Eminent legal scholars protest abuse of Bradley Manning

[Bragi]

Interestingly, Obama's own law professor is one of the signatories.

More than 250 of America's most eminent legal scholars have signed a letter protesting against the treatment in military prison of the alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, contesting that his "degrading and inhumane conditions" are illegal, unconstitutional and could even amount to torture.

The list of signatories includes Laurence Tribe, a Harvard professor who is considered to be America's foremost liberal authority on constitutional law. He taught constitutional law to Barack Obama and was a key backer of his 2008 presidential campaign.

Tribe joined the Obama administration last year as a legal adviser in the justice department, a post he held until three months ago.

He told the Guardian he signed the letter because Manning appeared to have been treated in a way that "is not only shameful but unconstitutional" as he awaits court martial in Quantico marine base in Virginia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/10/bradley-manning-legal-scholars-letter

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. Manning's lawyer should make these arguements in court

[Bragi]

2. I presume they will do that

However, as I understand it, the military "justice" code under which he is being held pretty well allows for the use of evidence obtained through torture, so it probably won't help manning much.

The only cost to the Obama administration in engaging in his torture is that none of Manning's evidence can now be used in trying to get Assange extradited to the US, even under trumped-up espionage charges, as they earlier hoped.

I presume that Obama administration has now abandoned any hope of such an extradition at this point. This is, in my view, another reason we should be grateful to Manning for enduring the abuse being inflicted on him.

I just hope that Assange, in his future efforts to expose war crimes and wrong-doing by the US and other rogue states, lives up to the bravery that Manning is showing in standing up to his abusers.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Will? What the hell is he waiting for?

[Bragi]

4. They wait for charges and a trial

My understanding is that without any charges or a trial, there isn't much his lawyers can legally do to get the Obama administration to stop abusing Manning, other than appealing to the public and informed opinion to protest against what's happening.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Make no mistake, he has definitely been charged:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/world/middleeast/07wikileaks.html?fta=y

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/02/national/main20038464.shtml

[Bragi]

6. My mistake. They await a trial. /nt