WikiLeaks accused Bradley Manning 'should never have been sent to Iraq'

[Newsjock]

Source: The Guardian

The American soldier at the centre of the WikiLeaks revelations was so mentally fragile before his deployment to Iraq that he wet himself, threw chairs around, shouted at his commanding officers and was regularly brought in for psychiatric evaluations, according to an investigative film produced by the Guardian.

Bradley Manning, who was detained a year ago on Sunday in connection with the biggest security leak in US military history, was a "mess of a child" who should never have been put through a tour of duty in Iraq, according to an officer from the Fort Leonard Wood military base in Missouri, where Manning trained in 2007.

The officer's words reinforce a leaked confidential military report that reveals that other senior officers thought he was unfit to go to Iraq. "He was harassed so much that he once pissed in his sweatpants," the officer said.

... A Guardian investigation focusing on soldiers who worked with Manning in Iraq has also discovered there was virtually no computer and intelligence security at Manning's station in Iraq, Forward Operating Base Hammer. According to eyewitnesses, the security was so lax that many of the 300 soldiers on the base had access to the computer room where Manning worked, and passwords to access the intelligence computers were stuck on "sticky notes" on the laptop screens.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/27/bradley-manning-wikileaks-mentally-fragile

[Sonoman]

1. Manning never should have been allowed to enlist.

"Two months after his arrival, the bolt was removed from his rifle because he was thought to be a danger, his lawyer, David Coombs, has confirmed."

Unreal.

Sonoman

[shanti]

59. aren't guys like him

usually weeded out during basic training?

[EFerrari]

2. What was Manning harrassed FOR?

Was he harassed because he was gay?

And if the password to a secure network is stuck to the machine, just how classified is that contents?

This situation is going to blow back all over the administration.

[Cid_B]

3. Likely because he was a crapbag...

[defendandprotect]

13. They were desperate for soldiers -- especially to ship to Iraq --

and probably they shipped him out because putting him in Iraq best suited

their purposes --

[dballance]

23. That's Not Very Nice

How do you know he was a "crapbag?" He seems like a conflicted young person who MAY have made some bad decisions. He has not be tried or convicted of anything. Probably because the government doesn't have a case - just a scapegoat.

Come on, we all made bad decisions at his age. Exposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the shams they are should be applauded.

How many more times do we need to send in a gunship to mow down a few boys collecting firewood or reporters in a van with kids before the American people get that we should not be there?

[Cid_B]

24. Well...

I base my guess that he was a crapbag on his record prior to his Iraq time. Multiple counselings; psych issues; striking superiors etc.. etc..

Soldiers are an excellent judge of character and if someone is excluded like that there is often (not always) a good reason.

Crap bag.

Edit: He was a crap bag before he became a traitorous piece of shit. Cant forget that he stepped up in rank.

[dballance]

40. Yeah Right - Just Like They Were With Nidal

Right, soldiers are excellent judges of character. If they were such good judges of character we wouldn't have had Nidal shooting a bunch of people and we wouldn't have had Manning in Iraq. Their "excellent judges of character" superiors should be reprimanded and demoted to a position where they can't be such good judges of character.

These are just two we KNOW about. How many others are out there that haven't risen to the level of national scrutiny?

[Maine-ah]

51. so, he's a "crap bag"

because he had some "psych issues"....that the military KNEW about, admitted to, and they sent him to Iraq anyway....um, yeah, great way to describe someone who sounds like they may be mentally ill.

They should have never sent him, in fact, it sounds like he should have been discharged for medical reasons.

[Missy Vixen]

56. So, the soldiers that murdered Pat Tillman were "excellent judges of character", too?

Was he a "crap bag" as well?

:eyes:

[Cid_B]

62. Seriously?

There are so many things wrong with that... but as a whole I'm going to settle on tasteless.

[Missy Vixen]

71. "Tasteless"?

Pat Tillman was murdered by friendly fire, which has been well-documented.

Again: Was he a "crap bag", too?

[Cid_B]

72. In other news...

... a totally unrelated incident occurred at some point in the past. Random poster thinks they are comparable because they both contained vowels in their narratives and attempts to "prove a point."

Next on Channel 5...

[Jack_DeLeon]

29. Actions have consequences...

and he should pay for his.

Just saying "I made a bad decision" doesn't erase the mistakes.

[EFerrari]

34. Bull. The article says plainly he was being HARASSED.

That's BEFORE he leaked anything.

