Wikileaks

So, Pfc. Bradley Manning is on trial at the moment. I didn't know a lot about this, I'll admit, but I saw the debate on Sky news last night, where Ambassador Bolton defended America's conduct in relation to the handling of the case. Now, as far as the treatment of Manning was described, not by the Ambassador, might I add, he was kept in a tiny cell, was woken during the night and has been held without trial for 15 months. One of the documents he was meant to have leaked was a video of an American warship firing on an apparently unarmed ship. Also, as reported by an American paper, he spends 23 hours a day in his cell, is allowed only one hour of excercise, has only periodic television and visiting privileges and access to reading material, but has to take his meals alone and isn't allowed contact with the other prisoners. He can only communicate with them by shouting through the bars. He was classed as a 'suicide risk' for three days in January, and so was locked in his cell for the whole day, stripped to his underwear, and his glasses were taken off him. For the first week of March, he was forced to sleep naked, with only a blanket. Apparently, these were imposed after run-ins with the brig personnel, so a theory has been put forward that he was being punished for 'mouthing-off' to the guards. This seems to be ridiculous. America would've had a moral high ground, at least the majority of people would've agreed with the trial and with their view of it, but after so many human rights violations? A phrase about shooting yourself in your own foot comes to mind. Honestly, the country was already under attack for, well, attacking others without a whole lot of reasons, but to treat one of their own citizens like this, and to profess to be a leader in democracy. I don't think that all of America and all of its inhabitants are awful, obviously. I just don't see the sense in America's treatment of Manning.
Dabbler