(English) Bradley Manning’s attorney, David Coombs, posted on his blog today that he has filed an Article 138 complaint with the Quantico Marine Corps base command alleging that the commanding officer of the brig where Manning is being held abused his discretion in placing Manning on suicide watch for two days this week.

The move to put Manning on suicide watch status came the day after some 150 people protested outside the gates of the Quantico base demanding Bradley’s freedom. Mr. Coombs was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, „The fact that they won’t articulate any basis for it leaves you with no other conclusion than it must be punitive.“

(English) As a former regular Marine Corps captain, a Korean War combat veteran, now retired on Veterans Administration disability due to wounds suffered during that conflict, I write you to protest and express concern about the confinement in the Quantico Marine Corps Base brig of US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.

(English) „I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone and that there is strength in numbers. Today we were told that we could only protest across the street from the base at Quantico. We chose not to obey that order and instead marched across the street and right through the gates chanting “Free Bradley Manning!” There were a few Marines and police officers stationed at the street and gate to stop us. They held up their hands and told us to stop but we did not hesitate and marched on through.

„Likewise, there is strength in numbers if the peace and social movements join together to speak out against the concentrated corporate power that controls our government and our media. Together we can create the changes we so desperately need. Together we can raise our voices so high that we cannot be ignored.“

(English) Following a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day protest at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, yesterday to demonstrate outrage and indignation against police state surveillance, infiltration, and attempts to entrap peace, environmental, animal rights, civil rights and solidarity activists, a convoy of attendees set off for Quantico, Virginia, to protest the isolation and torture of Bradley Manning at Marine Corps Brig Quantico.

(English) David Swanson of WarIsACrime.org catalogues and questions recent developments regarding Bradley Manning’s treatment in confinement, and suggests a course of action:

There are conflicting accounts of exactly how Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower on countless U.S. government crimes, has been illegally punished for 8 months so far, pre-trial. There’s no denying that this young man who allegedly sought to make his government’s actions known for the public good and did not seek to profit thereby has been denied a speedy trial. The question is to what extent he has already been punished, and even cruelly and unusually punished, without having been convicted of any crime. But the accounts differ less than it at first appears. And there is one sure way to find out the facts.

(English) A mature American leadership, rather than prosecuting Manning, would encourage an honest debate about U.S. foreign policy. Thomas Jefferson warned that “oppressions are many” and that for the people to govern we should “leave open . . . all the avenues to truth.” Manning has provided an avenue to truth where we can look honestly at our government and dramatically change direction. Enlightened leadership would renounce blackmail, threats and spying of foreign officials, as well as torture and war.

(English) Dozens of people came together in Santa Cruz on January 8th to rally at the clock tower in solidarity with WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning. Protesters lined Mission St. with homemade signs, some in defense of free speech, others calling for the prosecution of U.S. government war crimes.