[Cid_B]

38. As desperately as you might want it to be...

... the fact that they used the word "harassed" doesn't mean it was because of whatever his sexual orientation is.

Sorry...

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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

[Smarmie Doofus]

30. +1. They're out to *murder* this guy. They fucking HATE him.

You can feel the rage.

Personally, I feel a lot of Manning's detractors... esp the most virulent of them.. are acting from a sense of guilt.

They know Manning was right. And at some level they know that people who commit war crimes are... well... war criminals.

And they keep having to push those thoughts away. That keeps getting harder and harder to do. Drains a lot of psychic energy.

Hence the rage.

[24601]

10. DoD isn't supposed to have "machine accounts" but instead

the requirement is to have individual Login IDs & passwords that are unique to each user. Additionally, mine makes me change my password every 90 days.

[truedelphi]

17. Well if we still had a free press, that might be the case.

But Eric Holder could care less about Justice, and most papers will either tell the story the way that Obama wants it to be told, or else they will be running so many stories about Lindsey Lohan or Sarah Palin, that only us on the internets will ever know what ends up going down regarding Manning.

[dballance]

22. He's Gay I Believe.

[EFerrari]

35. Yes, he is gay. I was asking if anyone could figure out

if that's why he was being harassed. That seems to be the subtext, anyway.

[harmonicon]

25. I've read rumours (echoed again in this thread) that he's gay.

I have no idea if that's true though.

[Smarmie Doofus]

31. Of course because he was gay. But it sounds better to call...

... him a "crapbag."

[EFerrari]

33. So basically, he's being blamed for being gay bashed.

[Cid_B]

39. Few things...

1) You are just guessing

2) His social problems are not an excuse for divulging classified data

Again.. crap bag

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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

[Cid_B]

44. I am explaining from my EXPERIENCE

as a Soldier. He had all the traits of a crap bag Soldier until he took the next step up to traitorous crap bag.

I am not on his court martial nor am I likely to be and I think the rotten SOB is guilty as hell. Jared Loughner hasn't had a trial either but I think he is guilty too.

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

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

[Cid_B]

54. Many a "small wimp" or socially underdeveloped soul has joined...

... the Army hoping to "man up" or whatever you want to call it. Initial training takes this into account and even encourages it for some.

However, there is a point where you have to perform or get the hell out. Manning obviously got way to many passes and I am confident that his CoC has been made well aware of their mistakes. They may have just followed policy as established by higher. I dunno....

He should have gotten the boot no later than AIT and certainly after his dismal performance at his unit. The Army is not a babysitting service for teen angst...

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

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

[Cid_B]

61. I say again...

... not a babysitting service.

At a certain point either perform or get the fuck out. I know small guys who can do it. I knew a few that might have been gay who could do it. Neither of those are disqualifications.

He failed because he was a shitbird and never should have made it past MEPS.

We don't bully those who aren't cut out for the military mentally or physically, if you AREN'T IN THE MILITARY.

Good luck with the whole Polio thing and mean people....

[otohara]

64. Shit bird? Good God, You Suck

Um, officer sir, I don't much care for this Army thing and want out now.

Alert me now....

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

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

[Cid_B]

63. Oh...

I must have missed the part of military history where we tolerated crappy Soldiers who became traitors. Maybe you could give me a decade to narrow it down.

[Ash_F]

68. Are you OK with raping twelve year old boys? Are you OK with your tax dollars paying for it?

Are you OK with the culprits getting away with it just because the DoJ is to chickenshit in investigate against American contractors in Afghanistan? These are Americans and they live here. They could be your neighbor.

Read the damn cables. It is just one of the many, many things that should not have been kept from Americans. God forbid you write to your congressman demanding that Obama pressure the DoJ to actually investigate this case. Instead sit there and call the man who revealed it to the world a crap bag.


Bradley Manning is a HERO.

[Abq_Sarah]

46. You're going to have a hard time convincing

Most people who served in the military, particularly those who held high clearances and had access to sensitive information that poor widdle Bradley was anything other than a scumbag.

[Downwinder]

47. I think it is more likely, that there is a picture somewhere,

showing Manning having dinner in a place like Mexico City with a group of people, some of whom we might recognize. A few years from now the picture might be found hanging on wall in the office of an arms/drug runner.

