Update 12/15/12: Media covering the latest pretrial hearing, the unfit Quantico brig, and Amy Goodman on how history will judge Manning
Bradley Manning supporters demonstrate outside Fort Meade, MD. Photo by Jose Luis Magana/Reuters
Al Jazeera summarizes Bradley Manning’s case and examines the “sparse media coverage” of his pretrial proceedings. The twenty-five minute Listening Post program features FAIR Media Watch’s Peter Hart, FireDogLake’s Kevin Gosztola, and the Bradley Manning Support Network’s Emma Cape and Nathan Fuller.
The Quantico Marine brig was unfit to hold Manning in the first place, and Marine officials knew it. The Bradley Manning Support Network’s Mike McKee details the ways in which Quantico was unprepared to hold Manning for longer than 90 days, and despite knowing that he would be in pretrial confinement for well over a year, Marine officials put him there:
“Quantico was a curious choice to house a high-profile detainee that military top brass was already aware would attract intense public, political, and media scrutiny. The decision is even more baffling considering some of the correspondence between Col. Choike and Lt. Gen. Flynn, who described Choike’s newest guest as a “young man with a lot on his plate” whose “life has fallen apart,” requiring suicide-watch status. Despite the demanding level of resources this implies, Quantico was getting by on a revolving cast of part-time, visiting mental health care providers. This proved problematic in March 2011 when a simple scheduling issue sent brig officials scrambling in a “full court press” just to secure another of Manning’s regular psychiatrists, Col. Rick Malone. Roughly eight months since Manning’s arrival, Quantico had yet to hire one full-time mental health professional.”
Read the full story at CounterPunch.
Amy Goodman says, “History will judge harshly the US military’s mistreatment of the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, who turns 25 this week.” In an essay shared by the Guardian, Truthdig, and many others, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman documents Manning’s Article 13 pretrial hearing, quoting Michael Ratner and Daniel Ellsberg:
“Manning turns 25, in prison, 17 December, which is also the second anniversary of the day a young Tunisian set himself on fire in protest of his country’s corrupt government, sparking the Arab Spring. A year ago, as Time magazine named the protester as the “Person of the Year”, legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg offered praise that rings true today:
“The Time magazine cover gives protester, an anonymous protester, as ‘Person of the Year,’ but it is possible to put a face and a name to that picture of ‘Person of the Year.’ And the American face I would put on that is Private Bradley Manning.”
Read the whole essay at the Guardian.
It sadens me that during the Bush administration the name of a CIA agent was leaked and nothing happened to the perpetrators of a crime of treason that was a spiteful retaliation by the government. And yet we have a sincere young man,Bradley Manning, who wanted to expose war crimes and is persecuted for that.
Pardon Private Manning Stand-Out-Central Square, Cambridge, Wednesday December 19th, 5:00 PM
Stand In Solidarity With Private Manning As We Celebrate His Birthday (December 17th)
Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. For A Stand-Out For Bradley- Wednesday December 19th From 5:00-6:00 PM
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The Private Bradley Manning case is headed toward a mid- winter trial now scheduled for March 2013. The recent news on his case has centered on the many (since last April) pre-trial motions hearings including defense motions to dismiss for lack of speedy trial (Private Manning’s pre-trial confinement is now entering 900 plus days), dismissal as a matter of freedom of speech and alleged national security issues (issues for us to know what the hell the government is doing either in front of us, or behind our backs) and dismissal based on serious allegations of torturous behavior by the military authorities extending far up the chain of command while Private Manning was detained in Kuwait and at the Quantico Marine brig for about a year ending in April 2011. Some recent news from the November 2012 pre-trail sessions is the offer by the defense to plead guilty to lesser charges (wrongful, unauthorized use of the Internet, etc.) in order to clear the deck and have the major (with a possibility of a life sentence) espionage /aiding the enemy issue solely before the court-martial judge (a single military judge, the one who has been hearing the pre-trial motions, not a lifer-stacked panel).
For the past several months there has been a weekly stand-out in Greater Boston across from the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop (renamed Pardon Bradley Manning Square for the stand-out’s duration) in Somerville on Friday afternoons but we have since July 4, 2012 changed the time and day to 4:00-5:00 PM on Wednesdays. This Wednesday December 19th at 5:00 PM in order to continue to broaden our outreach we, in lieu of our regular Davis Square stand-out, are meeting in Central Square , Cambridge, Ma.(small park at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street) for a stand-out for Private Manning. President Obama Pardon Private Manning Now!