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Sketch by Clark Stoeckley
Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, testified yesterday. The defense cross-examined him on the confinement conditions he experienced.
In a previous post, I continued a presentation of the testimony from Manning on his detention in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan. I also described how he was transported from Kuwait to Quantico Marine Brig and how the brig began to process him. I’ll now continue the story of Bradley Manning’s detention and go as far as I can until court proceedings resume this morning with more testimony from Manning, who will be cross-examined by the government.
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As Quantico Brig officers began to move Manning to his cell, they asked him if he wanted a shower. He was tired and just wanted to go to sleep because he had been in transit for two days.
Initially, Manning thought “it was great” to be in a “brick and mortar building” that had air conditioning, solid floors, running water and other amenities he had not had during his confinement in Kuwait. He was happy to be in the DC/Baltimore/Virginia area because he had lived in Maryland and knew that there was family who could visit him.
Manning was placed on suicide risk throughout the “indoctrination period.” He was a “maximum custody” detainee. He was not to have family visits but the brig made an exception and allowed his aunt to visit. He was also able to to meet now-Major Thomas Hurley as a temporary defense counsel.
After suicide risk, he was downgraded to Prevention of Injury (POI) status. This required Brig officers to check on him every five minutes. They would open the door to the observation booth and ask him if he was okay. Manning would always have to respond as a “courtesy.”
He had expressed interest in being assigned a work detail. Master Sgt. Blenis conveyed a job would be available if his custody level changed. He said, “I am more of a clerical guy. I work good with paper. I’m not very good with physical stuff.” And he expressed interest in working in the library and even indicated he would be willing to “implement” a “system to organize” the library if it “was not already in place.”
The cell Manning was assigned to was within sight of the observation booth. There were cells adjacent to him, which were kept vacant.
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Manning’s defense lawyer, David Coombs, directed Manning to leave the witness stand for testimony on the specifics of his cell. Taped out on the floor was the cell and he stood around it describing details.
The cell was 6 X 8 feet. He had a “rack,” a mattress on a large metal fixture where he he slept. It was maybe two feet off the ground. There was a toilet and sink about “waist high”—maybe three and a half feet. Nothing obstructed the view of the toilet. The observation room was slightly offset but right across from his cell and could view his entire cell.
He was given a POI blanket. It was made out of coarser fabric and was “straight out of the box.” The blanket was heavy and inflexible. It wasn’t comfortable and was “abrasive” on his skin. It gave him a rash.
Manning put on the suicide smock he had to wear for a portion of his confinement at Quantico. He described how it was similar to the one he wore and highlighted an incident where he had been lying on a rack trying to sleep and his arms went into it and became stuck. A corporal had to come into his cell to release him.
He took off the smock and began to describe the suicide mattress he had to use. It had a pillow built into the mattress. It was a lot harder to bend compared to the typical mattress in the special quarters.
Manning returned to the witness stand and recounted what he would do while he was in his cell twenty-three and a half hours a day. He would “sit or just do something.”
“I would try to keep myself occupied. Try to think of something to do,” Manning shared. “Normally sit on rack, sir. Sometimes they would allow me to have my legs up on rack in an Indian-style position” but sometimes that was unauthorized.
There was no natural lighting directly coming into the cell. He had no reasonable way to access natural light. He could see a window down the hall from his cell if he took his head and put it on the cell door and looked through a crack in the grating. If he did that, he could see a reflection of the window. Otherwise, there was no natural light.
The cell was lit with a fluorescent light. Outside of his cell was a fluorescent light that would blast full light including during the night.
Manning had to have his feet toward the observation area with his head at the back of his cell so they could see his face. Right in front of him throughout the night was this fluorescent light.
In the beginning of his confinement, he was only permitted to have a rulebook. He was able to have his prescription glasses after the first couple days.
Manning shared how he could read without his glasses but he would have to put what he was reading up to his face and that would worry officers because then they could not see his face.
*
An average day for Manning began with reveille. Lights would be turned on. He would be given limited access to a razor to shave. The count would be announced (but sometimes he was not able to do hygiene before count and would take care of that after reveille).
