Umm, which DoD spokesman? Details like this matter in real journalism.

Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.

Bullshit they don’t have the room to put everyone in solitary. They don’t have the manpower to put everyone on a suicide watch.

I hate to reference some of the detention facilities we’ve had in Iraq, but it’s beginning to sound not much better than that.

Well, one thing is that at least this information is now getting out. If it serves to (hopefully) improve the situation for all concerned, that’s a good thing.

Free Bradley Manning!!

No exercise allowed even when he is in his cell thats not normal procedure even if your in solitary.

some annonymous chickenshit

I wonder if his guards are not allowed to bring cellphones with cameras to work? Not allowing cell phones into a military prison ever would seem to be the lesson of he Abu Graid photos.
Assuming people can visit Brad next week I hope we can get some video of him at visiting hour.

Yeah Judy Miller never made a mistake like that/s

Brad went to Iraq and is still not not convicted much less charged with anything but he is still being held all these months? If the Government has a case they should try him. The right to a speedy trial is in the Constitution the army may have different rules but its been months and he’s a Vet.
Brad and every Vet fought to defend Democracy and the Rights All men are endowed by their Creator in the Constitution.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace that “‘It is the absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to disobey an order that is either illegal or immoral’ and to make such orders known.” Roberts contends that, if he is the source of the leak, Manning is “wrongfully imprisoned for meeting his military responsibility.”[53]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning

Interesting quote very interesting source.

Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.

(my bold)
Reading and comprehension is important too!

Thanks for that.

I’m signing the petition, but why direct it at the boots on the ground? This treatment is coming from the Administration. Why isn’t Holder or Gates being forced to acknowledge this Kafkaesque/New American treatment?

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday that Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility,

From the CNN article Jane links in the post. Follow the link, keep from asking dumbass loaded questions :)

I could of sworn you quoted this:

Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility, Pentagon spokesman prevaricator Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.

Umm, which DoD spokesman?

It’s slightly ironic, but you may realize that. Morell stated that :

Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility

So we can extrapolate that if Manning is being subjected to “Prevention of Injury (POI) watch and MAX custody”, and his treatment is no different from the other detainees, then we can conclude that all of them are being held under “Prevention of Injury (POI) watch and MAX custody”.

It was meant to be sarcastic, I think, and points to contradicting claims (which are usually a sign of dishonesty on the part of someone in the chain, as in they didn’t get their stories straight).

Next lesson : irony !

Sounds like their strategy was first to deny those conditions and now, it is to generalize and say the conditions are fair because ‘everyone’ gets identical treatment, even though we know they are being inhumane, cruel, and yes, degrading. Next I expect them to say that their rules for military prison are different from civilian prisons which is not true, as human rights are the same wherever there are human beings. Next I anticipate them deferring to their own authority as conveying their ‘rights’ to be cruel, inhumane and degrading. Finally, I expect their heads to implode when civilian oversight arrives to relieve them of their jobs.

You bet it is— I still can’t find a spokesman who said that everyone at Quantico brig is harming themselves, though.

Maybe he is being treated no different than other prisoners at Quantico (although I don’t take their word for it). But the question is: Why is he at Quantico anyway? Quantico, as I understand it, is a Marine base. Manning is in the Army.
Are they trying to say that the Army doesn’t have a brig?
I wonder where they kept Carlos Mejia Godoy.

[stands on chair clapping!]

I see, so was it irony that was “extrapolated,” or fact?

Don’t know why you’re looking. Nobody here suggested that they’re all harming themselves.

The logical inference is, since Manning is on POI, and Manning is being treated the same as everyone else, everyone else is on POI. It’s like a math problem, but with words :) Logic is our friend.

POI = Prevention of Injury.

Manning is being treated no differently than any other detainee at the Quantico facility

Just as Gen Miller (Author: Waterboarding for All) treated all at Gitmo and Abu Grhaib equally.

It’s doctrine, don’t you know?

Is English your second language?

Just reading over the entire transcript:

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4758

Apparently the brig commander took the word of Manning’s guards over that of his psychiatrists regarding his mental state, if I’m reading it right.

It’s by process of elimination, if Manning is being treated as a threat to himself and Manning is being treated no differently than any other people in the brig, then it must mean that all the prisoners in the brig are at risk of causing injury to themselves

probably because nothing in the diary above is quoted as such.

…Which is to say: the brig spokesman did not state it.

Is schoolyard bullying your first?

When I was touring the Miramar brig in San Diego, they made me give the guard station my picture ID and I had to put all other items (cell phone, wallet, etc.) in a locker outside of the prison detention areas.

Who’s being a bully? You seem to have difficulty with the nuances of a native speaker. It was a legitimate question, given that I can neither see your facial expression nor hear your tone of voice.

It’s like the McCarthyite tactic of claiming there were 100, no 250, well 500, maybe 33 Communists in the State Department. The media stop asking whether there are any Communists in the State Department, and relentlessly ask how many there are.

The conflicting claims generate confusion and distract attention from where it belongs:

Why is Pfc Manning in detention?

Is it justified? Why? Are there exceptions that would excuse his conduct or ameliorate his punishment for it?

Are the conditions of his treatment necessary, adequate, and consistent with the rules as objectively and consistently applied?

The harsher and longer his pre-trial detention, the more the media, the general public, and the social network he’s part of will assume he must have done something to deserve it – and his later lengthy prison sentence. It’s the sort of rationalization we engage in every day, but it is being used in an Orwellian context by the government of the United States in 2011, not 1984.

Not coincidentally, the harsher and longer his detention – regardless of his guilt and the reasonableness of why he may have acted contrary to normal rules (because he believed the government was acting criminally) – the harsher the message being sent to those who might follow in his footsteps.

hey y’all. tomorrow is Mozart’s (like in Amadeus)255th birthday. so maybe the guy (please don’t be a woman)known as amadeus482000000000000000 is just celebrating early, is a little drunk, is a little not so schmart,is a little bit of a provacateur (a/k/a troll — if it’s a woman i’d say trollop[sorry, i'm amusing myself] — and is a little bit not worth spending time on.

==modnote: OK everybody, let’s not make it personal==

Gates or Holder? Is that where the buck stops these days?

Jane, how hard would it be to find out how many prisoners are being held in the Quantico brig, how many are in pre-trial detention, how many are post-conviction, and how many are under POI &/or suicide watches?

Perhaps if we could see some numbers, then you could simply call out Geoff Morrell as a liar and put literalist minds at ease. Although, I do prefer your current writing style myself.

I remember when they first built the brig at Miramar and moved all the prisoners from the 32nd street brig to there. They no longer let us go through the south gate. What a pain in the ass.

My favorite parts are when Mr. Morrell blatantly threatens the press to be careful. I’ve counted 4 times so far.

I also find of note the “first-ever trilateral meeting of the North American defense ministers” today in Ottawa (where Gates is today supposedly).

in response to moderator @ 32:

I apologize.

So what’s the deal with no exercise? Suicide by push-ups?

If the Pentagon spokesman is correct, the brig at Quantico has much bigger problems than its mistreatment of Pfc. Manning, and so do the US military and its political overseers.

All of Quantico’s prisoners are an immediate danger to themselves and others? They are all so distraught that they might take their own lives?

Why might that be? Are they all conscientious objectors to our Middle Eastern wars? Are they all PTSD cases, unable to control themselves because of injuries sustained during wartime? Are they all convicted violent criminals, which might say something about our recruiting standards? Or all they all existential threats to the national security state because they do not agree that any and all government conduct is justified, regardless of it being criminal or out of all proportion to its ends? Someone might ask Geoff Morrell what the answers are.

Morell has decided that Manning is a threat and deserves to be treated as guilty until proven innocent. And yes, the transcript reads that Morell believes that the brig commander can decide Bradley’s terms of confinement and risk. These authoritarian personalities gravitate toward these kind of rule-based, ‘do as I say’, positions. Concepts of freedom and human rights are subordinated by them to their worlds of threats and ‘security’ behaviors. He reads so defensively, often interrupting his questioner to impose his own frame for the question so he can give the answer he wants to and control the whole process.

That assumes the government ever gets around to trying and convicting Mr. Manning of any serious offense.

in further response to moderator @ 32:
but i am pretty excited about mozart’s 255th. i’m going to his party and i bought him a Wu-Tang Clan cd. i’ll shut-up now. ;-)

And singles out “Mik” for the cautioning. Hit close to home, I’m thinking.

For starters, read this post here and the comment posted @ 4.08pm.

I also think Mozart would appreciate some Justin Bieber. Great musical talent of the younger generation, that guy.

