By libbyliberal
(Excerpted from an article that first appeared on the site Corrente)
The placement of human beings in solitary confinement is not a measure of their depravity. It is a measure of our own.
–Lynn Parramore
–Lynn Parramore
Bradley Manning is being tortured for our sins.
For the sins of us American citizens, many of us of limited courage, conscience and/or consciousness.
He is also being tortured — the torturous “killing of the messenger” — for the appalling and vast sins of the amoral rulers of this country, who are responsible for gratuitous (although they don’t consider them gratuitous if there are corporate profits involved) massive deaths and massive suffering of human beings around the globe.
The powers that be who abandoned honor and morality long ago. The ones who think that might not only makes “right” but also should protect them from any millisecond of “embarrassment” or “unease” on being called on their corrupt cronyism, narcissism, violence, venality, and so often grotesque incompetence.
They are making an example of Manning for all potential whistleblowers. To make any people of conscience think twice before calling out war criminal behaviors perpetrated by the United States. Obama, still skating on image, was our chance to turn around the fascism of the Bush regime. Instead Obama, or “Obagman” as he was bitterly referred to by some commenter the other day and I find no argument, has done all he can to lock in fascism and oligarchical oppression in the United States forever. The new American way. The new world order. A race to the bottom. Institutionalized evil.
Writing about the plight of Bradley Manning brings up a special sense of despair and futility within me, literal feelings of nausea, from my incredulity over so many still blind to the incredible injustice and cruelty involved. The reality that Obama et al. are so bloody and obnoxiously shameless. Evil.
Facing down evil sickens. It is the reason so many retreat into denial and prefer finding the comfort of the illusion of American justice on Law & Order, etc., or obsess about celebrity lives rather than the fast eroding security of their own and God forbid, their fellow countrymen’s and women’s or, also God forbid, of the extended, global “family of man and woman.”
When I found out about the secret, merciless, black ops torture program under the Bush regime I was appalled and sickened. When Obama came on board I was impatient for him to publicly acknowledge the horror of it all, and to make the perpetrators accountable. I even started wearing a black arm band trusting I would be able to remove it as soon as Obama “did the right thing.” Followed the U.S. Constitution. Honored the Articles of the Geneva Conventions. HAH!
Instead I entered a new dimension of nauseating horror. Obama was morally compass-less. Soulless. Let me say it. It is chilling to surrender to the reality that someone with so much power to do good, won’t.
The Bradley Manning torture does not only illustrate to the relatively small number of Americans who really grasp its meaning — are willing to and have the stomach for it — how Obama is willing to shred the U.S. Constitution, one of many examples in Manning’s case, the eighth amendment which forbids “cruel and unusual punishment.” What at first numbs me with despair but then enrages me finally is the Bradley Manning torture is so “in-your-face,” America. Now, if you interfere with the corrupt will of the American ruling elite you will be subject to mind-breaking, physically harmful and degrading torture, on display for all.
A new sadistic and sexualized dimension of his torture. Forcing his total nudity for 7 hours of his sleep time along with the morning inspection at his cell door. Okay, Corporal Manning, we are now throwing the death penalty at you and hand over your underwear, so you REALLY EXPERIENCE your full vulnerability to the anti-democratic powers that are running America.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has decided to make Manning’s pre-trial existence as torturous as possible, holding him in solitary confinement 23 hours a day since his arrest 10 months ago – treatment that the group Psychologists for Social Responsibility notes is, “at the very least, a form of cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment in violation of U.S. law.”
Sustained solitary confinement and sensory deprivation short term erodes one sense of well being, long term leads to psychosis, doesn’t it? Of course, they claim to be giving him anti-depressants to combat the stress they are doing all they can to induce.
One of the few people to have visited Manning, David House, spoke yesterday of how he had witnessed his friend go from a "bright-eyed intelligent young man" to someone who at times has appeared "catatonic" with "very high difficulty carrying on day to day conversation". House drew similarities with the case of Bobby Dellelo, an American prisoner who developed psychosis after a lengthy period in solitary confinement conditions similar to Manning’s. "For me this has been like watching a really good friend succumb to an illness or something," he said. "I think that Bradley Manning is being punished this way because the US government wants him to crack ahead of his trial."
The crucifixion continues and intensifies in its cruelty.
Below are some upcoming protests against the war and pro-Bradley Manning:
Announcement from World Can’t Wait:
Rally at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia to support accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Army Pfc. Bradley Manning on March 20th! Supporters will gather for a 2pm rally at the town of Triangle (intersection of Main St. and Route 1), then march to the gates of the Quantico Marine Corps Base. … Buses from Washington DC have been chartered for this event (departing Union Station at 12:30pm)–reserve your seats today for only $10 RT.
National Protest to stop the wars in Washington, DC: Saturday, March 19th, in Washington DC, noon rally at Lafayette Park and march on the White House to “Resist the War Machine!” Contact dcevents@worldcantwait.net or call 866-973-4463 866-973-4463