OBAMA: With respect to Private Manning, I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are. I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ2cUk8tuTU&feature=player_embedded

Abu Zubaydah's torturers,
like Bradley Manning's jailers,
call it being "God."

Emptywheel:
As I have repeatedly pointed out, stripping detainees to "demonstrate the omnipotence of the captor" was introduced as a Standard Operating Procedure at Gitmo back in 2002 when they were preparing to torture Mohammed al-Qahtani http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1071230,00.html . Abu Zubaydah's torturers, like Bradley Manning's jailers, call it being "God."
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/03/11/not-only-wont-obama-close-gitmo-hes-now-relying-on-gitmos-sops/#

That’s striking given that–according to Bradley Manning’s Article 138 complaint, written in his own voice–Commander James Averhart put Manning on suicide watch on January 18 to demonstrate that he was, for all practical purposes, God.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/03/10/playing-god-with-bradley-manning/



.................

Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official
Trial Overseer Cites 'Abusive' Methods Against 9/11 Suspect

"We tortured Mohammed al-Qahtani," said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.


HERE IT IS (hope it was ok to print the whole thing):
http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimonies-of-standard-operating-procedures/jtf-gtmo-sere-interrogation-standard-operating-procedure

The constitution absolutely forbids this. Sophistry over the word "punishment" is an abomination.

Today they called out the shrinks working at Quantico who are checking on Manning for not denouncing the regime he's been put on.

That's the damn truth. :puke:

for someone who'd been accused of kidnapping someone and mistreating them. It's very sick stuff.

in an attempt to redefine the process of detention as a tortuous ordeal of agony and suffering.

However, more effort is required, for each story emerges as the same wild tale of exaggerated hysteria.

Anyone who believes these tactics would never be used on Americans is out of touch with reality. In fact, they already have been used on two Americans that we know of, John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla.

Or some shit like that.

I feel tortured by emptywheel's awful fictional prose.

snip

Some at the Defense Department may feel pressured to exercise all precautions to prevent harm from befalling Mr. Manning; after all, they would undoubtedly be blamed for either allowing or causing such harm. But it is difficult to understand why Mr. Manning is being held under these extremely restrictive conditions. His alleged crimes are serious, but they are not violent. The brig at Quantico is tiny, holding roughly one dozen individuals at any given time; shouldn’t personnel be able to control such a population even if some wish to harm a man they may consider a traitor?

The episodes of forced nudity are particularly disturbing. In both instances, nudity was imposed after, according to Mr. Manning, he had run-ins with brig personnel, leading to questions about whether it was payback for mouthing off. And Mr. Manning’s treatment comes uncomfortably close to the kind of intimidating and humiliating tactics disavowed after the abuses at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons that eroded the country’s standing in the world.

Before abruptly resigning his post this week, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called Mr. Manning’s treatment “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” That sounds about right.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pfc-bradley-manning-doesnt-deserve-humiliating-treatment-/2011/03/15/AB0Jj2Z_story.html

I hope she can take your criticism without breaking down completely. :)

And what do you get out of propagating that appalling lie about the women who supported Hillary Clinton?

Does it assuage your buyer's remorse?

And, they certainly wouldn't prevaricate about anything...except when they think it necessary to do a bit of CYA. And, when they asked the State Department about it Hillary's chief mouthpiece..er, spokesman..said that...oh, wait..he..uh..was fir..resigned.