Someone was sure anxious for Assange to release his insurance key.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

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

[dballance]

42. Uh No. Not Because He's Gay

I don't think you can make that connection. He's being ACCUSED because they believe he leaked documents.

[EFerrari]

48. I'm speaking about the harassment mentioned in the article

which happened before any leaking.

[99th_Monkey]

4. ...and it sure as hell came back to bite them in the ass big-time in this case. ~nt

[gvstn]

5. Wow!

If he was like that before his detention what is he like now--after months of solitary?

[TimLighter]

6. Maybe it explains why he was in isolation on suicide watch

for his own protection. He does sound a little unstable from this report, I wonder how accurate it is.

[EFerrari]

7. No doctor ordered him to be on suicide watch.

They recommended against it over and over.

[struggle4progress]

9. I think he was put on suicide watch because he started "joking" about suicide a few weeks after

another soldier committed suicide in the Quantico brig

[EFerrari]

53. He was put on suicide watch after he complained about

being on prevention of injury and having to surrender his clothes every night. So, they showed him it could get worse, i.e., they punished him. And they did it the day after the protest at Quantico. It had nothing to do with a suicide anywhere.

[struggle4progress]

66. Marine captain commits suicide in Quantico brig (Feb 2011)

By Jonathan Hunley
Published: February 03, 2010
Marine Capt. Michael A. Webb has died of an apparent suicide in the brig at Quantico while awaiting court martial ... said 2nd Lt. Brian "Scott" Villiard ... http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2010/feb/03/marine_captain_commits_suicide_in_quantico_brig-ar-432740/

Quantico investigates brig suicide
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 4, 2010 17:59:54 EST
... Webb was accused of defrauding the government of pay, allowances and entitlements, and charged with fraud, fraud against the government, larceny, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. His general court-martial was scheduled for Feb. 17 ... http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/marine_quantico_brig_death_020410w/

Manning lawyer: Suicide joke led to stripping
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 5, 2011 17:42:21 EST
WASHINGTON — The lawyer for a jailed soldier suspected of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks wrote Saturday that his client was stripped of his clothing at night because he had made sarcastic comments about using underwear to commit suicide. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s civilian lawyer, David Coombs, wrote in a blog post that his client’s clothing was taken away at nights after Manning remarked that if he wanted to harm himself he could do that with “the elastic waistband of his underwear or with his flip-flops.” Marine Corps officials had cited privacy rules Friday in not disclosing more about the Wednesday order that left Manning to sleep naked in his jail cell ... http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/ap-wikileaks-manning-lawyer-says-suicide-joke-led-to-stripping-030511/

As I said, he was put on suicide watch after "joking" about suicide in the wake of another suicide at Quantico

[EFerrari]

69. Manning did not joke about suicide. He made a sarcastic comment

pointing out that if he was intent on self harm, he still had the means to do it. There is no reason to believe he was referring to the suicide, weeks before this incident or that the brig was intent on anything other than punishing him. The brig is not commanded by psychiatrists and Manning was put on suicide watch against doctors' recommendations. So, in fact it wasn't suicide watch at all but punishment.

[Cid_B]

70. If you mean what you say... and he wasn't suicidal...

... then he is just a moron.

Yet again, if he had managed to pay attention at any point during his time in service, all jokes, hints regarding self harm etc.. etc.. are to be taken seriously and acted upon.

If he thought they were just gonna let it go then he is stupider than I thought and that is saying something.

[gratuitous]

8. Him and a quarter million others

But let's focus on Manning while ignoring the lies that got us enmeshed in Iraq.

[truedelphi]

14. Yep, usual suspects to get sent to war are those

Who are from areas of the country, including our most devastated ghettos, so deprived of opportunity that their only way out seems to lie in going to foreign lands and killing people.

[defendandprotect]

16. +1

[Cid_B]

18. As a side note....

I am well educated, not poor and went over to go get shot at as well.

Dumb broad strokes to assume we are all just ignorant hicks with no other choices.

[SaveAmerica]

20. You and my husband with his Masters (was enlisted, worked on degrees over the years)

I get so tired of informing folks here of what our military is really like. I'm not giving up now that I see so many trying to work with Michelle Obama to help the US understand what it's like to be in the military and deploy 3 times in 4 years and have your family struggle to stay together.

It's sad especially when I know that the military's enlistment numbers are better as the economy stays horrible. I personally know well educated, very intelligent, amazingly Democratic people who are enlisting because they've been earning close to nothing since graduating college.

