Our Sick, Sadistic Country

To follow-up on yesterday's observations about the prolonged forced nudity to which Bradley Manning has been subjected the last two days: brig officials now confirm to The New York Times that Manning will be forced to be nude every night from now on for the indefinite future -- not only when he sleeps, but also when he stands outside his cell for morning inspection along with the other brig detainees. They claim that it is being done "as a 'precautionary measure' to prevent him from injuring himself."

  Glenn Greenwald

To our eternal shame, this country has taken a young man who enlisted in the armed forces to serve his country, and upon seeing his country act against everything he thought it stood for and following his conscience and his sense of duty sought to bring to light immoral and illegal acts being performed contrary to domestic and international law, thrown him into Hell and hopes to destroy him.

Brad Manning's Continued Degradation

The Pentagon is sending out emissaries to news organizations to lie about Bradley Manning's detention conditions.

In fact, not only is he still being treated like a Gitmo detainee, they have resorted to stripping him for extra humiliation, like an Abu Ghraib prisoner.

A lawyer for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking secret government files to WikiLeaks, has complained that his client was stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours on Wednesday.

[...]

The soldier’s clothing was returned to him Thursday morning, after he was required to stand naked outside his cell during an inspection, Mr. Coombs said in a posting on his Web site.

[...]

First Lt. Brian Villiard, a Marine spokesman, said a brig duty supervisor had ordered Private Manning’s clothing taken from him. He said that the step was “not punitive” and that it was in accordance with brig rules, but he said that he was not allowed to say more.

“It would be inappropriate for me to explain it,” Lieutenant Villiard said. “I can confirm that it did happen, but I can’t explain it to you without violating the detainee’s privacy.”

  NYT

Because nothing says concern for a detainee’s privacy like stripping him naked and standing him outside his cell.

Should Brad Manning ever get out of prison alive, I wouldn't be surprised if he defected to a civilized country. If the U.S. doesn't care whether it makes enemies of its own citizens and soldiers, why should it care that it's making millions of enemies abroad?

Speaking of Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez's offer to mediate in the Libyan crisis marks the Venezuelan president's latest attention-grabbing foray onto the world stage.

[...]

Miguel Tinker Salas, author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela, agreed that Chavez's motivation was primarily to promote Venezuela as a country with diplomatic clout.

[...]

”It's [...] also the first effort from any source to bring these sides to a conversation, if that's even possible," he said.

But, Salas warned, the only scenario in which Chavez could emerge in a positive light would be in "facilitating the process in which Gaddafi leaves the country".

"If he could provide an honourable way out for Gaddafi, in some ways that would reduce the tensions and provide for some transition. He could actually come out as a well-regarded mediator with international credibility - or he could end up on the wrong side of history."

[...]

Chavez also risked finding himself isolated from the revolts sweeping the Arab world, with possible implications for his leftist credentials at home and abroad.

alJazeera

Unless, of course, his intent is to convince Qaddafi to change or leave. Who ever knows with Hugo?

Despite "similarities of style" and a "kinship of personality", Charles Jones said Chavez would "bridle at Gaddafi's total disregard for constitutionality... Chavez places huge emphasis on elections and public support."

Jonathan Di John, a Venezuelan expert at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, said Chavez's intentions were "far more socially democratic than Gadaffi's" and questioned whether his involvement in Libya would do him any serious harm domestically.

I doubt it. Despite a large contingent of pro-US, anti-Chavez elites in Venezuela, the majority of the people are poor and they absolutely love their president, as megalomaniacal as he might be. And he seems to truly love them.

Ultimately, said Di John, Chavez's mediation offer was a low-risk gambit by a politician who has used anti-western rhetoric to bolster Venezuela's profile – and who may not have ever expected his offer to be taken seriously.

“I don't think as far as the US and some other countries are concerned they hold him in very high esteem anyway, so he doesn't really have a lot to lose in that respect.

Nor does he care. He has no desire to be respected by neo-liberalist empires. Quite the opposite.

Alan Gross on Trial Today in Cuba

But the indictment is really against our irrational and repressive blockade policy toward Cuba.

