Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Bradley Manning wanted no part of the 'American massacres'. Maybe they will be executed, although I prefer they were tortured first by the Americans, after all they are so good at it...
http://bushandblairbonesmeniwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2011/03/america-mongeress-hilary-clinton-when.html
http://bushandblairbonesmeniwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2011/03/httpwww_28.html
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Welsh supporters for Bradley Manning, this page has sinced been removed but luckily it was cached.
Campaigners from Wales have travelled to London to protest over the alleged treatment of a US Army private accused of leaking confidential papers.
But there has been mounting concern about the conditions he is being held in at a military prison.
Rallies highlighting his plight were held across the US, Canada and Europe.
The 23-year-old's mother is Welsh and still lives in Pembrokeshire, where he grew up from 13 to 17.
He went to Tasker Milward school in Haverfordwest, where the now retired deputy head teacher, John Broughton remembers him as "a very pleasant lad".
Pte Manning was a US intelligence analyst in Iraq "Her sister went with her to the prison. Her sister was not allowed in so she couldn't speak to her son and she's been very, very upset ever since."
Last week Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd tabled a Commons motion on the issue.
"I think it is a serious case," she told BBC Wales.
"He's being held in solitary confinement, he's kept in his cell for 23 hours a day, not allowed to exercise, he's stripped of all his clothes during the night, he is not permitted to sleep during the day.
'Innocent personality'
"Organisations like Amnesty International have already put out several press releases saying that Manning is being subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."
In her early day motion, Ms Clwyd calls on the UK government to raise the issue with US counterparts, and to ensure the soldier's "detention conditions are humane" at the US Quantico marine base.
The issue of Pte Manning's treatment has been raised with President Obama.
He said he had received assurances that the terms of Pte Manning's confinement were "appropriate".
Despite his Welsh mother, it is understood that Pte Manning does not have a British passport, and has not asked for UK assistance.
But his connections have prompted some to organise buses to join a rally in London on Sunday against his detention.
Speaking before the demonstration Ms Moller said: "Whether he is innocent of what he is charged with I don't know, but he is an innocent personality.
"He is young, he is well motivated, and I know that sensory deprivation like isolation is one of the cruellest things you can do to a person.
"When I realised there was a Welsh connection, I felt that Wales could do something about it."
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FJhWS4Ocnh8J:www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12800705+bradley+manning+23+march+2011&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The irony, images are leaked, Clinton apologizes while she continues to support the torture of Bradley Manning who is alleged to have leaked just this sort of information...information that we, as the public, have a right to see. Clinton it would appear has no problem with her American soldiers just so long as they do not get caught in such repulsive acts of torture and murder...what does that say about her '
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The United States and NATO are concerned that reactions could be intense to the publication of images documenting killings committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan. The images appeared in the most recent edition of SPIEGEL, which hit the newsstands on Monday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already telephoned with her Afghan counterpart to discuss the situation. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon has likewise made contact with officials in Kabul. The case threatens to strain already fragile US-Afghan relations at a time when the two countries are negotiating over the establishment of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan.
In a statement released by Colonel Thomas Collins, the US Army, which is currently preparing a court martial to try a total of 12 suspects in connection with the killings, apologized for the suffering the photos have caused. The actions depicted in the photos, the statement read, are "repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States."
The suspected perpetrators are part of a group of US soldiers accused of several killings. Their court martials are expected to start soon. The photos, the army statement said, stand "in stark contrast to the discipline, professionalism and respect that have characterized our soldiers' performance during nearly 10 years of sustained operations."
Major Public Backlash
At NATO headquarters, there are fears that the coming days could see angry protests in Afghanistan or even potential attacks against NATO units. "The images have an enormous potential here in Afghanistan," one NATO general told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Experience shows that it might take a couple of days, but then people's anger will be vented."