[truedelphi]

67. No where in my post did I say that every single person

Fighting these endless, non-winnable wars happens to be mentally challenged.

But if you could talk to the returning vets I talk to, whose only choice of career after three, four and five tours of duty seems to be the local recycling center, and the stories they tell me of things they did, as I guess machismo-oriented males need to spray bullets around captured prisoners for ten to fifteen minutes before the kill shot, maybe you'd understand where I am coming from.

My county in California has an eighteen percent unemployment rate. Part of me believes that if we still had a functioning nation, with a manufacturing base, wherein eighteen year olds were able to work as welders, plant foreman, fork lift drivers, all things that eighteen year olds I knew did thirty years ago, (for over fifteen bucks an hour), we wouldn't have even twenty percent of the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel that we happen to have.

[Blue State Bandit]

11. Did anyone notice that they released him from solitary right after bin Laden was dead?

Not that I approve of how this was handled, but maybe they were worried that his actions may have blown the bin Laden operation? That would explain a lot.

[Jumping John]

12. His actions in a stockade? I am puzzled. n/t

[Blue State Bandit]

19. Both by leaking, and after he was picked up.

They (Mil/Admin) could not know for sure whether or not he knew of the intel on bin Laden within the files he allegedly leaked. It was bad enough that this info was in the open due to the leak, but if he knew about the OBL intel, putting him in solitary would be necessary for opp security. The only thing working to the advantage of the Mil/Admin was the shear size of the file leaked. Just the mention of any actionable OBL intel in those files by Manning, even in a Mil Brig, could have tipped of OBL and we would have lost him.

[truedelphi]

15. That's an interesting observation. n/t

[EFerrari]

36. There is zero evidence that he had any information

that could have blown that action. And, iirc, the decision to move him came for they killed bin Laden.

[BlueIris]

60. I did notice that.

But I personally feel that Manning was finally let out of the box to help the Administration salve its battered image.

[SaveAmerica]

21. This happens more often than people think, my husband tried to sound

the alarm about one of the soldiers in his platoon before they deployed. He was ignored and despite trying to keep his eye on this guy, they were separated when they got to Iraq and the soldier ended up trying to hurt himself and others.

It's a disgrace that his mental health was destroyed even further (wasn't his first deployment) and a travesty that his buddies had to be on the lookout not only for IEDs and mortar rounds, but watch their backs too.

Still waiting on the day that there will be accountability (ha!)

[Crowman1979]

26. Looks like the officers in his unit are playing an old game of "cover your ass" like Bush on 9/11.

[jwirr]

27. One of my issues on the Vietnam war was the number of developmentally

disabled persons who were drafted and sent over there. I remember joining other parents to write letters to LBJ. Soon after the practice was supposedly ended. These were the people who could function in society on a limited basis but not in war.

I realize that is not the issue here but it made me think about why he would be harassed.

[Jack_DeLeon]

28. The government really fucked up, but he should still be in prison

This guy should have never been there, nor given the access he had to get the info he did. That being said I think he should still in prison for his crimes.

Julian Assange, should not face any sort of charges for the release of the documents. He is not an American citizen, did not commit those actions in America, and is no different IMO than any news reporter who releases info that a leak gave them.

[Downwinder]

32. Whoever gave him a Top-Secret clearance should be in the

cell next to him along with the C.O. who allowed the unsecure operation to exist.

[EFerrari]

37. Allowing someone to be harassed to the point of incontinence

sounds like a command failure to me. But here Manning is being blamed for it and no one even notices.

[Azathoth]

45. I guess that puts the whole "suicide watch was just a conspiracy to torture him!" meme to rest

If someone this screwed up started joking about killing himself, I'd take him seriously too.

Heads really need to roll. Keeping someone like this -- they friggin had to take the bolt out of his rifle?!? -- deployed is truly scandalous. Talk about "impairing battle-readiness" :eyes:

[EFerrari]

50. Not really. It's still the case that multiple doctors did not order

suicide watch for him. And now that he's basically incommunicado, anyone can say anything about him.

ETA: In fact, it's probably the case that unless a doctor orders it, it's not suicide watch but just punishment because only a doctor can prescribe.

[Harmony Blue]

57. Anyway you slice it

this will make the U.S. government look incompetent. No matter how much they try to smear Manning, the truth is he and wiki leaks exposed many vulnerable points in the chain of command.

[xchrom]

65. +1