Tag: Military Justice

The Manning Saga

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…..

Change The Story Line!

From the VOMITORIUM

So far I have tried to stay out of the WikiLeaks story….I posted one about the comparison to the Pentagon Papers of my day……and recently there has been a concern that the Army PFC that has been accused of leaking the documents may be treated harshly for what he is accused of…..many stories have run that he is becoming disoriented and even catatonic to a small degree because of his treatment in the military brig….like solitary confinement for 23 hours a day….being put on suicide watch for a couple days which took away what little time he had in the air and made him strip down to his underwear and then there is the sleep deprivation….all in all a cruel and unusual punishment….and somewhere I think it is written that that is NOT suppose to happen in this democratic free country…..of course, I could be mistaken….

I will not go into whether what manning did was illegal or not…..or that the people may have the need to know what the government is doing….those will be questions for a trial….if there is ever one…..

Anyway…..these stories are putting the US and especially the military in a bad light….a light that they would prefer to be focused elsewhere…..and some in the media are doing their part to shut off that light on the military……the story is trying to be returned to focus on Assange……

Julian Assange’s wariness of government spooks ran so high that the WikiLeaks founder resorted to disguising himself as a woman when traveling, according to a profile published Monday by The Guardian.

As Assange’s entourage moved from London to the village of Ellingham, the battered red car they rode in periodically pulled off the road with lights killed to make sure it wasn’t being followed.

The media is portraying Assange as this sick paranoid…..all to throw off the media scrutiny of the brig and back on the man they have been trying to discredit in many ways…..and it looks like it is a bit successful….I have seen at least two stories so far about this on cable news media…..and none of the fate of Manning…..I mean some dude dressing like a woman is NOT news……a person that may be in a US military brig being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment IS!

Americans are ALWAYS quick to condemn and slow to seek the truth……if this story plays out as I expect it to….then the point is well taken……

McChrystal Should Go

Daily Agitator

By now the media is flooded with so called experts analyzing everything that the US commander in Afghanistan has said, especially in his latest gaff in an issue of the Rolling Stone……it seems that he has disparagingly made some unfortunate comments about the President, VP, Adm. Mullen, the head of the CIA and others.

I have heard many call for McChrystal’s head when he meets with the president.  And I have heard some call his words unfortunate and lame, but that he should remain at his post in Afghanistan.

He has been commanded to appear in person at the White House for an official meeting and a private meeting with the president.  This will be strike three.  His first strike was a leaked memo where he said that the prez was unprepared and intimidated by the brass.  Next, he made some really unfortunate statements that the prez met him in London and held a meeting on Air Force One.  So today’s meeting is strike three and in baseball we all know what that means.

But shoulkd he go or should he stay?

According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice…..he should go.  Why?

§ 888. Art. 88. Contempt toward officials

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Pretty straight forward.  Now if this had been a ranking NCO or some private, he would get busted in rank and some would be given a discharge….none would be allowed to retire to avoid punitive action!

But if McChrystal leaves the military he will be allowed to resign so that he can keep his dignity and his pension and all the benefits that go with the word general.  Personally, he should be barbecued for insubordination and made an example of for future morons that cannot keep their mouths shut when dealing with the media.

Set Your Watch Back 50 Years

The title is derived from something I told a friend when he wanted to visit Mississippi from Wisconsin……basically the sign would say Welcome and set your watch back 50 yrs…….I n case your are confused my state is still living in the pre-civil rights era…..

When I first heard this story it was the single thing I thought of……..

The U.S. military has dropped a controversial rule that called for punishing soldiers in northern Iraq for becoming pregnant or impregnating another soldier.

Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo created the rule about pregnancy, covering 22,000 people under his command in northern Iraq, including 1,682 women.

It prohibited “becoming nondeployable for reasons within the control of the soldier,” including “becoming pregnant or impregnating a soldier … resulting in the redeployment of the pregnant soldier.”

While violation of any rules in the general order could lead to court-martial, Cucolo insisted that he never intended such a drastic punishment for pregnancy.

All units have a general order that outlines a code of conduct. Commanders have been allowed to add to those rules but not allowed to make the rules any more lax.

In all cases, the women were sent back to the United States for medical care, as is military policy. Each has the right to submit a letter in her own defense to be included in her file.

Of the men involved, three were reprimanded, Cucolo said. One, a sergeant, was given a more severe punishment of a written reprimand in his permanent file because he fraternized with a subordinate and committed adultery. A letter in the permanent file can affect a person’s career because it is evaluated when a service member is considered for promotion.

Let me see if I have this right……(this is sarcasm…in case there was any confusion)

The men got a whack on their pee pee and the women could have been up for a court martial?

You have come a long way, baby………When this general got back to his office on Monday….Obama should have a note on his desk that says “I accept your resignation”….

This is the 21st century there is NO room for this mental midget……

A Military Laundry

A federal jury in Trenton, N.J., today convicted U.S. Army Col. Curtis G. Whiteford and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael B. Wheeler of conspiracy to commit bribery and interstate transportation of stolen property, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced. The convictions stemmed from Whiteford and Wheeler’s roles in a scheme involving the theft of millions of dollars from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq.
According to testimony at trial before U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper, Whiteford and Wheeler conspired from December 2003 to December 2005 with at least three others — Robert Stein, at the time the comptroller and funding officer for the CPA-SC; Philip H. Bloom, a U.S. citizen who owned and operated several companies in Iraq and Romania; and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner — to rig the bids on contracts being awarded by the CPA-SC so that more than 20 contracts were awarded to Bloom. In total, Bloom received more than $8.6 million in rigged contracts. Testimony revealed that Bloom, in return, provided Whiteford, Harrison, Wheeler, Stein, Hopfengardner and others with more than $1 million in cash, SUVs, sports cars, a motorcycle, jewelry, computers, business class airline tickets, liquor, promise of future employment with Bloom and other items of value.

Bloom admitted he laundered more than $2 million in currency that Whiteford, Harrison, Wheeler, Hopfengardner, Stein and others stole from the CPA-SC that had been designated for the reconstruction of Iraq. Bloom then used his foreign bank accounts in Iraq, Romania and Switzerland to send some of the stolen money to Harrison, Stein, Hopfengardner and other Army officials in return for them awarding contracts to Bloom and his companies. Some of the stolen money was used to purchase things of value, such as weapons including a machine gun that was seized from Wheeler’s home.
The Department announced the creation of the National Procurement Fraud Initiative in October 2006, to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs. As part of this initiative, the Deputy Attorney General created the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, which includes federal prosecutors, the FBI, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), and the Offices of Inspectors General for key federal agencies, and is chaired by Acting Assistant Attorney General Friedrich.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice