Remember "The Surge"? Yeah they were all in country for a few months before it hit the news. Just saying... We have this thing we like to call OPSEC sometimes we actually manage to get away with maintaining it.

Oh that was soooo pre-Julian Assange

I can't wait till he "Can't live with himself any more" and is found floating face down in some river, and emphasis on the sometimes... if we don't have some asshat purposefully leaking it to the media, we have some dumb joe blabbing about it on his Facebook page

Calm down, Custer.

Oh that was soooo pre-Julian Assange

Approve or not, but the guy who should be credited is Bradley Manning, who is currently being punitively driven insane instead of referred to court martial for reasons one could only speculate.

Calling the bullshit flag on that one Malse. When you remove the story from the media "ZOMG" lens he's being treated like a maximum security prisoner they want alive long enough to hang 'em.

One story I recently heard was that he was being denied clothes. When you dig deeper, he is on suicide watch, and made the comment to the effect of "Why are you taking that stuff away from me (belt etc) I could use my underwear band to kill myself"

The military very much wants him to have his trial, even with the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, this pis of filth still gets his trial. Much like the shitbag from the fort hood shootings.

Fortunately both will likely hang for their actions.

Gosh, I wasn't aware they put people in solitary for like a year when they had no history of violent behavior, despite having more than enough evidence to convict for like the entire time?

Kid was an idiot and basically handed himself to the MPs thanks to bragging, but that's a mighty shaky limb you're out on for what's currently happening to him being the normal UCMJ process.

He'd be killed in general population, so they're keeping him under maximum security. That's odd how? Also while his confinement is definitely out of the ordinary, the level of his crimes is also out of the ordinary.

I don't think the public over here would have the stomach to treat a young kid so monstrously.

You should feel ashamed, in my opinion.

He's *NOT* being treated monstrously. He's being treated like any other criminal pending trial for crimes warranting the death penalty.

We do the same shit to suicidal/homicide risk prisoners in civilian prisons. Frankly his family should be happy they've been holding him so long. I'd have given him a summary trial then execution in country. Now he might actually have a chance to avoid the noose and cop a plea, however small that chance might be.

As for him being a kid. The second he raised his hand and took the oath, his childhood was left behind. He's a soldier who bet on the wrong horse and got caught because of his careless behavior.

Edit: maybe split this one off?

Given how significantly the detention practices differ from say, Ellsbergs prior to his trial (and mistrial) and how he was repeatedly pressured to name outside influences that simply weren't there, one wonders. Pretty sad we're going to likely hang a man for revealing all the terrible things we did, as opposed to many the people caught murdering and raping and child prostituting and embezzling, a hjgh percentage of whom are walking free.

Hang a man for treason, yeah I'm for it. Also for the execution of murderers, and child rapists. Absolutely has to be proven without a question of doubt, many are not in our fair legal system..

:devil

One story I recently heard was that he was being denied clothes. When you dig deeper, he is on suicide watch, and made the comment to the effect of "Why are you taking that stuff away from me (belt etc) I could use my underwear band to kill myself"
Keep digging (http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/ap-wikileaks-manning-lawyer-says-suicide-joke-led-to-stripping-030511/). Manning's conditions are clearly punitive. He needs to be given the trial due him.

I don't know... maybe it's just me, but after getting arrested for giving away state secrets might not be the time to "joke" around. Maybe, just maybe, whomever you are "joking" with will take it seriously.

Sarcasm is the natural defense against stupid?

From the outside looking in, and believe me I'd shoot a traitor before any of ye, but I always thought it was innocent till proven guilty? Isn't that what seperates Democratic countries from the despot ruled countries? You know, due process. Human rights are just that, rights. They are not suspended when convenient or apply only to "some" human beings, last I checked we're all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law.

If he did it, and I mean proven without a doubt, in a court of law, then do what needs doing. But in the meantime he should be treated as any other citizen who has been charged with a crime.

So in any other prison in the states, if an inmate on suicide watch were to "joke" about using his flip flops and underwear to hang himself you don't think they'd take them away too?

The military response to things like that is always to treat it seriously. We had some of the kids who were going a little bonkers in basic end up with the draw strings cut out of their sweat pants, shoe laces, and dog tags taken away. What happened to him is SOP. He's just more high profile so you hear about it. And then it gets the old media spin and takes off.

Bin he is getting his due process, they're going to make sure this all goes exactly by the book, just like NIdal Hassan's. That way when the time comes, they get what they deserve.

How dare you joke about killing yourself before we get a chance to... kill you?!

As ironic as it is, yes.

Elemak, sometimes we have to be reminded about how others on this board don't always understand the UCMJ, especially when it applies to an individual that in all fairness some folks on this board might consider a hero.

Personally, I am with you on this one. Manning knew what he was doing. He signed a legally binding agreement that if he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar than it was going to be a bit more than just a stern warning. Just like any other service member who has access to such information, he swore an oath to safeguard that information and instead did the direct opposite. The fact that this is such a high profile case is moot.