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(photo: kevynjacobs )
Call-in Day Today – Wednesday, July 27
The Bradley Manning Support Network has put together a call-in day for those who wish to show their support for the accused whistleblower to WikiLeaks, Pfc. Bradley Manning. The Manning Support Network, an international grassroots organization that for months now has been organizing in support and for the legal defense of Manning, is urging supporters to call President Obama at the White House and also call the Secretary of the Army John McHugh.
Why do the organizers want supporters to call the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Army? Both are currently failing to respect the UN Convention Against Torture. They are also both refusing to allow UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez an official unmonitored visit with Manning.
Almost two weeks ago, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez condemned the US for seeking to impose restrictions on a planned visit with Manning and even prevent him from meeting with Manning. Thus far, Mendez has not met with Manning, and he now questions whether the US would allow him to visit any of the country’s detainees.
Documents obtained by POLITICO through a Freedom of Information Request reveal on multiple occasions Manning was recommended for removal from “prevention of injury” (POI) status by psychiatrists and psychologists but was not removed. Having a “POI” status meant Manning was held in his cell nearly twenty-three hours a day. It meant he was not allowed to eat his meals in his cell and he was not permitted to have a pillow or sheets. It meant every five minutes brig staff were to check if Manning was “okay” and Manning had to respond in the affirmative.
Kevin Zeese, attorney with the Manning Support Network, the released documents showed that military officials had “violated their own standards of detainee treatment” when they opted to hold him in “abusive pre-trial confinement conditions at the Quantico brig.”
Co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network Jeff Paterson said, “President Obama can no longer hide behind his subordinates in claiming that the treatment of PFC Manning has met ‘basic standards’ of conduct. Clearly, by the government’s own admission, the treatment of PFC Manning has fallen far short of the standards demanded by the Constitution.”
Please make two phone calls for Bradley:
- Call President Obama at the White House switchboard: 202-456-1414
- Call Secretary of the Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb: 703-697-3491
(If you live outside of the United States, you can call the US embassy or consulate in your country and ask them to note your request. You can find US embassies here.)
For more on the call-in day, the Manning Support Network and Pfc. Bradley Manning, click here.
And, please share this among your circle of friends. Make sure your Twitter followers and Facebook friends see this and get a chance to participate in this important call-in day.
If you find your friends, family or colleagues that you want to support Manning have no idea what you are talking about, show them this video:
12 Comments
Thanks Kevin.
One thing neither this post nor the site mentions is WHEN is the national call-in day? And if it’s today, in the middle of the debt-ceiling shenanigans, this is ridiculously poor planning.
Kevin, you are a great addition to Firedoglake. Thanks for being on top of so many of the issues I care about. Would you answer ArkansasTraveler’s question? I’m wondering the same thing.
“debt ceiling shenanigans,” heh, a perfect descriptor.
I just reread the link. It says in bold, TODAY. Sorry about that.
I can make it more clear but I thought promoting the National Call-In Day would indicate people should call today because today is the call-in day. Forgive me for my assumption.
As to the stupidity of scheduling a call-in day in the middle of debt ceiling shenanigans, there will always be some stupid shenanigans in Washington. It’s Washington. If it wasn’t the debt ceiling, some other crap would be an excuse for not inconveniencing Obama or this Army Secretary.
The planners are right to have a call-in day now. Bradley deserves our support. It is not wrong to ever hold any call-in day calling on Bradley to get a meeting with someone to make sure his human rights have not been violated.
It’s easy to make these (2) ~ 1 minute phone calls as per this link. If I get a human being on the line versus an answering machine that’s an awesome opportunity and I like to adjust my message accordingly. In general, I like to keep my message clear, polite, direct and immediately actionable:
1) I clearly identify myself as a constituent (e.g. “I am an American citizen wishing to register my constituent opinion”). Be prepared to give your name and contact information for the purposed of confirming you as a constituent and for your to receive a formal response on the matter.
2) Next, I state my request for action predicated on a pithy statement of the cogent facts of the matter. This is a sample script: “I am calling to urge the President Obama and Secretary of the Army John McHugh to respect that the United States is a signer on the treaty regarding the UN Convention Against Torture and to allow UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez to conduct an official visit with Bradley Manning. Thank you.”
3) I like to thank the human being that assists me in making a record of my concern and relaying my message.
I was about to say: it’s 3:30 on the Pacific Coast, which means the business day is over on the East Coast and I’m just learning about it? Bad magic. Will call tomorrow.
An initial miss-read of your title provoked an interesting idea. What if conscientious citizens announced a National Day of Prayer for Manning? If a couple of courageous clergy would serve as spokespeople, it might expand media attention.
That’s actually not a terrible idea. You could pass this on to the Bradley Manning Support Network.
Here’s a contact form you could use to submit your idea. I’m sure they’d consider it.
Thanks for the link.
I managed to get through to Army Public Affairs Officer Lt. Anne Edgecomb, but I was unable to get through to the White House because the line was busy. I tried at least half a dozen times between 2pm-3:30pm Central time but was unsuccessful. I hope the reason was that FDL was burning up the lines. Best wishes Bradley. I hope our efforts are able to bring this unhappy chapter to an end.
GETTING OUT OF VIETNAM WAS NOT EASY!
BUT WE DID IT.
Only a COWARD would consider Bradly Manning any kind of threat. What Bradley Manning did was perhaps – if anything at all – was to perhaps do something better than defend himself – HE MAY HAVE DEFENDED ALL OTHERS.
Only a TRUE COWARD is afraid of Mr. Bradley Manning.