It reads as though he’s standing there threatening reporters. Just disgusting. Threatening as in “watch your ass or we’ll tie YOU to this case. We might even fuck with the NYT on this.”.

Or a version of ol’ Ari saying “People better watch what they say”.

He reads so defensively, often interrupting his questioner to impose his own frame for the question so he can give the answer he wants to and control the whole process.

That there is the job description of PR people and spokespersons everywhere. Although I hate to disparage all those in that line of work, it nonetheless is a profession that is well-suited to the manipulative and dishonest.

What about the guards though?

I’d like to know those things too. Hoping someone will pursue all those lines of questioning at the next DoD or White House briefing.

u r funny

Okay, I get that Morel and others are saying that all there in that facility are being held in Max and on POI watch. He has not elaborated as to how many just like Manning and WHY is this type of holding allowed on US soil?

We do not TORTURE! If three psychologists have deemed this treatment as not needed and bad for Manning, why is it still being DONE on US SOIL?

In my opinion there is no difference between Morell’s framing his mistreatment of Manning as implicitly justified because he labels him a threat and a person who is charged with ‘serious crimes’, and the military boys in Iraq who stuck AK47s in the hands of people that they decided were ‘bad’ and ‘needed to die’. It is called externalizing blame and aggressive/authoritarians all over the world delight in it.

Ok according to this logic all the Marine Prisoners are suicidal? Just how bad is Iraq and Afghanistan???
Oh wait suicide deaths beat combat deaths this year. I wonder what the suicide rate is for troops out of the service?

Here’s where he turns himself (Mr. Morell) into judge and jury and decides that Manning is guilty and therefore a proven ‘threat’:

MR. MORRELL: The protective order — I would — I would imagine that one — when one is confined in the brig, it is not just for their protection that we are worried. We are always worried about our protection. He is charged with very serious crimes. That’s why you isolate someone behind bars. That’s why you confine someone, so that they cannot escape, cannot possibly commit the crimes that they are alleged to have done again.

So it’s not — he is — I think you have it a little backwards. I think you have it that he is being held for his own protection in the manner which he’s being held. That may be, that there — there are reasons that they think that it is for his own benefit that he be held so. But it can also be that he’s being held behind bars because he is a — deemed a threat, that he has been alleged to have committed a very serious crime that potentially undermines our nation’s security, and therefore he needs to be confined during the course of a trial.

I wonder if the worry about the detainees injuring themselves is because they might practice “self abuse”? That is the only way the statement makes any sense.

Wonder if the inmates are at suicide risk because of the way they are being treated in the prison.

He’s a 5′ 2″ hacker. He needs to sleep in his underwear on a rubber bed because what, he might launch Iranian nukes if he had a pillow?

That’s what I thought too. Down at Starbucks, on WiFi, causing a little nuclear war on his Apple!/s
If he was out of jail it might send a signal that his ‘crimes’ were mere transgressions of lesser rules to accomplish a higher purpose of governmental transparency and truth telling about war. He is being mistreated as an example for those future truth tellers to fear happening to them.

We are always worried about our protection. He is charged with very serious crimes.

LOL!!! Yes guys who download computer files can’t be housed in general population with the bar room brawlers, thieves
and gangbangers heck even the Marine Guards are scared of the Computer Nerds when they go bad. Bill Gates is their worse fear!
Bwhahaha rolls over laughing! Marines scared of an Army Computer Nerd! Thats what Morell is saying…whats next Steve Jobs gave Marines wedgies in High School!
Bwahahaha!

You would think that allowing prisoner visits to perk up prisoners at suicide risk would be the policy. If he is really at risk then is he getting therapy?

why aren’t they replacing all the soldiers too? “just following orders” isn’t a valid defense against war crimes

Sssh! Give the guys at the brig a little more time to condemn themselves through their inappropriate behavior and medical neglect.

If they can top the Snark potential of what Morell just said then they are Comedy Gods Lords of the Self depreciating joke. I hope they can top this:)

Agreed. I just skimmed the transcript and it struck me how Morrell kept switching from an argument where Manning is no different than any other prisoner, to an argument where he is being treated differently because of the seriousness of his crimes. Note, there was an implicit presumption of guilt in the whole bit about how Manning poses a threat not just to himself, but to others at the brig as well.

