US spokesman resigns after criticism of Manning's treatment in jail

US State Department spokesman P J Crowley is to resign his post, the department said yesterday, after reports that he had called "stupid" the Pentagon's treatment of the American soldier accused of leaking the secret diplomatic documents that appeared on the WikiLeaks website and in newspapers across the globe.

"It is with regret that I have accepted the resignation of Philip J Crowley as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday in a statement.

"Given the impact of my remarks, for which I take full responsibility, I have submitted my resignation as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Spokesman for the Department of State," Crowley said in the statement. It was reported that Mr Crowley told a small audience at a university in Massachusetts the treatment of jailed former intelligence analyst Bradley Manning "is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

It emerged last week that Private 1st Class Manning, whose leaks provided the WikiLeaks website with its biggest scoop, is being held in solitary confinement for all but an hour every day at a Marine Corps prison in Quantico, Virginia. He is stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof smock to wear to bed.