Crowley quits over Manning remarks

WikiLeaks disclosure of classified US files claims first Obama administration scalp as state department spokesman quits The disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified US documents through WikiLeaks has claimed its first scalp within the Obama administration with the reported resignation of PJ Crowley, the official spokesman at the state department. CNN is reporting that Crowley is abruptly stepping down as the public face of US foreign policy because of his remarks to an MIT seminar last week about the treatment of the suspected source of the WikiLeaks documents, Bradley Manning, in a military jail. Crowley said: “What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence.” The remarks forced Obama to address the issue of Manning’s regime in the brig at Quantico marine base in Virginia for the first time. The president sought to defend the treatment, which includes Manning being held in solitary confinement in his cell for 23 hours a day and being stripped naked at night. Crowley’s comments, which were picked up by a BBC news correspondent Philippa Thomas as part of a journalism fellowship she is taking at Harvard, broke the united front that the US government had previously maintained over WikiLeaks. Several administration figures, including Crowley’s boss Hillary Clinton, had vowed to aggressively hunt down the leaker of the WikiLeaks trove. Crowley’s reported resignation indicates that the administration has been embarrassed by indications of in-fighting over Manning’s handling as he awaits court martial, which some – including the source of the Pentagon papers, Daniel Ellsberg – have likened to torture . Commentators were quick to point out the apparent double standards within the government. Glenn Greenwald, a Salon reporter who has been outspoken about Manning’s detention, tweeted that “detainee abuse is allowed, speaking out against it isn’t”. Last week Manning gave his own personal account of theconditions in which he is being held, saying that it amounted to harsh treatment that was designed to be punitive even before he had been put on trial. He described being stripped naked every night having made a sarcastic comment to guards about the absurdity of the regime he was under. Manning has been charged with multiple counts relating to the leaking to WikiLeaks of thousands of secret US embassy cables, as well as videos and warlogs from Afghanistan and Iraq. He was arrested last May at a US military base outside Baghdad, where he had been working as an intelligence specialist. Bradley Manning WikiLeaks US politics United States Obama administration Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.