It was a totally incoherent mishmash of misdirection and intimidation. As a result, I hope no one takes this particular quote from Morrell (see the transcript Jane linked at #24) seriously:

So assertions by liberal bloggers, or network reporters or others that he is being mistreated, or somehow treated differently than others, in isolation, are just not accurate. And I’m glad you asked the question, so I had the opportunity, hopefully, to clear that matter up once and for all.

(my bold)

Not likely.

You beat me to it : ) That was the bit I was referring to in my comment at #64 about Morrell’s presumption of guilt. I owe you a coke ; )

Cognitive Dissonance at its best!

even the Marine Guards are scared of the Computer Nerds when they go bad.

I am so using that.

Man did that make me laugh out loud.

Send me an email when you do I don’t want to risk missing that post.

Morrell is a third rate shill. But he is a Grade A ChickenHawk which does make him a military expert in the Dee Cee Village.

Morrell is another Establishment Pig that is trying to assassinate the reputations of Assange and Manning. Chickenhawk Morrell says there are no war crmes revealed by WikiLeaks. The revelation of DYNCORP’s child prostitution ring must have escaped his notice.

MORRELL: John, he’s wrong again. Listen, we’ve had a team that has been going through what we believe could be the potential document release from Wikileaks since July. We vetted every single one of these documents. Word by word, page by page, there is nothing in here which would indicate war crimes. If there were we would have investigated it long time ago

Nice catch very nice Diary worthy:)

Maybe I am being a bit oversensitive (snark on) but I notice how whenever reporters ask questions that imply that Manning or others are being treated inhumanely and tortured and are being treated degradingly, the bully’s spokesman attempts to repudiate the truth of the questions, by denying that the victim deserves any ‘special’ treatment or special privileges not available to his or her other victims. (snark off) These guys are sadists.

No kidding. That’s a post.

FYI, The brig is about 4 weeks from completing their 200 cell expansion (120 men in two POD’s + 80 women).

Can we find a friendly Congressperson who can demand an investigation of the military’s use of suicide watch as a disciplinary measure? Because if the commander didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to do that, the practice is probably widespread.

Yep. Remember all the hand-wringing over the value of empathy in a Supreme Court Justice? Seems to me there is a profound lack of empathy throughout the greater DC metro area.

Torture never seems to be a big deal to those who assume they will never be subject to it.

They’re not just sadists, they are unimaginative sadists.

The Military has a rule for speedy trial, Art. 10 of the UCMJ, which reads in part:

When any person subject to this chapter is placed in arrest or confinement prior to trial, immediate steps shall be taken to inform him of the specific wrong of which he is accused and to try him or to dismiss the charges and release him.

The word “immediate” is rather unambiguous.

Yes, except for this that I posted over at EW’s place yesterday:

…Since 12 July 2010, the case has been on Government requested excludable delay under R.C.M. 707(c). This delay request by the Government was approved by the court-martial convening authority…

When I posted the comment above from Manning’s lawyer, I ignorantly assumed that the delay in Manning’s Speedy Trial right was just the normal legal stuff.

But in looking up just what Rule for Courts-Martial 707(c) actually means, I found that this military “rule” had been changed back in the Bush/Cheney regime’s heyday by Bush himself in 2004 with his now ubiquitous “the rules don’t apply because I say so” mendacity:

…EO 13365 Title 3—The President

Executive Order 13365 of December 3, 2004

2004 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801–946), and in order to prescribe amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, prescribed by Executive Order 12473, as amended, it is hereby ordered as follows:…

…(c) R.C.M. 707(c) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(c) Excludable delay. All periods of time during which appellate courts have issued stays in the proceedings, or the accused is absent without authority, or the accused is hospitalized due to incompetence, or is otherwise in the custody of the Attorney General, shall be excluded when determining whether the period in subsection (a) of this rule has run. All other pretrial delays approved by a military judge or the convening authority shall be similarly excluded…’’

My Bold)

So it seems that over 6 months in pre-trial solitary confinement (and with the same amount of pre-trial punishment) without a trial is completely up to the convening authority.

Or put another way, according to the convening authority, all delay in a military prisoner’s right to a speedy trial is just in the imagination of the military prisoner. Let us get back to you in a few years after the pre-trial solitary confinement and the pre-trial punishment has you barking at the moon.

Besides the transcript that Jane linked @ 24, there’s also a C-SPAN video of today’s Pentagon press briefing by Geoff Morrell viewable here.

