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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Dos Equis on December 09, 2010, 05:19:32 AM
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lol. God Bless America. lol . . . .
Alleged leaker Bradley Manning: hero to Berkeley?
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
An Army private jailed for allegedly leaking sensitive military data is a hero and should be freed, according to a resolution under consideration by the Berkeley City Council.
The council is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to declare its support for Pfc. Bradley Manning, who's suspected of providing WikiLeaks with classified military documents and a video depicting an Army helicopter attack in Baghdad in which 11 civilians were killed.
Manning, 22, currently in the brig in Quantico, Va., faces 52 years in prison if convicted. Manning has not commented on his guilt or innocence.
"If he did what he's accused of doing, he's a patriot and should get a medal," said Bob Meola, the Berkeley peace and justice commissioner who authored the resolution. "I think the war criminals should be the ones prosecuted, not the whistle-blowers."
The proposed resolution originated from the same commission that declared the Marine Corps "unwanted intruders" in Berkeley in 2008. The council's ensuing approval - and reversal - ignited some of the city's most raucous protest in years and prompted more than 25,000 e-mails to City Hall.
This time, however, the commission's vote was not unanimous. The resolution passed on a 7-3 vote, and it's likely to be just as contentious when it meets the City Council.
Commissioner Thyme Siegel was one of the three "no" votes.
"We're just sitting here in Berkeley - we don't know that Afghani informants aren't being murdered because of these leaks," she said. "Bradley Manning sounds like a very sincere person, but I'm sorry, we really do have enemies, and it's not clear at all what the effects of these WikiLeaks are."
WikiLeaks is a website that has published thousands of classified documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Manning allegedly provided WikiLeaks with secret data, including the 2007 "collateral murder" video of the Baghdad helicopter attack.
Berkeley's proposed resolution thanks Manning "for his courage in bringing the truth to the American people and the people of the world."
Army officials had no comment on Berkeley's resolution, but said that leaking classified data can endanger the lives of informants, provide useful information to the enemy and undermine the trust of those working with the military, according to Department of Defense spokesman Bob Mehal.
Manning might be a hero, but Berkeley should back off until the issues are sorted through on a national level, said peace and justice commissioner Jane Litman, who abstained from the Manning vote.
"I don't think we should call him a hero for something he hasn't even said he's done," she said. "Manning and the Obama administration both need to clarify their positions on this before we can take a stand."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/07/BAL91GNB87.DTL
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Figures.
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some getbiggers agreed with much of what the dude released, right 33? ;)
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some getbiggers agreed with much of what the dude released, right 33? ;)
Good spin job 240. No one sad manning is anything but a traitor. Please show me one post of one person supporting hm. If you cant, STFU.
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Good spin job 240. No one sad manning is anything but a traitor. Please show me one post of one person supporting hm. If you cant, STFU.
Ah, I see. You supported much of the info that assange released - but you didn't like bradley?
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Ah, I see. You supported much of the info that assange released - but you didn't like bradley?
Yes.
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Yes.
so you support the right of the media to publish anything they're handed - even if it puts nations at risk?
(I'm not hating - traditionally, this has always been the case -we NEVER prosecute media who leaks things. Geraldo Rivera of FOX got a pass for releasing troop movements, and NYTimes never gets any legal sheeit for all the stuff they leaked during the bush years)
So this is your position? Manning is a traitor, but assange is cool?
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so you support the right of the media to publish anything they're handed - even if it puts nations at risk?
(I'm not hating - traditionally, this has always been the case -we NEVER prosecute media who leaks things. Geraldo Rivera of FOX got a pass for releasing troop movements, and NYTimes never gets any legal sheeit for all the stuff they leaked during the bush years)
So this is your position? Manning is a traitor, but assange is cool?
I dont blame Assange at all, he did what anone would do if handed that info. Manning on the other hand is soldier and took the oath not to do what he did.
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I see no problem with a whistle blower releasing documents that show corruption or crimes perpetrated by the government.
But there is no indication that Manning was doing anything other than throwing a hissy fit and doing a massive document dump.
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I dont blame Assange at all, he did what anone would do if handed that info. Manning on the other hand is soldier and took the oath not to do what he did.
IMO, the media DOES have a responsibility to not release things which can get people killed.
No, not everyone would do what he did.
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IMO, the media DOES have a responsibility to not release things which can get people killed.
No, not everyone would do what he did.
Now it's a fucking problem? Where were you when the NY Times was publishing the Abu Ghraib photos which directly lead to Nicholas Berg and other American civilians being beheaded on video. ::)
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Boo freakin hoo. Somebody get the Martian Man on this ASAP. I'm sure he'll put a stop to this. ::)
Lawyer: Army private's quip let to clothing loss
By Associated Press
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 06, 2011
WASHINGTON » The lawyer for a jailed Army private suspected of leaking classified U.S. documents to the WikiLeaks website says his client was stripped of all his clothing at night because he had made sarcastic comments about using underwear to commit suicide.
Pfc. Bradley Manning's civilian lawyer, David Coombs, said in a blog post Saturday that his client's clothing was taken away at nights after Manning remarked that if he wanted to harm himself he could do that with "the elastic waistband of his underwear or with his flip-flops."
Marine Corps officials had cited privacy rules Friday in not disclosing more about the Wednesday order that left Manning to sleep naked in his jail cell at the Quantico, Va. brig. His attorney has called the treatment degrading.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20110306_Lawyer_Army_privates_quip_let_to_clothing_loss.html
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Now it's a fucking problem? Where were you when the NY Times was publishing the Abu Ghraib photos which directly lead to Nicholas Berg and other American civilians being beheaded on video. ::)
??? Whoever released the Abu Ghirab photos belongs in jail too.
I'm really touchy about sensitive stuff being released - and any reporter who will cover the stuff as well. I condemn it all around.
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Military Hearing Resumes in Manning Leak Case
Published December 17, 2011
Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. -- The military court case against the young soldier blamed for the largest leak of classified material in American history resumed Saturday after an Army appeals court rejected a defense effort to remove the presiding officer.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was back in a military courtroom Saturday, his 24th birthday, to hear prosecutors begin presenting their case against him as the source for the WikiLeaks website's collection of U.S. military and diplomatic secrets.
Dec. 16, 2011: In this courtroom sketch, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, second from left, sits as his attorney, David E. Coombs, speaks during a military hearing in Fort Meade, Md.
The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring Manning to trial. Manning's lawyers tried to oust Lt. Col. Paul Almanza as the presiding officer because of alleged bias, but an Army appeals court rejected their request late Friday.
Separately, lawyers for WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange are asking the Army Court of Criminal Appeals to guarantee them two seats in the courtroom at Fort Meade.
Manning, a one-time intelligence analyst stationed in Baghdad, is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive items including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a classified military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.
The Obama administration says the released information has threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments.
