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P.J. Crowley, who until two weeks ago was Sec. Clinton’s top spokesman, stepped down from his post after speaking openly about the government’s detainment of suspected Wikileaker Bradley Manning. Namely, that the treatment of Manning is “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defense.” Of course by “stepped down” we mean “pushed out.” But speaking to Shep Smith last night, Crowley again painted the move as voluntarily — because he has “very strongly held views … and when the controversy emerged I felt the only thing I could do was resign.” You know, because Crowley believes the American government should follow its own rules about torture! Speaking of wrongful acts:
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
In 2006 Manning allegedly threatened to kill his stepmother, relays Frontline in The Private Life of Bradley Manning. Manning pulled a knife of her while living in his father’s home; it got him kicked out. She also called 911: “My husband’s 18-year-old son is out of control and just threatened me with a knife. And his father has just had surgery and he is down on the floor… Get away from him! You, get away from him! Get away from him!” The next year, Manning enlisted. Does this prove Manning was the mentally unstable young man the military should have never accepted?
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The Frontline segment, which airs in full on PBS in May, also reveals Manning came out to one of his best friends at age 13. His sexuality was also the reason Manning gives for why he moved out of his father’s house, but his father insists his son’s leaving had more to do with his mental health. After the knife incident, police took him away from the house, but Manning wasn’t charged with a crime. The next day he moved out.
gbbbbbbb
I don’t know. He’s the only one in the entire military, apparently, who thought that war crimes and the conduct of an empire might be in the public’s interest to know. I don’t think he’s a bad person. I think he’s being slandered and whatever. In places like where he’s from, people are mean. Maybe she deserved it. I’ve seen movies about child abuse — and she’s his step mother!
gbbbbbbb
Do you remember that lady who ignored her son while he hung himself on a tree outside because he was being tormented? I think that was in California. People are like that. Lives are hard. Maybe, she was bitch
Jeffree
Good on Crowley for speaking out about Manning’s treatment while incarcerated. As the State Dept. spokesperson, he was responsible for communicating, among other things, the US policies on human rights abroad. We as a nation can’t be a beacon when we don’t practice what we preach.
B
No. 1 · gbbbbbbb wrote, “I don’t know. He’s the only one in the entire military, apparently, who thought that war crimes and the conduct of an empire might be in the public’s interest to know. I don’t think he’s a bad person. I think he’s being slandered and whatever.”
I didn’t find the knife claim credible. It’s on the 911 tape but his father never mentioned it in the interview. Why not? You can hear him asking if his dad is OK, but that is out of character for someone who is threatening others with a knife. You’d think the interviewers would have asked his dad what prompted Bradley Manning to ask that question. Why didn’t they ask?
Meanwhile, given how he is being held, there must be a real incentive to demonize him to reduce the possibility of public support that might lead people to question his treatment.
Given all that, I’m not going to believe much of anything (one way or the other).
SparkyO
Ohhhhhh, I get it now: All of this was the MILITARY’S fault for accepting the mentally deranged Manning in the first place. Shame on them for not having the foresight to anticipate a low-key domestic skirmish would lead to treason. But then again, if they’d tried to keep him out for this assault on his stepmother, all the gay groups would’ve been screaming discrimination. It seems as long as Manning keeps playing the gay card, he can’t lose, can he?
Jeffree
@B: Point well made! If Manning did have that history (which I question, too) then the miltary didn’t do a sufficient background check. It’s no secret that some of the screening criteria have been relaxed, but *if* that event was documented, I can’t see why he was allowed to enlist.
The sexual orientation issue doesn’t matter (or does it?) if he didn’t self disclose during enlistment…
RomanHans
Gosh, what a coincidence that this claim is made while Manning can’t defend himself. He’s, you know, sitting naked in a jail cell 23 out of 24 hours a day, like he has been for the last ten months while the government tries to cook up something to charge him with. Can’t wait for more spurious slurs: did he return all his library books? Ever steal a candy bar? Well, then the government is *definitely* justified in depriving him of his rights.