NATO, under the leadership of the US Army, has been preparing for possible publication of the photos for close to 100 days. In dozens of high-level talks with their Afghan partners, military leaders have sought to pursue the same strategy used by the US diplomatic corps in the case of the sensitive diplomatic cables released late last year by WikiLeaks. They warned those most directly affected and made preparations for the photos' appearance in the public sphere. This "strategic communication" was aimed at preventing a major public backlash.
The high ranks of those involved in the talks show just how seriously Washington has taken the problem. US Vice President Joe Biden recently spoke about the case with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The head of all NATO troops in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, likewise met with Karzai.
By apologizing and by promising that those responsible will be prosecuted, the US is hoping to prevent Karzai from making any angry public statements on the case.
Whether the effort will ultimately be successful remains to be seen. On Tuesday, Karzai is scheduled to address his country to talk about the transfer of responsibility for his country's security from NATO to Afghanistan. With him will be members of the NATO leadership and the US ambassador to Afghanistan. Karzai's address contains no mention of the so-called "kill team," but the Afghan president is notorious for being unpredictable.
Political Conflict with the US
Observers say the fact that there hasn't been any serious reaction or demonstrations so far doesn't mean the danger has passed. One fact could be that Monday is a holiday in Afghanistan. A high-ranking official in the Afghan Foreign Ministry, who is close to President Karzai, said he believed the development would trigger a serious political conflict with the US.
"I assume we won't see the full effect of this matter until tomorrow, at the very soonest, when people return to work. Many people have Monday off," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He said the incidents had been "too outrageous" not to spark protests. "That this is engaging people can be seen by the fact that it is already being discussed on the Internet," he added.
In neighboring Pakistan, where relations with the United States are likewise strained, officials are also watching the matter closely. "We are acknowledging it, but for now it is a matter for the Afghan government to make any charges," a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said. The release of CIA employee Raymond Davis, who shot two men at the end of January and was let go after paying blood money, as well as the increase in US drone attacks in the western part of the country, triggered angry protests in Pakistan.
The SPIEGEL story printed on Monday includes new details about a series of murders of innocent Afghans committed by a group of US soldiers. One of the accused, Corporal Jeremy Morlock, 22, confessed to the murders three months ago. Morlock is scheduled to face a general court-martial on Thursday. In total, 12 US soldiers who were allegedly part of what has been described as a "kill team" in Afghanistan are expected to go on trial soon.
'They Mowed Him Down'
The piece in SPIEGEL reconstructs some of the atrocities and includes three previously unknown photographs. Among other things, they show two of the suspected killers posing next to a corpse. The victim in the image is Gul Mudin, an Afghan man killed on Jan. 15, 2010 in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. In total, SPIEGEL and SPIEGEL TV has obtained a significant number of photos and videos.
The suspects are accused of having killed civilians for no reason and then of trying to make it look as though the killings had been acts of self-defense. Some of the accused have said the acts had been tightly scripted.
In one incident, which has been reconstructed based on documents from the investigation, the soldiers themselves detonate a hand grenade in order to make it look like they were the subjects of an attack before killing a man. One of those who allegedly participated, Adam Winfield, 21, described the incident to his father in a chat on the social networking site Facebook. "They made it look like the guy threw a grenade at them and mowed him down," SPIEGEL quotes Winfield as having written in the chat.
In a second incident on Feb. 22, 2010, one of the members of the "kill team" who had been carrying an old Russian Kalashnikov, fired it before pulling out another gun and shooting 22-year-old Afghan Marach Agha. In a third incident on May 2, 2010, it appears that a hand grenade attack was again staged before the shooting and killing of Mullah Allah Dad.
The 12 men are also facing further charges of desecration of corpses, illegal possession of photos of corpses, drug abuse and acts of bodily injury against comrades.
