Voice of the White House
March 26, 2011
Washington, D.C.: "This country was founded on certain principles and one of the better ones is that a man is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Under the vicious Bush administration, the reverse has been the practiced case. Take the matter of Bradley Manning, a very young soldier now being abused while in U.S. military custody and with the knowledge and approval of the Department of Justice and the White House. Manning is maltreated on a regular basis and the excuse for this is that he is a “spy.” None of this has been proven in any court of law, but this does not bother the government. I am surprised that they have not waterboarded him, but perhaps the gleeful and sadistic CIA specialists who love to do this to people are busy elsewhere, probably in Egypt. I recall the remarks made by German pastor Niemoeller when he was rescued from a concentration camp after the war. He had been locked up because he was a determined opponent of Hitler. He said: “When they came for the Communists, I did not object because I disliked them. When they came for the Jews, I did not object because I did not care, but then when they came for me, there was no one left to defend me.” What happens to young Manning can easily happen to any American citizen if this matter is not addressed and addressed in public. It is not a question of his guilt or innocence; that has not been established, but his treatment is in direct violation of the concept, long established and long practiced, that a man is innocent until proven guilty, and in a court of law, not the White House.”