Bradley Manning is now forced to sleep naked and stand naked for inspection in a prison corridor every day, after 10 months of solitary confinement where he isn’t even allowed to exercise in his cell, and all the rest of it.
The Marines claim to be worried that Manning might commit suicide with his underwear, although he can’t be placed under an official suicide watch, because none of the psychiatrists and psychologists at Quantico will certify that Manning is really at risk for suicide.
After 10 months of brutalization, even a few devoted cheerleaders for Obama are getting a wee bit nervous!
UCLA Professor Mark Kleiman — who last year hailed Barack Obama as “the greatest moral leader of our lifetime” — wrote last night:
The United States Army is so concerned about Bradley Manning’s health that it is subjecting him to a regime designed to drive him insane. . . .
This is a total disgrace. It shouldn’t be happening in this country. You can’t be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.
And now Senator John Kerry speaks out about the brutalization of Bradley Manning.
“There are concerns about what is happening, but a strong argument is being made that they’re trying to preserve his safety, they don’t want him harming himself, and using his own clothing to hang himself, or do something like that,” said Kerry. “That’s happened in prison before. I think it is possible to protect him, I think, and there are some legitimate reasons to believe that that may be true also. But I think that a lot of people are now reviewing this very, very closely, people have weighed in, myself included, I think that analyses are being made. There was a big article in the newspapers today examining it. And I’m convinced that there will be real scrutiny with respect to that issue.”
“People are reviewing this.”
“Analyses are being made.”
And that’s Senator John Kerry, a Democratic politician right out of the same mould as Barack Obama, with no more principles than a cockroach.