Friday was Manning's first appearance in public after 19 months in detention. He appeared slight but serious in his Army camouflage fatigues and dark-rimmed glasses, taking notes during the proceedings and answering straightforwardly when called upon by Almanza.
Manning, a native of Crescent, Okla., is relying on a defense that will argue much of the classified information posed no risk.
In addition to claims of partiality, his lawyer, David Coombs, argued that Almanza wrongly denied the defense's request to call as witnesses the officials who marked as secret the material WikiLeaks later published. Instead, the officer accepted unsworn statements from those people, Coombs said.
Friday's tangling, however, centered primarily on Almanza's Justice Department job. "I don't believe I'm biased," Almanza said, explaining that his government work concerns child exploitation and obscenity. He said he hasn't talked about WikiLeaks or Manning with anyone in the department or FBI.
The Justice Department has a separate criminal investigation into Assange. A U.S. grand jury is weighing whether to indict Assange on espionage charges, even as he is in Britain fighting a Swedish request that he be extradited because of rape allegations.
Manning's hearing at this Army post outside Washington is open to the public, with limited seating. Assange's lawyer filed a request Friday with the Army appeals court seeking two guaranteed seats in the Fort Meade courtroom, one for the attorney representing the Wikileaks organization and the other for Assange's non-U.S. attorney.
Inside the courtroom, no civilian recording equipment is allowed. Instead of a judge, a presiding officer delivers a recommendation as to whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a suspect to trial. A military commander then makes the final decision.
The case has spawned an international support network of people who believe the U.S. government has gone too far in seeking to punish Manning, and a few dozen showed up outside Fort Meade on Friday to rally on his behalf.
"I plan to march all night tonight and bring as much attention as I can to put the entire country on notice that we have a hero who's standing trial for nothing more than telling the truth," said Dan Choi, a gay West Point graduate discharged from the military for revealing his sexual orientation.
He wore a bright orange "Bradley Manning Support Network" sticker on the lapel of his uniform jacket.
Others were less supportive.
"That man did something very wrong," said Mandie Stanley, a 19-year-old who lives on the Army post with her husband, a member of the Air Force. She spotted the protesters and decided to come out with a sign that said: "Don't leak classified information, stupid!"
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/17/defense-request-denied-for-change-in-manning-case/?test=latestnews
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Why is Dan Choi even involved in this....
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Bradley Manning's Cry For Help Included Sending Cross-Dressed Photos Of Himself To Superiors
Robert Johnson | Dec. 18, 2011, 8:34 AM | 17 |
A A A
inShare
Image: By combustionchamber on Flickr
See Also:
White House Approves Of Bill Allowing The Military To Imprison Americans Without Trial
The Air Force Is Sending This New Drone To Afghanistan
The House Passes The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act
It's been known for some time that Bradley Manning was so psychologically unstable that his psychologists suggested not allowing him access to weapons, or if he was given them, to have the bolt removed so they would not fire.
Why his access to classified material continued is unclear, and with his court appearance Friday that question rings more loudly than ever.
Raf Sanchez of The Telegraph reports that Manning's Fort Mead hearing included testimony that the Private sent pictures of himself dressed up as a woman to his superiors as proof of how emotionally unstable he really was, and nothing was done about it.
With the cross-dressing pictures sent to his immediate supervisor Master Sergeant Paul Watkins, Bradley confessed he was suffering from a gender identity issue. That plea for help never went any further up the chain of command.
Watkins only mentioned the incident after Manning sent thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.
The officer in command of Bradley's unit confessed his group was so undisciplined that the intelligence analysts played music and watched movies on the same computers they used to view classified intelligence.
It was the lax regulations that allowed Manning and his fellow soldiers to bring in CDs with music, games, and computer programs to their Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility. It was on one of those CDs that Manning downloaded the classified files.
About 15 US soldiers have so far been disciplined over Manning's actions.
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insanity defense
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insanity defense
Actually it will likely work. This guy should have been Section 8 a long time ago. Just a ticking timebomb
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Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning 'punched a female superior and was prone to tantrums'
Daily Mail ^ | Dec. 19, 2011 | Daily Mail Reporter
Posted on December 18, 2011 11:14:08 PM EST by Free ThinkerNY
The American soldier alleged to have leaked vast numbers of classified documents to Wikileaks was prone to tantrums and at one point struck a female superior, a court heard today.
Captain Casey Fulton, an Army intelligence officer who worked in the same secure facility as 24-year-old Bradley Manning, described a violent outburst in May 2010 at their secure office or SCIF (Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility).
Fulton said she ordered a derogatory report against Manning, who is charged with downloading hundreds of thousands of sensitive files from the military's classified network when he was a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, and providing them to the anti-secrecy website.
The U.S. Army Captain began answering questions at a proceeding to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to court-martial Manning, who is accused of conducting the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history.
Manning faces charges including aiding the enemy, which carries life imprisonment.
As it cross-examined prosecution witnesses on Sunday, the defence team continued to suggest that Manning should not have had access to classified documents, given his emotional state.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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Actually it will likely work. This guy should have been Section 8 a long time ago. Just a ticking timebomb
Section 8 is welfare you retarded queer.
So, you're saying that Manning will beat the case because he should have been on welfare?
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Section 8 is welfare you retarded queer.
So, you're saying that Manning will beat the case because he should have been on welfare?
You're the one that's the fucking idiot. Section 8 in the military means that you're mentally unfit..... ::)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_%28military%29
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Judge refuses to dismiss Manning's WikiLeaks case
FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) – A military judge refused on Wednesday to throw out the case against an Army private accused of providing reams of sensitive documents to Wikileaks in the biggest leak of government secrets in U.S. history.
Army Col. Denise Lind said she will rule Thursday on whether to dismiss any of the individual charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, including the most serious count of aiding the enemy — which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Prosecutors argue that the leak helped al-Qaida and that Manning knew its members regularly viewed the anti-secrecy website.
Manning hasn't entered a plea to the charges. He also hasn't yet decided whether he will be tried by a judge or a jury. Lind scheduled Manning's trial for Sept. 21 through Oct. 12.
He is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WilkiLeaks, a website founded by Julian Assange, in late 2009 and early 2010.
Manning's lawyers had sought dismissal of all 22 charges, contending prosecutors had failed their duty to share information that could be helpful to the defense, a legal process called discovery.
Lind agreed that prosecutors had wrongly assumed the discovery rules didn't pertain to classified information but she found no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, turning down the motion to throw out the case.
She heard arguments later on defense motions seeking dismissal of individual charges.
Defense attorney David Coombs said a conviction would require the government to show that Manning sent WikiLeaks the material with a "genuine evil intent" that it be seen by al-Qaida.
Manning's alleged motive, as he stated in his online chat logs with a confidant-turned-informant, was "I want people to see the truth."
