Article 13 and PFC Bradley Manning - From the Blog of his defense attorney

[Ellipsis]

Here is some cohesive info from the defense attorneys blog

21 December 2010

Article 13 and PFC Bradley Manning

The defense has raised the conditions of PFC Bradley Manning’s confinement conditions on multiple occasions with the Quantico confinement facility and the Army Staff Judge Advocate’s (SJA) Office assigned to handle this case. Our efforts, unfortunately, have not resulted any in positive results. To its credit, the SJA office is attempting to correct this situation. However, given the fact that Quantico is a Marine Corps facility, it has similarly had no success.

PFC Bradley Manning, unlike his civilian counterpart, is afforded no civil remedy for illegal restraint under either the Federal Civil Rights Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act. Similarly, the protection from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and Article 55 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) does not generally apply prior to a court-martial. Thus, the only judicial recourse that is available is under Article 13 of the UCMJ.

Article 13 safeguards against unlawful pretrial punishment and embodies the precept that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Article 13 provides that: No person, while being held for trial, may be subjected to punishment or penalty other than arrest or confinement upon the charges pending against him, nor shall the arrest or confinement imposed upon him be any more rigorous than the circumstances required to insure his presence, but he may be subjected to minor punishment during that period for infractions of discipline.

Unfortunately:


A defense motion for Article 13 credit is generally made before pleas are entered. As such, the first time this issue can be raised is once the case is referred to a court-martial.


... and the case has yet to be refereed.

More>

http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2010/12/article-13-and-pfc-bradley-manning.html

Also:

23 December 2010

Manning's Holiday Statement

"I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time. I am also thankful for everything that has been done to aid in my defense. I ask that everyone takes the time to remember those who are separated from their loved ones at this time due to deployment and important missions. Specifically, I am thinking of those that I deployed with and have not seen for the last seven months, and of the staff here at the Quantico Confinement Facility who will be spending their Christmas without their family."

My apologies if this posted earlier>


Merry Christmas

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The treatment of Bradley Manning is a national disgrace.

[Ellipsis]

2. Agreed ... treatment is the operative word. One need not agree with his actions...

and I can't say that I do, really haven't formulated an opinion.


But his treatment has been unjust.

[Major Hogwash]

10. Where the hell is Senator Kerry on this situation?

Or for that matter, any of the Senators?

[Smarmie Doofus]

13. Good point. And Reps, for that matter. n/t

[Delphinus]

19. Yes,

where is the outrage against this kind of treatment? Could it be somewhere along the lines that the GOP worked with Obama to stop Bush Torture probe (exposed by WikiLeaks)?

[msanthrope]

36. Right. Because a Navy man is going to do, precisely, what? n/t

[Major Hogwash]

48. That's uncalled for. The men and the women serving in the Navy, or have served, are just as noble as

the men and the women who have served in other branches of the military.

[EFerrari]

3. What that entry says is that there is nothing his attorney can do

until the court martial goes forward besides lobby.

There is nothing he can personally do about Brad's abusive detention besides lobby the abusers to reconsider.

So, it is crucial that we all keep making noise.

Today, the UN announced that it was opening an investigation. That's well and good. But it will go nowhere, finally.

WE have to keep the pressure on. That's the only thing between Brad Manning and his abusive detention making his brain into pudding.

[Ellipsis]

5. Yup.

[msanthrope]

21. His attorney is full of shit. He could collect the money Wikileaks promised and file a habeas.

But, of course, he'd get laughed out of ARMY CCA and CAAF...

Look, don't confuse 'can't' with 'I wanna collect some fees by pretending I can't do anything until some some fee money gets generated.' (see, Orly Taitz...)

[EFerrari]

22. When you smear people of good repute, they don't come off badly. n/t

[msanthrope]

27. David Coombs' last client 'of repute' is currently awaiting military execution.

Now, Lt. Col. (Res.) Coombs is certainly well-educated, and has enough experience to prevent Manning from ever claiming, credibly, that he was denied effective counsel.

But in reading his detailed CV, I cannot find a single felony-level case that Mr. Coombs has won. Perhaps I have missed it.

Further, the idea that Coombs can do nothing until the court-martial is referred is laughable on its face. Mr. Coombs may not be able to file under Article 13, but he knows damn well his client still has the habeas option. Coombs could file one tomorrow--and be laughed out of court.

