Robert Scheer: The Shameful Exploitation of Bradley Manning

[marmar]

from truthdig:



The Shameful Exploitation of Bradley Manning

Posted on Dec 14, 2012
By Robert Scheer


Keep an American soldier locked up naked in a cage and driven half mad while deprived of all basic rights, and you will be instantly condemned as a barbaric terrorist. Unless the jailer is an authorized agent of the U.S. government, in which case even treatment approaching torture will go largely unnoticed. Certainly if a likable constitutional law professor happens to be president, all such assaults on human dignity will easily pass muster.

After being interned like some wild animal in that cage in Kuwait, Pfc. Bradley Manning was transferred to the Quantico, Va., Marine base and further subjected to conditions that his lawyer termed “criminal.” Not all that far from the White House, and yet our ever-enlightened president seems not to have noticed that this soldier, whose alleged criminal offense is that he attempted to inform the public of crimes committed in its name, has been held in an environment clearly designed to destroy his very sense of self.

As Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves and a veteran of 12 years of active duty, put it: “Brad’s treatment at Quantico will forever be etched into our nation’s history as a disgraceful moment in time.” Coombs warned that the most serious charge facing his client, “aiding the enemy,” is a “scary proposition” designed to “silence a lot of critics of our government.”

Who is that “enemy” other than the public that came to be informed about the true nature of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by news reports based on a trove of documents allegedly made available to the WikiLeaks website by Manning? The documents were labeled secret, but as the many important news reports based on them revealed, they contained information that an enlightened public had a need and right to know. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_shameful_exploitation_of_bradley_manning_20121214/

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[MrYikes]

2. I am against torture.

all forms of torture. I see them as unnecessary, evil, corrupting and more importantly against the fabric of our nation.

I also see the evil of war. We are in a war. That word has meaning; meaning that I hold with care. War is not nice. It is not fuzzy. It is damnable, course and vile. But if we are in war(sic) then we should act as though we are in war, each of us. War should be part of our day. We should not be out shopping, we should be helping our troops.
Someone who does anything against our country while we are in war should be held accountable. War time accountable. Let's not make this easy, war is not easy. Anything that would help put a bullet into the head of one of our sons should be eliminated.