By Medea Benjamin
When we heard on Sunday that P.J. Crowley had resigned as spokesman for
the State Department after criticizing the Pentagon's treatment of suspected
whistleblower Army private Bradley Manning, my CODEPINK colleagues and
I knew we had to respond. How outrageous that yet another person gets
punished for simply telling the truth—Crowley called Manning's
treatment “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid”—while
the war criminals go free. I can think of a lot stronger words to use
for the way the Pentagon is holding Manning in solitary confinement for
10 months now, before he has even had a trial or been convicted of anything.
We quickly put out a call for activists to meet us at the State Department
at noon and then walk to the White House. About 24 people showed up on
short notice, in the middle of a workday. Some donned black and white
prison suits, others put on orange Guantanamo jumpsuits, and three brave
men—Tighe, Jay and Logan—stripped down to jock straps to symbolize
the fact that the prison guards take away Manning's clothing at night,
including his underwear. (They justify this because of sarcastic comments
Manning had made about using his underwear to commit suicide, but it's
really to further intimidate and humiliate him.)
We had a large banner that read: “Crowley was right. Manning's
treatment is counterproductive, stupid and ridiculous.” It was
attached to a mock jail cell with Manning's photos on it. Another
banner said “Obama, torturing Bradley Manning is not ok.” This
referred to President Obama's comments on Friday that he had asked
the Pentagon about Manning's confinement and the Pentagon assured
him that it was appropriate.
We were met at the State Department by dozens of reporters, including
MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, AP and the Washington Post. Our speakers included
Ray McGovern, a CIA veteran who has called Manning a hero. Ray, myself
and one of the semi-naked guys, Jay Marx, tried to deliver a present to
Crowley--a CODEPINK Badge of Courage. But the State Department insisted
that Crowley was already gone and no one else could take the letter.
After a brief confrontation with police when we tried to deliver the letter
anyway, we began our march. It took us a half hour to reach the White
House. The DC denizens were quite shocked to see the motley crew, especially
the naked guys, marching down the streets of the capitol chanting “Stop
the torture, free Bradley Manning; Stop the forced nudity, free Bradley
Manning; Stop the solitary confinement, free Bradley Manning.”
We also came up with a fun chant that whatever I said, people would respond
with Crowley's now famous adjectives: “That's counterproductive,
ridiculous and stupid.” I'd say “What's Crowley's
resignation?” or “What's jailing the truthtellers?”
or “What's Obama's response to Manning's torture?”
We found, as we marched along, that there are SO MANY things about
this issue that are counterproductive, ridiculous and stupid—most
of all the wars themselves!
At the White House we were met by another set of cameras and posed for
some great shots right in front of the gate. We called on Obama to reread
his constitutional law books and give Manning his rights back. We gave
a few lessons in civics to visiting students about the need for whistleblowers
to speak out against injustice. And we wrapped up promising to meet on
Sunday in Quantico—where Manning is being held--to continue our call
to “Jail War Criminals, Not Whistleblowers.”
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK (www.codepink.org) and Global
Exchange (www.globlaexchange.org). For more info re Bradley Manning and
to sign a petition to support him, see http://bit.ly/eEYUBm.
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