I fear that Buck is correct. That and President Obama himself has stated that Pvt. Manning's treatment is "appropriate". One might be forgiven for asking, "Appropriate to what, and to whom?"

Despots are like that

P.P: There's no question they're making an example of him, as you put it, because "They can." The Bush junta wove torture into the fabric of what's left of America's cultural garment... and now, it's just another "stitch in time" to see it done unto ONE of our "own."

This also speaks to OTHER whistleblowers. Note the fate of Mr. Christopher for standing up to the illegal mineral rights auction profiteers? Or Kathy Kelly's group for "trespassing" at a base where WMD are kept? The peace keepers are inordinately punished so that the warriors can have their day(s) in an obscene stream of endless abuses of power... the power TO destroy!

What's so ghastly for its irony is the way killers are championed; and that so little is done to punish those who find "sport" in hunting down "the enemy" in Afghanistan. So sure are they of their "mission," that killing women and children, along with unarmed young men, is just another day at the races to them.

Our society has been rendered socially and spiritually sick; and David Sirota's piece today, explaining how violence has been thoroughly melded into our culture (what I term "Mars Rules") spells out how this has come to be.

It's a tale of tragic waste, a profligate misuse of the blessings imparted by our own rich land.

Meanwhile, our prayers go out to Japan. The hubris of man playing with forces that extend WAY beyond his powers is on full display. I wish it were not so.

"They're torturing him because they can."

I think it's more that they want to more than can. I mean they can torture anyone but in this country, torturing the poor and defenseless is somehow more appealing than torturing the real perpetrators who deserve it in the first place. Here's something else that most people don't notice. This country has a double standard on torturing the Bradley Mannings vs the Erik Princes. Prince, who used to be CEO of Blackwater/XE, is not only heavily guarded by the ruling class elites but his position is obviously tied to jobs so people will get the wrong impression that Prince is some kind of "jobs hero" while mistaking Manning as a traitor or "terrorist". Remember when the protesters against Prince were arrested for trespassing? It's too bad there are no rules against trespassing when it comes to torture. Add it all up and it's all schadenfreude.

"They're torturing him because they can."
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True, but remember who is COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ...

Hah! We torture them, too! Bagram...Guantanamo....and any # of unknown 'Black sites' around the globe have been used by US troops or 'contracted goons' for that purpose.

The 'Rule of Law' only applies to the scum in charge when they say so.
Despicable.

"Journalists" ask "why" because doing so salves their consciences because they know in their heart of hearts (if they still have access to that) they're ducking an important issue.

Guess you missed the memo before the election of Obama: he was and is a leader of the corporate ruling elite.

Obama lied to you about him being a Progressive, and you believed it.

He was always part of the problem.

Until people start thinking for themselves, nothing will change; the ruling elite will continue to rule to the harm of most of the American people.

The norms haven't really changed. We're a lost soul country that engages in plenty of schadenfreude against the poor and defenseless. A good example of an important rule: abuses abroad (Guantanamo, Bagram, etc.) are trial runs and they're almost always brought home. In this case, the military is doing the same things to one of its own, apparently out of pure aggravation and sadism. Another possibility is that their case is actually very weak, and they're trying to torture a confession out of him, to say nothing of forcing him to implicate Assange. In any case, they're bringing it all back home. They've as much as admitted they can't tie Assaange and Manning together.

But what is their case against Manning? Lamo and some chat logs that nobody but Wired and the FBI/military have seen? Lamo is a convicted felon and habitual liar who has changed stories so many times, he'd get ripped apart in five minutes on the stand. There's also the fact that hundreds of people had access to these documents. We only have Lamo's word that it was Manning who uploaded them. There's also the fact that Army psychologists declared Lamo was mentally not fit to be deployed to Iraq, said so to commanding officers at Fort Drum and he was sent anyway. While in Iraq, his commanding sergeant was worried enough about his well being to remove live ammunition from his gun. He had an incident with an officer and was busted down a grade. All this and he still kept his security clearance. If it turns out he did do the uploading -- who's actually to blame for him being in position to do so? If they had any kind of case they thought would win, would they be increasing the torture after ten months? Would it have taken ten months to even charge him? And the charges -- so broad that anything anybody says in public that the USG considers aid to the enemy will land you in prison. But they still have no case. They are facing the very real possibility they could lose this case in court. And never get Assange extradited here.