Trial begins in Cuba Friday for a U.S. government contractor charged with "acts against the integrity and independence" of Cuba. Alan Gross faces a possible 20-year sentence if convicted. The 61-year-old Maryland native was working on a USAID-program that promotes democracy. His family, and U.S. and company officials, say he was bringing communications equipment to Cuba's Jewish community. Cuban Jewish groups deny it.

9&10 News - Michigan

I like that: USAID “promotes democracy.” American democracy for third world countries, to be precise. Do I need to spell out what that looks like? Including overthrowing third world governments.

Working for Development Alternatives Inc. (an agency known for landing hefty contracts off US foreign policy, especially in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq) will make it hard for Alan Gross to prove he was not aware of the risk involved in his illegal mission in Cuba.

[...]

Gross was allegedly caught distributing sophisticated communications equipment on a tourist visa.

Development Alternatives sent him to Cuba to “empower civil society” through a program financed by USAID, a main instrument of the US foreign policy agenda that has sought for over a half a century to put an end to the Cuban revolution.

[...]

Speculation abounds as to whether Gross might then be released for humanitarian reasons with political perks for Cuba, swapped for some or all of the Cuban Five members jailed in the US or imprisoned for possibly the rest of his life or until some future negotiations.

[...]

Cuban leaders have been increasingly pessimistic about the Obama presidency and have gone as far as to call its policy towards Cuba just a continuation of past administrations.

Havana Times

Every time I think of Cuba, I think of the coup on Hugo Chavez where anti-Chavez goons tried to storm the Cuban embassy in Caracas. A Cuban diplomat told them, “For forty years we have stood against the most powerful force on the planet and have not let them in. We will not let you in.”

So Long, Secretary Gates

[Defense Secretary Robert] Gates said military measures could have indirect consequences that "need to be considered very carefully." He suggested any intervention in Libya could drain U.S. forces from the war in Afghanistan and questioned the wisdom of the United States engaging in military action in another Muslim country.

  WaPo

Gates is about to be fired, I think. Oh, wait. Apparently, he can see the handwriting on the wall.

He has announced he will step down as secretary later this year.

  Ft. Leavenworth Lamp

And who can blame him?

“There has been an overwhelming tendency of our defense bureaucracy to focus on preparing for future high-end conflicts — priorities often based, ironically, on what transpired in the last century — as opposed to the messy fights in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Gates said. “But without succumbing to what I once called ‘next-war-itis,’ I do think it important to think about what the Army will look like and must be able to do after large U.S. combat units are substantially drawn down in Afghanistan .”

When we finally turn and run, I think might be another way to put it.

“In my opinion, any future Defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General (Douglas) MacArthur so delicately put it,” he said.

”I’m looking at you, Rumsfeld, you idiot,” he did not have to say.

Ooh, Yeah, Let's Take on Libya, Too

Two U.S. amphibious warships, the USS Ponce and the USS Kearsarge, passed through Egypt's Suez Canal on Wednesday and arrived in the Mediterranean, a canal official said. The officials said the USS Kearsarge is carrying 42 helicopters.

The United States had said on Monday it was moving ships and planes closer to Libya. The arrival of the warships came as forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi moved to recapture control of Brega, a key oil port in eastern Libya, and reverse the tide of an opposition uprising.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the ships, along with an extra 400 Marines, would be ready to give humanitarian relief and perform emergency evacuations from Libya.

  WaPo

Sure. “Humanitarian warships.”

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Digging the Hole Even Deeper in Afghanistan

Nine children have been killed in a NATO air raid in Afghanistan's Kunar province. They were out collecting firewood on Tuesday when they were struck down in the Pech valley area.

[...]

Military officials attributed the incident to faulty communication when troops responded to an attack on a NATO base.

  alJazeera

Apparent Protest Payoff in Egypt

Egypt's governing military council has accepted the resignation of Ahmed Shafiq, the prime minister, and appointed a former transport minister, Essam Sharaf, to form a new government

[...]