-- with wire reports and additional reporting by Yassin Musharbash
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,752310,00.html
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Bradley Manning's military doctors accused over treatment
WikiLeaks suspect treated cruelly, says rights group, which accuses psychiatrists of 'violating ethical duties'
A leading group of doctors in the US concerned with the ethical treatment of patients has questioned the role of military psychiatrists in Quantico, Virginia, where the suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning is being subjected to harsh treatment that some call torture.
The advocacy body Physicians for Human Rights has sounded the alarm over the role of psychiatrists at the brig in the marine base where Manning has been in custody since last July.
Christy Fujio, author of a forthcoming report on the issue, said the main concern was that psychiatrists were allowing Manning's continuing solitary confinement.
"Even if they do not officially approve it, by continuing to examine him and report back to the government on his condition, they are effectively taking part in security operations. Their failure to call it what it is, cruel and inhumane treatment, constitutes a violation of their ethical duties as doctors."
Manning has been charged with passing a mountain of digital US state secrets to WikiLeaks. He is under a prevention of injury order, or PoI, that requires him to be kept alone in a cell for 23 hours a day and to be checked every five minutes. Since earlier this month, he has also been stripped naked each night and made to parade in front of officers.
Manning himself says the conditions amount to pre-trial punishment provoked by a sarcastic remark he made to guards.
Last night, Manning's father, Brian, also denounced the way his son is being treated.
He told the Frontline programme on US public television: "It's shocking enough that I would come out of our silence as a family and say, 'No, you've crossed a line. This is wrong.'" And he referred to the Guantánamo detention facility for terror suspects, saying: "They worry about people down in a base in Cuba, but here we have someone on our own soil under our own control, and they are treating him in this way".
Official records kept at the brig, released recently by Manning's lawyer, reveal that between last August and January military psychiatrists made no fewer than 16 recommendations to their military commanders that Manning should be taken off the PoI restrictions because he was no threat to himself.
Typical of the entries was that of 29 October 2010, which stated that Manning "was evaluated by the brig psychiatrist and found fit to be removed from prevention of injury classification from a psychiatric standpoint".
Only once in that five-month period did the psychiatrists conclude that the prisoner should be subjected to the restrictions. Despite the clear medical opinion given, brig commanders have repeatedly ignored the advice and retained the harsh regime. That is, Physicians for Human Rights says, an indication the US government is breaking its own clear rules.
"That is a huge problem, as it is designed to break a person down psychologically.
Solitary confinement is a form of sensory deprivation, and if you are depriving a person of the human contact they need that can amount to torture." She added: "In the US, if a patient was treated in a psychiatric hospital in the same way the military is treating Manning, the federal government would stamp all over it … [it] is disobeying its own rules."
The controversy has reached to the heart of the Obama administration.
This week, state department spokesman PJ Crowley resigned, having called the confinement "ridiculous and stupid" and warned it could damage the global standing of the US.
Obama himself was forced to defend the regime, saying he had been "assured" by the Pentagon it was in Manning's own interests.
While the Quantico psychiatrists are given credit for having consistently argued that Manning should be removed from the current extreme regime, there are serious questions about whether they are doing enough to force change.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Bradley Manning: Cruel and unusual
It is now nearly a decade since 9/11, and in the aftermath of that atrocity the US "lost a little of its greatness", in the words of one courageous military lawyer, David Frakt. Mr Frakt was protesting to a military commission of "the pointless and sadistic treatment of … a suicidal teenager", a Guantanamo inmate put in solitary, then systematically sleep-deprived by being shifted from cell to cell every couple of hours. There was at least the ghost of an excuse for bullying and sometimes torturing Arab and Afghan "combatants". It was done in the name of saving American lives.
There is no such need for the cruel mistreatment now reported as being practised on one of their own, the diminutive US private Bradley Manning. Yet when Hilary Clinton's spokesman, PJ Crowley, wisely pointed this out – calling the treatment "counterproductive and stupid" – he had to resign.
