Monday, March 14, 2011
P.J. Crowley
The Obama administration’s united front on the WikiLeaks controversy has fractured, as evidenced by a member of the State Department criticizing the Department of Defense’s treatment of a soldier accused of giving classified information to the whistleblower website and then being forced to resign because of his statement.
P.J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said Private Bradley Manning was being “mistreated” in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. “What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defense,” said Crowley, who served 26 years in the Air Force. He made his remarks during an event he was attending at MIT.
At a press conference on Friday, President Barack Obama rejected Crowley’s criticism and deemed Manning’s treatment “appropriate.” Two days later, Crowley submitted his resignation “given the impact of my remarks.”
Manning, arrested for allegedly stealing military and diplomatic documents and turning them over to WikiLeaks, has been held for eight months at the Quantico Marine Corps Base. He has been subjected to solitary confinement in his cell for 23 hours a day, and forced to sleep in his shorts at nighttime.
A military spokesman claims the treatment is not intended to humiliate or embarrass Manning, but to ensure his safety and security before he stands trial.
According to Manning’s lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel David Coombs, there is no mental health justification for Manning’s treatment and he has not been designated a suicide risk. Rather, says Coombs’ office, Manning is being punished for making a sarcastic remark in response to the denial to his request to be taken off of Prevention of Injury Watch. Manning had called the restrictions “absurd” and said that if he wanted to harm himself he could use the elastic waistband from his underwear.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Crowley Resigns as State Department Spokesman (by Ed Henry, CNN)
State Department Spokesman Quits after Criticizing WikiLeaks Suspect's Treatment (by Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post)
Bradley Manning Being Mistreated, Says Hillary Clinton Spokesman (by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian)
The State Department Spokesman and the Prisoner in the Brig (Philippa Thomas Online)
The Truth Behind Quantico Brig's Decision to Strip PFC Manning (Law Offices of David Coombs)
In Brig, Wikileaks Suspect Bradley Manning Ordered to Sleep without Clothing (by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post)
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