If You Want to Know How the U.S. Government Deals with Threats to Its Legitimacy...

then follow Bradley Manning's unjust imprisonment. Glenn Greewald (TMHLOE) has been following his case from the beginning and continues to report on Manning's oppressive treatment. Here is a summary of Manning's treatment from Greenwald's latest report:

Let's review Manning's detention over the last nine straight months:  23-hour/day solitary confinement; barred even from exercising in his cell; one hour total outside his cell per day where he's allowed to walk around in circles in a room alone while shackled, and is returned to his cell the minute he stops walking; forced to respond to guards' inquiries literally every 5 minutes, all day, everyday; and awakened at night each time he is curled up in the corner of his bed or otherwise outside the guards' full view.  Is there anyone who doubts that these measures -- and especially this prolonged forced nudity -- are punitive and designed to further erode his mental health, physical health and will?  As The Guardian reported last year, forced nudity is almost certainly a breach of the Geneva Conventions; the Conventions do not technically apply to Manning, as he is not a prisoner of war, but they certainly establish the minimal protections to which all detainees -- let alone citizens convicted of nothing -- are entitled.

The treatment of Manning is now so repulsive that it even lies beyond what at least some of the most devoted Obama admirers are willing to defend.  For instance, UCLA Professor Mark Kleiman -- who last year hailed Barack Obama as, and I quote, "the greatest moral leader of our lifetime" -- wrote last night:

    The United States Army is so concerned about Bradley Manning’s health that it is subjecting him to a regime designed to drive him insane. . . . This is a total disgrace. It shouldn't be happening in this country. You can't be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.

Of course President Obama is aware of this. But we should keep in mind that this is the same administration that still has not closed the prisons at Guantanamo Bay, will not prosecute any CIA agents who tortured terrorism suspects under the Bush regime, and is trying to legalize the assassination of American citizens at the president's discretion. Clearly this president and his administration are not going to treat a solider who leaked U.S. Government misfeasance to the public with any human decency.

The motive behind this treatment is to break Manning into giving the U.S. Government evidence that can be used against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. The WikiLeaks cables have revealed many U.S. Government's crimes. To digress for a moment, I do not think that these leaks threaten the legitimacy of the Federal Government. The pro-State ideology is so ingrained in the minds of the American public that I strain to think of a revealed crime that would bring down the entire government. For instance, I think that the U.S. Government could simply assassinate Assange outright and the Federal Government would still not fall. There would probably be outrage, but I seriously doubt that such outrage would be sustained long enough to threaten the Artificial Man.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Government believes that WikiLeaks is a threat to is legitimacy and its goals. The U.S. Government hopes that Manning's treatment will lead to a case against Assange. Using the court of law to convict Assange and sentence him to death would remove any outrage that would accompany a direct assassination. This is one of the most insidious uses of law by the State and one of the reasons why the State monopoly on law is so utterly evil. Through the law, the State legalizes its crimes and its citizens rarely object or complain because the process of law was followed.

We should take notice of Manning's treatment because this is how the U.S. Government really deals with perceived threats to its legitimacy. It does not worry about voters complaining to Congress or voters organizing political opposition to a policy or citizens filing suit in its courts against its laws or bureaucratic rules. All of those options work within the system, a system that the Federal Government is ultimate judge over and may change to suit its own purposes at any time. What the Federal Government fears, however, is the unpredictable reaction of the release of classified information. Such information might reduce the power of the State or even lead to a crisis of legitimacy similar to what we are witnessing in the Middle East. And legitimacy is the Achilles Heel of the State. Once the people suffering under a government recognize it as the criminal gang it truly is, the power of all politicians and State agents crumbles. Politicians and state agents know this. Thus, Bradley Manning's treatment not only punishes him, but also serves as a warning to anyone else who is thinking about revealing any secret crimes of the State.

Comments

[Redman]

And the American people still stand, hand over their heart, to sing proudly and loudly that this is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave! What a joke...and waste of good air.