Absent an evil intent, Coombs said sending intelligence information to WikiLeaks without authorization was no different than giving it to the The New York Times or The Washington Post— a punishable offense, perhaps, but not as serious a crime as the government alleges.
"What the government's really trying to say is, 'He should have known better,'" Coombs said.
He said it wouldn't be surprising if al-Qaida saw the material.
"Anyone can find anything if it's posted on the Internet. Everyone knows that," he said.
But prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow said the government needs only to show that Manning knew that the enemy would see the material and that he sent it without authorization.
"I could have the purest motives in the world. But if do something knowingly and without proper authority in terms of interacting with the enemy, that's a violation," he said.
Lind also ruled Wednesday that Army prosecutors don't have to provide the defense with transcripts of federal grand jury testimony about the WikiLeaks disclosures.
Manning's lawyers were seeking transcripts from a federal investigation into whether Assange can be prosecuted for the disclosure of information that authorities say was provided by Manning. Lind said that while the FBI and the Army have jointly pursued a WikiLeaks investigation, military prosecutors have no authority to release FBI documents.
The 24-year-old Oklahoma native was ordered court-martialed after he was accused of downloading the documents, diplomatic cables and video clips, then sending them to WikiLeaks. He was working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad when authorities say he copied classified material from government computers in late 2009 and early 2010.
The material WikiLeaks published included cockpit video of a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter attack that killed a number of civilians, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The U.S. government says the civilian deaths were accidental.
Manning has been in pretrial confinement since he was charged in May 2010. His treatment at a Marine Corps base caused support for him to swell. The Quantico, Virginia, brig commander kept Manning confined 23 hours a day in a single-bed cell, citing safety and security concerns. For several days in March 2011, he was forced to sleep naked, purportedly for injury prevention, before he was issued a suicide-prevention smock.
Manning's supporters have raised funds to place posters in the Washington Metro subway system this week portraying him as a whistleblower, patriot and hero.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2012-04-25/judge-manning-wikileaks/54538844/1
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Army Private Offers Guilty Plea in WikiLeaks Case
Thursday, 08 Nov 2012
The U.S. Army private charged with sending reams of government secrets to WikiLeaks is offering to plead guilty to some offenses.
Pfc. Bradley Manning's civilian defense attorney, David Coombs, revealed the offer Wednesday during a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade. The hearing continues Thursday.
Coombs says Manning isn't pleading guilty to the offenses charged by the government. Rather, he's offering to take responsibility for less serious offenses that are encapsulated within the charged crimes.
Even if the court accepts the offer, military prosecutors could still try to prove Manning guilty of the more serious charges. They include aiding the enemy, punishable by life imprisonment.
Coombs also says Manning has elected to be tried by a military judge, not a jury, at his trial in February.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/Mannning-WikiLeaks/2012/11/08/id/463319
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He should have been put in front of a firing squad.
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Sixteen years isn't long enough.
Bradley Manning takes stand at military hearing
FORT MEADE, Md.
An Army private charged in the biggest security breach in U.S. history took the stand Thursday at a military hearing about what he contends was needlessly harsh treatment at a Marine Corps brig.
Pfc. Bradley Manning testified on the third day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, outside Baltimore.
Wearing his dress uniform, he appeared nervous, stuttering over his words as he tried to answer questions from a defense attorney about his arrest in Baghdad in May 2010. He was testifying only about his arrest and confinement.
Seated in the witness booth, he swiveled back and forth and gestured with his hands as he described the layout of his confinement quarters overseas.
Manning is trying to avoid trial in the WikiLeaks case. He argues he was punished enough when he was locked up alone in a small cell for nearly nine months at a brig in Quantico, Va., and had to sleep naked for several nights.
The military contends the treatment was proper, given Manning's classification then as a maximum-security detainee who posed a risk of injury to himself or others.
Earlier Thursday, a military judge accepted the terms under which Manning would plead guilty to eight charges for sending classified documents to the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website.
Col. Denise Lind's ruling doesn't mean the pleas have been formally accepted. That could happen in December.
But Lind approved the language of the offenses to which Manning would admit.
She said those offenses carry a total maximum prison term of 16 years.
Manning made the offer as a way of accepting responsibility for the leak. Government officials have not said whether they would continue prosecuting him for the other 14 counts he faces, including aiding the enemy. That offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Under the proposal, Manning would admit to willfully sending the following material: a battlefield video file, some classified memos, more than 20 Iraq war logs, more than 20 Afghanistan war logs and other classified materials. He would also plead guilty to wrongfully storing classified information.
Meanwhile, Manning's lawyers are arguing that the charges against the soldier should be dismissed because of how he was treated while confined at Quantico.
Other prospective witnesses include a military psychiatrist who examined Manning at Quantico, and the former commander of the confinement facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Manning was later moved there, re-evaluated and given a medium-security classification.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57556251/bradley-manning-takes-stand-at-military-hearing/
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well if he made an oath promising he wasnt going to do something, then he should be prosecuted to a reasonable extent for his breach of contract.
that being said - transparency should always be encouraged..
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Bradley Manning Ruling: Judge Reduces Sentence For Army Private In WikiLeaks Case
By DAVID DISHNEAU 01/08/13
FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army private suspected of sending reams of classified documents to the secret-sharing WikiLeaks website was illegally punished at a Marine Corps brig and should get 112 days cut from any prison sentence he receives if convicted, a military judge ruled Tuesday.
Army Col. Denise Lind ruled during a pretrial hearing that authorities went too far in their strict confinement of Pfc. Bradley Manning for nine months in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., in 2010 and 2011. Manning was confined to a windowless cell 23 hours a day, sometimes with no clothing. Brig officials said it was to keep him from hurting himself or others.
Lind said Manning's confinement was "more rigorous than necessary." She added that the conditions "became excessive in relation to legitimate government interests."
Manning faces 22 charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum sentence of life behind bars. His trial begins March 6.
The 25-year-old intelligence analyst had sought to have the charges thrown out, arguing the conditions were egregious. Military prosecutors had recommended a seven-day sentence reduction, conceding Manning was improperly kept for that length of time on highly restrictive suicide watch, contrary to a psychiatrist's recommendation.
Lind rejected a defense contention that brig commanders were influenced by higher-ranking Marine Corps officials at Quantico or the Pentagon.
Manning showed no reaction as Lind read her decision. He fidgeted when the judge took the bench to announce her ruling, sometimes tapping his chin or mouth with a pen and frequently glancing at his attorney's notepad, but those movements tapered off during the hour and 45 minutes it took the judge to read the lengthy opinion.
Mike McKee, one of about a dozen Manning supporters in the courtroom, said he was disappointed. He called the ruling "very conservative," although he said he didn't expect the charges to be thrown out.
"I don't find it a victory," McKee said. "Credit like that becomes much less valuable if the sentence turns out to be 80 years."
Jeff Paterson of the Bradley Manning Support Network, which is funding Manning's defense, said the sentencing credit "doesn't come close to compensating Bradley" for his harsh treatment.