Counts would occur throughout the day. Chow would be delivered at meal times. He would have “sunshine call” for twenty minutes where he could go outside in “full restraints.” Now-Master Sgt. Blenis would take him outside.
He was not permitted to lie down at any point on his “rack” or bed because all hours were considered “duty status.” He had to sit up from 0500 to 1700. Even during holiday periods, he was subjected to this regime.
More soon….The court is about to be back in session with Manning taking the stand to answer questions from the government.
6 Comments
“He was not permitted to lie down at any point on his “rack” or bed because all hours were considered “duty status.” He had to sit up from 0500 to 1700.”
This is the essence of the military. One cannot lie down because they are on duty even though there is no duty to perform. One cannot even volunteer for duty (e.g. Manning’s request for working in the library) because it does not exist. Pointing out this whole obvious absurdity most frequently results in punishment. So, in order to keeps one’s sanity and to avoid being fucked with, one simply stands around all day. The military admires this thoughtless obedience and praises it as the height of discipline.
This whole disgrace is a reminder of what Daniel Ellsberg said: information is “classified” to keep it from the American people, not our enemies.
“Semper Fi” has become an article of disparagement. The Marines have become pretend military, parading around like the buffoons they now are.
I still find it difficult to believe any red-blooded American would ever allow such treatment, but, there it is.
Our military, for the most part, has become the laughing stock of the world. Good thing no one was available to actually fight, like at Benghazi. An unplanned, actual fire-fight? Can one imagine the friendly fire casualties? The criminals (I find it difficult to see them as “terrorists”, yet) would just sit back and let our “experts” target each other, saving their ammo for survivors, if any.
Military peeps, you have to follow “lawful orders”. Lawful, as in, following the rules, even when the clown posing as your superior orders otherwise. It is called, integrity and accountability, something missing these days.
And in the meantime no one in authority has been called to task for creating a data-sharing system that allowed even a lowly PFC like Manning to have access to confidential diplomatic and military reports. I can understand that governments need to keep secrets but why you would make such secrets accessible to maybe two million military personnel, civilian employees and contractors is incomprehensible. Manning should have been quietly thanked for highlighting this gaping flaw in the system and discharged while major attention was focused on whoever set up such a leaky system.
His case reminds me of the forgotten John Walker Lindh who volunteered to fight for the Taliban pre-911, then got picked up over there, tortured and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Keep in mind that Lindh, a 20 year old amateur, was able to infiltrate Al Queda and meet Bin Laden, a feat that it took the US trillions of dollars,thousands of lives, and a decadeto accomplish.
Even the most rightwing US nationalist ought to be troubled by this pattern of blaming the little guys while letting the big shots evade responsibility for their incompetence.
In hierarchical systems, like the US military, shit always rolls downhill. That benefit for those with significant rank is part of the purpose of hierarchical systems to begin with. It is the reason only low-ranking enlisted personnel ever get busted for egregious, command-wide abuses–shit, that’s what the low-ranking enlisted are for: to catch bullets and take the falls. Well, there was Calley, but he was a second lieutenant, which for institutional purposes is practically enlisted.
You are right about the incompetence of the US military. Many citizens are fooled, thanks to movies and other propaganda, that it is an efficient, well-run, effective, intelligent war machine. It is not. It is huge and filthy rich, but that is no substitute for competence.
“Keep in mind that Lindh, a 20 year old amateur, was able to infiltrate Al Queda and meet Bin Laden, a feat that it took the US trillions of dollars, thousands of lives, and a decade to accomplish.”
That assumes the US wanted to get OBL and that the point of all the effort was not to spend trillions of dollars on war. Worthy “enemies” are hard to come by. The collapse of the Soviet Union taught us that.
Well stated but I think our “goal” of the day was to have an “enemy”, any enemy. Heck, eastasia would have done it.
Good point about the propaganda. Many don’t seem to realize that the bin Laden raid was almost done from the start when the first helicopter crashed. These are the same Americans who think we could have dropped into Benghazi at a moments notice, at night, in a courtyard with high wires and bad guys armed with AKs and RPGs. That experience would have been worthy of a couch and popcorn watching the good guys (us) getting our asses waxed.