Now, I respect that Coombs is trying to drum up support for his client--and payment for fees. I suspect he has figured out that his client might not face a court-martial at all, and then, Coombs would probably not be Manning's lawyer, since he has little to no experience in USFD courts. It's smart of Coombs to get the publicity--and donations--while he can.

[Major Hogwash]

32. Hahaha. "I can't find it" I've heard that a million times!

Whenever someone says "well, I can't find it" it usually means one of 2 things --

1. I didn't bother looking

OR

2. I'm pumping smoke up your ass.

I think I smell smoke.

[msanthrope]

38. Well, perhaps you could find it, and post it here.

His CV is available at his website. I read it, and did not find a single, felony-level (or military equivalent) win/acquittal.

I hope I'm wrong. Hell, I hope for Bradley Manning's sake that Coombs has actually won an acquittal on the felony level in a military court.

[Ellipsis]

34. Thanks for the kicks.

The veracity of his attorney is not point ... just Manning's pretrial treatment.

[msanthrope]

35. Coombs' veracity isn't at issue. What Coombs is doing is what I would expect a lawyer

with a hopeless case (and one that he may not be on for much longer) to do. He isn't lying--he just isn't telling the whole story. Nor would I expect him to.

He's got a tough client, and very little leverage regarding the pre-trial conditions. The POI hasn't been challenged by Coombs, because he's going to get nowhere with this history---

"Records of the chats, which continued over several days, portray a dejected, disillusioned soldier. His long-distance relationship has ended, he's been demoted from specialist to private first class after he struck another soldier and the Army has removed the bolt from his rifle out of concern for his mental state."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101212_12_A1_CUTLIN691725

Sorry, but there isn't a judge in the military system that's going to tell the Marines at Quantico that they have to put this prisoner in a less-restrictive environment.

[Ellipsis]

41. Thanks for posting that ... really. I had read references to it.

It is good to see it first hand.

I would err on the side of caution, certainly. But erring on the side of caution does not determine mental instability .

It has been determined that Manning is not suicidal... or at least wasn't until this prolonged isolation without moving forward with court marshal proceedings. The time lag fort court marshal has been unusual.

[msanthrope]

44. Who has determined Manning is not suicidal, nor a threat to his guards or other inmates?

Interestingly, when I googled that, I came up with---

According to Paterson, Manning has been examined by Quantico's mental health officials, who declared that he is not a suicide risk -- yet he continues to be held in solitary confinement which is consistent with a suicide watch. His overall mental health evaluation, which was begun in September, is still ongoing and should be wrapped up in a few weeks, says Paterson. Manning's attorney, David Coombs did not return calls for comment. A spokesperson for the Pentagon did not return calls for comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/15/bradley-manning-wikileaks-charges-_n_797276.html


That's not a determination--that's gossip from the dude who runs Manning's defense fund. Did he speak with Quantico's mental health officials? Or is it more likely that Manning himself is claiming that someone told him he isn't suicidal?

What about violent? He's already struck a fellow serviceperson.

[Ellipsis]

45. This is what David House said...

According to David House, a computer researcher from Boston who visits Manning twice a month, he is starting to deteriorate. "Over the last few weeks I have noticed a steady decline in his mental and physical wellbeing," he said. "His prolonged confinement in a solitary holding cell is unquestionably taking its toll on his intellect; his inability to exercise due to regulations has affected his physical appearance in a manner that suggests physical weakness."

Manning, House added, was no longer the characteristically brilliant man he had been, despite efforts to keep him intellectually engaged. He also disputed the authorities' claims that Manning was being kept in solitary for his own good.

"I initially believed that his time in solitary confinement was a decision made in the interests of his safety," he said. "As time passed and his suicide watch was lifted, to no effect, it became clear that his time in solitary – and his lack of a pillow, sheets, the freedom to exercise, or the ability to view televised current events – were enacted as a means of punishment rather than a means of safety."



more...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/16/bradley-manning-health-deteriorating


I read the account you listed as well.How many hospitals that do psych evaluations take 4 months to perform.

There's a psych evaluation on file some where.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Given enough time in there, they won't need a trial. They'll fry his brain on drugs and...

...solitary, possibly including sleep deprivation/interrupted sleep until he begins to hallucinate fairly regularly, no-longer aids his own defense and eventually winds up like Padilla.

