Bradley Manning Faces Death Penalty

[Zeebadee]

Actually Dan...IMO this time yer dead wrong.

I'm not saying the actions warrant the death penalty...but to not have it as a Big Stick to waive around would be dumb.

This guy willingly disclosed sensitive info. He did it while in the military.

Big bad...BIIIIG bad...

Fine, try him and convict him, then sentence him.

"Yet the key here is that Manning, an American citizen entitled to every protection afforded by the U.S. Constitution, has yet to be convicted of anything, which makes his pre-trial incarceration that much more troubling. Moreover, not only does such cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment violate a long list of international human rights treaties, but as Greenwald points out, “[s]ubjecting a detainee like Manning to this level of prolonged cruel and inhumane detention can thus jeopardize the ability of the U.S. to secure extradition for other prisoners, as these conditions are viewed in much of the civilized world as barbaric.”

Sadly, we in America have conveniently forgotten that we once stood for something more than a warring military empire. Indeed, in our once-stalwart defense of human rights, our adherence to a moral code that was rooted in a respect for human life, and our willingness to lead the world by example through innovation and progress in science and the arts, we were the antithesis of all that America--now the largest international exporter of weapons and war--has come to stand for today."
The Rutherford Institute: Private Bradley Manning: A Victim of the Military Empire?

[Buzz62]

The guy was a grunt who took it upon himself to post classified documents.
All "bleeding-hearts" aside...that's the bottom line and he should be appropriately reprimanded for it.

[Zeebadee]

The guy was a grunt who took it upon himself to post classified documents.
All "bleeding-hearts" aside...that's the bottom line and he should be appropriately reprimanded for it.

What if you've got the wrong guy?

[Dan74]

Actually Dan...IMO this time yer dead wrong.

I'm not saying the actions warrant the death penalty...but to not have it as a Big Stick to waive around would be dumb.

This guy willingly disclosed sensitive info. He did it while in the military.

Big bad...BIIIIG bad...

Why? Because it embarrasses the military? Punishing Manning extremely would hurt their image even more. People generally like to know what their government is up to. When an Apache helicopter kills 12 innocent people, the public generally doesn't have a good image in their head.

[rmnunez]

He's not being tortured, this is what your link on his "inhumane" confinement says:

Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out.

It "crushes the spirit", this should be a good thing, we don't want people to get too spiritual do we?

[mbc85]

He's not being tortured, this is what your link on his "inhumane" confinement says:

It "crushes the spirit", this should be a good thing, we don't want people to get too spiritual do we?

yeah we dont want him getting spiritual now. just like we dont want him to get a fair trial, nor we want him to get consul, nor all the other rights that he is suppose to have but we just took them away, yea we dont want anything like that.

What if bradley was not in the military and still did this? would it make a difference?

[Zeebadee]

He's not being tortured, this is what your link on his "inhumane" confinement says:

And here's what my link says:

"As Glenn Greenwald of Salon observes, Manning has been “subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America’s Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado: all without so much as having been convicted of anything. And as is true of many prisoners subjected to warped treatment of this sort, the brig's medical personnel now administer regular doses of anti-depressants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation.”

Imprisoned in a windowless, 6 x 12 foot cell containing a bed, a drinking fountain and a toilet, Manning has been kept under Suicide and/or Prevention of Injury (POI) watch during his incarceration, largely against the advice of two forensic psychiatrists. Under suicide watch, Manning has been confined to his tiny cell for 24 hours a day and stripped of all clothing with the exception of his underwear. His prescription eyeglasses were taken away, leaving him in essential blindness except for those limited times when he is permitted to read or watch television, at which time his glasses are returned to him. A guard is stationed outside Manning’s cell at all times. In a thinly veiled attempt to harass the young man, guards check on Manning every five minutes, asking if he is ok. He is not allowed to have a pillow or sheets, but he currently has a mattress that has a built-in pillow and two blankets.

Things are not much better for Manning under POI watch. As his attorney, David Coombs, points out, he is forced to remain in his cell for 23 hours a day. He is not allowed to have personal items in the cell, and is only allowed to have one book or one magazine at any time to read in the cell. He is not allowed to exercise in his cell and if he attempts to do push-ups, sit-ups or any other form of exercise, he will be forced to stop by the brig guards. He gets one hour of exercise outside of his cell daily, so his exercise routine consists of him walking around in figure eights in an empty room for an hour. When he goes to sleep, he must strip down to his underwear and surrender his clothing to the guards. If he falls asleep with a blanket over his head or curled up toward the wall, the guards wake him up.

Most recently, it was revealed that Manning was stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours, after which time he was made to stand naked outside his cell during an inspection--allegedly part of an effort by the government aimed at pressuring Manning to identify others involved in the WikiLeaks case. The tactic is certainly not a new one. Indeed, as one investigative news source pointed out, the forced nudity recalls “how the Bush administration used nudity and other abusive tactics to break down ‘war on terror’ detainees. In 2004, the CIA told President George W. Bush’s lawyers how useful forced nudity was for instilling ‘learned helplessness’ in prisoners.”
The Rutherford Institute: Private Bradley Manning: A Victim of the Military Empire?

[Kathie Bondar]

Manning faces new charges; could face death penalty - U.S. news - Security - msnbc.com



Bullshit. Utter fucking bullshit. I hate the US military. This is not aiding the enemy in any way, shape, or form. No one has been killed EVER as a result of these leaks. If these fucktards in the Pentagon want to save lives so fucking badly, then they should take the fucking troops out of fucking harms way.

I apologize for the language.

The US needs its foreign wars for economic reasons. Recession is bad enough, think of all the servicemen out on the street looking for work. Better yet, getting preferential treatment for having served in the forces, they would get your job and you would be pounding the pavement looking for work.
Let's just call a spade a spade.

[rmnunez]

Why don't you want Manning to get a fair trial?

He's a citizen of the US and held in Quantico (Virginia) not entitled to a consul.

He gets a court martial, just like every other member of the armed forces who breaks the law while in uniform, this has been adequate and satisfactory until now.

Do you think leaking secret documents online should provide an exception to the court martial, why?

[Dan74]

The US needs its foreign wars for economic reasons. Recession is bad enough, think of all the servicemen out on the street looking for work. Better yet, getting preferential treatment for having served in the forces, they would get your job and you would be pounding the pavement looking for work.
Let's just call a spade a spade.

So war is a good thing? A little immoral, no?

[Zeebadee]

Why don't you want Manning to get a fair trial?

He's a citizen of the US and held in Quantico (Virginia) not entitled to a consul.

He gets a court martial, just like every other member of the armed forces who breaks the law while in uniform, this has been adequate and satisfactory until now.

Do you think leaking secret documents online should provide an exception to the court martial, why?

So give him his court martial and be done with it. Manning's treatment amounts to punishment before any court martial has even begun. The government is trying to break Manning and get him to implicate Assange as a conspirator, so it can build a case against Wikileaks.

No one is saying that Manning shouldn't face trial, what we are saying is that he has a right to a fair and speedy trial.

"Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/wo...i.html?_r=3&hp

[rmnunez]

Yes, I'd expect they are trying to build their case against Assange, hoping Manning will implicate him in some sort of conspiracy, but this doesn't mean Manning is innocent. Regardless of whether Assange had any dealings with Manning, the soldier is still guilty. Disseminating the classified documents is not allowed -no matter what the motives or who they were provided to.