or Powell's or me• • •
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
March 13, 2011
Under Obama, Speaking Up For Human Rights Is A Firing Offense
By: John Caruso
Just in case there was any doubt what Obama really meant on Friday when he gave that blandly bureaucratic response to a question about the ongoing abuse of Bradley Manning, consider this:
P.J. Crowley abruptly resigned Sunday as State Department spokesman over controversial comments he made about the Bradley Manning case.
Sources close to the matter said the resignation, first reported by CNN, came under pressure from the White House, where officials were furious about his suggestion that the Obama administration is mistreating Manning, the Army private who is being held in solitary confinement in Quantico, Virginia, under suspicion that he leaked highly classified State Department cables to the website Wikileaks.
Speaking to a small group at MIT last week, Crowley was asked about allegations that Manning is being tortured and kicked up a firestorm by answering that what is being done to Manning by Defense Department officials "is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."
It's a good thing Crowley tempered his momentary lapse into human decency by adding that "nonetheless, Bradley Manning is in the right place," or the Obama administration might be indicting him instead of just forcing him to resign.
AND: Crowley was fired not only because he departed from the administration's script, but because by giving semi-official imprimatur to the notion that Manning is being mistreated he provided the press an opening to confront Obama about it—forcing Obama to admit publicly that he fully backs Manning's Abu Ghraib-style treatment, and thereby flushing him out from the cover of plausible deniability he uses to protect the hopenchange illusion he carefully constructed to get himself elected in 2008.
— John Caruso
Posted at March 13, 2011 04:23 PMShades of Jose Padilia.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 13, 2011 05:27 PMShades of Jose Padilia.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 13, 2011 05:27 PMIt's unfortunate that Crowley didn't say that what's happening to Manning is actually wrong and illegal but at least it's a start.
Posted by: pb at March 13, 2011 05:34 PMWell theyre not programmed for that, but his algorithm is showing signs of compassion. Ymmv.
Posted by: demize! at March 13, 2011 05:43 PMWe are finished.
Posted by: herzog at March 13, 2011 05:43 PMCrowley was right, but he was speaking off brief, which is why he was fired. The more effective way to do that is to quit one's job because of moral disgust, and then go on the road denouncing. This way is cake-and-eat-it, too.
Posted by: Glenn Fleishman at March 13, 2011 06:21 PMCrowley was asked by the BBC reporter present if she could print his comments and he said, after a brief pause, "Sure." The pause was where he considered the likelihood of losing his job, and went for it. JPC has been a detestable tool as State's spokesperson, and a richly mockable hypocrite as its chief tweeter, but damned if he didn't screw up the courage to do something useful, if just the once.
Posted by: Nell at March 13, 2011 08:48 PMNell: Perhaps he was tired of being a Real American and just wants to be a Regular American.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 13, 2011 09:10 PMNell: Perhaps he was tired of being a Real American and just wants to be a Regular American.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 13, 2011 09:11 PMMostly I think what Crowley's firing shows is that nobody can cross the Pentagon these days.
As to Nell's point about Crowley's courage, the pause does seem to show an awareness of consequences, but Crowley might have just not wanted to lose face before his small immediate audience. Maybe he found some courage for once, but that he did is a little speculative and strikes me as a generous interpretation of his pause.
Meanwhile, over at Commondreams there is a link to a Daniel Ellsberg article on the despicable torture of Bradley Manning, and Andy Worthington has been writing about that too. Worthington seems pretty clear that they intend to kill Manning, and I don't doubt it.
The President's resolute and unflinching moral abstentionism about this and so much else makes it hard not to evaluate him in fecal terms.
Posted by: N E at March 13, 2011 09:58 PMMostly I think what Crowley's firing shows is that nobody can cross the Pentagon these days.
Wasn't McChrystal fired?
Posted by: Happy Jack at March 13, 2011 10:41 PMHappy Jack
Oh please. McChrystal openly mocked the Vice President, the President, and basically the whole damn civilian leadership of the government on the record to a journalist, and what was the severe penalty he faced? He had to resign, and in retirement he was allowed to keep his fourth star even though he hadn't had it the required three years. (No torture for him.) Plus, McChrystal got to join the boards of some giant government defense contractors, presumably for a hefty pay increase, and go around making speeches for a ridiculous fee. Possibly he no longer has the perk of being able to have people killed, as he did in his former job, but I wouldn't be so sure about that.
As for the Pentagon, how did it hurt them? Petraeus replaced him, and Petraeus does what he damn well pleases to a far greater extent than our civilian leadership, including the President, because none of them obviously seem able to go to the crapper without worrying about how it will scare off their funders and otehrwise ruin them politically.
My God, why is it so hard to see that we have a lot more civilian control of the military than we actually do in practice?
Posted by: N E at March 14, 2011 07:45 AMThank god for some sane commentry on this instead of that Pwoggie nonsense of "Crowley for president" as if the asshole was any good for anything. And also for identifying what the real point here was -- Obama being embarrassed.
Posted by: DavidByron at March 14, 2011 06:27 PMCrowley was right, but he was speaking off brief, which is why he was fired. The more effective way to do that is to quit one's job because of moral disgust, and then go on the road denouncing. This way is cake-and-eat-it, too.
How dare people go around thinking they can have the cake of not making excuses for monstrous behavior while also eating the cake of having a livelihood.
Posted by: dan at March 14, 2011 07:04 PMI got through "mostly I think what Crowley's firing shows is that nobody can cross the Pentagon these days" before I realized I was subjecting myself to NE. Since I'll never get back those wasted seconds of my life, I'll just point out that it takes real dedication to shielding Obama from any and all responsibility to look at an article that explicitly states this resignation "came under pressure from the White House, where officials were furious about his suggestion that the Obama administration is mistreating Manning" and then try to pin the blame on the Pentagon. Proving once again that reality is no impediment at all to a committed Obama apologist.
Ah, JC, as a learning exercise sometime practice considering the possibility that once, sometime, somewhere, somehow, you didn't already have all the answers. Then follow the ripples outward from that wasted moment and see where they lead.
If nothing else, you'll be happier.
This Kwai Change Caine wasted moment has been brought to you by your Shaolin brother NE.
Ah so, Hung Chow, THIS President WILL get rid of anyone for just the meer appearance of being off The Republican message.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at March 15, 2011 12:18 PM