Mr Manning is accused of giving Wikileaks the video of a helicopter killing civilians in Baghdad, the logs documenting disasters of war in Afghanistan, and the 250,000 diplomatic cables which have shed such a dramatic light on world affairs.
As a result, Mr Manning is made to stand naked outside his cell this morning, and apparently on all future mornings. This is the culmination of a punitive regime which has gone on for 10 months under which, although untried and unconvicted, he is not allowed to sleep or exercise in his cell during the day, is denied any personal possessions and is barred from conversing with the guards.
Every five minutes he is required to answer that he is fit and, if he turns his face away while asleep, he is immediately forcibly woken up.
In an Orwellian trick, this is dubbed "prevention of injury" for his own protection. When Manning finally protested, sarcastically, that he could no doubt injure himself with the boxer shorts which are all that he is left with at night, the boxer shorts, too, were taken away. This regime of near-torture is perhaps designed to break him, in the hope he will incriminate WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange and other associates on some conspiracy charge. Yet is that sensible?
So far, the reaction of the Obama administration to the leaks has been relatively measured. It is tacitly accepted that no lives have been lost, and US diplomacy has not collapsed in the sunlight.
Perhaps these frank assessments of corruption even emboldened the uprising against tyranny in places such as Tunisia.
It would send a dire message to other tyrannies if the US itself responds to a leak as if it were itself a tyranny. It was, after all, the US top brass who failed to look after their data. We have not seen any heads roll there yet.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Bradley Manning being mistreated, says Hillary Clinton spokesman
PJ Crowley says Pentagon is being 'ridiculous and stupid' by subjecting WikiLeaks suspect to punitive conditions in jail
Hillary Clinton's spokesman has launched a public attack on the Pentagon for the way it is treating military prisoner Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of handing the US embassy cables to WikiLeaks.
PJ Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs at the US state department, said Manning was being "mistreated" in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence," he said.Crowley's comments signal a crack within the Obama administration over the handling of the WikiLeaks saga in which hundreds of thousands of confidential documents were handed to the website.
As news of the remarks rippled through Washington, President Obama was forced to address the subject of Manning's treatment for the first time.
Asked about the controversy at a White House press conference, Obama revealed he had asked the Pentagon "whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are."
Obama would not respond specifically to Crowley's comments, which are the first critical remarks from within the administration about the handling of Manning. The prisoner is being held for 23 hours in solitary confinement in his cell and stripped naked every night.
Until now the US government had presented a united front, promising to aggressively pursue anyone involved in leaking state secrets. Clinton herself described the WikiLeaks material as "an attack on America" and said "we are taking aggressive steps" to hold those who leaked it to account.
Manning has been charged with handing state secrets to an unauthorised party. The charges include aiding the enemy, which can carry the death penalty.
Crowley, speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, did say he believed Manning was "in the right place". He was presumably referring to Quantico, where the intelligence specialist has been held pending a court martial since July last year.
Crowley said: "There is sometimes a need for secrets for diplomatic progress to be made." But when asked by one of the audience what he thought about the "elephant in the room" – the US "torturing a prisoner in a military brig" – he replied without pausing that he thought the Pentagon's actions were "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid".
Details of Crowley's comments, which he said were on the record, were posted on the personal blog of Philippa Thomas, a BBC news correspondent on sabbatical doing a Nieman journalism fellowship at Harvard. The remarks were corroborated by another blogger at the seminar. The comments are likely to encourage protesters who have maintained steady pressure on the Pentagon.
The UN is investigating whether the treatment amounts to torture.
This week, in a legal letter, Manning gave his own description of conditions in the brig. "The determination to strip me of all my clothing every night since 2 March 2011 is without justification and therefore constitutes unlawful pretrial punishment," he wrote. The 11-page legal letter provided a rare insight into the state of mind of the prisoner, who has been held in solitary confinement for 10 months.
After he was arrested in Iraq in May, he was initially held in Kuwait before being transferred to Quantico in July. Manning says in the letter that he is being "left to languish under the unduly harsh conditions of max [security] custody".
