US says Manning leak hurt human rights work

[struggle4progress]

54. Getting the facts right is not a "justification" of anything: it's a pre-requisite

for meaningful useful discussion

It's fine with me if you want to support Manning, but then I think you should try to stick to the facts as closely as possible -- because the more often you wander from the facts, and the further you wander from the facts, the more people are going to notice the tendency to bullshizz, and that's going to have a growing impact on your credibility. Maybe you should consider the possibility that folks, who point out to you that you're careless with the fact, might actually be doing you a favor

If you claim Manning was held naked for nine months; if then I provide you with a link to a document from his attorney that I think only claims about 6 days of underwear only in the daytime, 6 nights of sleeping naked, and a few mornings of naked parade rest morning call; and if then you denounce THAT as "mental gyrations" to "somehow justify this" -- then my natural reaction will be that that you tend to make claims based on whether or not they support the narrative you prefer, rather than on whether or not the claim is true -- and THAT suggests to me that your political analyses are likely to be entirely useless, because they're unlikely to be based on a careful assessment of facts

Was Manning in isolation at Quantico? He was allowed visitors:

... Only two people visit him: his lawyer, David Coombs, and a friend, David House. Manning doesn't have many friends ... A researcher at MIT, House is involved in the hacker community in Boston. Manning was connected to the group through a friend and House said he knew of him ... House got involved and began to visit Manning in jail ...
Bradley Manning, the unknown soldier
By Sophie Elmhirst
Published 06 March 2011
http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2011/03/manning-house-held-base-iraq