of his misery,They still have firing squads?
“..He’d be eating bread and water if I had any say in it..”
I’d change his diet to Ex Lax and water.
What ???
No cookies, hot cocoa, and nightly reading to him of “Goodnight Moon” before being tucked in ???
PFC Bradley Manning doesn’t get a pillow
************************************************
He doesn’t need one, does he? He’s in solitary, correct?
Now, if he is moved into general...
“Daniel Ellsberg, now 79, compared his own leaking of the Pentagon’s secret history of the Vietnam War to Manning’s action”
Hey, am I dreaming? Or has Ellsberg just given the FBI grounds to throw his own sorry ass in the Brig? Maybe Manning finally has a room mate!
I have read that everyone in his unit knew he was gay, including his CO.He made no secret of it, it seems. I guess it was because they wouldn’t let him celebrate Gay-Pride Day, or something. Or maybe he was just squirming because people looked at him the wrong way. These sensitive types, doesn’t take much to set them off.
Those women will make him sh*t in his boot and eat it.
Another reason to keep sexual deviants out of the military. They are inherently unstable.
They sure are
We really need to go back to the Founders’ method: hanging.
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