He describes being stripped and made to stand naked for inspection. "The guard told me to stand at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes. The [brig supervisor] and the other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked."
Manning and his lawyer David Coombs have been trying to convince the military authorities that he is psychologically healthy and does not need such a harsh regime. His supporters argue the treatment is punitive and designed to force him into a coerced confession.
The words of Bradley Manning...
Since the beginning of this month, Bradley Manning has been stripped naked every night and made to parade in front of his officers and guards in the nude. It started on 2 March when Manning was informed that his attempt to have his harsh treatment in prison ameliorated had been unsuccessful. This is an edited version of his description of what happened next:
Understandably frustrated by this decision after enduring over seven months of unduly harsh confinement conditions, I asked the brig operations officer, MSG Papakie, what I needed to do in order to be downgraded from maximum custody and prevention of injury status. MSG Papakie responded by telling me that there was nothing I could do to downgrade my detainee status and that the brig simply considered me a risk of self-harm.
Out of frustration, I responded that the PoI restrictions were absurd and sarcastically told him if I really wanted to harm myself, that I could conceivably do so with the elastic waistband of my underwear or with my flip-flops.
Later that same day, I was told that I would be stripped naked at night due to something that I had said to MSG Papakie. Shocked, I replied that I hadn't said anything. I had just pointed out the absurdity of my current confinement conditions.
Without consulting any brig mental health provider, chief warrant officer Denise Barnes used my sarcastic comment as justification to increase the restrictions imposed upon me under the guise of being concerned that I was a suicide risk.
I was not, however, placed under the designation of suicide risk. This is because suicide risk would have required a brig mental health provider's recommendation in order for the added restrictions to continue.
In response to this specific incident, the brig psychiatrist met with me. After speaking to me, he assessed me as "low risk and requiring only routine outpatient follow-up [with] no need for … closer clinical observation". In particular, he indicated that my statement about the waist band of my underwear was in no way prompted by "a psychiatric condition".
Since 2 March 2011, I have been stripped of all my clothing at night. I have been told that the PCF commander intends on continuing this practice indefinitely. Initially, after surrendering my clothing to the brig guards, I had no choice but to lay naked in my cold jail cell until the following morning.
The next morning I was told to get out of my bed for the morning duty brig supervisor (DBS) inspection. I was not given any of my clothing back. I got out of the bed and immediately started to shiver because of how cold it was in my cell. I walked towards the front of my cell with my hands covering my genitals. The guard told me to stand at parade rest, which required me to stand with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder width apart. I stood at "parade rest" for about three minutes until the DBS arrived. Once the DBS arrived, everyone was called to attention. The DBS and the other guards walked past my cell. The DBS looked at me, paused for a moment, and then continued to the next detainee's cell.
I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked.
After the DBS completed his inspection, I was told to go and sit on my bed.
About 10 minutes later I was given my clothes and allowed to get dressed.
After apparent outside pressure on the brig due to my mistreatment, I was given a suicide prevention article of clothing called a "smock" by the guards. Although I am still required to strip naked in my cell at night, I am now given the "smock" to wear. At first, I did not want to wear this item of clothing due to how coarse it was and how uncomfortable it felt.
However, the brig now orders me to wear the "smock" at night.
Given the above circumstances, the decision to strip me of my clothing every night for an indefinite period of time is clearly punitive in nature.
There is no mental health justification for the decision. I am under 24-hour surveillance, with guards never being more than a few feet away from my cell. I am permitted to have my underwear and clothing during the day, with no apparent concern that I will harm myself during this time period.
The determination to strip me of all my clothing every night since 2 March 2011 is without justification and therefore constitutes unlawful pretrial punishment.
Under my current restrictions, in addition to being stripped at night, I am essentially held in solitary confinement. For 23 hours per day, I sit alone in my cell. The guards check on me every five minutes during the day by asking me if I am OK. I am required to respond in some affirmative manner.
