Black Agenda Report, March 9, 2011
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by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
The United States, governed by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, tortures political prisoners. That truth is on display for all the world to see, in the treatment of Wikileaks defendant Private Bradley Manning, who is stripped naked every night in an effort to crush his psyche. “The enemy is anyone, anywhere who dares to consider revealing the truth about how this country actually conducts itself around the world.”
Freedom Rider: Peace Prize Torture
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“Manning is denied the use of sheets and now is forced to sleep naked and stand naked outside of his cell when it is inspected.”
If members of the Norwegian Nobel committee do not feel embarrassment for making Barack Obama a peace prize laureate, then they are as shameless as the man they foolishly chose to honor. Barack Obama is every bit the authoritarian as his predecessor George W. Bush. He too believes in his right to declare anyone an enemy combatant and restrict their rights to due process. He too has cracked down on whistle blowers and is determined to ferret them out and punish them.
The continued psychological torture of Pfc. Bradley Manning is the latest case in point. Manning is accused of leaking information to Julian Assange of Wikileaks, telling the world about the indiscriminate killings of Iraqis and other horrors brought about by the continuing American occupation.
Manning, who has yet to be tried or convicted of any crime, has been kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day ever since his arrest ten months ago. Last week the army added 22 additional charges, including “aiding the enemy.”
“Manning has been kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day ever since his arrest ten months ago.”
Manning’s one hour outside of his cell allows him only to walk in circles in another room. He is denied the use of sheets and now is forced to sleep naked and stand naked outside of his cell when it is inspected.
The government’s objective is a simple one. They want to break Manning so that he will talk about any communications he has had with Julian Assange. In other words, they are trying to drive him crazy in order to prosecute someone else. Manning has been denied visits from friends, journalists and even government officials such as Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
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