Julian Assange on Manning and Wikileaks

[LiberalLovinLug]

Last edited Sat Dec 1, 2012, 05:10 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-assange/wikileaks-bradley-manning-testifies-cablegate_b_2215387.html

exerpt:

Bradley Manning, who is alleged to be a source of the cables, started testifying on Thursday about his pre-trial treatment, which UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez said was "at a minimum cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 16 of the Convention against Torture." Captain William Hoctor, the government psychiatrist with 24 years of experience who evaluated Manning at Quantico base in Virginia, testified that brig commanders had ignored his recommendations for Manning's detention, something he had not even experienced in his work at Guantánamo bay prison.

Bradley Manning has been detained without trial for 921 days. This is the longest pre-trial detention of a U.S. military soldier since at least the Vietnam War. U.S. military law says the maximum is 120 days.

The material that Bradley Manning is alleged to have leaked has highlighted astonishing examples of U.S. subversion of the democratic process around the world, systematic evasion of accountability for atrocities and killings, and many other abuses. Our archive of State Department cables have appeared in tens of thousands of articles, books and scholarly works, illustrating the nature of U.S. foreign policy and the instruments of U.S. national power. On the two-year anniversary of the start of Cablegate, I want to highlight some of the stories that have emerged.


_________________________________________

Its a rather long read. But it is informative in reviewing Bradley's situation as well as detailing the main benefits of Wikileaks reporting based on Bradley's whisleblowing. From war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq to sparking the Arab Spring in Tunisia, from the taming of the American press, to death squad training. From evidence of Global Warming lip service, to influencing judicial proceedings, against justice, in other sovereign nations.

Yet we still have a few frightened Authoritarians on DU who would want to shut down and prosecute anyone who works for this kind of transparency in our elected governments.
I've banged my head against the wall enough.

[Mnemosyne]

1. K&R and I'll join you...

[RomneyLies]

2. I'm not afraid to say it, one asshole talking about a traitor doesn't alter the fact

that the traitor is a traitor.

[LiberalLovinLug]

6. A traitor

To geographical boundaries or

ethical or moral boundaries?

[white_wolf]

28. I've said it in another thread and I'll say it here

the poster you are replying to hides behind oaths and orders. A perfect example of the military's indoctrination at work. Orders do not excuse you from ignoring atrocities. The Nuremberg defense was bullshit when the Nazis tried it and it's bullshit now.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. I'll bet you would have been just fine and dandy with Daniel Ellsberg going

to prison for leaking the Pentagon Papers too.

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The papers were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times in 1971.[1] A 1996 article in The New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance".[2] The report was declassified and publicly released in June 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers

I"ll have no truck with those who would enable war crimes or war criminals. And methinks you're now a proud member of that group.

[sabrina 1]

10. So reporting War Crimes now means 'traitor' on the Left?

BS, Manning is a hero and Assange is an award winning journalist who unlike our propaganda machine here that passes for 'news media' revealed facts. Wikileaks is the new media, not beholden to Corporations or the MIC and that, to War and Wall Street Criminals, is a crime. A free press is always a threat to liars and criminals. Bush's crimes were exposed in those leaks just as the travesty and deception of the Vietnam War was exposed by Daniel Ellsbert how was also called a traitor back then, now is viewed as a hero.



People here are so indoctrinated by Fox and CNN they have no clue what the facts are.

What do you think of torturers btw? Any of the criminals reported on by Manning been prosecuted yet?

[midnight]

19. Love that pic!

[dionysus]

3. one douchebag talking about another douchebag? okay.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. Buh-bye, war crime enabler - n/t

[dionysus]

13. bye. don't write.

[sabrina 1]

11. One award winning journalist talking about an American hero.

You know you are on the right side of the issues by who is on the same side with you.

The far right also refers to Manning as a traitor and a douchebag and of course they hate Assange. That in itself is a huge reference for both of them.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. LOL

My gawd, did you even read your own signature?

[davidn3600]

4. I thought Obama promised to put an end to all this torture bullshit

I guess as long as its a Democrat administration, the government can do whatever it wants?

Torture wasn't right when Bush did it, and it's not right when Obama does it.

[ProSense]

18. Actually,

"I thought Obama promised to put an end to all this torture bullshit...I guess as long as its a Democrat administration, the government can do whatever it wants?"

...he did.

ENDING TORTURE = Three Torches

• Ordered an end to the use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, withdrew
  flawed legal analysis used to justify torture and applied the Army Field Manual on interrogations
  government wide.
  
• Abolished the CIA secret prisons.
  
• Says that “waterboarding is torture” and “contrary to America’s traditions… contrary to our ideals.”
  
• No reports of extraordinary rendition to torture or other cruelty under his administration.
  