At night, if the guards cannot see me clearly, because I have a blanket over my head or I am curled up towards the wall, they will wake me in order to ensure that I am OK. I receive each of my meals in my cell. I am not allowed to have a pillow or sheets. I am not allowed to have any personal items in my cell. I am only allowed to have one book or one magazine at a time to read. The book or magazine is taken from me at the end of the day before I go to sleep. I am prevented from exercising in my cell. If I attempt to do push-ups, sit-ups, or any other form of exercise I am forced to stop.
Finally, I receive only one hour of exercise outside of my cell daily. My exercise is usually limited to me walking figures of eight in an empty room.
Bradley Manning the heartbreaking words that would leave any mother broken in two. If Bradley were my son I would be worried and afraid for him but so very,very proud. Bradley Manning is alleged to have leaked 'State Secrets' Bradley has not leaked secrets . Bradley has leaked the truth and the American Goverment just can't stand it. AMERICA now stands naked, as naked as they force sweet Bradley to stand each and every night..The real America has been EXPOSED and it is an ugly,ugly sight......
Stripped naked every night, Bradley Manning tells of prison ordeal
US soldier held on suspicion of leaking state secrets speaks out for first time about experience
'Stripping me of all of my clothing is without justification'
'Stripping me of all of my clothing is without justification'
Bradley Manning, the US soldier being held in solitary confinement on suspicion of having released state secrets to WikiLeaks, has spoken out for the first time about what he claims is his punitive and unlawful treatment in military prison.
It is the first time Manning has spoken publicly about his treatment, having previously only been heard through the intermediaries of his lawyer and a friend. Details that have emerged up to now have inspired the UN to launch an inquiry into whether the conditions amount to torture, and have led to protests to the US government from Amnesty International.
The most graphic passage of the letter is Manning's description of how he was placed on suicide watch for three days from 18 January. "I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness."
Manning writes that he believes the suicide watch was imposed not because he was a danger to himself but as retribution for a protest about his treatment held outside Quantico the day before. Immediately before the suicide watch started, he said guards verbally harassed him, taunting him with conflicting orders.
When he was told he was being put on suicide watch, he writes, "I became upset. Out of frustration, I clenched my hair with my fingers and yelled: 'Why are you doing this to me? Why am I being punished?
I have done nothing wrong.'"
He also describes the experience of being stripped naked at night and made to stand for parade in the nude, a condition that continues to this day. "The guard told me to stand at parade rest, with my hands behind my back and my legs spaced shoulder-width apart. I stood at parade rest for about three minutes … The [brig supervisor] and the other guards walked past my cell. He looked at me, paused for a moment, then continued to the next cell. I was incredibly embarrassed at having all these people stare at me naked."
Manning has been charged with multiple counts relating to the leaking of hundreds of thousands of secret US government cables, videos and warlogs from Iraq and Afghanistan to WikiLeaks. The charges include "aiding the enemy", which can carry the death penalty.
The legal letter was addressed to the US military authorities and was drawn up in response to their recent decision to keep Manning on a restriction order called Prevention of Injury (PoI). It means he is kept in his cell alone for 23 hours a day and checked every five minutes by guards including, if necessary, through the night.
Sixteen separate entries made from 27 August until the records stop on 28 January show that Manning was evaluated by prison psychiatrists who found he was not a danger to himself and should be removed from the PoI order.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/stripped-naked-bradley-manning-prison?CMP=twt_gu
Thursday, March 10, 2011
7/7 London Bombings whitewash...It is a great shame England does not have a Bradley Manning. Someone is needed to leak documents of the cover -up to the carnage that took place on London's streets. The Internet serves a great purpose for moving information around but if it is not in the mainstream media, the majority of people remain unaware of what is really happening in Goverments and how we are fed what they want us to believe is the truth.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Nothing to do with Bradley Manning's situation. But these links take you to hell...and dehumanise you to such an extent, one is capable in the end of almost anything. AND there is little doubt Bradley Manning is being made an example of...