"The ruling is not strong enough to give the military pause before mistreating the next American soldier awaiting trial," Paterson wrote in an email.
Lind ruled on the first day of a scheduled four-day hearing at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.
The hearing is partly to determine whether Manning's motivation matters. Prosecutors want the judge to bar the defense from producing evidence at trial regarding his motive for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of secret war logs and diplomatic cables. They say motive is irrelevant to whether he leaked intelligence, knowing it would be seen by al-Qaida
Manning allegedly told an online confidant-turned-informant that he leaked the material because "I want people to see the truth" and "information should be free."
Defense attorney David Coombs said Tuesday that barring such evidence would cripple the defense's ability to argue that Manning leaked only information that he believed couldn't hurt the United States or help a foreign nation.
Manning has offered to take responsibility for the leaks in a pending plea offer but he still could face trial on charges such as aiding the enemy.
The Crescent, Okla., native is accused of leaking classified Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and more than 250,000 diplomatic cables while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010. He is also charged with leaking 2007 video of a U.S. helicopter crew gunning down 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. The Pentagon concluded the troops acted appropriately, having mistaken the camera equipment for weapons.
Manning supporters consider him a whistleblower whose actions exposed war crimes and helped trigger the pro-democracy Arab Spring uprisings in late 2010.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/bradley-manning-ruling_n_2432946.html
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::)
Bradley Manning: The Hero of a New WikiLeaks Documentary 'We Steal Secrets'
By Tim Graham | May 31, 2013
Julian Assange is no hero. Hollywood loves the idea of being subversive of the “military-industrial complex,” so Assange is a natural protagonist for them. In the new documentary "We Steal Secrets," leftist filmmaker Alex Gibney decided that Assange was more morally complex – beginning the minute he demanded payment to be interviewed for Gibney’s movie. Gibney and other leftists arrived at the reality that Assange is an egotist, not an idealist.
Since Gibney couldn’t root for Assange in his movie, he made Bradley Manning the hero, and the scapegoat, insisting “The US government is trying to lay all the blame for these leaks on one poor kid.” Other liberal journalists have easily found at least as much egotism and moral complexity in Manning as they have in Assange, but not Gibney.
Manning is a scapegoat. And it turns out, as you know from Catching Hell, I'm very interested in this process that societies go through to try and find one person to blame for society's ills. And that seems to be the case with Bradley Manning. The US government is trying to lay all the blame for these leaks on one poor kid. Indeed, they've charged him with a capital offense.
So I recognize the kind of brutality of the scapegoat process. I first became interested in this in [his documentary] Taxi to the Dark Side. Cheney and Bush were referring to the guards at Abu Ghraib as a "few bad apples" as if the whole barrel wasn't rotten—but in fact there was a system of torture.
So in that context, that's what started me in being interested in the very idea of scapegoating. And of course this goes back to the very beginning, when villages used to literally drive goats out of the village and kill them to take all the sins of the village upon them. I'm very interested in what's happened to Bradley Manning as a result. He's caused embarrassment to the US government and he broke an oath for which he has pled guilty and already been punished. But the idea of charging him with capital punishment for this seems outrageous and very in line with the scapegoating idea.
Assange shocked several fans by his absolute lack of reluctance to release anything and everything, as in this interview on the NPR-distributed show "On The Media":
BOB GARFIELD, WNYC: I asked Julian if hypothetically he would publish information sent to his website that could lead to the deaths of innocents, such as, for instance, how to release anthrax into a town’s water supply.
JULIAN ASSANGE: Yes, even if there is a possibility that it would lead to loss of life. It’s hard to imagine a circumstance where we would get a document and us not publishing it would be helpful. If they were ill motivated, then they could send that in private to terrorist groups, to neo-Nazi organizations, and those organizations could then develop their plans out of the sunlight. And that’s the greatest harm.
That public-radio exchange just shows how politically extreme Assange is, that he couldn’t balance public safety against his ideal of freedom of information. It’s a little funny that they say sunlight is the best disinfectant – in this case, Assange is all in favor of sunlight no matter how infectious and deadly it becomes.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2013/05/31/bradley-manning-hero-new-wikileaks-documentary-we-steal-secrets
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Osama Bin Laden Raid Evidence Entered In Bradley Manning Trial
Posted: 07/01/2013 12:24 pm EDT | Updated: 07/01/2013 12:34 pm EDT
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FORT MEADE, Md. -- Bradley Manning agreed Monday to allow a government statement to be used as evidence in his trial, indicating that documents he sent to WikiLeaks were in Osama bin Laden's possession when he was killed. Allowing the statement as evidence avoids potentially dramatic courtroom testimony from a member of the 2011 raid on the al Qaeda leader's compound.
Though weeks in the making, Manning's decision took only a few minutes in the courtroom. It allows a crucial piece of evidence to the government's case that Manning aided the enemy, a charge that carries a possible life sentence.
"Do you understand what this stipulation of fact is to be used for?" Col. Denise Lind, the judge overseeing the case, asked Manning before allowing it to be entered as evidence.
"Yes ma'am," Manning replied.
What that stipulation of fact -- an agreement between the prosecution and defense -- will be used for is trying to show that Manning's disclosures directly helped the al Qaeda leader.
The crucial details, according to the government: the raid recovered "a letter from UBL to a member of al-Qaeda requesting the member gather Department of Defense material posted to WikiLeaks ... a letter from the same member of al-Qaeda to UBL, attached to which was the Afghanistan War Log as posted by WikiLeaks … (and) the Department of State information released by Wikileaks."
Also entered as evidence on Monday were facts about a June 3, 2011 recruitment video released by U.S.-born al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn, calling on militants to read WikiLeaks' collection of State Department cables. Additional facts were entered about a winter 2010 edition of the al Qaeda magazine Inspire, which called on followers to archive WikiLeaks disclosures.
Manning has plead guilty to 10 of the 22 charges against him, but he is fighting in court the allegation that he aided the enemy. Critics have said that the highly controversial charge could also be used to criminalize journalists' sources.
Prosecutors don't allege Manning intended to give the documents to al Qaeda -- only that he should have known that his disclosures could have wound up in their hands. Lind will still need to weigh the significance of the stipulations entered into the record on Monday, but some military experts have been skeptical that she will find Manning guilty of aiding the enemy -- a charge last successfully prosecuted during the Civil War.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/osama-bin-laden-bradley-manning_n_3529128.html
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Good that he admitted what he did was wrong and that he hurt his country. Now let him spend a very long time in a cell.
Bradley Manning apologizes, tells court he must pay price
By Paul Courson, CNN
updated 8:04 PM EDT, Wed August 14, 2013
Fort Meade, Maryland (CNN) -- Convicted leaker Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged Wednesday that by leaking tens of thousands of pages of classified documents he "hurt people and hurt the United States."
