Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
The nightmare started back in July of 2010. Pvt. Bradley Manning was arrested and detained in the Brig at the Quantico Marine Base on allegations that he stole and then leaked classified documents to Wikileaks. The conditions that Pvt. Manning has been held under have been outrageous from the start. He has suffered shackling, solitary confinement and he has not been allowed normal contact with visitors and the outside world. His visitors have been denied access to him and now the latest humiliating tactic being used by the Department of Defense is to force Pvt. Manning to strip naked in his cell for hours!
“All Americans should be horrified and outraged by yesterday’s revelations that PFC Bradley Manning, already being held under Maximum Security and a Prevention of Injury (POI) order, has now been forced to spend seven hours each night and morning stripped naked: Last night, PFC Manning was inexplicably stripped of all clothing by the Quantico Brig. He remained in his cell, naked, for the next seven hours. At 5:00 a.m., the Brig sounded the wake-up call for the detainees. At this point, PFC Manning was forced to stand naked at the front of his cell. The Duty Brig Supervisor (DBS) arrived shortly after 5:00 a.m. When he arrived, PFC Manning was called to attention. The DBS walked through the facility to conduct his detainee count. Afterwards, PFC Manning was told to sit on his bed. About ten minutes later, a guard came to his cell to return his clothing.” ‘ Firedoglake How can a detainee who has not been convicted of anything and has been an exemplary prisoner be subjected to this kind of treatment? It appears that this latest degrading treatment is in response to a remark made by Manning when his Article 138 request to be removed from the suicide watch was denied. David E. Combs, Esq.
‘“Brig officials notified defense lawyers that mental health providers were not consulted in deciding to strip manning of his clothes. “This type of degrading treatment is inexcusable and without justification. It is an embarrassment to our military justice system and should not be tolerated,” Coombs said. “No other detainee at the Brig is forced to endure this type of isolation and humiliation.”’ RawStory We have a situation where the United State government has been holding a prisoner who has only recently been charged with leaking classified documents and more recently the charges were amended to add in a charge of “aiding the enemy”. This is not some convicted killer that requires some tougher sanctions to keep him under control. This is a soldier who has been a model prisoner who just wants to be treated according to the law and according to normal military procedures.
Didn’t President Obama make it a campaign issue that he considered the Bush interrogation methods as torture and that those methods were illegal and that they would not be continued under his administration? I realize that the claim has been made that those methods have been outlawed at Gitmo, but I wonder why they haven’t been outlawed at Quantico? If Pvt. Manning is guilty of leaking classified documents, then prove it in a trial or court-martial.
Is there another reason why Manning has been the recipient of these harsh measures? Could the Obama Administration and the Department of Defense just be embarrassed that the leaked documents actually showed that they had been lying to the American people by taking official steps to prevent Bush-era torture from being investigated internationally? Anyone who reads about the horrible treatment that Private Manning has been receiving from our government, should be ashamed and outraged. What are we going to do about it?
Additional Sources: Emptywheel
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
rafflaw
Sorry, I missed the link in your original article. After looking at the link, I’m even more convinced that this isn’t torture; even his attorney doesn’t call it torture and if he’s satisfied, I am also. I would think the attorney would state it if he thought Pvt. Manning was being subjected to harmful sleep deprivation, also. Nor is anything mentioned about his mental state deteriorating.
I didn’t know he was suicidal before anything happened. Perhaps that’s what made him do the deed, if he did it, in the first place.
His solitary confinement does sound very confining, but not very solitary. He has visitors, can send and receive correspondence, read books, watch TV, hear other prisoners, and the only sleep deprivation seems to be that when his head is covered or he’s facing away from where the guards can see him, the guards can wake him up at night. From what I understand, sleep deprivation is the result of not allowing the prisoner to sleep at all, or very little.
His attorney seems to be looking out for him and the more noise that is made about the irregularity of the conditions, according to his attorney, the more likely it is that Pvt. Manning’s detainment will be corrected. I can’t think they want a zombie showing up in court for the world to see – that would be the worst possible scenario.
btw I’m completely turned off by the hyperbole of dailykos and firedoglake about this particular case. It makes me wonder how much they have distorted other things.