Silverstein claims that "no human contact” status is essentially a form of torture reserved for those who kill correctional officers.
"When an inmate kills a guard, he must be punished," a BOP official told author Pete Earley. "We can’t execute Silverstein, so we have no choice but to make his life a living hell.
Otherwise other inmates will kill guards too. There has to be some supreme punishment. Every convict knows what Silverstein is going through. We want them to realize that if they cross the same line that he did, they will pay a heavy price.
" [3] Ted Sellers, a former convict who met Silverstein during 25 years spent in jail, said he became a "legend" at Leavenworth
Sellers told BBC News Online, "He is not as bad as they portray. Sure he is dangerous if they push him to the wall. But there were some dirty rotten guards at Marion.... They would purposely screw you around. You are dealing with a person locked up 23 hours a day. Of course he's got a short fuse."[2]
Thomas Silverstein
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Kucinich compares Bradley Manning detention to Abu Ghraib
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning
(Credit: AP/Grpahics Bank) Manning was forced Wednesday night to sleep naked in his cell at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., the Marines confirmed Friday. First Lt. Brian Villiard called it a "situationally driven" event, but would not elaborate on what led to the stripping of Manning, the Associated Press reports. The actions were described as "not punitive."
"Is this Quantico or Abu Ghraib?" Kucinich said in a statement today. "Officials have confirmed the 'non-punitive' stripping of an American soldier who has not been found guilty of any crime. This 'non-punitive' action would be considered a violation of the Army Field Manual if used in an interrogation overseas. The justification for and purpose of this action certainly raises questions of 'cruel and unusual punishment,' and could constitute a potential violation of international law."
The congressman cited the Army Field Manuel, which states: "If used in conjunction with intelligence interrogations, prohibited actions include, but are not limited to- Forcing the detainee to be naked, perform sexual acts or pose in a sexual manner."
Kucinich said he has repeatedly requested to visit Manning, in order to observe the conditions of his detainment. Manning has been held in restrictive conditions at Quantico since July 2010, and some have questioned why the legal proceedings against him have taken so long.
This week, the Army filed 22 additional charges against him and for the first time formally accused Manning of aiding the enemy, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported.
"My request to visit with Pfc. Manning must not be delayed further," Kucinich said today.
Secretary of the United States Army John McHugh said in a letter to Kucinich that Manning's "pretrial confinement is in compliance with United States law and Department of Defense and Department of Navy policy and regulations, which are consistent with U.S. constitutional requirements."
However, Manning's attorney David Coombs said in his blog, "There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning."
Coombs writes in his blog that Manning is the only detainee at Quantico that is being held both in maximum custody and under Prevention of Injury (POI) watch -- over the recommendation of mental health professionals who have indicated that Manning is not a risk to himself or to others.
WikiLeaks suspect forced to sleep naked in brig WikiLeaks: Bradley Manning faces 22 new charges
Special Section: WikiLeaks
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20039445-503544.html
Bradley Manning is propably naked right now...what next rape with a foreign object..in military hands anything is possible and quite probable.
Julian Assange claims he fears extradition to Sweden because the U.S. will rendition him, possibly to Gitmo, where he’ll be killed or tortured or both. Any mistreatment of Manning vindicates Assange’s claims. If they’re torturing the guy who uploaded some files, what are they going to do to the figurehead who released them?
Yes, in the public conscious, Manning and Assange are inextricably linked. It’s just not in the way the U.S. had hoped.
Soldier in Leaks Case Will Be Made to Sleep Naked Nightly
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: March 4, 2011
Bradleymanning.Org/European Pressphoto Agency
Pfc. Bradley E. Manning
Related
Soldier in Leaks Case Was Jailed Naked, Lawyer Says (March 4, 2011)
Private Manning will also be required to stand outside his cell naked during a morning inspection, after which his clothing will be returned to him, said a Marine spokesman, First Lt. Brian Villiard.