"I understood what I was doing was wrong but I didn't appreciate the broader effects of my actions," he said during his sentencing hearing at Maryland's Fort Meade. "I only wanted to help people, not hurt people."
The former Army intelligence analyst was convicted in July of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks in what has been described as the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges against him, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act.
How many years Manning spends behind bars is up to Col. Denise Lind, the judge in the case. She already found him not guilty of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy -- and she later granted a defense motion that decreased the maximum penalty Manning faced from 136 years in prison to 90 years.
Manning has claimed he leaked the material to expose wrongdoing and provoke discussion about U.S. military and diplomatic affairs.
But in court on Wednesday, he told the judge that he now recognized he should have handled it a different way. "I should have worked more aggressively within the system," he said.
Manning also said at the time he decided to leak the documents, he was "dealing with a lot of issues" -- a reference to his gender identity crisis that the defense has made a focal point in the case.
But he told the judge it was not an excuse for what he did. While Manning said he recognized that he has to pay a price for what for he did, he told the judge that he hoped someday to get out of prison and lead a productive life.
His statement followed testimony from a military psychologist, who said Manning appeared to be isolated and under intense pressure as a male soldier struggling with gender identity issues.
"There would never be a time that he could be openly female," Capt. Michael Worsey testified. "And so seeking treatment for that, treatment was how to adjust to that, not treat the disorder, but how to be comfortable with that in the Army."
Father: My son was 'grandstanding'
With much of the testimony in Manning's sentencing hearing focusing on his gender identify issues, the Army on Wednesday released a full version of an e-mail he had sent to his sergeant titled "My Problem."
While Manning does not specifically identify the problem he was referring to, the e-mail includes an image of him wearing a long blond wig and makeup.
"It's not going away, its haunting me more and more as I get older," he wrote in the e-mail. "Now, the consequences of it are dire, at a time when it's causing me great pain in itself. As a result, I'm not sure what to do about it."
Manning's sister, Casey Major, and his aunt, Debra Van Alstyne, asked for leniency in sentencing after providing the court with an intimate look at his upbringing, which they said was characterized by absentee, alcoholic parents.
But the prosecution has offered a picture of a calculating Manning whose behavior was reckless, saying he put the lives of soldiers and civilians in danger.
During the court-martial, prosecution witnesses testified Manning downloaded and leaked 400,000 Pentagon field reports from Iraq and 90,0000 similar documents from Afghanistan. There evidence also presented that he downloaded and leaked more than 250,000 State Department cables.
The release of the classified material elevated what was once a virtually unknown WikiLeaks to a globally recognized name.
Outside the courtroom, Manning's civilian attorney, David Coombs, said he hoped the judge would see that "Bradley is certainly a person who had his heart in the right place."
Earlier in the case, Manning testified about his treatment by the Marines at Quantico Brig in Virginia. The judge ruled that the Marines' harsh treatment of Manning was out of line and granted him 112 days off his eventual sentence.
Later, before the start of his court-martial, Manning read a detailed statement after entering guilty pleas on 10 lesser charges in hopes the prosecution would pursue fewer of the charges against him. It didn't work.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/14/us/manning-sentencing/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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What do you think of Snowden? ???
Surely he's a patriot for revealing something so illegal, unAmerican and just plain wrong?
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What do you think of Snowden? ???
Surely he's a patriot for revealing something so illegal, unAmerican and just plain wrong?
Same thing I think of Manning. He's a traitor. I'm glad we know about the spying, but as Manning has finally admitted, he "should have worked more aggressively within the system." Had he done that, I would have been supportive.
But disclosing secrets to the Chinese, Russians, and Great Britain, which had absolutely nothing to do with the NSA spying on American citizens, was flat out treason. Indefensible.
He and Manning should share cell.
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Same thing I think of Manning. He's a traitor. I'm glad we know about the spying, but as Manning has finally admitted, he "should have worked more aggressively within the system." Had he done that, I would have been supportive.
But disclosing secrets to the Chinese, Russians, and Great Britain, which had absolutely nothing to do with the NSA spying on American citizens, was flat out treason. Indefensible.
He and Manning should share cell.
Okay, but do you think he could have accomplished anything at all going about it in any other way? ???
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Okay, but do you think he could have accomplished anything at all going about it in any other way? ???
I don't know for certain, but I do believe he could have gotten the word out about the NSA spying if he went through either an inspector general or hired someone to help him make a disclosure. I think people would have rallied around him.
Do you have a problem with him disclosing all of the information to other countries that had nothing to do with the NSA spying on American citizens?
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Do you have a problem with him disclosing all of the information to other countries that had nothing to do with the NSA spying on American citizens?
I do if he's disclosing secrets that are clearly unrelated to crimes or misdeeds, and he's not doing it for the sole reason that he wants the American people to know about it.
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I do if he's disclosing secrets that are clearly unrelated to crimes or misdeeds, and he's not doing it for the sole reason that he wants the American people to know about it.
Agreed.
I also think we both agree the NSA spying on American citizens was wrong.
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Agreed.
I also think we both agree the NSA spying on American citizens was wrong.
Yes, good
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Not long enough, but good.
Manning sentenced to 35 years in WikiLeaks case
Aug. 21, 2013
By David Dishneau and Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. – Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for giving hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in one of the nation's biggest leak cases since the Pentagon Papers more than a generation ago.
In a brief hearing, military judge Col. Denise Lind didn't offer any explanation for the sentence she gave Manning, 25. The former intelligence analyst was found guilty last month of 20 crimes, including six violations of the Espionage Act, as part of the Obama administration's unprecedented crackdown on media leaks.
But the judge acquitted him of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, an offense that could have meant life in prison without parole.
Manning could have gotten 90 years behind bars. Prosecutors asked for at least 60 years as a warning to other soldiers, while Manning's lawyer suggested he get no more than 25, because some of the documents he leaked will be declassified by then.
The native of Crescent, Okla., digitally copied and released more than 700,000 documents, including Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables, while working in 2010 in Iraq.
He also leaked video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that mistakenly killed at least nine people, including a Reuters photographer.
A potentially more explosive leak case unfolded as Manning's court-martial was underway, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was charged with espionage for exposing the NSA's Internet and telephone surveillance programs.
At his trial, Manning said he gave the material to the secrets-spilling website WikiLeaks to expose the U.S. military's "bloodlust" and generate debate over the wars and U.S. policy.
During the sentencing phase, he apologized for the damage he caused, saying, "When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people."
His lawyers also argued that Manning suffered extreme inner turmoil over his gender identity — his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body — while serving in the macho military, which at the time barred gays from serving openly. Among the evidence was a photo of him in a blond wig and lipstick.
Defense attorney David Coombs told the judge that Manning had been full of youthful idealism.
"He had pure intentions at the time that he committed his offenses," Coombs said. "At that time, Pfc. Manning really, truly, genuinely believed that this information could make a difference."