Buckeye,
Thanks for the link to Manning’s attorney. I also have a link to his site in the main article. It is interesting to note that he is an Iraq war veteran.
Here is the latest article discussing Pvt. Manning’s incarceration and negative effects of isolation and degradation on a prisoner: http://my.firedoglake.com/valtin/2011/03/07/isolation-the-ideal-way-of-breaking-down-a-prisoner/
I recommend everyone who is interested read Pvt. Manning’s attorney’s information about his case here:
http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/search/label/Manning%20Case
There are 19 entries and if you scroll to the bottom you will see the oldest date then you can work your way up.
Watch the video of the senior senator from Massachusetts responding to media questions about the treatment of Bradley Manning. It’s typical John Kerry speak!
From NECN
John Kerry reacts to Bradley Manning’s prison conditions
Mar 6, 2011
http://www.necn.com/03/06/11/John-Kerry-reacts-to-Bradley-Mannings-pr/landing_politics.html?blockID=434373&feedID=4212
You are spot on OS. This is inteded to harm the prisoner and to punish him and to deter future truth tellers.
The psychological torture of Private Bradley Manning is apparently having its intended effect. According to his friend who visited him, he is in a near-catatonic state. I have written here before about the cumulative effect of sleep deprivation alone. Extended sleep deprivation can cause irreversible psychological damage as well as measurable organ damage. If prolonged long enough, sleep deprivation can result in death. At this point, I have to think they are not intending to try him on the charges, but intend to make him a horrible example for future whistleblowers. “This is what is going to happen to you if you blow the whistle on us.”
Here is a story about it:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/07/953639/-Bradley-Manning-Now-Catatonic;-Obama-ENOUGH!
Gyges,
Agreed. The DOJ and DOD are sending a message that they don’t take kindly to people telling the truth or allowing the truth to be told.
Rafflaw,
Which would seem to fit well in the “intimidating or coercing him or a third person” category.
Gyges,
well said. I agree that the illegal and cruel and unusual treatment that Manning is receiving is part of an intentional process being used to destroy his will and make it more difficult for him to mount a defense. It is also meant as a public punishment to deter future whistleblowers.
A final aside as to why I see the distinction between torture and cruel and unusual punishment as important in this case:
I doubt anyone would argue that forbidding Pvt. Manning from doing push-ups some how keeps him from escaping, or harming himself or others. The same can be said for almost all of the measures being taken. So, the question that begs to be answered is, what is the goal of these actions? Examining the long term effects of each of these, we see one possible result emerge: The complete and total destruction of a healthy human personality.
This is NOT merely harsh punishment, this is a very real and very systematic obliteration of what makes Pvt. Manning who he is. All because he’s accused of doing something. To call that anything but severe harm is to devalue the psyche of Pvt. Manning(and be extension all individuals) to a worth below that of any component of his physical body. No one would call the amputation of a limb under these circumstances anything other than torture.
For such actions to have an official sanction like in this case, can only be seen as proof of an intentional and thorough undermining of the system of justice and laws this country supposedly holds dear.
That is why the difference between cruel and unusual punishment and torture is so key. One can be the result of overzealous action that might be the result of noble goals. The other can only be part of a system wide and conscious decision.
It’s ironic in a round about way but the US has now proven conclusively that they treat foreign nationals with the same levels of respect and humanity with which they treat their own.
Reagan once refered to the existence of an “Evil Empire” I think everyone is now waking up to the fact that there was more than one.
Blouise,
Can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything from that brewery before, but I’ll keep an eye out. Colorado is a great place to be a beer drinker.
It’s hard to beat a good barrel aged beer. J.W. Lee’s 2009 Vintage Harvest Ale aged in Port Barrels is the closest any beer I’ve ever tasted has come to being art.
Buckeye,
Yeah, having one book sure would make the difference. It is hard to punish a man who doesn’t have anything.
Gyges,
totally off topic … last weekend I had Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale … Kentucky Ale is aged for up to 6 weeks in freshly decanted bourbon barrels from some of Kentucky’s finest distilleries … honest to god best stuff I’ve had in a long, long time.