Cam
“”After the knife incident, police took him away from the house, but Manning wasn’t charged with a crime.””
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Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh, so he supposedly did all this for no reason but the police didn’t charge him with a crime??? Sounds like the knife may have been in self defense.
BenFrankly
Good for Crowley. Exposing war crimes is not a crime and Bradley Manning should be declared a saint if you ask me. The worst thing he did was embarrass the government who was engaged in the usual crap behind closed doors. I only wish I could be on his defense team. But I gave a generous donation to his defense fund.
Daez
@Cam: Its very common that police don’t charge someone with a crime. There could be many reasons, such as the father not wanting to pursue the charges or there being not enough evidence to go to trial.
Either which way, this is a man that is a traitor to the American people that most people that are in support of him would rather fuck than actually support. If this dude was straight, most of you would call for his head.
justiceontherocks
Whether he threatened his stepmother with a knife or beat her with a baseball bat or sent her a dozen roses four times a week has absolutely nothing to do with the terms of his incarceration, which are inhumane, unwarranted and counterproductive.
Markie-Mark
@Daez: Daez, He’s not a traitor, you are.
Cam
@Daez: said…
”
@Cam: Its very common that police don’t charge someone with a crime. There could be many reasons, such as the father not wanting to pursue the charges or there being not enough evidence to go to trial.”
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That isn’t true. You are talking about he said she said crimes, where there were no witnesses and nothing to verify an action took place. If the police show up and there is a weapon and injury and somebody is down on the ground and another person is a witness who also called 911 during the incident….charges would be filed. UNLESS there are extenuating circumstances.
As for your comment about him being a traitor. Funny, I see a lot of things in Wikileaks about the Japanese govt. not telling their citizens that the nuclear power plant failed inspections. About the U.S. govt. knowing that the Pakistanis were passing onfo to the Taliban, an action that caused multiple U.S. lives to be lost, I saw that the U.S. was aware that the Afghan govt. was speaking out of both sides of it’s mouth and stealing U.S. taxpayer money for reconstruction and putting it into private bank accounts. What I haven’t seen is one single think in the Wikileaks that was dangerous to U.S. soldiers IF it was leaked.
So again, all I saw was a lot of information that put people in danger that the govt. was hiding from it’s citizens. So you have a VERY funny definition of traitor. I would think that the Japanese citizens as well as the families who’s loved ones were killed by ambushes aided by Pakistan would dissagree with you.
McMike
Give me a break. He supposedly threatens someone with a knife, the step mother calls 911 and the police do NOT press charges.
There’s only one correct say to spell “bullshit”.
Shannon1981
I don’t believe the knife story for a second, and furthermore, whether any of the family BS is true or not, what the fuck does that have to do with the way he is being treated in that jail? Absolutely nothing. They are just digging up all they can to demonize this poor kid and justify torturing him in unbelievably cruel and inhumane ways in order to deter members of the general public from supporting him. I don’t believe a word of it.
Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England)
Thank god their is sense in the inhumane manner this man is being treated.
John
This seems like a hatchet job.
John
@Daez: “Either which way, this is a man that is a traitor to the American people that most people that are in support of him would rather fuck than actually support. If this dude was straight, most of you would call for his head.”
W-O-W…
Manning is a true patriot for yanking back the sheets on the mendacious doings of clandestine elements within the U.S. government and thus imposing some overdue accountability.
If you’re looking for traitors then you can start with guys Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld:
Google:
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz war on Iraq began before 1998 – now it’s official
Kev C
PBS Frontline hasn’t been relevant for a decade and I doubt this piece is going to change their ratings or reputation. But it does look like a portayal of a serial killer and we should all be scared of Bradley Manning. Too bad Frontline never did an in-depth look at Lynndie England, one of the torturers of Abu Ghraib. So Frontline can stay unwatched by most americans. Thanks but no thanks.
Ralph
If someone reveals government info about a country the US dislikes, that is an act of heroism. If someone reveals US secrets, that is a crime.
