Political prisoner Bradley Manning is now being forced to sleep in the nude. Ed Pilkington (Guardian) reports, "The lawyer for Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of having leaked a massive trove of US state secrets to WikiLeaks, has accused his military jailers at the marine base in Quantico, Virginia, of ritually humiliating his client by stripping him naked in his cell every night." Ellen Nakashima (Washington Post) quotes the Quantico spokesperson 1st Lt Brian Villiard insisting, "The intention is not to cause any sort of humiliation or embarrassment. The intention is to ensure the safety and security of the detainee and make sure he is able to stand trial." Nakashima adds, "Villiard said he could not explain how Manning might harm himself if he were allowed to keep his underwear, citing rules to protect detainees' privacy."
He can't explain it because there's no way too. But taking the Stupidity Cup was US Senator John Kerry who tells NECN (link has text and video), "There are concerns about what is happening, but a strong argument is being made that they're trying to preserve his safety, they don't want him harming himself, and using his own clothing to hang himself, or do something like that."
Oh, go brush that weird hair, Kerry.
Let's toss out two words: Disposable scrubs.
Now if you're really out of date and never do anything for yourself and are John Kerry's age, you may not be familiar with those terms or with this one: Disposable, paper scrubs.
That's right.
There's no reason for Bradley to be naked.
Except to punish him. Except to make an example of him.
If you're not getting it, think about your last doctor's visit. Did you maybe put on a paper gown for the examination?
Yeah.
And the military could go to any medical supply company and puchase those.
But apparently they're either interested in humiliting Bradley or just need to get their jollies studying up on his wang.
Either way, it's past time that he was dressed. He can wear disposable scrub pants -- without a waist band sewn in (which someone might rip out) -- and roll the tops to keep them up. Or he could wear disposable scrub shorts. Or he could just wear a disposable gown.
But if he's naked? Don't pretend there was no other way. Don't lie to us. Don't insult our intelligence.
Either the military's trying to humilate him or those working the brig need something to masturbate too. We'll assume the latter until we get a credible explanation as to why disposable scrubs aren't being used.