From Salon:
Let’s review Manning’s detention over the last nine straight months: 23-hour/day solitary confinement; barred even from exercising in his cell; one hour total outside his cell per day where he’s allowed to walk around in circles in a room alone while shackled, and is returned to his cell the minute he stops walking; forced to respond to guards’ inquiries literally every 5 minutes, all day, everyday; and awakened at night each time he is curled up in the corner of his bed or otherwise outside the guards’ full view. Is there anyone who doubts that these measures — and especially this prolonged forced nudity — are punitive and designed to further erode his mental health, physical health and will? As The Guardian reported last year, forced nudity is almost certainly a breach of the Geneva Conventions; the Conventions do not technically apply to Manning, as he is not a prisoner of war, but they certainly establish the minimal protections to which all detainees — let alone citizens convicted of nothing — are entitled.
The treatment of Manning is now so repulsive that it even lies beyond what at least some of the most devoted Obama admirers are willing to defend. For instance, UCLA Professor Mark Kleiman — who last year hailed Barack Obama as, and I quote, “the greatest moral leader of our lifetime” — wrote last night:
The United States Army is so concerned about Bradley Manning’s health that it is subjecting him to a regime designed to drive him insane. . . . This is a total disgrace. It shouldn’t be happening in this country. You can’t be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.
Comments
7 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.It shouldn’t be happening in any country, let alone the land of the free. It makes me feel ashamed to be a human being.
Like or Dislike:
13 
1
This should be on the news much, much more than Charlie Sheen’s inane mental disintegration. Hell, this should be on the news. The only places I’ve seen it talked about are online.
Like or Dislike:
8 
0
Reminds me of the treatment Winston Smith recieved during his incarceration in Orwells 1984.
Like or Dislike:
7 
0
The really sad part is that this isn’t uncommon for supermax prisons. Over on Reddit someone did an AMA (Ask me anything), detailing 5 years spent in a supermax, and from the sounds of it, this is almost exactly what all the prisoners go through. it’s less of a sad truth of his this man is being treated, and more a sad truth of how all criminals are being treated. It’s not rehabilitation, it’s simply torture.
Like or Dislike:
6 
0
Well the difference is that people in supermax have done really bad things, and been convicted of it. Manning hasn’t been convicted of squat. Not that I’m saying it’s right even for supermax prisoners.
Like or Dislike:
10 
0
Yep. Criminals deserve to be tortured. Is this a civilized nation or what.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
“You can’t be unaware of this, Mr. President”
BWAHAHAHA HA… Oh wait. Maybe that was irony.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0