Personally I think Manning’s has done the world a great service. We need to know what governments are doing behind our backs. Information becomes secret because, in most cases, someone is trying to get away with, oh, say murder. Naturally there are some exceptions, but most secrets are an indication that some kind of shameful behavior has taken place.
Furthermore, whatever one may think about Manning and about US wars, it is obvious that by making information such as diplomatic cables so widely available, the military failed to protect all these supposedly vital national secrets.
CockyRocky
Holy shit, is there some kind of anti-America movement among gays that I’m missing out on? Or maybe a plague I haven’t been exposed to? Practically everyone on this page is cheering on a traitor. I understand it’s trendy on the Left to trash America these days (even with your Messiah as Commander in Chief), but Jesus Christ, if you feel that oppressed, by all means move to Iran, Mexico, China, or any other country you feel is so humanitarian toward its citizens.
Jeffree
@CôckyRocky: You mean “alleged” traitor. He hasn’t been tried or convicted yet. Perhaps things are different in your country, but we have laws in the US about how justice works. Read up on them !
justiceontherocks
@CockyRocky: Who is defending a traitor? Not a single commenter has defended Dick Cheney, and he’s the only traitor I know of from the Iraq misadventure.
Toyotabedzrock
@gbbbbbbb: No he is not the only person. Some other soldiers have come forward and their are numerous pictures from Abu Ghraib.
360 degree fire
http://www.truth-out.org/second-soldier-alleges-former-tillman-commander-ordered-360-rotational-fire-iraq63153
A Small amount of info that has been revealed.
http://www.collateralmurder.com/
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/media-fix
http://www.thenation.com/article/157729/why-wikileaks-matters
About Bradley
http://www.thenation.com/article/158460/why-bradley-manning-patriot-not-criminal
CockyRocky
@Jeffree: Fine, alleged traitor. Just understand that Manning isn’t being held by the U.S. government because he’s gay, which seems to be the implication here. And admit it: if he’s found guilty of the charges he’s facing, then you guys will go from crying “torture” to yelling “conspiracy”. I understand that LIBERALS HEART CRIMINALS, but Jesus Christ, have some common sense.
Jeffree
@CockyRocky: Manning’s sexual orientation should have nothing to do with how he is being treated or viewed. The case against him should be based on evidence and all relevant law.
How can you possibly judge him before trial?
Would you prefer that the US (the country whose laws apply here, not whichever country you’re from) abandon its core principles before a single piece of evidence has been shown in court?
MattGMD
@CockyRocky: Where have we heard your version of patriotism before? Oh, yeah, from the Bush/Cheney/Karl Rove playbook: “You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Wrapping their ambitious agenda in the flag deflected questions and criticism; detractors could easily be deemed unpatriotic and shunned. It took people too long to comprehend that the innocuous and patriotic-sounding directive really meant: you either support the Bush administration or you will be tagged “anti-American.” Obviously very effective since people are still being bitchily labelled “anti-American” or “trendy” for expressing disagreement with actions taken by our elected officials. One can still love his country while wishing it wasn’t responsible for bullying and killing people.
RepubLickin
Yes, apparantly our government has gone rogue and has taken up torturing innocent soldiers for the purpose of . . . well, there really isn’t a purpose, is there? Manning was arrested because there is evidence of him committing a crime. Likewise, Casey Anthony has been in jail for 3 years without a trial, but no one is crying “Torture!” in her case—it’s just a fact that our judicial system moves at the speed of smell. For Chrissakes, you people make it seem like Manning is the founder of the gay rights movement, when he’s nothing but a (alleged, for all you hair-splitters out there) traitor.
Riker
@RepubLickin: This isn’t the molasses-in-february civil or criminal court systems,this is the military. If there’s one thing the military knows, its efficiency. The could have had him tried months ago, and either convicted or acquitted.
Aside from that, it isn’t so much the amount of time hes been detained, its the conditions he is being detained in. No other prisoner is made to stand naked outside his cell every day, kept in solitary confinement without reason, deprived of pillows/blankets/personal effects/pictures of loved ones, had his eyeglasses taken away, abused by his guards, not allowed to sleep during the day, and woken up every few hours during the night.