Manning’s Lawyers Are Whining Again
It seems that PFC Bradley Manning’s lawyers are whining again. But this time, it’s not over his treatment.
No, this time they are objecting to the fact that Army officials seemed more concerned about potential bad publicity than Manning’s comfort and “feelings”. At least, that’s what I get from this paragraph:
David Coombs, a lawyer for Pfc. Bradley Manning, argued at a pretrial hearing that prosecutors have yet to turn over about 700 emails in their possession. But he said the emails he’s already aware of paint a portrait of a military more concerned with combating negative publicity than with Manning’s welfare and reveal that high-level officials, including a three-star general, were briefed about the conditions of his confinement.
Gee, a 3-star General was concerned that the Army might get bad publicity. I’m shocked, I say – shocked!
Frankly, I’m not surprised that senior Army leadership is concerned about avoiding bad publicity for the Army. That’s part of their job. And I couldn’t personally give a hoot in hell if they were more concerned about protecting the Army than about how Manning was inconvenienced, provided they ensured he was treated humanely – which they did.
Let me recap a few pesky things called “facts” that Manning’s lawyers don’t seem to want to discuss. Manning was confined to his cell for 23 hours daily. So? Many prisoners who might be at-risk from other inmates (or who are dangerous) are similarly kept isolated.
Manning was also evaluated as a suicide risk. Therefore, for a period of time at Quantico his clothing was temporarily taken away. This was done as a protective measure to ensure he didn’t attempt to harm himself with same. He was later provided with a suicide-prevention smock.
But for a while, he had to make do with skivvies – and even sleep in them, without his jammies. Oh, the horror! The horror!
Were Manning’s “feelings hurt” by such “terrible” treatment? Whoop-te-doo. Personally, I couldn’t give the proverbial flying . . . flip if they were. Perhaps he should have thought about the possibility that he’d go to prison – and be treated harshly but humanely as a prisoner – before disclosing several hundred thousand classified documents to persons not authorized to receive them.
Humane treatment doesn’t necessarily equate to pleasant conditions. “Three hots and a cot”, adequate shelter, and protection from physical harm or abuse qualifies. And having to sleep in your skivvies (or naked) because you’re thought to be suicidal and your normal clothing has been taken away to ensure you don’t harm yourself with it does not qualify as abuse.
Manning didn’t give a damn about how his actions affected the Army or his brothers/sisters in arms – or his country. So as long as he’s treated humanely, why should anyone in the Army give a rat’s ass whether he’s comfortable or his feelings get hurt?
Category: Legal, Military issues, Politics, Shitbags
In another time, in a perfect world, he’d have been doing an air dance long before we had gotten to this point.
Oh the inhumanity of it all……
/sarc (as if I needed the tag)
The AP story begins, “Lawyers for a young Army private….” That must be some sort of record for revealing the bias in a story. The adjective “young” is altogether out of place. Its use is clearly aimed at engendering sympathy for Bendeict Manning.
He can slowly rot for all I care!! He is being treated way mre humane thatis deserved, my personal opinion, but, I do applaud his keepers for watching themselves. Do not give this POS or his snivling lawyers one real grain of abuse to stand on.
Perhaps Mr. Manning’s lawyers should be shown videos of how al Qaeda treats their prisoners, especially the bits where some poor soul is decapitated or shot in the head.
…Wasn’t the idea that he was suicidal caused by Manning’s own comments?
Casey: as I recall, yes. But according to his lawyers, that’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is that he was “abused” by not being allowed clothing that he might also have used to harm himself.
Or maybe it was that Manning wasn’t allowed to have his favorite Wonder Woman pajamas when he went beddie-bye at night. I’m actually having a rather hard time figuring out what they’re complaining about.
This is one time where you and I are in complete agreement, Hondo. Much of this “torture” nonsense is coming from a douche named Glenn Greenwald, a professional left Obama hater that’s trying desperately to turn Manning into Dreyfuss.
Very interesting how you choose not to mention the sleep deprivation he endured under suicide watch (woken once every 10 minutes for several days in a row)nor do you mention that the psychiatrists assigned to evaluate Manning never once stated that a suicide watch for Manning was needed or appropriate – in fact they stated the opposite multiple times. So, if the Army shrinks themselves stated Manning was not a threat to himself, why on earth subject him to suicide watch? Not a long stretch here to come to the conclusion that perhaps it was purely punitive.
just to clarify my above comments…. What has happened here is the US military has given the left wing nutjobs in this country yet one more thing to glom onto. There are laws and procedures that were not followed at the Brig in Quantico. Not that I shed any tears of the treatment of a traitor, but the fact remains that PFC Manning was NOT treated in a humane manner, and in fact was treated in a manner clearly in contradiction of standing military procedure.
When dealing with scumbags, one especially needs to keep clean hands, lest one be accused of stooping to their level.
Sean, I’m very sure that there is a long list of people who would consider the humane killer used on livestock as a means of humanely dealing with Pvt Manning.
Is there such a thing as an E-0 grade/rate? Been a long time.
Manning is a turd.