From the VOMITORIUM
Anyone with a TV or a radio has got to know who Bradley Manning is ans what he is accused of doing……OK, just in case….he is the Army private that is in the brig for giving emails to wikileaks….I will approach this from a rights direction….I am NOT really talking about his legal status…whether he is guilty or innocent of the charges……
Glen Greenwald writing for Salon.com…….
From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day — for seven straight months and counting — he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he’s barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he’s being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not “like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole,” but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out.
And now Manning is being made to remain naked for most of his time in his cell…..stands inspection naked….sleeps naked….everything is in the nude…….Greenwald has made a good description of what Manning is going through………
Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America’s Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado….
These tortures are preformed on an American citizen that has NOT been convicted of anything at all…..would you conservs allow this to go unchallenged if it was an American held in some obscure little country? Of course, you would not…..but then when have conservs either been champions of human rights?
This cruel and unusual punishment….I do not care if he was in the Army or a janitor at a grade school….wrong is wrong! His legal status has nothing to do with whether this is right or not….it is wrong…and if you feel it is not then I say try and then tell me about your feelings…..
The same people who claim that they are defenders of the Constitution including the part about “cruel and unusual punishments” will defend these actions. In their minds, this guy is lucky to be alive.
I wonder if HE still considers himself lucky to be alive – or even realises he still is?
Assholes!!!
The selective nature of their views on the Constitution disturbs me…..from all I have heard, Manning is losing it slowly and may not know where he is soon…..
Yikes. I wonder if this is typical for the brig.
I don’t think so, though of course I don’t know However, it sounds to me more like it’s typical of the CIA/Homeland Security/Military top-brass attitude to dessent!
Guantanamo (which is NOT now closing) is clearly NOT alone in threatening to turn the US from a civilised society into yet another pariah state…
I agree….now if he was guilty of something maybe there could be a case made for this shit…..but so far he is innocent until proven guilty….well that
right has been crapped on…..what is next?
Exactly – sorry about the spelling above by the way – I really should try reading what I write before clicking “post comment”, shouldn’t I? 😆
Although it’s an entirely inadequate word for the behaviour – these actions are nothing less than spiteful – but then juveniles are like that at times, aren’t they!
Spiteful/ A great term for what they are doing….because this guy blew the whistle on the antics….
Seriously! That’s pretty humiliating even for a PFC armed with a Lady Gaga CD and a mission.
I had a post about torture…all torture several years a go……..for those who support it….”Try it…then we will talk”…..
Hiya Spinny…brigs are not really nice places but this is extreme even for them….
Hey lobotero. Very extreme.
To me anyone who has NOT been subjected to torturous techniques…have NO opinion…..