And yet the same message has to be sent to Americans that Abu, Gitmo and the Black Holes sent to the rest of the world, there will no dissent of the empire, no one will fight it, no one will call out its crimes, no one will speak for the 98% who exist to serve the power elite. And if that takes torture, inhumane treatment, ignoring Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, the protests of many of our allies and many of its own citizens, the empire and its pathetic leader don't care. Remember, this person in the WH has post-acquittal detention powers. And remember that a Kangaroo trial might inflame us, but most of America consider him guilty and would gladly see him hung without even a show trial.

Our president and commander-in-chief is beneath contempt. I hope nobody thinks these things are being ordered solely by warrant officers and brig commanders. If the CIC isn't calling it shot by shot he's certainly made it known that nothing is out of bounds, he's been told or he knows that without a confession, they're up a creek. And neither he nor the empire can lose face after the crap they've fed the media and the bovines. Has a single media source with access ever asked him a question about Manning's treatment? They're as despicable as he is.

The man may not be evil himself, but he's allowed evil to flourish and he's let it be known that anything can be be ordered to keep evil operating without opposition or transparency. So it makes little difference. He's still reprehensible and I am sick I voted for this thug. We are seeing the future and it is fascism in the USA. And the truly infuriating thing is, this happened so fast I don't know if it can be changed. The majority of the country think everything will be fine once the economy improves and gas prices go down.

IMPORTER: You painted the portrait with eloquent detail by posing the quintessential question and full nature of this unconstitutional (as well as amoral) problem. Thank you. It's such a shame that so many have been bamboozled into thinking these programs exist to ferret out "terrorists" and thus protect them. NOTHING could be further from the truth. Fox "news" has indoctrinated millions into losing an understanding of what the "Rule of Law" means. The priceless has been traded for the transitory, pseudo-safety for genuine liberty... nor is this ghastly parade of moral obscenities yet complete.

Soon the Ruling Elite will release the “Grand Spectacle” of the “New Dark Age”, where every American not “born again” will be tortured in cruel and unusual ways while the meek will simply be starved, poisoned or left to die by disease. For they will be deemed as sinners...

A99

Nice to know who he sees as the ultimate moral authority in matters such as this. If the Pentagon says it's OK to kill us all, I guess he'll have "no choice" but to go along.

Obama stated many times during his campaign "We will NOT torture". What more could he do? He could, as commander-in-chief, have it stopped. But he wants this to go on, needs this open psychological terrorizing to go on. Like the above posters say, it is a grave warning to all of us.

They're not mugging him for his private parts. They're mugging him for being a spiritual hero and they don't want people to learn the truth because they can't handle it. WTF is your point?

this is an oft forgotten fact.
I ask myself "why did he enlist?"

bugmenot

This may be what the military wants the soldiers to believe but those who participated in the GI rebellion that took place during the Vietnam conflict and those who belong to the IVAW today know otherwise. As Professor Lawrence Mosqueda, who teaches at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington pointed out in an article that he had written in CounterPunch on Feb. 27, 2003:

"The Uniform Code of Military Justice [UCMJ] 809.ART.90 [20] , makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the 'lawful command of his superior officer', 891.ART.91 [2], the 'lawful order of a warrant officer', 892.ART.92 (1) the 'lawful general order', 892.ART.92 [2{ 'lawful order'. In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ."

Despite your neo-conservative-like beliefs, being in the military does not then mean that one has to leave one's brains behind in the civilian world. As Prof. Mosqueda wisely notes, military personnel have not only a duty, as clearly stated in the UCMJ, but also an obligation NOT to obey unlawful orders and to obey only those which are lawful. It should then become clear that Manning was on very firm ground in leaking those cables to Wikileaks [if Manning was the one who did send those cables to Wikileaks] as he appears to have believed that it was his duty to inform the American public and the world of the war crimes that the United States has committed in the Middle East. Manning seems to have realized that committing war crimes in the name of the United States was not the reason that he enlisted in the military.

The hope is that Manning's lawyers will refer to those articles in the UCMJ as part of Manning's affirmative defense as to the reason why he leaked those revealing cables to Wikileaks.