So much for that pesky torture thing; Obama says we're not doing it.
For me, that's the story. The story that prompted the story is this (h/t John Cole):
P.J. Crowley, the state department spokesman, stepped down Sunday after saying publicly that treatment of Wikileaks suspect Pfc. Bradley Manning in military detention has been “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”Amnesty International begs to differ:
In a statement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote that she accepted his resignation with regret. ...
The remark by Mr. Crowley last week to a small audience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first reported by the blogger Philippa Thomas, was rejected by none other than President Obama at a press conference on Friday. Mr. Obama said that he had been assured the treatment of Private Manning was “appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.”
[T]he conditions inflicted on Bradley Manning . . . amount to inhumane treatment by the US authorities [and] appear to breach the USA’s human rights obligations.Did you notice the weasel by Obama? Go back to the last sentence in the first quote and read carefully.
Yep — "Obama said that he had been assured ..." As in, "Well, shucks, I don't personally know, you understand; but what I hear is, it's all good. And me, just passing that on."
I won't dignify the weasel by the Times writer, who "under-characterizes" Manning's condition, with a quote. Feel free to find it yourself. The writer is Michael D. Shear, and he probably needed to get his Access Pass re-stamped.
Obama's weasel is the tell — he knows. To which I say, one of us has a conscience, sir, and a line in the sand. See you in ... you know.
GP