I don’t know whether the transcript specifies this, but the reporter who Geoff Morrell calls “Mick” is undoubtedly Jim Miklaszewski, Chief Pentagon Correspondent for NBC News – who clearly did not appreciate the implication that Morrell threw his way (and who, after vouching for his recent reporting, proceeded to ask Morrell some good questions about Manning’s situation).

Jane, Mr. Coombs seems to agree with you about the statements of the rather obnoxious Pentagon spokesperson :

http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2011/01/pfc-bradley-manning-is-not-being.html

Thanks:)

Oh you gotta see the video, Powwow:

http://c-span.org/Events/Defense-Department-Press-Briefing/10737419176/

He smacks Jim Miklaszewski around the room. It’s 10 x worse when you hear Morrell do it. Miklaszewski is righteously — and rightfully — pissed about it. Morrell’s denials make absolutely no sense.

Some “Spokesperson.” Morrell just kept repeating the same thing despite some MSM reporters’ fairly admirable attempts to nail him down.

At the next presser someone needs to give Propagandaperson Morrell the Coombs statement and demand that he identify the specific assertions that are false.

That was pretty impressive, huh? It wasn’t just one reporter hammering him. Those who were asking questions were informed about the state of Manning’s detention to a surprisingly detailed level. And they weren’t buying any of Morrell’s crap.

#GoMSM?

OK I must be on acid

I signed the petition, but having signed the original petition, I think I may have added a duplicate signature to it. Seeing the “incoming Quantico brig Commander Barnes” language on this post, I thought this was a separate petition from the first. I didn’t realize I was mistaken until I viewed the Coombs video on the Manning fund donation page. Is there anything I have to do to screen out the duplicate signature if there indeed is one? Sorry if this is a problem and thank you for your efforts in this needed endeavor.

not a problem, it will only appear once.

From Coomb’s statement (Jan 26) :

Over the course of the following three months, the brig forensic psychiatrist consistently recommended PFC Manning be taken off of POI watch. The only exception to this was on December 10, 2010 when he recommended that PFC Manning remain under POI watch for one week. This was due to a rumor that had spread on Twitter suggesting that PFC Manning had committed suicide. Due to the rumor, the brig forensic psychiatrist believed it was prudent to place PFC Manning on POI watch.

Moral of the story? Be careful what you tweet ! Apparently brig forensic psychiatrists are now informing themselves on Twitter as to how to treat Manning…

Here’s some interesting info (I found googling Quantico:

http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/activities/display.aspx?PID=588&Section=SECBN

“Mission:
…all military commanders located in the Northeastern United states are authorized to confine personnel accused of a crime serious enough to warrant pre-trial confinement or those already convicted by a court-martial.”

“Philosophy:

The philosophy of Naval Corrections is based on the recognition of the fact that, whether it be confinement or in some other form, punishment alone is seldom corrective. Confinement is punishment because it denies members their liberty and separates them from family, friends and most normal activities. … Therefore the member is confined as punishment and not for punishment.” (my bold)
WTF does this last part mean? Can someone please unwind and translate it for me.

“Information on Visitation:
An inmate’s family or loved ones may attend Visitation on weekends and holidays from 1200-1500. Extended visits may be approved on a case by case basis if the inmate requests it.”

Contact Information. . .

NAME OR OFFICE NUMBER
COMMANDING OFFICER (703)784-6870
BRIG SUPERVISOR (703)784-6873

Base Phone Listings
http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/activities/display.aspx?PID=1686&Section=BaseInfo

Base Commander
Contact Info
3250 Catlin Avenue
Quantico,VA 22134-5000

Up periscope
FEBRUARY 3, 2010
“Marine Capt. Michael A. Webb has died of an apparent suicide in the brig at Quantico while awaiting court martial, a base public affairs officer said Tuesday.”
Looks like some guards weren’t paying attention…
http://court-martial-ucmj.com/up-periscope/up-periscope-17/

Pretrial Confinement
http://court-martial-ucmj.com/pretrial-confinement/pretrial-confinement-post-conviction-and-suicide/

Keep up the good fight, Pups

And the cited authorities for this article are Manning’s defense attorney and an anonymous internet blogger? Below is an About.com brief overview of the military’s pretrial confinment hearing compared to the civililan system and a speedy trial issues (much of which can be sourced to the UMCJ). http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa102200a.htm. For what it is worth, I think Manning will get some credit if convicted for the Marines’ inability to follow their own regulations regarding placing an individual on suicide watch. Ulimately, the civility and intergrity of the system will be tested and validated by Mannings’ ability to litigate these issues, not hyperpole from the left [which this site seems to bath in] or the right.

