State department spokesman P.J. Crowley was forced to resign after his controversial comments about suspected WikiLeaker Bradley Manning, according to multiple reports.
The abrupt resignation came after he criticized the Defense Department‘s treatment of Manning, who is being held in a military prison accused of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Speaking at an MIT seminar last week, Crowley said Manning was being “mistreated”.
“What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the Department of Defense,” he said.
An 11-page letter from Manning’s lawyer released last week detailed treatment of the Army private that included him being stripped naked, held in solitary confinement and allegedly harassed by prison guards.
Crowley did say that Manning was in the right place.
“There is sometimes a need for secrets,” he said.
Crowley, who operated a popular Twitter feed, last tweeted about the emergency in Japan on Friday.
Good grief. Does he know something we don’t know? Is Manning being water-boarded? Someone reported that they actually got an appointment to tour the Quantico brig and that he was in very decent accommodations. They said it was a small facility. On the other hand, that doesn’t count time when people aren’t looking.
The bottom line probably stops at criticizing another branch of the government. The State Dept. bashing Defense Dept can’t end up on a high note. We are used to CIA sparring with FBI and vice versa, but two departments is a bit much.
Should Crowley have been abruptly fired?
As I understand it, Manning was being deprived of his clothing at night because he was threatening to commit suicide. He apparently claimed to his guards that he could even use his underpants to kill himself.
What do people in mental hospitals do? Do they keep them naked?
Surely there is a better way to prevent suicide than nakedness?
I think Manning is a POS. On the other hand, let’s let him stand trial and get convicted. Then I don’t care if they shoot him as a traitor, if convicted.
I would guess that the only other way to prevent suicide would be to watch the guy every minute 24/7, either directly through a small opening in the cell door or through a closed circuit TV camera.
Manning now has “suicide proof” pajamas.
That’s good. I see no reason to make someone sit around naked. They sure don’t do that anywhere else credible.
Hit submit too soon.
I think the mental patients get happy candy….
Why would Crowly have to leave just because he said something is “stupid”? I don’t get it.
Honesty and integrity are values the government holds in high esteem in theory and in public and disdains in practice and and in private.
Good manners, if taught well, can help adults to comply with policy. Too bad he forgot that using the word “stupid” publicly is bad manners.
I can think of a lot ruder things to say in public.
I was always taught saying ‘fool’ was not to be said in public regarding someone specifically. I never got it. It was almost like cussing.
It’s relative—
Using the word “stupid” at Potomac Mills would make me sound like a well educated lady. Using “stupid” to the public as a Federal Agency representative about another Federal Agency is another thing.
Good point. You would sound like the Queen of England at Potomac Mills.
But since when does someone have to resign for being rude, especially if it’s not consistent? My goodness, if saying “stupid” is criteria for dismissal is grounds for termination, we’d all be jobless.
I have been known to tell my students that some spelling and grammar in English is “stupid.” Should I be fired?
Your’re not representing the “leader of the free world”. You’re not calling people stupid, you’re calling a process stupid.
I think we’ve all allowed our standards to be lowered to the point that we need to start improving them or cease to exist as a civilized country. Snake Plisskin …. 🙂
Federal media grapevine says that Crowley’s departure had been a long time in coming. He apparently, for whatever reason, was never able to make it into Hillary Clinton’s inner circle at State, which would be unusual for the chief departmental spokesman. Federal gossip maybe, but I doubt that one remark at MIT would get a guy fired who was truly in the good graces of the boss. Looks to me like the MIT thing might have been just a convenient excuse for the execution of the inevitable — maybe just the proverbial last straw.
@Posting as Pinko
Ha. That reminds me of a professor I once had who told us (all 115 of us) “I don’t understand why any of you bother to show up. You’re all hapless dolts.”
Reminds me of a story from Mrs. W. She told me about a local teacher who teaches for the love of it despite being the owner of several businesses. When he winds up with a troublesome class, he simply tells them that he doesn’t need this job; that he couldn’t care less if they pass or fail his course — up to them; and that, given their attitudes, he wouldn’t hire any of them for his businesses. Mrs. W tells me the dawn of reality then comes over the faces of those students like you wouldn’t believe.
@Wolverine
Manning was deprived of his clothing because he pissed off a Marine guard–all the other stuff is pure male bovine merde. Obviously the people discussing this have never seen the inside of a Marine Corps brig. Not a nice place. There are no more “red line” brigs and that is only because the red lines are now invisible. In a “red line” brig and inmate cannot walk more than two or three feet without coming to a red line which he must ask permission to cross. Can stand there for an indeterminate time before being allowed to cross only to come to another line in another two or three feet. Failure to comply leads to unspecified punishment.
George, what’s your source for that claim in #18? Any Marine guard officer who allowed those kinds of shenanigans in a case which is in the national spotlight would have to be either career suicidal or the dumbest Marine in the Corps.
@Wolverine
I don’t know what your experience is with seeing the inside of a Marine Corps brig, but even today, it ain’t very nice. Having him on “prevention of injury watch” gives them a great deal of leeway as to what they do with him. As I noted, there aren’t any more “red line” brigs, but you can bet the red lines are still there in many forms. And despite being in the “national spotlight”, Manning has yet to be tried and now the Army has added an additional 22 charges, one being a capital offense, which could bring him to the rope dance.
If we can do what we are doing in Guanbtanamo, why would you think we couldn’t do something like this which pales in comparison with G’tmo.
Here is something from the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0313/Bradley-Manning-comment-costs-State-Department-spokesman-his-job
Here is another from Wired: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/tag/bradley-manning/
I don’t know if you will be able to read this but here is the Manning letter referred to in the Wired article:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_zC44SBaZPoMzMyNWExZmUtZjEzMS00ZjM2LWE3OWMtM2I4NzY5NDNkMmFh&hl=en&authkey=CMKgiogG
Is that enough?
@Cato the Elder
Yeah, and I bet that professor didn’t get fired!
Once in awhile, calling someone stupid can be overlooked.
I would never call my students stupid, though once, when I was a very young instructor, I warned my students (via an essay) about stupid behaviour that WOULD make them stupid (such as making out in the back of the class). I asked the students what I meant in the essay. One kids said, “I think you are calling us stupid.” To which I said, “No. You aren’t. Which is why I don’t want you acting that way. If the essay doesn’t apply to you, then no worries.”
That’s the closest I ever came to saying “stupid” to students. They are vulnerable, even if they can be annoying.
That said, calling a politician stupid is probably just being honest.
Nope, they awarded him a Sloan Fellowship instead 🙂
I love tough instructors. Life is neither fair nor easy, and difficult teachers prepare kids for reality.
@Cato the Elder
I’ll never win an award. I’m too motherly. Pathetic, I know.
George, you are probably right under ordinary circumstances. But this is not a lance corporal thrown into the brig for beating the tar out of a bar girl in Olongapo. This is a case on the national and international screen involving one of the biggest security breaches in our history. Not only does the major media have to be taken into account here, but this guy is seeing high-powered lawyers on a regular basis. If I am Manning, I simply make the guards understand that, if they screw around with me, they are going to find their names in lights. That he can manage such a thing is evident by the very letter you cited as a link and by the Crowley affair. Now, if I am the officer in charge of that brig, I am not going to risk having my name arrive on the desk of the Commandant attached to something embarrassing for the Corps in the public eye. If I was that officer, I would be very careful with this — by the book and then some. Manning is not worth my career.
Since when does a pre-trial PFC get a PR firm to …well….do anything?
And who is paying for said firm?