Breaking Bradley Manning
by Daniel Borgström
Whistleblower Bradley Manning was beaten down, day and night. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. He was locked in solitary, denied access to a support group, separated from his supporters (the many thousands of us), and worked over by psychologists whose mission was to break him. And it appears to me, based on what I can make of the scanty reports of his incarceration and trial, that in the end he did break, as his tormentors are now triumphantly proclaiming to the world. He apologized for his supposed "crimes," despite having done nothing wrong. He apologized, despite having done what was right.
Probably most of us have seen persons fall apart in situations far less trying. The amazing thing is not that Bradley Manning finally broke, but that he held up as long as he did -- apparently for something like three years. He does seem to have been a very strong person. But there does seem to be a point at which even the strongest person will break. Is there really anyone out there who really thinks they could've done better? Held out longer? Held out perhaps forever? Consider his top persecutor -- Persecutor-in-Chief Barack Obama, a hollow man who never stood up for any worthwhile position that he didn't soon back down from.
I'm old enough to remember when we used to hear about the awful things that went on in Stalin's Russia, the ultimate example of the "bad country" where political prisoners were subjected to months of abuse, broken down, then put on show-trials where they'd confess to crimes against the state. There was a lot about it on the radio, and I grew up listening to it. At the age of ten I knew all about Pavlov's dogs, and how cruel and brutal the Russians were. "They could break anybody," I remember the radio saying. Nightmarish stuff I can never forget. But now, here we are, America in 2013. Welcome to land of the kangaroo court and the show trial.
DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
August 16, 2013
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Thoughts from others
Hello Daniel,
I get your point about Manning, but I have to object to comparing it to the breaking of the Bolshevik leadership by Stalin and his gang during the purges going under the name of the Moscow Trials. Forcing life long revolutionaries like Zinoviev, Radek and Bukharin to "confess" to the most horrendous crimes imaginable through years of torture and threats to murder their family, as well as holding out the fig leaf of their commitment to the party even when it costs them their life, there really is nothing comparable in history, even by the Nazis. The Nazis were content to murder their victims, but they didn't care about murdering their souls particularly. Hundreds of thousands of innocent victims were sent to the gulag, most of them perishing there, and most of those people were not even political.
You might want to watch this film of Trotsky denouncing the Moscow Trials from Mexico between 1937 and his assassination in 1940: "Stalin's trial against me is built ...""
He said, "There are no greater crimes in history", and I think he was right and that verdict still stands.
Alex Steinberg
August 17, 2013
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Daniel,
This all brings me to Orwell's book 1984: the purpose of the torture is not, as the torturer explicitly states, for anything other than to make clear who wields the power. The power of the state is not to be questioned. Manning's apology is evidence that the breaking down of the hero, whatever else it achieves, is more important than keeping him in prison, executing him, or torturing him forever: the apology is evidence that the method works. I'm sure methods have improved since the book was written (in 1949), but the purpose and result have not. Complete obeisance is the goal: goal achieved.
Carolyn Birden
August 17, 2013
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"Eppur si muove," said Galileo.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your latest article and for keeping Bradley Manning in people's thoughts at this moment when so much at stake -- both for Manning personally, and for the whistle-blowers, journalists, political dissenters, and everyone else affected by bad decisions taken by governments in secret.
While it's horrifying to see a strong and honorable person forced to apologize for his own acts of conscience, I don't sense that Bradley Manning is broken. Mostly he brings to mind one of my girlhood heroes.
Galileo, facing torture and a possible death sentence, made a similarly strained and implausible disavowal of the beliefs that got him into trouble. I've long admired Galileo both for standing up to the Inquisition and for knowing when to pretend to back down. After recanting, he lived another six or seven years -- under house arrest but not, apparently, under conditions that prevented him from continuing to work. Or to publish. Or to practice his own brand of less-than-suicidal defiance. Legend has it that either right after his trial or while being moved from one place of house arrest to another, Galileo was heard in public to mutter the words, "Eppur si muove" ("And yet it moves") -- a reference to the heretical idea that the earth moves around the sun.
I don't see Galileo as any less heroic or his example as any less inspiring because he loved his life and work enough salvage a few extra years by signing an obviously coerced false statement. It's not as if Galileo named names or delivered anyone else to the Inquisition. The same goes for Bradley Manning. Except that he has a lot more years to lose. Galileo was 70 with most of his life's work behind him; Manning's only 25. I just hope we both live long enough (or witness enough change in this crazy country of ours) to see him eventually walk free.
Catherine Jones
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Daniel,
Thanks for your thoughts on Bradley Manning. It's important that we keep him in mind now that he has been tried and convicted, and sending out your thoughts helps to do that. I've noticed a definite drop in references to Bradley in the news I check, and on the "major" news programs it seems to be accepted that he's guilty and, therefore, there's no need to waste time thinking about his guilt or the importance of the documents he released. It's as if Bradley is old news and we should move on to something else. In fact, to me the injustices done to Bradley Manning "is" old news, news that slowly declines over time with progressively fewer Americans caring and absolutely nothing being done about the crimes that he exposed or the suffering he endured. One of the best way to help him now, I think, is by continuing to mention his name and arguing his cause, which you have done.
