Glenn Greenwald tells the massively depressing story of our government’s treatment of Bradley Manning:
“Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months – and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait – under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture. Interviews with several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning’s detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard) who confirmed much of what they conveyed, establishes that the accused leaker is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries.”
It is amusing, sort of, that when the Obama Administration first entered office, Attorney General Eric Holder loudly described his sufferings at the hands of the law:
“I was a young college student driving from New York to Washington, stopped on a highway and told to open the trunk of my car, because the police officer told me he wanted to search it for weapons. I remember, as I got back in the car and continued on my journey how humiliated I felt, how angry I got.”
The Horror, n’est-ce pas? Holder also described the U.S. as a “nation of cowards” for its moral evasions regarding race. After two years in office, I imagine Holder is capable of lecturing the whole world on the subject of moral evasion.
John Ashcroft, one of Holder’s predecessors, and no slouch at moral evasion himself, said “history will judge us harshly.” And so it will.
