Quantico Blocks Official Visits by UN, Amnesty International and Rep. Kucinich to Bradley Manning
Kucinich, who sits on the Oversight Committee, wants to inspect the conditions of Manning's confinement. Yet the military's position is that this does not qualify for an official visit because he wouldnt be conducting 'official government business". Really? The last time I checked, Kucinich was a member of CONGRESS. Is that not official enough?
Quantico also is denying visits for the same reason, from both Amnesty International and the UN, which has opened an investigation into Manning's detainment.
The last paragraph of Whitney's article says it all.
"What is the government afraid that Manning will say to these officials when the Brig isn’t able to record his every move? If Manning’s torture is “meeting our basic standards,” president Obama says, what is there to hide?"
The denial of these visits is absolutely unacceptable. The man is a US CITIZEN, but that evidently means nothing anymore.
To quote a comment from user (DEEP HARM) on this subject:
The executive branch has a long, ugly history of refusing to allow insitutions, law or reason to stand in the way of retaliating against a whistleblower. And, despite growing public support for whistleblowers, retaliation is only getting worse.