Because, really, if you keep a person drugged up in a hole for long enough, you can eventually get them to think or do anything you want them to- assuming of course you don't reduce them to a pile of goo completely. Manning's best friend has already talked very recently about how it's difficult for his friend to concentrate during conversations, the subject matter of which was previously very engaging to both of them.

None dare call it brainwashing- at least yet.

But the things which were done to Elizabeth Smart, for instance, or Jose Padilla or the things which are being done to Manning- they don't have to be exactly the same things. But the techniques are well-rooted in a system to break down the personality of an individual until they are, for lack of a better word, a vessel to be filled with something else. The process itself, even when deemed by the captor to be "successful", is also terribly damaging.

After undergoing the breaking-down process they become almost like automatons, programmed to- well, whatever their captors want. Have sex with these people, strap on this suicide vest, sign this confession, and on and on...

Dealer's choice.

All without and before a trial or even levying charges!

We like to think ourselves more-capable in those sorts of situations because, like death, is is hard for our own mind to come to terms that our personality, those things unique about us, could be washed away and never really return, even in a very brief span of time- given the right deprivation techniques, and especially drugs. And so it is difficult to imagine victims of this torture and what they're really going through.

But the U.S. government has seemingly hit on a very successful, but far from new, method in order to extract the confessions they so desire. Few will really care until it starts happening at the hands of local police, those corporate-run prisons have to make money by volume, and by then- as maybe now- it will be simply too late.

PB

[Ellipsis]

6. I would have cracked long ago.

I wonder what his current cocktail of meds is.


Strikes me as a tenacious.

[Poll_Blind]

12. Me too. I try to have as few illusions about that as I can. The medication is described as being..

..."antidepressants" and the dosage, the drug itself, and Manning's reaction to it are a mystery. Realize that it has already come out that the Pentagon gave Gitmo detainees massive doses of mefloquine.

Let me stop right there and give you a link and some quotes from it. All Gitmo Detainees Given “Massive Dose” Of Controversial Drug Linked To Suicides(originally from TruthOut.org:

The Defense Department forced all “war on terror” detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison to take a high dosage of a controversial antimalarial drug, mefloquine, an act that an Army public health physician called “pharmacologic waterboarding.”

The US military administered the drug despite Pentagon knowledge that mefloquine caused severe neuropsychiatric side effects, including suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and anxiety. The drug was used on the prisoners whether they had malaria or not.

The revelation, which has not been previously reported, was buried in documents publicly released by the Defense Department (DoD) two years ago as part of the government’s investigation into the June 2006 deaths of three Guantanamo detainees.

It goes on and on and it and the original TruthOut article are worth further looking into. The point, though, being that this entire pharmacological cornucopia can be slipped entirely under the radar in the form of "preventative medicine".

PB

[truedelphi]

9. yeah, a person has to wonder.

After reading your words, I started thinking.

If the Powers that Be arrest Manning and keep him detained until his court martial, and then his trial exposes him as the source for the first round of WikiLeaks documents, not much happens other than Manning gets a stiff sentence.

But if they can turn him into a pie of gibbering goo, maybe the Powers that Be could get Manning to implicate Assange in this. That way, they get the guy they really wanna punish - Assange.

[Poll_Blind]

17. Indeed. Manning. Lamo. Work over one, work over the other.

Until the they can make the two stories meet and then use the circuit to pass a current through Assange.

PB

[Major Hogwash]

7. If the government can do this to a soldier, what is stopping them from doing this to civilians?

How the hell do they expect to make their quotas in the Army once the new wannabe recruits hear about this shit?

[Major Hogwash]

8. And why is GITMO still open?

Answer that one, Mr President!!

[msanthrope]

20. Because the Congress decided to keep it open. Let's not let facts interfere with an anti Obama rant

but the congress passed, for both FY 2010 and FY 2011 sections of the Defense authorization Bill that bar funding for GITMO detainee transfer.

With no means of tranferring them, and no place to legally transfer them to, the Congress has tied President Obama's hands.

Such is the system of reperesentative government.

[Exilednight]

23. Doesn't Obama have the power of Veto? n/t

[msanthrope]

25. Yes. But not the power of the purse. Vetoing the entire authorization bill

wouldn't make money magically appear for GITMO transfers.

