McClatchy reports:
Pfc. Bradley Manning's direct supervisor warned that Manning had thrown chairs at colleagues and shouted at higher ranking soldiers in the year he was stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., and advised that Manning shouldn't be sent to Iraq, where his job would entail accessing classified documents through the Defense Department's computer system.
But superior officers decided to ignore the advice because the unit was short of intelligence analysts and needed Manning's skills, two military officials familiar with the investigation told McClatchy.
The commanders hoped they could address Manning's discipline problems in Iraq, the officials told McClatchy, but then never properly monitored him. The result was a "comedy of errors" as one commander after another assumed someone else was addressing Manning's problems, one official said. Both officials spoke anonymously because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. Why isn't Manning's chain of command in deep clusterfuck as of yesterday? It has been reported that Manning had numerous discipline problems prior to his deployment. And now McClatchy has learned that Mannings direct superior warned his commanders that Manning should not be sent to Iraq as an intelligence analyst. McClatchy also reports that disciplinary action is being contemplated against at least three officers in Manning's chain of command. There is really nothing to contemplate. Manning's officers were responsible. They should take responsibility for what happened here. But they especially should if they were warned by Manning's Sergeant that he should not be deployed.
McClatchy also notes how the extended war footing the Army is on is not only leading to stunning breakdowns in discipline like this, but other issues:
Deploying soldiers who in earlier years might have been left behind wasn't a problem exclusive to Manning's unit but a systemic issue during the height of the Iraq war, as commanders found themselves scurrying to cobble together units to deploy.
An Army report into the service's high suicide rate concluded in July that military commanders had become so focused on training troops for deployment that they no longer had the time to address issues such as alcoholism, prescription drug abuse and even violence, and instead hoped they'd disappear in combat.
The bottom line is simple: anything other than the most minor infractions should have caused Manning to lose his secret clearance pronto. That isn't Manning's fault. That is the Pentagon's fault. Them failing to remove his clearance despite disciplinary action being taken against him isn't what I'd call comedy.