Sharaf took part in the mass rallies in Cairo's Tahrir Square which brought down Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, on February 11 after three decades in power.

[...]

"Sharaf does command a lot of respect, for the fact that he's been in academia since he stepped down a few years ago and the fact that he stepped down in opposition to President Mubarak and the way the transport ministry was run."

  alJazeera

Update Wisconsin

The governor has just been ordered by the courts to reopen the capitol to the public by 8:00 am tomorrow morning or be held in contempt.

My Fellow Americans

Hypocrisy in the New American Century

Critically, if one believes the authenticity of the purported Manning/Lamo chat log snippets selectively released by Wired, then Manning was very clear about why he decided to leak these materials: he sought to trigger worldwide reforms of government wrongdoing exposed by these documents:

Lamo: what's your endgame plan, then?. . .

Manning: well, it was forwarded to [WikiLeaks] - and god knows what happens now - hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms - if not, than [sic] we're doomed - as a species - i will officially give up on the society we have if nothing happens - the reaction to the [Baghdad Apache attack] video gave me immense hope; CNN's iReport was overwhelmed; Twitter exploded - people who saw, knew there was something wrong . . . Washington Post sat on the video… David Finkel acquired a copy while embedded out here. . . . - i want people to see the truth . . . regardless of who they are . . . because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.

This leaves little doubt about Manning's motives.

[...]

[T]he documents Manning is alleged to have leaked have revealed a wide range of corruption, deceit and illegality by government officials around the world. They have forced Americans to confront the realities of the wars they endlessly wage and support. And it is virtually impossible to read news articles about any significant event in the Middle East without encountering references to important information revealed by WikiLeaks documents.

In sum, if one believes the allegations and the chat logs, Manning's actions have already led to many of the "reforms" and increased awareness he hoped to achieve. Thus do we have the strange spectacle of Americans cheering on the democratic uprisings in the Middle East and empathizing with the protesters, all while revering American political leaders who for years helped sustained the dictatorships which oppressed them and disdaining those (Manning) who may have played a role in sparking the protests.

[...]

[T]he notion that Daniel Ellberg's leak was noble and justified has become consecrated orthodoxy among most Democrats, progressives and even among the American media -- because it's very easy to cheer on challenges to authority and political power from four decades earlier, when the targets of the whistle-blowing no longer wield power. Yet even though Manning's actions are so similar to Ellsberg's both in intent and effect -- as Ellsberg himself has repeatedly stated -- the reaction to Manning is radically different: both because Manning's actions challenge the policy of current authorities who actually wield power now and because it's a Democratic President prosecuting him. That Ellsberg is viewed as a hero while Manning is viewed as a death-deserving villain makes no logical sense.

It's at least intellectually coherent (though quite misguided) to see both Ellsberg and Manning as criminal demons who deserve to be locked away forever (the same things said now to condemn Manning were said back then about Ellsberg, including from the Supreme Court: "revelation of [the Pentagon Papers] will do substantial damage to public interests," wrote Justice White. But it's incoherent in the extreme to praise Ellsberg while condemning Manning (particularly since everything Manning is accused of leaking bears a much lower secrecy designation than the massive amounts of Top Secret material leaked by Ellsberg).

[...]

As a reminder: Manning -- convicted of nothing -- continues to be held in 23-hour/day, highly repressive solitary confinement; despite protests from Amnesty International, a formal investigation by the U.N.'s top torture official, and the replacement of the brig commander, Manning has been held that way for ten straight months, with no change in sight.

Glenn Greenwald

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Meanwhile In Iraq Which Is Better Off Without Saddam Hussein

At least nine people are reported killed in a suicide attack in the Iraqi city of Haditha.

Thirteen people were also injured in the bomb blast at a branch of the state-owned Rafidain bank on Thursday, medical and security sources told the Reuters news agency.

The bombing happened as people were queueing to collect their salaries, said police officer Ali al-Ubaidi.

"There was a group of Iraqi army soldiers standing in front of the bank to collect their salaries when a suicide bomber wearing a vest came in between them and blew himself up," he said.

  alJazeera