WikiLeaks suspect forced to sleep naked in brig

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning / AP/Grpahics Bank

WASHINGTON - The lawyer for a U.S. Army private suspected of giving classified material to WikiLeaks says it is inexcusable that that his client was forced to sleep naked in his cell at a Marine Corps prison near Washington.

The Marines confirmed Friday that Pfc. Bradley Manning was made to relinquish his boxer shorts for about seven hours Wednesday night due to what 1st Lt. Brian Villiard calls a "situationally driven" event.

Villiard would not elaborate, citing concerns about Manning's privacy.

Defense attorney David Coombs says the conditions of Manning's pretrial confinement are punitive and violate military rules.

The former intelligence analyst is charged with aiding the enemy and other offenses for allegedly leaking classified information. The Army said Wednesday it has filed 22 additional charges.

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CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the new charges for the first time formally accuse Manning of aiding the enemy.

Army officials said the charges accuse Manning of using unauthorized software on government computers to extract classified information, illegally download it and transmit the data for public release by what the Army termed "the enemy."

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The charge sheets against Manning make clear that the 22 new counts against him involve the leaking of the Afghan and Iraq war logs as well as the quarter million State Department cables disseminated last year, Martin reports.

The charge sheets do not make any mention of either WikiLeaks or its founder, Julian Assange, Martin reports. All told, the charges accuse Manning of leaking more than half a million documents plus two videos, Martin reports.

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CBS Radio News chief legal analyst Andrew Cohen reports that military officials look like they want to throw the book at Manning, not just to punish him, but also to send a message to other service members who may be tempted to do what Manning allegedly did.

The charges follow seven months of Army investigation.

"The new charges more accurately reflect the broad scope of the crimes that Pvt. 1st Class Manning is accused of committing," said Capt. John Haberland, a legal spokesman for the Military District of Washington.

The charge of aiding the enemy under the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a capital offense, but the Army's prosecution team has notified the Manning defense team that it will not recommend the death penalty to the two-star general who is in charge of proceeding with legal action.

Cohen reports that military officials aren't giving up much when they promise not to seek the death penalty against Manning, a sentence that would have been unlikely anyway even if he is ultimately convicted. One big question now is whether Manning or the government will be open to some sort of a deal that precludes trial, Cohen reports.

In a written statement detailing the new charges, the Army said that if Manning were convicted of all charges he would face life in prison, plus reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade, a dishonorable discharge and loss of all pay and allowances.

Manning's civilian attorney, David Coombs, said any charges that Manning may face at trial will be determined by an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing or grand jury proceeding, possibly beginning in late May or early June.

Trial proceedings against Manning have been on hold since July, pending the results of a medical inquiry into Manning's mental capacity and responsibility.

The Army said Manning was notified in person of the additional charges on Wednesday. He is confined at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va.

[miami_don]

by chatmandu7451 March 4, 2011 12:15 PM EST
What part of breaking the law don't you liberal/progressive/socialist/anarchists/communists don't understand?

======

Moron; We liberals do understand the law and you need to stand-down. What infinite wisdom makes you think that Hillary, Obama, Gates, and even me would not be offended by the actions of this man?

For my fellow liberals who will jump on the other side of this fence; I will add I find it offensive that he was forced to sleep naked. However, in the same breath , I am not so sure he was not a potential suicide, and if that is so it would justify the action.

Everyone should remember this man swore an oath upon entry into the armed services which if the charges are true was broken. There have been and estimated 200-300 people who have lost their lives because of leaking these documents.

Enough said other than some issues are not liberal or conservative simply American. So Moron please stuff your right-wing dogma, where the sun don't shine.

[RatPackSixGun]

As Libertarian who more often than not finds myself at odds with Liberals on issues on these CBS comment section, I'm in complete agreement with you on your points, Don.

[Imthaid2]

Manning is a hero. I am not surprised in the least that a large amount of americans would treat him this way for telling them the truth. These americans are brainwashed and have a level of intelligence equal to a walnut. No wonder america is in the condition it is in. Most americans would prefer to be brain dead puppets rather than spend 1 minute of their lives thinking.

[bradkt1]

He should have been lined up against a wall and shot.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for this traitorous scumbag.

[miami_don]

Don't you think there should be a trial first?

[documemts]

That's it! I'm going to add Bradley Manning to my "List of Heros", in PowerPoint.

[northpark2]

If it's true that this is all the work of one individual who may not be mentally capable, well I have bigger concerns..

[Rodeo_Joe]

Say what you will - We now know how the military and government operate.

When do they go on trial?

[documemts]

US mil. just practicing what they've been taught by psyops trainers. To degrade the prisoners' mental focus as a way of causing him to lose a sense of his personal reality and thereby more easily substitute they're own. 1984. Coming soon to a police station and jail near you!

[Rodeo_Joe]

It's already here. Listen to these commentors parrot Newspeak.

[arkajun-2009]

Too bad this little whimp isn't in a real prison, so while he's laying there all naked, this little traitor can get what he really deserves.

[documemts]

".....he really deserves" You?

[josephp5]

How many people here have actually seen the Apache attack helicopter video that Manning released?

Please view it first at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx3_ynHjL-M . Then ask yourself if this is how your you want your military, which works for America and is financed with your tax dollars, to be behaving.

The simple truth is that the material Manning released did nothing to damage our country's security. What it did damage is reputation of senior military brass that don't want Americans seeing the horrifying truth about what has been happening in Iraq.

What Manning did is much the same as what Daniel Ellsberg did in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers was a study that showed that the Vietnam war could not be won. The fact that the war was unwinable was not a secret to anyone that was actually fighting in Vietnam---the Viet Cong enemy, the US soldiers, or the US military brass. But the military brass wanted to keep this fact a secret from the American people.

And, to the point of this article, it is not merely that he is forced to sleep naked. He has not allowed blankets, sheets, or a pillow. The lights are on 24 hours a day. He is kept in total isolation, with no human contact allowed. He receives no news or other information about the outside world. This despite Manning being a model detainee with no discipline infractions at all.

There is little doubt that prolonged inhumane treatment of this type will produce severe psychological disorders in even the most well adjusted persons. What the Army appears to be doing to Manning here is to torture him to the point of insanity so that he is not appear as sympathetic when he finally gets his day in court.

[Mortarman429]

Joseph, do you know or understand what you were looking at in the video? Do you know what they were doing or what the situation was?

My guess is no.

Again, if you release classified information without consent, you are breaking the law. Thus, you should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The Army is not torturing him. This is standard practice for prisoners who may be a suicide risk.

[josephp5]

Well, Mortarman, I know that you did not actually view the video yourself, because it is over 9 minutes long and your comment is only four minutes after mine.

The video shows an Apache helicopter engaging what he clams to be armed rebels with guns on the ground. However, they actually are a group of Iraqis talking with Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, who's camera they perhaps thought was a gun. After killing most of the men, we see the helicopter firing on one man agonizingly trying to crawl to safety. The pilots laugh about the man being unable to get away. Later we see a station wagon that has arrived to rescue two injured children that can clearly be seen in the wagon. The children, who cannot be older than 5 or 6 years old, are killed when the helicopter fires on the station wagon in the second engagement. The Apache pilot remarks that that is what happens when you bring children to a war zone (but of course the Apache pilot brought the war zone to the children).

Here is a report from a neutral source---the very respectable British paper The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack

But really all you have to do is watch with you own eyes, Motarman.

[confused2byu]

Dude was probably suicidal after learning the charges against him. Guess if he has shoved his boxers down his throat and choked himself to death his lawyer would be complaining that the military did not take proper steps to protect his client.

[Mortarman429]

Exactly!