Prosecutors did not present any evidence in open court that anyone was physically harmed as a direct result of Manning's actions. But they showed that al-Qaida used material from the helicopter attack in a propaganda video and that Osama bin Laden presumably read some of the leaked documents, which were published online by WikiLeaks. Some of the material was found in bin Laden's compound when it was raided.
Also, government witnesses testified the leaks endangered U.S. intelligence sources, some of whom were moved to other countries for their safety. And several ambassadors were recalled, expelled or reassigned because of embarrassing disclosures.
Prosecutors called Manning an anarchist and an attention-seeking traitor, while supporters have hailed him as a whistleblower and likened him to Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, to The New York Times and other newspapers.
That case touched off an epic clash between the Nixon administration and the press and led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the First Amendment.
The Obama administration has charged seven people with leaking to the news media, while only three people were prosecuted in all previous administrations combined.
Among those seven is Snowden, whose leak has triggered a fierce debate over security vs. privacy and strained U.S. relations with Russia, which is harboring him despite demands he be returned to this country to face charges.
In addition, the Justice Department has obtained the records of phones used by Associated Press journalists and emails of a Fox News reporter.
Also, a federal appeals court ruled recently that New York Times reporter James Risen cannot shield his source when he testifies at the trial of a former CIA officer accused of leaking information about a secret operation.
A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Michael Ratner, has suggested Manning's conviction could make it easier for federal prosecutors to get an indictment against Assange as a co-conspirator.
But other legal experts said the Australian's status as a foreigner and a publisher make it unlikely he will be indicted.
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130821/NEWS06/308210020
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Not long enough, but good.
Manning sentenced to 35 years in WikiLeaks case
Aug. 21, 2013
By David Dishneau and Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. – Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for giving hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in one of the nation's biggest leak cases since the Pentagon Papers more than a generation ago.
In a brief hearing, military judge Col. Denise Lind didn't offer any explanation for the sentence she gave Manning, 25. The former intelligence analyst was found guilty last month of 20 crimes, including six violations of the Espionage Act, as part of the Obama administration's unprecedented crackdown on media leaks.
But the judge acquitted him of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, an offense that could have meant life in prison without parole.
Manning could have gotten 90 years behind bars. Prosecutors asked for at least 60 years as a warning to other soldiers, while Manning's lawyer suggested he get no more than 25, because some of the documents he leaked will be declassified by then.
The native of Crescent, Okla., digitally copied and released more than 700,000 documents, including Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables, while working in 2010 in Iraq.
He also leaked video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that mistakenly killed at least nine people, including a Reuters photographer.
A potentially more explosive leak case unfolded as Manning's court-martial was underway, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was charged with espionage for exposing the NSA's Internet and telephone surveillance programs.
At his trial, Manning said he gave the material to the secrets-spilling website WikiLeaks to expose the U.S. military's "bloodlust" and generate debate over the wars and U.S. policy.
During the sentencing phase, he apologized for the damage he caused, saying, "When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people."
His lawyers also argued that Manning suffered extreme inner turmoil over his gender identity — his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body — while serving in the macho military, which at the time barred gays from serving openly. Among the evidence was a photo of him in a blond wig and lipstick.
Defense attorney David Coombs told the judge that Manning had been full of youthful idealism.
"He had pure intentions at the time that he committed his offenses," Coombs said. "At that time, Pfc. Manning really, truly, genuinely believed that this information could make a difference."
Prosecutors did not present any evidence in open court that anyone was physically harmed as a direct result of Manning's actions. But they showed that al-Qaida used material from the helicopter attack in a propaganda video and that Osama bin Laden presumably read some of the leaked documents, which were published online by WikiLeaks. Some of the material was found in bin Laden's compound when it was raided.
Also, government witnesses testified the leaks endangered U.S. intelligence sources, some of whom were moved to other countries for their safety. And several ambassadors were recalled, expelled or reassigned because of embarrassing disclosures.
Prosecutors called Manning an anarchist and an attention-seeking traitor, while supporters have hailed him as a whistleblower and likened him to Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, to The New York Times and other newspapers.
That case touched off an epic clash between the Nixon administration and the press and led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the First Amendment.
The Obama administration has charged seven people with leaking to the news media, while only three people were prosecuted in all previous administrations combined.
Among those seven is Snowden, whose leak has triggered a fierce debate over security vs. privacy and strained U.S. relations with Russia, which is harboring him despite demands he be returned to this country to face charges.
In addition, the Justice Department has obtained the records of phones used by Associated Press journalists and emails of a Fox News reporter.
Also, a federal appeals court ruled recently that New York Times reporter James Risen cannot shield his source when he testifies at the trial of a former CIA officer accused of leaking information about a secret operation.
A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Michael Ratner, has suggested Manning's conviction could make it easier for federal prosecutors to get an indictment against Assange as a co-conspirator.
But other legal experts said the Australian's status as a foreigner and a publisher make it unlikely he will be indicted.
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20130821/NEWS06/308210020
He'll be out in 7 years based on the 35 year sentence. He already got credit for 4 years and he'll be eligible for parole in that time......however, this sentence may end up being commuted to time served on Appeal.
The problem with the sentence is that its actually harsher than sentences handed out in the past for worse offenses committed....especially since he didn't profit from it as others did...or at least at this time.
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He'll be out in 7 years based on the 35 year sentence. He already got credit for 4 years and he'll be eligible for parole in that time......however, this sentence may end up being commuted to time served on Appeal.
The problem with the sentence is that its actually harsher than sentences handed out in the past for worse offenses committed....especially since he didn't profit from it as others did...or at least at this time.
How did you determine he will only serve seven years?
The problem with the sentence is it isn't long enough. How can there be harsher sentences when this is the worst leaker in American history??
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Good.
Manning sentence approved by Washington military district commander
Case of convicted WikiLeaker now automatically appealed
April 14, 2014|By Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON — — The commander of the Army Military District of Washington has approved the findings of the court-martial last year of WikiLeaker Chelsea Manning.
Manning, who served as an intelligence analyst for the Army in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010 as Pfc. Bradley Manning, was accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. She was tried last year at Fort Meade, found guilty of 20 offenses and sentenced to 35 years in a military prison.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan approved the findings and the sentence last week, officials said Monday. The case will now be appealed automatically to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
Manning, who lived with an aunt in Potomac and studied at Montgomery College before enlisting in 2007, has filed requests for a pardon from President Barack Obama and clemency from Army Secretary John M. McHugh. Her former attorney says he has been advised that neither a pardon nor clemency will be considered until the appeals process is complete.
Manning acknowledged leaking diplomatic cables, war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq and gunsight video of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack that killed civilians in Baghdad in the hope of provoking debate on U.S. foreign policy.
Critics say she is a traitor whose leaks risked American lives. Supporters say the information deserved a public airing and endangered no one.
