(English) Julian Assange told Sir David Frost that he believes the torturous conditions of Bradley Manning’s imprisonment at U.S. Marine Base Quantico are designed to coerce Manning into testifying against him.

Assange was interviewed by Sir David Frost for Frost Over the World, Frost’s news program for the English AlJazeera network. In the interview, Assange related to Frost why he believed he was a target for prosecution by the United States. Assange stated that organizations who have been publicly “embarrassed” by WikiLeaks are trying to “save face” by pressuring potential WikiLeaks sources.

(English) Kevin Carson: “I think the last time American soldiers actually fought for the freedom of Americans was probably the Revolutionary War . . . But I can think of one exception.”

(English) Our Minneapolis group continues to hold regular events to raise awareness of Bradley Manning’s imprisonment. We also use it to share Wikileaks DVD that included not only the Collateral Murder videos but also the recent Cablegate releases, the Afghan War Diaries and Iraq War Diaries along with the mysterious Insurance file.

(English) I spoke for about 20 minutes with Lt. Brian Villiard, from the Public Affairs Office at Quantico Prison. He gave me a chance to express my understanding of the current conditions of Private Bradley Manning’s confinement. I echoed the information that I had read, that Bradley is in solitary confinement, that he has not been out doors in four weeks, that he previously had been sporadically allowed only one hour of exercise time out of the cell, that he is not allowed to exercise in his cell, that lights are left on all night, and that the blanket he uses is rough, more like carpeting than a blanket.

“In diesen Tagen weiß ich die Unterstützung und die besten Wünsche von jedem sehr zu schätzen. Ich bin auch dankbar für Alles, was für meine Verteidigung getan wurde. Ich bitte Euch, Euch einen Augenblick Zeit zu nehmen, um an diejenigen zu denken, die aufgrund ihrer Arbeit oder wichtiger Aufträge in diesen Tagen nicht bei ihren [...]

(English) After trying other avenues of recourse, the Bradley Manning Support Network is urging supporters to engage in direct protest in order to halt the punitive conditions of the soldier’s detention.

On December 17, in a prison cell in Quantico Virginia, Bradley Manning will be celebrating his 23rd birthday, alone. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and ex-Pentagon official KT McFarland are calling for Manning’s execution, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is vowing “aggressive steps” will be taken against those responsible for the leaks. As WikiLeaks scrounges to find a way to keep their site alive after being shut out by PayPal, Amazon and EveryDNS, Manning is held in prison, unable to meet with his family and prevented from getting the vast majority of his mail.