Obama defends abuse of Private Bradley Manning

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MEGAMANTROTSKY

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http://wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/mann-m12.shtml

Obama defends abuse of Private Bradley Manning
By Patrick Martin
12 March 2011

An otherwise desultory press conference Friday morning featured the first public questioning of President Obama about the abusive treatment of Bradley Manning, the Army private who faces 34 criminal charges, some bearing the death penalty, for allegedly leaking to WikiLeaks evidence of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as State Department cables revealing US diplomatic intrigues.

Manning is jailed at the Quantico Marine Corps base near Washington DC, under conditions that have been denounced by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations as tantamount to torture. He has been held in solitary confinement there for more than seven months. In the last week he has been deprived of all clothing during sleeping hours, then compelled to stand naked for inspection every morning.

If another country were meting out similarly sadistic treatment to a captured American POW, the Pentagon and the American media would be howling about war crimes. But Manning’s treatment has been largely blacked out of the corporate-controlled mass media. Friday’s question was the first time the subject has been raised by the White House press corps.

The inquiry by Jake Tapper of ABC News was the second and subordinate part of a question that began with the Japanese earthquake and its effect on Japanese nuclear power facilities. Tapper then continued as follows:

“And then, a second question--the State Department spokesman, PJ Crowley, said the treatment of Bradley Manning by the Pentagon is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid. And I’m wondering if you agree with that. Thank you, sir.”

Obama answered the question about Japan, then added:

“With respect to Private Manning, I have actually 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. I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.”

This answer is a cowardly example of stonewalling, undoubtedly crafted in advance after consultation with the Pentagon brass. Obama does not actually say that Manning is being treated appropriately, only that unnamed military officials “assure me that they are.”

He then wraps the whole issue in secrecy, with the suggestion that Manning is somehow being protected from himself rather than subjected to sadistic abuse in order to break him psychologically and pressure him into becoming a government witness against WikiLeaks.

Able to follow up, Tapper went for the most trivial aspect of the issue, asking, “Do you disagree with PJ Crowley?” Obama responded, “I think I gave you an answer to the substantive issue.”

No other reporter sought to follow up the subject.

Crowley, having served as chief spokesman for the National Security Council during the Clinton administration before working for Hillary Clinton in the current administration, is a veteran apologist for the crimes of US imperialism, including the Kosovo War and the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

At a public discussion Thursday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before an audience of 20 people, Crowley was asked about the treatment of Manning, which the questioner described as the military “torturing a prisoner in a military brig.”

A career Air Force officer before he became a government spokesman, Crowley replied, “What’s being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He went on, however, to defend Manning’s incarceration and condemn the WikiLeaks revelations.

Obama’s endorsement of the torture of Manning follows his order Monday to resume the drum-head military tribunals at Guantanamo and hold 48 of the 172 remaining detainees under indefinite detention without any form of legal process. He is, no less than his predecessor, an accomplice in the sadistic abuse and torture of prisoners both at Guantanamo and on the US mainland.
 

injected11

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Thank goodness Bradley Manning is locked up for exposing the truth, and the soldiers who needlessly and willingly committed the unspeakable acts are walking free.
 

SPH73

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injected11 said:
Thank goodness Bradley Manning is locked up for exposing the truth, and the soldiers who needlessly and willingly committed the unspeakable acts are walking free.

Basically this.
 

Devante

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I skimmed through it. Can someone highlight the video game related parts for me? I think I missed them.
 

misteromar

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He is a very brave and admirable man, the main stream media has done great job of keeping the public in the dark about him. He exposed the American politicians and military evil deed's, that they keep hidden or claim to do for the people, Manning has done more for the people than the monsters in power.

Adrian Lamo is scum of the scum, he should be where Manning is.
 

twiztidsinz

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I disagree with him being detained at all, and sure he was treated poorly... but calling it abuse/torture is bullshit.


Also, lol at the source. /SomeoneWhoUnderstandWhatSocialismIsAndIsNot
 

FireEmblemGuy

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Try to find a neutral source, please. While I don't believe this man should be punished the way he is, the bias and wording in this article are ridiculous. This is hardly newsworthy without the skew anyways; according to the military's current views, no abuses are being made, and all Obama did was say that the conditions met standards.
 

misteromar

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FireEmblemGuy said:
Try to find a neutral source, please. While I don't believe this man should be punished the way he is, the bias and wording in this article are ridiculous. This is hardly newsworthy without the skew anyways; according to the military's current views, no abuses are being made, and all Obama did was say that the conditions met standards.

What, fair and balanced like the main stream media? If they did their job we wouldnt need wikileaks etc
 

Nujui

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misteromar said:
FireEmblemGuy said:
Try to find a neutral source, please. While I don't believe this man should be punished the way he is, the bias and wording in this article are ridiculous. This is hardly newsworthy without the skew anyways; according to the military's current views, no abuses are being made, and all Obama did was say that the conditions met standards.

