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CC Photo: K_Young_NYC on Flickr
On Twitter last night, Crowley renewed his campaign against the Pentagon’s torture of Manning. In two tweets, Crowley contrasted the State Department’s push for human rights for an American held by North Korea with the Pentagon’s decision to “play by its own rules” in denying the UN Special Rappoteur on Torture an official visit with Bradley Manning.
While Crowley seeks to contrast State vs. DOD, both are to blame. It’s clear from the State Department briefing with Crowley’s acting replacement that the United States is having a hard time differentiating itself from China with regards to human rights and detention policies. State claims to be completely forthcoming about UN visits to Manning, yet it still hides behind the Bush-era defense of “ongoing legal proceedings” to not discuss why it’s complicit in denying the UN an official visit to Manning.
It’s hard to imagine Crowley continuing to go rogue in contrasting State with the Pentagon; clearly, the State Department wants to Pentagon to take the blame for Manning’s torture, and it’s open warfare in the media right now.
That said, Marine rules clearly state that “official visits” are allowed to prisoners at Quantico brig. The Pentagon and Quantico should follow its own rules and allow official visits to Manning.
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Tale of two departments is right. The State Department pushes for human rights for US citizens abroad. The Defense Department denies them for a US citizen at home.
Of course, the United States as a whole might seem schizophrenic to most of the rest of the world…
Thanks, Michael. A clear case of US government hypocrisy. I’m not impressed by any discussion of this or that department vs. the other departments. Particularly when it’s Clinton vs. the Pentagon. LOL. Any separation in the GWoT is a self-serving illusion.
Human rights is the issue. The US can no longer claim to be a leader or the world cop on this beat.
The Chinese are *totally* not impressed at being criticized by the US under these circumstances.
Oh, and Crowley is a hero.
That ship sailed during Dubya’s first two terms (Obama holding office for the third term of the George W. Bush era presidency).
Finally, Manning’s case is starting to get legs. Maybe something will happen. On the other side of the coin, the dispute between State and Defense shows how close we are coming to a state of military autocracy. The DOD considers itself above the law; it’s only one more step for them to declare the next President, or more likely, simply to use the elected President as a figurehead.
We already have a figurehead. He’s totally shallow.
Heck it looks like they torture each others’ political prisoners at the same network of prisons. And what is the common link among the central governments in this centralized system? The banksters, their drug running, embezzlement and money laundering schemes. So what’s at least part of the antidote? Shunning the Banksters – Catherine Austin Fitts on Economics 101
Ain’t that some SheeeIt!
What a joke on Americans that keep up that Patriotic Banner.
Ha! Have a beer with Benito!
Jon Walker has a fresh cross-post up: Congress Very Concerned About Fixing Deficit They Intend to Create
Do you know about Austin Fitts?
Congratulations Obama, we are now exactly like North Korea!
STOP already with the State vs. Pentagon drama, FDL is better than that! Focus instead on this simple truth – they both report to OBAMA! And, Obama has spoken to the sublect – he APPROVES of what the Pentagon is doing. So, PLEEASE – put the blame solely where it belongs, with the Ideological Democrat WE elected.
I do believe I will have to add P.J. Crowley to my pantheon of American heroes.
Kudos to P.J. Crowley who has not gone away and in fact continues to speak truth to power!! Best to Crowley and thanks for doing that. We here at FDL know very well what happens to Whistleblowers – Crowley is just the latest in a long line streaming out of the Obama Whitehouse.
Other names that can be mentioned on that list are: Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod & Lawrence Tribe. A very wonderful & luminary group for Crowley to be aligned with.
Pfc. Manning is a US citizen & soldier being tortured on US soil at Quantico ALSO for letting the “truth” slip out. It’s a travesty and blight on the USA and all US citizens that such is happening in all of OUR names.
The buck definitely stops on Obama’s desk, but let’s face it: the DoD is overreaching as well… not good.
Free Bradley Manning!!!
Can’t wait for Crowley to spill the beans on just who fired him. Where the pressure really came from. So Obama sent Mike Hammer from the National Security Council over to State a few months before Crowley, who has a dad that was a POW, says what he does. The “council” that now just happens to oversee the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group created by Obama in 2009 that was primarily to focus overseas, but as Jan 2010 Dennis Blair stated would now extend its area of oversight to domestic targets as well. Maybe Crowley just wanted to go out swinging. Interesting.
Oh, I forgot this part about High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group that finally got its charter in April 2010 shortly before Manning’s arrest:
It is intended to centralize government expertise in enhanced interrogation techniques. It was established to question terrorism suspects as soon as possible after their arrest in order to quickly extract information from them to head off any plots that might be about to unfold, and track down anyone who may have assisted the suspect.
Am I jumping the shark here?
Didn’t the Chinese get to visit gitmo to see if their group (Ugahrs?) were being totured sufficiently? How can we then turn around and lecture anyone, especially the Chinese? How did they get into gitmo when a US congressman and UN officials can’t get into Qauntico?
no conspiracy here. Mike is from State; State Dept officer. He just did a stint for NSC.
Sent over from NSC to State. It was a little more than a “stint”. Wasn’t he there there when that program was sat up, plus during the time period Obama merged White House staff, Homeland Security Council, and the National Security Council into National Security Staff. So are you saying, State picked Hammer, for his resume, which included these new interrogation programs and staffing?
Pretty sad that he had to leave The Changeling’s Democratic admin before he could freely make the most obvious of analogies.
They got to “question” them directly.
No. I know Mike. Served with him, 2004-2005 in Norway; decent guy. He’s a State Dept. officer. He served a stint with NSC.; happens all the time. Folks from State get seconded to NSC all the time, and then go back to their regular jobs. Happens in the DOD as well. The various departments get the benefit of someone with experience to fill a job (in Hammer’s case; spokesman) and the various candidates get to pad their resumes for future promotion; “hey look, you want me, I served a tour with the NSC!!”
He may have been there when the program was set up, but I’d chalk that up to coincidence..
Look, I’m not saying that what the administration is doing isn’t shitty – ’cause it is. Nor that the notion that Obama isn’t responsible in some way because the DOD is being obstructionist isn’t laughable; because it is laughable. Ultimately, Obama could make the DOD all stand in Times Square and daisy chain each other if he had the inclination; which would be poetic justice if there ever was any. Obama is truly responsible for the actions of any one of his departments.
That said, there is a LOT of friction between DOD and State. DOD constantly tries to horn in on State’s bailiwick, and state, with a 4-6 billion dollar budget, tries to fend them off. So if State is telegraphing that it is really all DOD’s fault that the UN Special Envoy isn’t making any headway, I tend to believe them. State is probably saying to DOD “look we have to put out this human rights thing every year, and your treatment of Manning is fucking it all up.” and DOD is probably saying “fuck you! we’ll do what we want.”