As for me, I worry about what we Bradley Manning supporters will or will not do when we learn of his sentencing. I expect his sentence to be unjust and I expect it to be extremely difficult to do anything about it except to demonstrate loudly but ineffectively in our local area and be ignored in most of the rest of the country, especially Washington. But what do we do? I often think that the time for revolution is here, but that's an old man talking about things he should have done years ago. For now, and for all of us, let's at least keep thinking about this issue; let's keep Bradley's name our there; let's try to come up with a new idea, many new ideas, for action. We will need to act soon, I fear.
Peace,
Fred Norman
Veterans For Peace, East Bay Chapter #162
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Daniel,
My thoughts on Bradley have a lot to do with the might of the United States government and military, all coming to bear in unspeakable ways on one man who stood up to his own devils and the ones I just mentioned for THREE YEARS of grinding, torture, threats, psychological warfare, and sure much we don't know about.
I do not believe his statement had anything to do with anything except to keep his sentence--his unjust and corrupt sentence, as was his conviction (ever heard anywhere except a corrupt star chamber court that allowed a prosecution witness to testify after the prosecution had said "That's it, folks?") And giving testimony that invalidated what she'd already said, and which was pretty much on its face perjury as soon as she started . . . or a judge--A JUDGE-- colluding with the prosecution when the trial was over, revising charges to fit the testimony that had been heard.
Fred, I'm with you on revolution. Still haven't accepted it may not be in my lifetime but righteous people are getting ready, time's a-coming. There's very little left of reasons not to.
Bradley CAN'T be forgotten, or sidelined, or downgraded. After all the time he's already paid for what we all know was the right thing, whatever sentence he's given will be too long anyway. He absolutely deserved the chance to keep as much of the life he has left free as possible. Now's the time to organize the Bradley Manning prison support system and keep it going as long as we are around.
I'm not philosophical on this. I don't think I'll be philosophical in my lifetime, but especially about Bradley Manning. This country has in his case concentrated unAmerican, undemocratic, unethical, warmongering, filthy, inhuman, disgusting aspects of U.S. life today to take down one young idealistic man who really knows 1) what we should be, and 2) that we're not and never will be that, only worse as time goes on.
Cynthia Morse
August 17, 2013
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Whistleblower Bradley Manning was beaten down, day and night. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. He was locked in solitary, denied access to a support group, separated from his supporters (the many thousands of us), and worked over by psychologists whose mission was to break him. And it appears to me, based on what I can make of the scanty reports of his incarceration and trial, that in the end he did break, as his tormentors are now triumphantly proclaiming to the world. He apologized for his supposed "crimes," despite having done nothing wrong. He apologized, despite having done what was right.
Probably most of us have seen persons fall apart in situations far less trying. The amazing thing is not that Bradley Manning finally broke, but that he held up as long as he did -- apparently for something like three years. He does seem to have been a very strong person. But there does seem to be a point at which even the strongest person will break. Is there really anyone out there who really thinks they could've done better? Held out longer? Held out perhaps forever? Consider his top persecutor -- Persecutor-in-Chief Barack Obama, a hollow man who never stood up for any worthwhile position that he didn't soon back down from.
I'm old enough to remember when we used to hear about the awful things that went on in Stalin's Russia, the ultimate example of the "bad country" where political prisoners were subjected to months of abuse, broken down, then put on show-trials where they'd confess to crimes against the state. There was a lot about it on the radio, and I grew up listening to it. At the age of ten I knew all about Pavlov's dogs, and how cruel and brutal the Russians were. "They could break anybody," I remember the radio saying. Nightmarish stuff I can never forget. But now, here we are, America in 2013. Welcome to land of the kangaroo court and the show trial.
DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
August 16, 2013
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Thoughts from others
Hello Daniel,
I get your point about Manning, but I have to object to comparing it to the breaking of the Bolshevik leadership by Stalin and his gang during the purges going under the name of the Moscow Trials. Forcing life long revolutionaries like Zinoviev, Radek and Bukharin to "confess" to the most horrendous crimes imaginable through years of torture and threats to murder their family, as well as holding out the fig leaf of their commitment to the party even when it costs them their life, there really is nothing comparable in history, even by the Nazis. The Nazis were content to murder their victims, but they didn't care about murdering their souls particularly. Hundreds of thousands of innocent victims were sent to the gulag, most of them perishing there, and most of those people were not even political.
You might want to watch this film of Trotsky denouncing the Moscow Trials from Mexico between 1937 and his assassination in 1940: "Stalin's trial against me is built ...""
He said, "There are no greater crimes in history", and I think he was right and that verdict still stands.