What, fair and balanced like the main stream media? If they did their job we wouldnt need wikileaks etc
Well still, it's better to have a good, unbias source than something like this.
 

twiztidsinz

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misteromar said:
FireEmblemGuy said:
Try to find a neutral source, please. While I don't believe this man should be punished the way he is, the bias and wording in this article are ridiculous. This is hardly newsworthy without the skew anyways; according to the military's current views, no abuses are being made, and all Obama did was say that the conditions met standards.

What, fair and balanced like the main stream media? If they did their job we wouldnt need wikileaks etc
Here's the thing...

Fox is a HIGHLY biased station, but they call themselves "Fair and Balanced" because their actual news has views from both sides (though it's often an uphill battle for the 'dissenting' side -- i.e. Not Consevative). The problem is, their actual news isn't what is watched, it's their talking heads like "Papa Bear" Bill O'Reilly and Glenn "I'm Crying Vic's Vapo-Rub Tears Because I Love America" Beck who likes to push worthless gold-plated coins on his viewers because SOCIALISM IS COMING!.
They make a mockery of news, telling the people what they want them to think rather than reporting the news and letting the people decide. Then they cry about how they're the ONLY source for conservative news and everyone is against them.

What the rest of the news provides is demonized by the conservatives as being liberal. Everything they say and do has a liberal bias, is a coverup/excuse for a Democratic President and an attack/smear against a Republican President depending on who's in office.

Then you have people who say MSNBC is liberal and can't be trusted especially because they're owned by GE who has military weapons contracts... but liberals are notoriously "anti-military" (reality: not so much "anti-military" as they are "anti-military-spending-and-invading-other-countries-and-starting-wars", but that's too long so they're called "anti-military") so the argument is kind of sketchy at best.


As for the whole Wikileaks thing...
You can say that 'if they did their job we wouldnt need Wikileaks" but the thing is, I don't think any reporter would touch something like what was released on Wikileaks and caused this big commotion because it can be considered treason. I'm not sure where the whole 'freedom of the press' part ends (if it does) and where the 'treason' part begins (that's a matter for lawyers, which I am not) so I could be wrong.
But a major part of why Wikileaks is effective is because it's outside of America... let's face it, as much as it still gets claimed our freedoms of speech and expression are eroding quickly, in part due to corrupt politicians and also due to fear (and enacted by previous corrupt politicians). We have "Free Speech Zones" or "Constitutional Zones" where you are allowed to protest -- used HEAVILY during Bush's administration (and by the Democrats too, but not as frequently or as stupidly... Bush once had a protest moved nearly a mile away from the venue he was speaking at), and now there's legislation that allows for websites to be removed and domain names seized.
 

Devante

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Duskye said:
Devante said:
I skimmed through it. Can someone highlight the video game related parts for me? I think I missed them.
You're kidding right?

Not at all. I just assumed this was somehow related to video gaming as this is a video game website, not CNN.com.

So in my sarcastic way, I'm pointing out this has no place here on a gaming website.

Yes yes it's a tragedy and all that, but if I want to read about stuff going on in the world, I'll read it on a news website, not sift through it while trying to read what games are coming out. It makes no sense.

Kotaku does this sometimes too. It's maddening.
 

injected11

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Devante said:
Duskye said:
Devante said:
I skimmed through it. Can someone highlight the video game related parts for me? I think I missed them.
You're kidding right?

Not at all. I just assumed this was somehow related to video gaming as this is a video game website, not CNN.com.

So in my sarcastic way, I'm pointing out this has no place here on a gaming website.

Yes yes it's a tragedy and all that, but if I want to read about stuff going on in the world, I'll read it on a news website, not sift through it while trying to read what games are coming out. It makes no sense.

Kotaku does this sometimes too. It's maddening.
Then go to the proper section, or just don't open the link. Problem solved.

Off-topic: I approve of Chester.
 

notmeanymore

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Devante said:
Duskye said:
Devante said:
I skimmed through it. Can someone highlight the video game related parts for me? I think I missed them.
You're kidding right?

Not at all. I just assumed this was somehow related to video gaming as this is a video game website, not CNN.com.

So in my sarcastic way, I'm pointing out this has no place here on a gaming website.

Yes yes it's a tragedy and all that, but if I want to read about stuff going on in the world, I'll read it on a news website, not sift through it while trying to read what games are coming out. It makes no sense.

Kotaku does this sometimes too. It's maddening.
This type of news is covered by GBAtemp because we as gamers have opinions and love to express them with other gamers, not amongst the computer illiterate CNN.com goers and the like. Should none of us have posted about the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand just because they aren't gaming related? Honestly?

I enjoy the fact that GBAtemp goers who actually follow the news re-post it here so that I can see it. I don't watch the news, and GBAtemp digests the parts that people in my social circle would find relevant.
 

DSGamer64

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shakirmoledina said:
if i am not mistaken, its something like doing treason against the country hence resulting into death penalty. Treason = Death
i smell double faced-ness with Iran
Treason is illegal in a lot of countries and the punishment is death. Whether he managed to get damning information out to WikiLeaks or not, he would have still been given the same sentence regardless of whether or not he was leaking war crime information, classified documentation is still classified.
 

Costello

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closing a ridiculously biased thread posted by someone who tries to convert others to his own political views.
go to www.republicans.com or something
 
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