Col. Denise Lind, the military judge who heard the case against Manning last year, found her guilty of wrongful possession and transmission of national defense information, theft of government information, unauthorized access to a government computer and wrongful possession and transmission of protected government information, violation of lawful regulations related to his computer use and storage of classified information and wrongful publication of U.S. intelligence information.
Lind sentenced Manning to 35 years of confinement, reduction to the rank of private, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
Buchanan, as the convening authority in Manning's court-martial, had the authority to disapprove any or all of the findings and to disapprove or modify any or all of the sentence. He did not have the authority to impose additional punishment or change a finding of not guilty to guilty.
Manning is being held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Attorney David Coombs, who represented her through the court-martial, said in October that Manning was being held in the general population, where she is able to receive visitors, telephone calls and correspondence.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-04-14/news/bs-md-manning-sentence-approved-20140414_1_manning-sentence-manning-to-35-years-attorney-david-coombs
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How did you determine he will only serve seven years?
The problem with the sentence is it isn't long enough. How can there be harsher sentences when this is the worst leaker in American history??
He's the only leaker who did it for no money....just a delusional idea that it was the right thing to do.
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Maybe he committed his crimes as "acts of love"?
I mean, you can disobey the BLM/cattle laws that REAGAN created, and hey, you're a patriot.
You can sneak into the USA and be here illegally, you just love your family.
I think the dude belongs in jail too - But the way repubs are just excusing lawbreaking lately cause they don't agree with them... maybe a little consistency wouldn't hurt.
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Your tax dollars hard at work here people.
Pentagon pushes Manning transfer for gender treatment
Tom Vanden Brook and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 6:10 p.m. EDT May 14, 2014
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved an Army request to transfer national-security secrets leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison that could provide her treatment to transition to a woman, Pentagon officials say.
Manning's lawyer blasted the announcement, saying it was a "strong-arm" attempt to force Manning into dropping her request for the treatment.
"The Secretary approved a request by Army leadership to evaluate potential treatment options for inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria," Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.
The soldier, formerly named Bradley Manning, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence and is eligible for parole in seven years.
Manning has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment. The Department of Veterans Affairs, however, does provide the treatment for veterans.
MORE: VA, federal prisons pay for transgender treatments
"The Pentagon's strategic leak of this story to the media is a transparent attempt to pressure Chelsea into dropping her request for needed treatment under the artificial guise of concern for her medical needs," David Coombs, Manning's lawyer, said in a statement. "It is common knowledge that the federal prison system cannot guarantee the safety and security of Chelsea in the way that the military prison system can."
Granting Manning's request for treatment is the humane thing to do, said Allyson Robinson, policy director for SPARTA, an advocacy group for LGBT troops and veterans.
"It is the constitutional right of every American to be spared cruel and unusual punishment for their crimes," Robinson said.
Manning, in a statement provided by his legal-defense fund, said she did not request the transfer and was satisfied with the "conservative" treatment plan approved by the Army.
"I was content with this plan," Manning said in a statement provided by the Chelsea Manning Support Network. "Based on these facts I don't understand why the office of the Secretary of Defense would feel the need to punt this issue by transferring me."
STORY: Transgender troops hail Hagel's announcement
At Manning's trial last year, her attorneys argued that she had been disillusioned by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and believed the release of the documents, including diplomatic cables and military reports, should be seen by the public. Prosecutors called the leaks, which vaulted Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks organization to international prominence, treasonous.
Of the 216,000 inmates in the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, about 90 prisoners have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to a statement the bureau issued Wednesday.
"In terms of cost, we don't have any estimates in this regard,'' BOP spokesman Ed Ross said. "Each inmate has individualized treatment needs."
On Sunday, Hagel indicated that he was open to reviewing the Pentagon's policy of automatically discharging transgender troops. A review is the first step in changing or scrapping military policies.
Recent research could support Hagel if he chooses to overturn the policy. A report by former U.S. surgeon general Joycelyn Elders, sponsored by a LGBT advocacy group, noted that denying transgender troops hormone treatment is inconsistent with treatment offered to other troops.
The report estimates that there are 15,000 transgender troops in the ranks.
The Army does have at least one transgender official; civilian Defense Department workers are not subject to the military ban. Amanda Simpson was appointed to a top Army post by President Obama. She now serves as the Executive Director, Energy Initiatives Task Force.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/14/pentagon-chelsea-manning/9069755/
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Chelsea Manning to undergo sex reassignment surgery
By: Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today,
September 13, 2016
WASHINGTON -— Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning has been assured she will receive gender reassignment surgery while in prison, her lawyer said late Tuesday.
Manning, convicted in the massive leak of national security secrets that propelled WikiLeaks to prominence, is serving a 35-year sentence at the Army's prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan. She is eligible for parole in about six years.
Manning ended a hunger strike begun last week after receiving assurances that the government would provide the surgery, said Chase Strangio, her lawyer and an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. Manning's doctors recommended in April that she have the male-to-female surgery, Strangio said.
No timeline has been set for her surgery, Strangio said. Manning will meet with her doctors in the next week or two.
Manning sued for access to hormone treatment, and the Army agreed to provide it last year.
In July, the Pentagon repealed its ban on allowing transgender troops to serve. It also announced that it would begin medical treatment for transgender troops, including reassignment surgery.
There are between 1,320 and 6,630 transgender troops in the active-duty force of 1.3 million, according the RAND Corp. which conducted a study for the Pentagon on the issue. Of those troops, RAND estimates that between 30 and 140 would like to seek hormone treatment, and 25 to 130 would seek surgery. The estimated annual price tag: $2.4 million to $8.4 million, per year.
Treatment is estimated to cost as much as $50,000 per service member. Treatment generally moves from counseling to hormone therapy, and in relatively rare cases, gender reassignment surgery. A military doctor must deem the treatment medically necessary.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/chelsea-manning-to-undergo-sex-reassignment-surgery
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Not surprised. What's next? A Hillary Clinton pardon? ::)
Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning
By Laura Jarrett, CNN
Tue January 17, 2017
Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.
The President also pardoned James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty in October to a single charge of making false statements to federal investigators in 2012 when he was questioned about leaking top secret information on US efforts to cripple Iran's nuclear program to two journalists.
Manning, a transgender woman and former US Army soldier, was serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, an all-male Army prison in eastern Kansas, despite her request to transfer to a civilian prison. A White House statement on Tuesday said her prison sentence is set to expire on May 17.
The material, which WikiLeaks published in 2010, included a classified video of a US helicopter attacking civilians and journalists in Iraq in 2007. Labeled "Collateral Murder," the film drew criticism from human rights activists for the deaths of innocent people.
When asked about WikiLeaks in the wake of the releases, President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade in 2010: "I think it's disgraceful. I think there should be like death penalty or something."