“Because of recent circumstances, the underwear was taken away from him as a precaution to ensure that he did not injure himself,” Lieutenant Villiard said. “The brig commander has a duty and responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of the detainees and to make sure that they are able to stand trial.”
Private Manning is a maximum-security detainee under “prevention of injury watch,” a special set of restrictions — a step his supporters, who contend that he is not suicidal, have said is unjustified. He has not been elevated to the more restrictive “suicide watch” conditions.
Lieutenant Villiard said the new rule on clothing, which would continue indefinitely, had been imposed by the brig commander, Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes. He said that he was not allowed to explain what prompted it “because to discuss the details would be a violation of Manning’s privacy.”
In recent months, Private Manning’s supporters have criticized his treatment as unduly harsh, contending that he is being pressured to agree to implicate Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks co-founder, as a conspirator in the leaking of diplomatic and military files. Lieutenant Villiard denied that the new conditions were intended to “pressure or punish” Private Manning.
Private Manning’s lawyer, David E. Coombs, first complained in a blog posting on Thursday that his client had been stripped the previous night, and wrote on Friday that it had happened again. He criticized the measure as an unjustified “humiliation” of his client.
“There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning,” he wrote. “This treatment is even more degrading considering that Pfc. Manning is being monitored — both by direct observation and by video — at all times.”
Mr. Coombs contended that stripping his client was medically unjustified.
“If a person is at risk of self-harm, then you get them treatment, you get them to a mental health professional and address the issue — you don’t strip them,” he said, adding in a separate telephone interview, “There is no excuse, no justification to having a soldier stand at attention naked. There can be no mental health reason for that.”
Lieutenant Villiard, who says Private Manning is permitted to have two blankets at night, says detainees are awakened each morning and immediately come out of their cells. Private Manning cannot be given his underwear back before then, he said, because that would require waking him up ahead of time.
“Because of recent circumstances, the underwear was taken away from him as a precaution to ensure that he did not injure himself,” Lieutenant Villiard said. “The brig commander has a duty and responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of the detainees and to make sure that they are able to stand trial.”
Private Manning is a maximum-security detainee under “prevention of injury watch,” a special set of restrictions — a step his supporters, who contend that he is not suicidal, have said is unjustified. He has not been elevated to the more restrictive “suicide watch” conditions.
Lieutenant Villiard said the new rule on clothing, which would continue indefinitely, had been imposed by the brig commander, Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes. He said that he was not allowed to explain what prompted it “because to discuss the details would be a violation of Manning’s privacy.”
In recent months, Private Manning’s supporters have criticized his treatment as unduly harsh, contending that he is being pressured to agree to implicate Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks co-founder, as a conspirator in the leaking of diplomatic and military files. Lieutenant Villiard denied that the new conditions were intended to “pressure or punish” Private Manning.
Private Manning’s lawyer, David E. Coombs, first complained in a blog posting on Thursday that his client had been stripped the previous night, and wrote on Friday that it had happened again. He criticized the measure as an unjustified “humiliation” of his client.
“There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning,” he wrote. “This treatment is even more degrading considering that Pfc. Manning is being monitored — both by direct observation and by video — at all times.”
Mr. Coombs contended that stripping his client was medically unjustified.
“If a person is at risk of self-harm, then you get them treatment, you get them to a mental health professional and address the issue — you don’t strip them,” he said, adding in a separate telephone interview, “There is no excuse, no justification to having a soldier stand at attention naked. There can be no mental health reason for that.”
Lieutenant Villiard, who says Private Manning is permitted to have two blankets at night, says detainees are awakened each morning and immediately come out of their cells. Private Manning cannot be given his underwear back before then, he said, because that would require waking him up ahead of time.
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