Alex Steinberg
August 17, 2013
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Daniel,
This all brings me to Orwell's book 1984: the purpose of the torture is not, as the torturer explicitly states, for anything other than to make clear who wields the power. The power of the state is not to be questioned. Manning's apology is evidence that the breaking down of the hero, whatever else it achieves, is more important than keeping him in prison, executing him, or torturing him forever: the apology is evidence that the method works. I'm sure methods have improved since the book was written (in 1949), but the purpose and result have not. Complete obeisance is the goal: goal achieved.
Carolyn Birden
August 17, 2013
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
"Eppur si muove," said Galileo.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your latest article and for keeping Bradley Manning in people's thoughts at this moment when so much at stake -- both for Manning personally, and for the whistle-blowers, journalists, political dissenters, and everyone else affected by bad decisions taken by governments in secret.
While it's horrifying to see a strong and honorable person forced to apologize for his own acts of conscience, I don't sense that Bradley Manning is broken. Mostly he brings to mind one of my girlhood heroes.
Galileo, facing torture and a possible death sentence, made a similarly strained and implausible disavowal of the beliefs that got him into trouble. I've long admired Galileo both for standing up to the Inquisition and for knowing when to pretend to back down. After recanting, he lived another six or seven years -- under house arrest but not, apparently, under conditions that prevented him from continuing to work. Or to publish. Or to practice his own brand of less-than-suicidal defiance. Legend has it that either right after his trial or while being moved from one place of house arrest to another, Galileo was heard in public to mutter the words, "Eppur si muove" ("And yet it moves") -- a reference to the heretical idea that the earth moves around the sun.
I don't see Galileo as any less heroic or his example as any less inspiring because he loved his life and work enough salvage a few extra years by signing an obviously coerced false statement. It's not as if Galileo named names or delivered anyone else to the Inquisition. The same goes for Bradley Manning. Except that he has a lot more years to lose. Galileo was 70 with most of his life's work behind him; Manning's only 25. I just hope we both live long enough (or witness enough change in this crazy country of ours) to see him eventually walk free.
Catherine Jones
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Daniel,
Thanks for your thoughts on Bradley Manning. It's important that we keep him in mind now that he has been tried and convicted, and sending out your thoughts helps to do that. I've noticed a definite drop in references to Bradley in the news I check, and on the "major" news programs it seems to be accepted that he's guilty and, therefore, there's no need to waste time thinking about his guilt or the importance of the documents he released. It's as if Bradley is old news and we should move on to something else. In fact, to me the injustices done to Bradley Manning "is" old news, news that slowly declines over time with progressively fewer Americans caring and absolutely nothing being done about the crimes that he exposed or the suffering he endured. One of the best way to help him now, I think, is by continuing to mention his name and arguing his cause, which you have done.
As for me, I worry about what we Bradley Manning supporters will or will not do when we learn of his sentencing. I expect his sentence to be unjust and I expect it to be extremely difficult to do anything about it except to demonstrate loudly but ineffectively in our local area and be ignored in most of the rest of the country, especially Washington. But what do we do? I often think that the time for revolution is here, but that's an old man talking about things he should have done years ago. For now, and for all of us, let's at least keep thinking about this issue; let's keep Bradley's name our there; let's try to come up with a new idea, many new ideas, for action. We will need to act soon, I fear.
Peace,
Fred Norman
Veterans For Peace, East Bay Chapter #162
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Daniel,
My thoughts on Bradley have a lot to do with the might of the United States government and military, all coming to bear in unspeakable ways on one man who stood up to his own devils and the ones I just mentioned for THREE YEARS of grinding, torture, threats, psychological warfare, and sure much we don't know about.
I do not believe his statement had anything to do with anything except to keep his sentence--his unjust and corrupt sentence, as was his conviction (ever heard anywhere except a corrupt star chamber court that allowed a prosecution witness to testify after the prosecution had said "That's it, folks?") And giving testimony that invalidated what she'd already said, and which was pretty much on its face perjury as soon as she started . . . or a judge--A JUDGE-- colluding with the prosecution when the trial was over, revising charges to fit the testimony that had been heard.
Fred, I'm with you on revolution. Still haven't accepted it may not be in my lifetime but righteous people are getting ready, time's a-coming. There's very little left of reasons not to.
Bradley CAN'T be forgotten, or sidelined, or downgraded. After all the time he's already paid for what we all know was the right thing, whatever sentence he's given will be too long anyway. He absolutely deserved the chance to keep as much of the life he has left free as possible. Now's the time to organize the Bradley Manning prison support system and keep it going as long as we are around.
I'm not philosophical on this. I don't think I'll be philosophical in my lifetime, but especially about Bradley Manning. This country has in his case concentrated unAmerican, undemocratic, unethical, warmongering, filthy, inhuman, disgusting aspects of U.S. life today to take down one young idealistic man who really knows 1) what we should be, and 2) that we're not and never will be that, only worse as time goes on.
Cynthia Morse
August 17, 2013
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Labels: coerced confession, court-marshal of US Army PFC Bradley Manning, Gulag, Wikileaks trial