Gyges,
Great links to some expert evidence on the damage that can be caused by solitary confinement.
Anon nurse,
Welcome back and thanks for the link with the updated charges!
Daniel Ellsberg: “Bradley Manning Is Acting in the Interest of the United States”
Friday 04 March 2011
by Nadia Prupis
http://www.truth-out.org/bradley-manning-faces-new-charges68226
Excerpt:
According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a defendant who is convicted of “aiding the enemy” must have knowingly harbored or communicated with the enemy “either directly or indirectly.” Jon Shelburne, the clinic defense coordinator at the Roger Williams School of Law, said prosecutors might have difficulty showing what particular benefits any US enemies gained from the documents.
“The third element of the charges is the biggest problem. Is any information in this area that was made public … visible to the enemy?” Shelburne said during a teleconference Thursday with the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund. “I don’t know how they are going to show that.”
Also speaking during the call was Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who, in 1971, released classified Pentagon documents detailing US political and military involvement in Vietnam.
“Our enemy is generally al Qaeda, and they want these wars to continue,” Ellsberg said. “The people who give comfort to the enemy are the people who sent troops there and are keeping the cost of the war from the people. Bradley Manning is acting in the interest of the United States and against the interest of our enemy al Qaeda.”
“There’s a campaign here against whistleblowing that’s actually unprecedented in legal terms,” Ellsberg said.
Gyges
As the United Nations stated:
“Because it is often difficult to distinguish between cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture, the Committee regards Article 16′s prohibition of such treatment as similarly absolute and non-derogable.[6]”
I suspect that some mental health authorities would consider Pvt. Manning’s treatment will definitely cause severe mental suffering, some would consider it to have to be considerably more constrained – no books, no TV, no ability to hear other prisoners – to definitely cause severe mental suffering.
They don’t agree just as we don’t agree. Just as the UN knew people wouldn’t agree so they decided to Article 16 to prohibit such treatment. Which is why the military shouldn’t be doing it.
poor kid, he got in over his head. He should have joined the Air Force or Coast Guard or just gone to college.
He was a dupe.
I’ve read scientific studies that show long term isolation of prisoners is extremely harmful to their mental state. Couple this with the degradation imposed by the other conditions of Manning’s treatment and his youth, it is likely that if he survives for a trial he will not be mentally competent.
And this is “innocent until proven guilty”?
Whatever he did or did not do, we have seen tons of proof of how wrong our judicial system can be, incarcerating and condemning to death innocent people.
It could be you, me, our children, our grandchildren, our dearly loved friends or relatives, our neighbors who are next. If we as US citizens do not raise sufficient objection to these acts by our government. This is being done, after all, in our name.
Buckeye,
He’s being treated in a way that you agree that experts in the mental health field say can cause severe harm. Yet, some how that doesn’t meat the requirement that something cause severe harm to be torture?
Or are you instead arguing that this private is such a risk of… something… that he needs to be kept in solitary confinement for, not allowed to exercise, etc. as part of being held for trial?
Because if not, then you’re saying his treatment meets the legal definition of torture, but isn’t really torture.
Gyges
Yes, I’ve agreed that Pvt. Manning’s treatment may have been cruel and degrading. Again, we only know what his lawyer David Coombs asserts and his friend David House implies from conversations with Pvt. Manning. And I believe that his treatment should change and change immediately.
Although his solitary confinement was in a block of 30 cells with other inmates and not like Steve McQueen’s solitary confinement in “The Great Escape” in a darkened cell where the only people he could speak to were the guards, it would be considered solitary confinement under the definition in your linked organization.
I’ve looked at his lawyer’s website, searched all of his entries about Pvt. Manning, and not found the word torture used in any capacity. Probably because he is an officer of the court and may not make false charges.
I think the way this prisoner has been handled is foolish and counter productive to the government’s assumed purpose of a trial and should be corrected. But mental and physical treatment causing severe suffering? I’m not convinced. Eventually we will know, though that doesn’t help Pvt. Manning now.