This is interesting. Via Greenwald, the top State Department spokesperson, PJ Crowley, calls the treatment of Manning "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."
This is from Philippa Thomas, a British journalist.
Around twenty of us were sitting around the table listening to his views on social media, the impact of the Twittersphere, the Arab uprisings, and so on, in a vast space-age conference room overlooking the Charles River and the Boston skyline. And then, inevitably, one young man said he wanted to address “the elephant in the room”. What did Crowley think, he asked, about Wikileaks? About the United States, in his words, “torturing a prisoner in a military brig”? Crowley didn’t stop to think. What’s being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense “is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He paused. “None the less Bradley Manning is in the right place”. And he went on lengthening his answer, explaining why in Washington’s view, “there is sometimes a need for secrets… for diplomatic progress to be made”.
But still, he’d said it. And the fact he felt strongly enough to say it seems to me an extraordinary insight into the tensions within the administration over Wikileaks.
A few minutes later, I had a chance to ask a question. “Are you on the record?” I would not be writing this if he’d said no. There was an uncomfortable pause. “Sure.” So there we are.
I'd have preferred a denunciation that included the word "immoral" or some such, but this is pretty strong stuff. According to Thomas, who's an experienced and respected journalist, he had a chance to say his words weren't on the record, in which case we would have never heard about them. It suggests to me that there've been battles behind the scenes, and Crowley, by going public, is opting for a new tactic.
I'll update with other Manning-related news when I get a chance.
UPDATE: Amnesty International is stepping up its efforts to help Manning:
Amnesty International is renewing its objections over how an Army private suspected of giving classified information to WikiLeaks is being treated in prison.
The London-based human rights group said Thursday it will forward to President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates messages sent through its Amnesty USA website.
I guess the question, in light of Crowley's statement, is whether President Obama will side with the State Department or the Department of Defense. It's time for him to make his position clear. Or perhaps he already has.
Marcy Wheeler has a good post, "Playing God with Bradley Manning," pointing out that his treatment seems to be right out of the Bush-Cheney-Woo-Miller playbook.
Back in 2002, Gitmo’s Standard Operating Procedures advocated stripping detainees of clothing as a way of demonstrating the omnipotence of the captors.
In addition to degradation of the detainee, stripping can be used to demonstrate the omnipotence of the captor or to debilitate the detainee.
With Abu Zubaydah–as Jane Mayer has written–they explicitly tied this to becoming his “God.”
… the CIA interrogators also announced they planned to become Zubaydah’s “God.” They reportedly took his clothing as punishment, and reduced his human interaction to a single daily visit in which they would say simply, “You know what I want,” and then leave
.
That’s striking given that–according to Bradley Manning’s Article 138 complaint, written in his own voice–Commander James Averhart put Manning on suicide watch on January 18 to demonstrate that he was, for all practical purposes, God.
After being returned to my cell, I started to read a book. About 30 minutes later, the PCF Commander, CWO4 James Averhart, came to my cell. He asked me what had happened during my recreation call. As I tried to explain to him what had occurred, CWO4 Averhart stopped me and said “I am the commander” and that “no one could tell him what to do.” He also said that he was, for all practical purposes, “God.” I responded by saying “you still have to follow Brig procedures.” I also said “everyone has a boss that they have to answer to.” As soon as I said this, CWO4 Averhart ordered that I be placed in Suicide Risk Status.
UPDATE. Via the Guardian, another journalist who was there has corroborated Thomas's account.
UPDATE: Here's Arthur Silber making a point that, though obvious, hasn't been made enough: that his abuse is sexual in nature.
Forcing a prisoner to remain naked for extended periods of time is not only a barbaric means of humiliating and degrading him: it necessarily includes a very significant element of specifically sexual humiliation and degradation. Add to this unforgivable atrocity the well-known fact that Manning is gay. Especially in the hypermasculinized world of the military, such sexual humiliation and degradation represents an intentional, additional cruelty
.
UPDATE: Jake Tapper asked the President about this in his press conference:
President Obama:
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.
(Via Marcy Wheeler.)
So that's that. The Pentagon tells him everything is kosher, forced nakedness nightly meets "basic standards," and he says, "Okay."
Greenwald weighs in on the President's response:
Perhaps the reason there haven't been any Wall Street prosecutions is because Obama asked Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein if there was any fraud and those banking executives assured the President that there wasn't
Laugh or cry? Maybe both at the same time.