State Dept. SPOX Quits Over Remarks

State department spokesman P.J. Crowley was forced to resign after his controversial comments about suspected WikiLeaker Bradley Manning, according to multiple reports cits by the nydailynews.com.

The abrupt resignation came after he criticized the Defense Department's treatment of Manning, who is being held in a military prison accused of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks.

"Mike Hammer will do a great job as my successor at State," Crowley tweeted Sunday afternoon. "He and I worked together 12 years ago on the NSC staff at the White House."

Speaking at an MIT seminar last week, Crowley said Manning was being "mistreated".

"What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the Department of Defense," he said.

An 11-page letter from Manning's lawyer released last week detailed treatment of the Army private that included him being stripped naked, held in solitary confinement and allegedly harassed by prison guards.

Read more here.

Mike Allen, who writes the Politico Playbook, notes:

Administration officials have long wanted to get rid of State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, and were looking for an ambassadorship for him to avoid a messy exit. Instead, Crowley did the dirty work for them. He resigned Sunday after infuriating the White House, the Pentagon and his own bosses at Foggy Bottom by criticizing the military's treatment of Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of WikiLeaking all those diplomatic cables. "Ambassador" Crowley will now be working on his golf game. He has briefed his last, and will clean out his office this week.

• Several administration officials said that the Manning defense was simply the LAST STRAW, and that Secretary Clinton had already decided to replace him, for lots of reasons that had nothing to do with Manning. "He's just not a disciplined spox," one official said. "Hasn't ever been." Another official echoed: "In a domain where every word is watched, and every word can have ramifications in other countries, you have to be a little more buttoned-down."
• What Crowley was thinking: He believes that harsh treatment of Manning is counterproductive, and undermines America's strategic narrative by opening us to challenges about our commitment to freedom of expression - whether we practice what we preach. Crowley is unusually sensitive to the treatment of prisoners because his late father, a B-17 pilot, was a prisoner of war for two years in a camp that at the time was part of East Germany. But that wasn't the main reason for his comments.
• Secretary Clinton's statement: 'It is with regret that I have accepted the resignation of Philip J. Crowley as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. PJ has served our nation with distinction for more than three decades, in uniform and as a civilian. ... Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) Michael Hammer will serve as Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs," and is likely to be nominated as the permanent successor."
• Statement by Philip J. Crowley: "My recent comments regarding the conditions of the pre-trial detention of Private First Class Bradley Manning were intended to highlight the broader, even strategic impact of discreet actions undertaken by national security agencies every day ... Given the impact of my remarks, ... I have submitted my resignation."
• "Morning" Joe Scarborough defended Crowley for saying "what lots of people at the State Department are thinking."