P.J. Crowley out.: He said Bradley Manning's treat

[upi402]

Speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, Assistant Secretary Of State For Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said Manning is being "mistreated" in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defense," he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/pj-crowley-bradley-manning-treatment-_n_834611.html

Assistant Secretary Of State For Public Affairs P.J. Crowley;

(On 'State of the Union' with Candy Crowley it was reported that he didn't 'gel' with Hilary Clinton's program. Is this guy too liberal fir Hilary? What's the story with him?)

[sabrina 1]

1. Actually throughout the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia

he was annoyingly non-committal in his comments on Twitter, eg, issueing talking points most of the time and when interviewed by Al Jazeera, simply wouldn't answer questions but kept returning to the talking points, despite the excellent questions of the interviewer.

I thought he was anything but liberal to be honest. I gave up expecting him to say anything substantive during all these crisis.

I was surprised when he spoke the truth about Manning.

Good for him for doing so. I guess you can't contradict the administration on anything. That's too bad if he was fired for telling the truth.

Otoh, maybe he got tired delivering platitutes when the world is in turmoil and quit.

I have a new respect for him as he had seemed to be sort of a robot just repeating administration talking points.

[upi402]

4. The 'scuttle-butt' was that he was on his way out anyway

The CNN pundit (take that for what it is) said that he didn't fit in and was unhappy. To me, that implies he didn't like being told to repeat the line, or was being stifled.

In my experience, people don't like being stifled by their lessers and will dump a good gig over it.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Uh-huh. Well, he obviously doesn't "fit in." i.e. morally, ethically. nt

[DefenseLawyer]

5. I think if it is your job to speak for the State Department

then you say what the official position is, not your own opinion. Hopefully if their position isn't palatable to you, then you quit. But I can't fault the guy for repeating administration "talking points" when that was his job.

[sabrina 1]

7. Calling Mubarak a 'good friend and ally' and asking 'both sides'

to not resort to violence, while it was the State Dept's position, did not make HIM very popular for repeating it. His interview on Al Jazeera was disastrous and made him most unpopular. I know I sent him a message on Twitter and I'm sure he received plenty of others also.

If he was not in agreement with what he was saying, then that would explain why he was not happy in the job. And maybe he just couldn't go as far as to condone torture, or maybe he felt it was bad policy and wasn't all that concerned about torture. Who knows? But he was right this time and I guess he probably knew he might lose his job over it. Maybe he wanted to go out taking a principled stand.

[EFerrari]

8. He said Manning's treatment was stupid.

He didn't say it was wrong.

[sabrina 1]

9. Yes, I noticed that. I think he's a strategist, haven't noticed

anything that says he's a humanitarian. Still, who knows, maybe he's a good actor and was just doing his job, but torture might be a sort of last straw for him to defend. I really don't know but he must have known he would be in trouble for criticizing the policies.

Wasn't the president asked what he thought of Crowley's statements? I think he was.

I was shocked that Crowley said what he said and had to go check to see if it was true. Whatever the reason, he has brought the discussion into the limelight, and their reaction ought to keep it there for a day or so, I guess.

Their strategy is bad, so maybe that IS what he was complaining about. But he has said that we ought to abide by the law, I believe and is not backing down from his position, so far.

[Scuba]

2. I've got a hundred bucks says he's unemployed by end of day Monday.

[fishwax]

3. yep -- already reports that he's "resigned" n/t

[Cleita]

10. More important. What's the story with Hillary?

I don't care that much for her politics but I never thought she was good with witch hunts and torture.