{"id":22516,"date":"2011-03-08T20:41:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T00:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=22516"},"modified":"2011-03-08T21:19:56","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T01:19:56","slug":"22516","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=22516","title":{"rendered":"Reminder — PFC Manning hasn’t been convicted yet."},"content":{"rendered":"

You’re entitled to your opinions about what Bradley Manning is accused of having done. Certainly I don’t have a lot of pity for him if he is proven guilty. But via Instapundit<\/a> comes a link to some other bloggers — primarily lefties, but whatever — who are troubled by how the military is handling his case. I’ve read through them, and did my own research and you know what? They make some pretty good points:<\/p>\n

1) Bradley Manning was arrested in May 26th of 2010. He was charged on July 5th with several UCMJ violations and then with 22 additional counts on March 2nd of this year. Since July 29th, 2010, he has been at the brig in Quantico, classified as a “Maximum Custody Detainee.” <\/p>\n

2) It is difficult for me to believe that in ten months, the military has not had enough time to put together its case against Mr. Manning. This does not qualify, to my mind, as a speedy trial. In New York, for example, the state may wait no longer than 6 months for all other than murder cases, else the charges are dismissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3) The conditions of Manning’s detention at Quantico include a) being held in a 72 sq. foot cell (or the equivalent of a space 8 feet wide by 9 wide). The cell has no window. Somewhere in this 72 square feet is a toilet and a sink. He is not allowed any contact with other detainees. He is allowed access to one book and one magazine, as well as limited access to television. I know that the effect of such a detainment on me would be debilitating, and according to one of PFC Manning’s regular visitors, so it has been on PFC Manning:<\/p>\n

“David House, the computer scientist permitted to visit him twice a month, said in December 2010 that Manning’s mental and physical health were deteriorating; he said he had watched Manning change from an intelligent young man to someone who appeared catatonic, and who had difficulty conducting a conversation…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4) Though the legal concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is not part of the Constitution, it is an accepted principle alluded to in several articles and amendments to that same Constitution, and is a well established principle all the way back to English Common Law. While I accept that a serviceman gives up some of his freedoms and agrees to live by a harsher set of laws than the rest of Americans, whose freedom he has signed up to defend, I don’t think it’s fair to assume the opposite. And so I am saddened that so many milbloggers I know and respect — I’m looking at you, Jimbo<\/a>, because you’re better than this — are assuming that PFC Manning is guilty until proven innocent. <\/p>\n

5) A “Prevention of Injury” order is in effect for PFC Manning. This means he must be checked on every five minutes. He is not allowed to sleep during the day — or at any time after 5 am. He is additionally required to sleep naked, and to stand at attention in the morning, naked. However:<\/p>\n

…the Brig psychiatrist assessed PFC Manning as “low risk and requiring<\/a> only routine outpatient followup [with] no need for … closer clinical observation.” In particular, he indicated that PFC Manning’s statement about the waist band of his underwear was in no way prompted by “a psychiatric condition.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It strikes me that PFC Manning is either a suicide risk, or he isn’t, and that since the Army’s own psychiatrist has said he is not a suicide risk, the Army’s jailer ought to respect that professional decision. That she has not respected the psychiatrist’s opinion is deeply troubling. I’m suspicious that she is either abusing her power, or the Army is paying for a psychiatrist it has no use for. Not good. And so I am inclined to agree with PFC Manning’s lawyer — an Army Lieutenant Colonel, with Iraq experience — that this treatment is punitive and not justified. <\/p>\n

6) Let’s keep in mind that at least some of the prosecution’s case against PFC Manning will rely on the testimony of Adrian Lamo — a convicted felon who stands to gain personally by helping the state prosecute PFC Manning. <\/p>\n

So I’m putting the Army on notice. The Army needs to get off its fat fucking ass and try PFC Manning. If New York prosecutors can put people on trial within 6 months, high speed Army cheese-officers can sure as shit do it in ten. If the military’s own psychiatrist says PFC Manning is not a suicide risk, then the military’s jailers need to show some respect for that opinion. Bottom line is, the Army needs to stop trying to act like Barack Obama and have it both ways. Either PFC Manning is a suicide risk, which indicates he is insane, which would bolster an insanity defense, or PFC Manning is not insane. And if PFC Manning is not insane, he needs to be treated the same way as every other soldier accused, but not yet convicted, of a crime.<\/p>\n

Listen, if PFC Manning is proven guilty, I’m open to the death penalty as punishment. But by taking so long to try him, the military is making me suspicious that it doesn’t have a real case, and is trying to coerce some kind of a confession out of him, or against Julian Assange. <\/p>\n

If so, that shit ain’t right. <\/p>\n

And for those of you who just know deep in your heart without yet having all the facts that PFC Manning is guilty, I’d like to point out that the best way to assure that the military doesn’t abuse its power against innocent soldiers like you or the Haditha Marines is to make sure it doesn’t abuse its power against guilty ones. I’ve seen the military throw soldiers under a bus, and so have you. <\/p>\n

— Uber Pig<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’re entitled to your opinions about what Bradley Manning is accused of having done. Certainly I … Reminder — PFC Manning hasn’t been convicted yet.<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":615,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}