• Failed to hold those responsible for past torture and other cruelty accountable; has blocked
  alleged victims of torture from having their day in court.

http://www.aclulibertywatch.org/ALWCandidateReportCard.pdf

He just hasn't reformed the prison system,

http://www.aclu.org/we-can-stop-solitary

[JackRiddler]

20. Sorry to the ACLU, but one point is directly contradicted...

No reports of extraordinary rendition to torture or other cruelty under his administration.

The known treatment of Bradley Manning represents torture under the Obama administration. If one wants to get around that by claiming no extraordinary rendition was involved in Manning's case, that's hardly an excuse. Torture is torture.

The known treatment of Guantanamo prisoners (another suicide last week of a man known and acknowledged to be innocent of "terrorism" charges) as it has continued under Obama also constitutes "torture or other cruelty."

Failing to hold those responsible accountable is the most essential failing. It means that torture has not been ended, it is merely waiting for the next administration willing to be more obvious about torture.

Subjecting populations to bombing campaigns with all the attendant trauma especially to children may not qualify legally as torture but it is certainly a cruelty.

And we'll take on faith that there are no more CIA (or other agency?) secret prisons, since that is all we have when $80 billion a year in federal spending is black budget (2/3 to private entitties) and a host of self-financed covert and parapolitical organizations are still in place.

Hooray for the steps, it's still far from justice or success.

[randome]

21. Manning was visited by family on several occasions. He never claimed he was tortured.

If he was, there would likely be some physical evidence. IMO, the claims of 'torture' are pretty standard fare for a defense attorney to make.

It's pretty obvious the only reason the defense is making this claim now is to have whatever sentence is handed down be mitigated.

Again, standard defense posturing.

[JackRiddler]

25. It is known exactly how he was treated.

And it is torture. And it is done elsewhere in the US prison system. And every US government is responsible for it.

[Luminous Animal]

26. Sleep deprivation is torture. Isolation is torture. This has been well established world-wide..

In fact, we used to condemn it. He didn't complain about his conditions because, as he testified, he didn't want to antagonize anyone on make his conditions worse.

[ProSense]

22. This is simply nonsense

"The known treatment of Bradley Manning represents torture under the Obama administration."

The treatment of Manning represent the fucked up prison system. No one seems to give a shit about the hundreds of thousands of prisoners who have been subjected to such treatment forever. This crap predates the horrific Geneva Conventions violations of the Bush Era.

The conflating of those abuses with the treatment of prisoners, and they are abuses, to push the idiotic talking point that the administration condones torture is digusting opportunistic bullshit. It also shows the agenda of those who would ignore other prisoners to focus solely on Manning.

Why isn't anyone focused on all the other prisoners that shared the facility with Manning, the other prisoners locked up in prisons around the country who have been subject to the treatment being highlighted?

Where are the calls for prison reform?

[JackRiddler]

24. You are simply in denial

But that's not very surprising in your case as self-appointed lead cheerleader for everything wrong the USG does, long as the admin is called Obama rather than Bush.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1913383

[Luminous Animal]

27. Actually a lot of people care about the conditions of the U.S. prison system.

I can give you many links if you want to join us.

By the way, can you tell me who is the Commander in Chief of our military? He can stop torture at the stroke of a pen.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Thanks for posting that. It is great!

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Who's afraid of Julian Assange?

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[sabrina 1]

12. War criminals and crooked banksters. It was Wikileaks who released the first information

on Iceland's corrupt banksters. They too tried to silence them with threats etc at the time, but one thing Assange has is guts. He refused to back down and published the leaks. Iceland arrested its crooked politicians and banksters and today they are the only European country that is on the rebound.

But Assange has a paid a huge price for going after the Banksters. The fake smear campaign against him is meant to show anyone else who might be inclined to publish the truth that they better think twice about it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

15. thanks for pointing that one out

So much good came out of those releases in the name of progress to a more open honest society.

I don't see how anyone other than the duct-taped window, basement dwelling fear laden authoritarian NOT be supportive of what Assange and Wikileaks and of course Bradley Manning have done. There are many on the right that can be described this way, but its a revelation to find even some here on DU.

[JackRiddler]

16. Resistance to a war of aggression is service.

The traitors are the architects of the invasion of Iraq, who should be at the Hague.

The only sickening thing about the Manning case is that he was among a handful of soldiers who exposed the truth.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

17. and a ton of classified information that had nothing to do with crimes or wrongdoings

I applaud him for releasing the information regarding the crimes and hope that will be a mitigating cirumstance, but i have no respect for the release of the remaining information and i do think he should face the music for that.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. Whistleblowers who insist on telling the people what their government does are sooo annoying.

I mean who do the people think they are to hold their public servants accountable?!!?