Day Five at the Bradley Manning Pre-Trial

Lance Corporal Joshua Tankersley and Lance Corporal Jonathan Cline individually, via telephone link up, told their versions of an incident involving Bradley Manning.

On January 18th 2011, the two men had escorted Manning to an exercise room.  Both were later removed from active duty for what happened next.

For a while, it seemed that they simultaneously gave conflicting orders to the young private, who was standing to attention before them.  An example given was one lance corporal yelling, "Turn left!", while the other shouted, "Don't turn left!"

During the course of the session, Private Bradley Manning either fainted or fell.  Manning scrambled to his feet and raced behind a weights machine. He later claimed that it was because the guards were 'lunging' at him, as if to hurt him.

He apparently became very upset, crouched in the corner there and sobbing.  This incident was used to further prolong the restrictive POI status, under which Manning was held.

Tankersley and Cline both testified that Manning was acting agitated from the moment he was collected from his cell.  Cline explained the procedure.  First Manning's wrists would be handcuffed, then he had to turn around, while they fitted a restraining belt.  Finally, Manning had to kneel, as leg restraints were added. 

In this way Bradley Manning could leave the 6ft x 8ft cell, wherein he remained for all but an hour of his day.  He had a choice between an hour of exercise, in the indoor fitness facility, or 20 minutes of sunshine and 40 minutes of exercise.

But on this occasion, Cline testified, Manning had to keep being 'corrected', as he was 'moving his hands when we put on his restraints.'

This was supported by Tankersley, who maintained that '(when) we put him in restraints, he did not respond in a correct manner.'   Manning had to twice be told to stop moving, both in his cell and when the restraints were removed in the exercise room.

Cline stated that, "(Manning) fell down on his butt. We tried to catch him, he went hiding behind a weight machine and he began to cry."

Neither man could understand why they'd been stepped down on charges of intimidation.  Cline added, "I spoke to him basically like to a normal human being. They're in the facility, that's their punishment. They don't need to be screamed at or yelled at."

Gunnery Sgt. Fuller defended the treatment of Bradley Manning at Quantico. 

He testified that he truly believed that Manning was suicidal, and that the restrictions placed upon him were 'not too punitive, it's protection for the detainee.'

Fuller added his own eye-witness account, to that already given by the lance corporals, about the January 2011 incident in the exercise room.  He inspected Manning later and found him to be 'shaken pretty bad'.

"He had a hard time breathing."  Fuller recalled, adding that Manning was, 'panicking' and 'looked scared'.  "He kept apologizing. I didn't figure out why he was sorry. I think he was frustrated with the staff in some way."

However, under cross-examination, neither Tankersley nor Cline recalled Manning ever saying that he was sorry during his distress.

Fuller also painted a picture of Bradley Manning losing his extrovert nature, as the months drew out in Quantico's cell.  Officers had told Fuller that Manning 'didn’t communicate as much later on in his confinement as he did in the beginning.'

This was seen as more evidence that Manning was becoming more suicidal, and therefore should be kept for longer on POI status.  Fuller didn't agree that it was the restrictive and isolated nature of POI that was causing Manning to become withdrawn in the first place.

The pre-trial hearing, at Fort Meade, had previously heard how Bradley Manning removed people from the list of those cleared to visit him at Quantico.

This had been done when individuals took those conversations straight to the media, even after Manning had asked them not to.  He'd been counseled that such awareness measures would harm his case.

He was also keenly aware that his conversations were being routinely recorded and turned into transcripts.  They could be used against him.

However, what Manning didn't realize was that he was in a Catch-22 situation.  If he removed names of individuals who might potentially damage his case, then that action was seen as him becoming more withdrawn and therefore prone to suicidal tendencies.

Fuller testified that eighteen people had been taken off the list of people allowed to visit Manning.  Fifteen of whom had never actually been to see him.  Fuller admitted that no attempt had been made to find out why Manning had requested the removal of the other three names.

The brig commanders already had a reason of their own.  It was because he had become withdrawn, thus suicidal.  It was justification enough, each week, to maintain his POI status.

Bradley Manning had expressed gratitude, during his father's visit, for none of his family going to the press.  His father left the base and promptly went to the press.  In response, Bradley took Brian's name off the visitor's register.

However, Gunnery Sergeant Fuller testified at Fort Meade that this showed further evidence of Manning's bad relationship with his family.  It was yet another reason to keep him on POI status.

Finally, Fuller added that the severity of the charges against Manning was also a factor.  Even if Manning displayed no other behavior to justify the restrictions against him, the reason for him being in that cell was reason enough for the close watch.