Even in a family newspaper sometimes unpleasant things must be discussed. Women and children should stop reading now.

Water boarding and other torture techniques were widely practiced by the Bush administration. The lingering question has been how would the Obama administration react under similar circumstances.

We now have that answer.

After discussion and planning by top secret security clearance holding experts, U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning (alleged Wikileaker) is being made to sleep without his underwear. Yes, Manning is sleeping nude.

Someone with even higher security clearance suggested that he be made to stand outside his cell nude each morning. I give you one guess what they are insecure about.

I thought Obama would be a president who would bring change to Washington, not just shift the graft around a bit from Republican-supporting arms contractors to Democrat- supporting contractors.

But, when asked about the treatment of Manning, Obama did not laugh, announce the firing of everyone in the chain of command, nor point out the Kafka-like treatment of a US citizen.

Instead, he has actually had meetings with military officials to discuss whether Manning sleeps in the nude or not.

I’m sorry, but it seems to me that "nude sleeping" is highly ineffectual as an interrogation technique.

A large number of Americans sleep naked. Perhaps not the secret security clearance holding experts that came up with this plan. But that is the problem isn’t it? The experts’, not Manning’s.

Manning’s leak, if he was the leaker, has been embarrassing, not harmful. Let’s not embarrass ourselves with insecure and highly ineffectual members of the Obama administration.

Covington resident Patrick Durusau’s column appears on Fridays.