It has been asked on this site why PFC Manning is being held in a Marine Brig. The answer is that any of the Service branches may use MCB Quantico.

Information on Visitation:
An inmate’s family or loved ones may attend Visitation on weekends and holidays from 1200-1500. Extended visits may be approved on a case by case basis if the inmate requests it.” It seems that the Marine Corps own rules have been violated by …the Marines!

This information is directly from the MCB Quantico web site, not some “anonymous bolgger.”

“Up periscope
FEBRUARY 3, 2010
“Marine Capt. Michael A. Webb has died of an apparent suicide in the brig at Quantico while awaiting court martial, a base public affairs officer said Tuesday.”
Looks like some guards weren’t paying attention…
http://court-martial-ucmj.com/up-periscope/up-periscope-17/”
This information is from the web site of a Military attorney who posted it on his blog. Are you saying Marine Capt. Michael A. Webb did not commit suicide while in custody at MCB Quantico?

bluenote2′
Did you read the link I referred to about PFC Manning’s attorney’s description of how the court marshal proceed?
There is nothing “hyperpole from the left [which this site seems to bath in] or the right.” about a description of how the process works.

I agree. I like Miklaszewski’s two questions that start at 15:16 in the video. Morrell has been smirking with each bullet point successfully uttered into the microphone. Morrell has all the answers some of which he cannot share with us. Morrell warns the reporters that they don’t know what he does and therefore don’t know what they are talking/writing about. Morrell eventually states that ‘suicide watch’ might be one exception where Manning was treated differently than the others in the brig. When Miklaszewski starts questioning Morrell, the smirk disappears and suddenly Morrell ‘doesn’t know’ anything about the brig and how it is run.

MR. MORRELL: [snip]
Now, the one exception to that could be this suicide-watch issue. He was placed on suicide watch, as I understand it, for two days. So that can be a difference between how others in the brig are being held. But my understanding is that the manner in which he is being held is not punishment for any behavior, but this is the standard protocol for how people at the brig are held, especially people with the gravity of the charges he is facing.

Mik.
[snip]

15:16 Q [Miklaszewski]: And is it within his [the brig commander's] authority to put somebody on suicide watch for disciplinary purposes?

MR. MORRELL: Uhh, I frankly I’m not aware of all the regulations that he operates under. But I would imagine that, as the brig commander, he has extraordinary discretion in terms of how best to run that facility, how best to protect the well-being of the people he — who he’s charged with safekeeping. And I don’t know all that goes into, frankly, Mik, making a decision about one — about when one needs to be watched more carefully in the event they may be considering doing harm to themselves.

Q: And was Manning taken off suicide watch at the urging of Army lawyers?

MR. MORRELL: I don’t know. I don’t know. But even if it were at the urging of Army lawyers, it would ultimately have to be a — the judgment of the brig commander that that was the appropriate course of action.

note the official transcript that Jane linked to contains a mistake:
The transcript has Miklaszewski state “is it within his authority to put somebody on suicide watch for a disciplinary purpose?” (singular). Not sure why the error in transcription was made. Miklaszewski was clearly heard using the plural. And Morrell was clearly heard stammering Uhh (also missing from the transcript).

My comment was in relation to the article not your post or Mr. Coombs’ website or description of the UCMJ process. This site seems to infer nefarious motives to the Marines’ conditions of detention, I disagree. I see clearly significant restrictions and the possibility that the commander is overreacting to some evidence of suicidal thoughts and an underlying psychological history. It will be litigated at trial when all is said and done at least two commanders, a judge, and probably two appellate courts. Doesn’t sounds like a country subjecting their citizens to “torture” to me.

BTW, you do understand Mr. Coombs could file any number of motions to have Manning’s pretrial confinement reassessed. Kinda revealing that he has not done so to this point, eh?

I don’t believe it.

I think that’s an excellent suggestion. Get the facts and expose the liar.

What kind of idiots are running our government?

I just watched the video. I can’t believe this is the spokesperson for the Pentagon. How can they win a war when their judgement allows them to pick such a person as their spokesperson. I am just incredulous. I just couldn’t stop laughing, watching this video; his statements are just so ridiculous. Good night, America.