How do you feel about Bradley Manning

[OmahaBlueDog]

President Obama heckled at S.F. fundraiser
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110422/ts_yblog_theticket/president-obama-heckled-at-s-f-fundraiser

As President Obama addressed the crowd at a breakfast fundraiser in San Francisco Thursday, he fielded some audience input that he wasn't bargaining for.

A woman in the crowd suddenly rose from her seat and said: "Mr. President, we wrote you a song," according to the White House pool report. The president attempted to quiet her, but the woman and her table of donors at the St. Regis Hotel breakfast broke into song and raised signs that read "Free Bradley Manning"--the Army intelligence specialist accused of releasing diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. Yesterday, it was reported that Manning had been moved to a less restrictive prison following pressure from human rights groups


(sorry for the third attempt at posting -- there was a glitch the first two times)

[Annata4Peace]

1. It's important to note

This was a high ticket event. Some paid upwards of 40 thousand to attend.

This issue should be front and center every time the president opens his mouth.

[Scuba]

2. Manning is a patriot and a hero. He should be given a medal, not locked up. n/t

[Modern_Matthew]

3. My sentiments exactly. As should all whistleblowers...no exceptions. nt

[Dj13Francis]

15. Yep.

My thought too.

[seabeyond]

20. hei s a criminal and not someone i respect let alone see as a hero. nt

[Sky Masterson]

21. That is such bullshit

..

[Terra Alta]

24. +1

Bradley should be freed and the inhumane treatment should be given to those who started this war in the first place -- people like Dumbya, Dick, and Rummy.

[MH1]

34. so you'd be ok with 'inhumane treatment'

as long as it's used on people you don't like? would that include torture?

(no Bush fan here by a long shot, just amused at the double standard)

[drokhole]

25. Agreed. And, yet, George H.W. Bush...

...one of the most clandestine, conniving, destructive, conspiratorial, unscrupulous individuals in the history of our country gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Oh, by the way, so did Milton Friedman. Fucking disgusting.

[WillyT]

32. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

:kick:

[PBS Poll-435]

4. Why is this still an issue? The 15 minutes were up a long time ago.

[EFerrari]

8. You mean, besides the fact that the UN is being blocked

from investigating the possible torture of an American serviceman by his own government?

No idea.

[TheWraith]

13. Except that no one is being blocked, and calling being in jail "torture" is bullshit. nt

[EFerrari]

35. The UN disagrees with you. n/t

[PBS Poll-435]

19. My tears regarding this matter could launch many rubber duckies. nt

[Toucano]

22. There's that famous progressive compassion!

Shine that light for all of us to see!

[PBS Poll-435]

29. What ever happened to reality-based sobbing? nt

[Toucano]

36. It ran away and had a love child with habeas corpus. n/t

[PBS Poll-435]

37. And an unfortunate affair with UCMJ. Probably was pretty hot, though. nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Weirdly one-sided results. Not that I'm complaining.

But every time I post something related to Bradley I feel like I've violated some sacred taboo.

Either overt hostility or studied indifference.

[JoePhilly]

10. A one sided poll is going to get skewed results.

As a simple example ...

Cheney helped leak confidential info and outed Valerie Plame in the process. That's BAD.

Manning leaked confidential info, which "outs" or "implicates" many. And that's GREAT.

Or ... maybe ... such leaks are BAD.

Manning is in the military. The rules are clear. He is charged with breaking those rules. Do we just dismiss that because we like his reason more than that of Cheney and the others?

The poll options have no way to engage this.

Asking if he is being treated fairly is different than asking if he should be incarcerated at all.

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. Nah. It's pretty straightforward.

It polls on the question of treatment; not on the question of whether his alleged rule-breaking was justified.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. Or he just disagrees with you

Personally, I see both Cheney and Manning as lawbreakers.

[DJ13]

6. I think this applies to Manning as well

[tishaLA]

7. I'm agnostic on Manning qua Manning, but I strongly disagree with

the treatment of people like Manning, those in Guantanamo, Jose Padilla, et al. I'm shocked that a former professor of Constitutional Law can allow that kind of treatment to happen on his watch.

[Smarmie Doofus]

18. Yes. It is curious, isn't it? nt

[msongs]

9. Manning is not a president who kills women and kids by way of drones in allied nations nt

[Toucano]

28. Drones my ass! Obama targets unarmed children with MANNED aircraft!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/world/asia/03afghan.html

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake.

The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived.

Geneva Conventions? NATO is exempt.

Oops!
:mad:

Oh, silly me! It's only a WAR CRIME when REPUBLICAN presidents do it.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. He's a political prisoner of conscience.

[90-percent]

17. Manning's treatment

His treatment by our government is analogous to a cartel drug lord murdering your family because you stiffed him in a drug deal.

He is a warning to all American whistle blowers that if you leak sensitive info, your own government will take away your human rights and torture you for months or years without even a trial.

Kinda like what happened to people in Stalinist Russia. Only dif is magnitude.

I also think it's cute that elected Congressman Kucinich, who sits on the military oversight committee (forgot exact name?), essentially gets told by the military to go fuck off over even speaking to Manning. Pretty consistent with our current state of Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

-90% Jimmy

[JonLP24]

23. Unfairly

How is the CIA Paramilitary who fired on a deaf person who couldn't hear their orders? Have they even been arrested? That where is I find this unfair.

[Dappleganger]

26. Has he even been charged with anything yet?

[SDuderstadt]

30. How in the world can anyone be....

this poorly informed?

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/bradley-manning-more-charge/

[Kurovski]

27. Good poll.

k&R

[WillyT]

31. For Many Reasons...

;)

:hi:

[Kurovski]

38. Yep!

:hi:

[OmahaBlueDog]

40. Thanks!

:hi:

[Kurovski]

42. You are welcome, Dawg!

:hi:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. Manning is in prison. What happened to the murderers he blew the whistle on?

Apparently, embarrassing the administration is much more of a "crime" than killing civilians. The same goes for the "heroes" operating the drones that kill civilians. Any imprisonment for them?

http://collateralmurder.com/

[sabrina 1]

41. There was not even an investigation into the murder of those

two Reuters journalists and the civilians mowed down for sport in the video released by Wikileaks.

And the children whose good Samaritan father trying to help the wounded, was murdered as he attempted to do so. And his beautiful children maimed both physically and emotionally for life.

What is wrong with a country that could see this and do nothing about it?

However, sometimes justice takes time. In South America now war criminals are finally being brought to justice, after more than 30 years. Why not sooner? I don't know, except that the powerful can keep control of these things, for a considerable length of time it seems. But sooner or later, the victims who never, ever go away or forget, prevail.

It is shameful that the soldier who exposed these war crimes is in jail, while the murderers have not even been questioned about their crimes.

[bluedigger]

39. Unfair.

He should be tried, and once convicted, sentenced.