Besides, had Obama vetoed the Defense Authorization Bill, do you really think DADT would have passed as either part of DA FY2011, or as a stand-alone?

[Exilednight]

26. So Obama cut a deal for DADT? Have a link to back that statement up? Or is it just

your opinion?

[msanthrope]

28. You realize that DADT repeal was part of DA 2011 until last week, right?

There was no deal cut, nor did I imply there was one....

Common sense would indicate to anyone that if the President of the United States threatened to veto DA 2011 on the GITMO issue, then DADT would have also failed since it would have been part of the SAME BILL.

Further, even when DADT became stand alone, there is no viable reality where you get enough republican votes to pass it after POTUS threatens a veto of DA 2011 over GITMO.

Obama has no purse without Congress. They don't want to fund it, it doesn't happen.

[Major Hogwash]

31. She's making it up as she goes along.

Play along with her, maybe she'll come back with some "facts".

But, I doubt it.

[msanthrope]

42. "Congress Bars Gitmo Transfers"

"The measure for fiscal year 2011 blocks the Department of Defense from using any money to move Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. for any reason. It also says the Pentagon can't spend money on any U.S. facility aimed at housing detainees moved from Guantanamo, in a slap at the administration's study of building such a facility in Illinois."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576036520690885858.html

I'm sorry to bring facts to the anti-Obama "why-didn't-he-close-GITMO" factually-challenged hit parade, but there you have it. Now you know why GITMO is not closed.

And the fact remains--vetoing that bill would not have made money magically appear. For that proposition, I suggest you read Articles 1 and 2 of the Constitution.

[Major Hogwash]

24. But, fuck PFC Bradley Manning, right?

As long as you're making statements like that, it might behoove you to learn more about what the system of representative government means to people who aren't represented.

How is PFC Manning being represented?

Obama's "honeymoon period" is long over.
Stating this was just "an anti-Obama rant" is ludicrous.

[msanthrope]

29. Manning is ably represented, according to this thread, by his chosen lawyer.

A lawyer, who conveniently doesn't tell his supporters that Pvt. Manning most definitely needs POI--



"Records of the chats, which continued over several days, portray a dejected, disillusioned soldier. His long-distance relationship has ended, he's been demoted from specialist to private first class after he struck another soldier and the Army has removed the bolt from his rifle out of concern for his mental state."

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101212_12_A1_CUTLIN691725


Now, this was BEFORE the leaks became public...

[Major Hogwash]

30. Make up your mind - you said his lawyer was full of shit earlier!

I know, it's hard, but try.

[msanthrope]

39. Being full of shit and ably representing your client are not mutually exclusive qualities in an

attorney.



Yes. Coombs is full of shit when it comes to claims that he can't do anything until court-martial referral....that is also able representation if it convinces people who don't know better to donate to Mr. Manning's defense. Further, should it help in securing a better deal, then that particular claim, which is full of shit, has helped toward an able defense....

If you are old enough, then you will remember that Johnnie Cochran was full of shit. He also managed to keep Michael Jackson from paying for his crimes, and OJ Simpson, too.

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. Combo of this abysmal economy and the orchestrated gov't vilification...

... of Manning will keep kids ignorant enough and desperate enough to keep enlisting in sufficient numbers.

[Ellipsis]

14. What makes you think they haven't?

[Ellipsis]

15. Dupe

[Ellipsis]

16. dupe

[Major Hogwash]

18. PFC Manning spent his 23rd birthday on the 17th day of this month in solitary confinement.

As far as I know, there are no civilians as yet confined like Manning, in solitary confinement, without having been found guilty at trial first.

I don't see what the point is in keeping him confined to solitary confinement for 23 hours of the day.
That is excessive.

[Cid_B]

37. Hope he enjoyed it... and has 80 more just like it...

Merry Christmas Manning... get comfy...

[msanthrope]

40. He might get the death penalty.

Personally, I don't think he's going to be in military court--or, at least in military court on the most serious of charges.

I have a feeling there's the rocket docket in Northern Virginia, and I think that's where he, and others will be tried.

[Cid_B]

43. He won't get the DP....

He'll sit and rot in a square block till he's senile or dead... Couldn't happen to a nicer fella.

[truth2power]

47. Pathetic statement. n/t

[Major Hogwash]

33. This issue is a game changer.

Believe it.

[Ellipsis]

46. One last kick