Though found guilty on 20 out of 22 possible charges (including violating the US Espionage Act), Manning was not convicted of the most serious one; aiding the enemy, which could have earned the private a life sentence.
Instead, the former intelligence analyst was sentenced to 35 years in prison, as well as demoted from private first class to private and dishonorably discharged.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks said it would agree to a US extradition request for the site's founder, Julian Assange, if Obama granted clemency to Manning. It was not immediately clear if WikiLeaks would make good on its promise, though the group declared "victory" in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.
A former intelligence official described being "shocked" to learn of Obama's decision Tuesday. The official added that the "entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power," saying it was "deeply hypocritical given Obama's denunciation of WikiLeaks' role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee)."
But Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Manning, said he was "relieved and thankful" Obama commuted her sentence.
"Since she was first taken into custody, Chelsea has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement -- including for attempting suicide -- and has been denied access to medically necessary health care," Strangio said in a statement. "This move could quite literally save Chelsea's life, and we are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many."
Amnesty International also cheered news of Manning's commutation.
"Chelsea Manning exposed serious abuses, and as a result, her own human rights have been violated by the US government for years," Margaret Huang, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "President Obama was right to commute her sentence, but it is long overdue. It is unconscionable that she languished in prison for years while those allegedly implicated by the information she revealed still haven't been brought to justice."
Republican members of Congress, however, expressed outrage.
"This was grave harm to our national security. and Chelsea Manning is serving a sentence and should continue to serve that sentence," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he considered Manning a "traitor" and said he was "disappointed" about the commutation.
"If somebody leaks our state secrets, endangers Americans directly, we need to set an example that is severe and consistent," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/chelsea-manning-sentence-commuted/
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but not assange or sonwden?
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but not assange or sonwden?
Julian cannot be pardoned; he's currently not being charged for anything in the US, only Sweden.
He could be granted asylum though.
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Julian cannot be pardoned; he's currently not being charged for anything in the US, only Sweden.
He could be granted asylum though.
If he announced he was gay, bisexual, etc. he'd probably be pardoned tomorrow.
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How did you determine he will only serve seven years?
The problem with the sentence is it isn't long enough. How can there be harsher sentences when this is the worst leaker in American history??
I rest my case
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I rest my case
Good call.
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Sets a great precedence ::), want to commit treason? Don't worry the POTUS will commute your sentence. They used to execute traitors.....
Not surprised. What's next? A Hillary Clinton pardon? ::)
Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning
By Laura Jarrett, CNN
Tue January 17, 2017
Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.
The President also pardoned James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty in October to a single charge of making false statements to federal investigators in 2012 when he was questioned about leaking top secret information on US efforts to cripple Iran's nuclear program to two journalists.
Manning, a transgender woman and former US Army soldier, was serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, an all-male Army prison in eastern Kansas, despite her request to transfer to a civilian prison. A White House statement on Tuesday said her prison sentence is set to expire on May 17.
The material, which WikiLeaks published in 2010, included a classified video of a US helicopter attacking civilians and journalists in Iraq in 2007. Labeled "Collateral Murder," the film drew criticism from human rights activists for the deaths of innocent people.
When asked about WikiLeaks in the wake of the releases, President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade in 2010: "I think it's disgraceful. I think there should be like death penalty or something."
Though found guilty on 20 out of 22 possible charges (including violating the US Espionage Act), Manning was not convicted of the most serious one; aiding the enemy, which could have earned the private a life sentence.
Instead, the former intelligence analyst was sentenced to 35 years in prison, as well as demoted from private first class to private and dishonorably discharged.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks said it would agree to a US extradition request for the site's founder, Julian Assange, if Obama granted clemency to Manning. It was not immediately clear if WikiLeaks would make good on its promise, though the group declared "victory" in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.
A former intelligence official described being "shocked" to learn of Obama's decision Tuesday. The official added that the "entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power," saying it was "deeply hypocritical given Obama's denunciation of WikiLeaks' role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee)."
But Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Manning, said he was "relieved and thankful" Obama commuted her sentence.
"Since she was first taken into custody, Chelsea has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement -- including for attempting suicide -- and has been denied access to medically necessary health care," Strangio said in a statement. "This move could quite literally save Chelsea's life, and we are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many."
Amnesty International also cheered news of Manning's commutation.
"Chelsea Manning exposed serious abuses, and as a result, her own human rights have been violated by the US government for years," Margaret Huang, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "President Obama was right to commute her sentence, but it is long overdue. It is unconscionable that she languished in prison for years while those allegedly implicated by the information she revealed still haven't been brought to justice."
Republican members of Congress, however, expressed outrage.
"This was grave harm to our national security. and Chelsea Manning is serving a sentence and should continue to serve that sentence," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he considered Manning a "traitor" and said he was "disappointed" about the commutation.
"If somebody leaks our state secrets, endangers Americans directly, we need to set an example that is severe and consistent," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/chelsea-manning-sentence-commuted/
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Bergdahl is next.
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Not surprised. What's next? A Hillary Clinton pardon? ::)
Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning
By Laura Jarrett, CNN
Tue January 17, 2017
Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.
The President also pardoned James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty in October to a single charge of making false statements to federal investigators in 2012 when he was questioned about leaking top secret information on US efforts to cripple Iran's nuclear program to two journalists.
Manning, a transgender woman and former US Army soldier, was serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth, an all-male Army prison in eastern Kansas, despite her request to transfer to a civilian prison. A White House statement on Tuesday said her prison sentence is set to expire on May 17.
The material, which WikiLeaks published in 2010, included a classified video of a US helicopter attacking civilians and journalists in Iraq in 2007. Labeled "Collateral Murder," the film drew criticism from human rights activists for the deaths of innocent people.
When asked about WikiLeaks in the wake of the releases, President-elect Donald Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade in 2010: "I think it's disgraceful. I think there should be like death penalty or something."
Though found guilty on 20 out of 22 possible charges (including violating the US Espionage Act), Manning was not convicted of the most serious one; aiding the enemy, which could have earned the private a life sentence.
Instead, the former intelligence analyst was sentenced to 35 years in prison, as well as demoted from private first class to private and dishonorably discharged.
Earlier this month, WikiLeaks said it would agree to a US extradition request for the site's founder, Julian Assange, if Obama granted clemency to Manning. It was not immediately clear if WikiLeaks would make good on its promise, though the group declared "victory" in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.
A former intelligence official described being "shocked" to learn of Obama's decision Tuesday. The official added that the "entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power," saying it was "deeply hypocritical given Obama's denunciation of WikiLeaks' role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee)."
But Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Manning, said he was "relieved and thankful" Obama commuted her sentence.
"Since she was first taken into custody, Chelsea has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement -- including for attempting suicide -- and has been denied access to medically necessary health care," Strangio said in a statement. "This move could quite literally save Chelsea's life, and we are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many."
Amnesty International also cheered news of Manning's commutation.
"Chelsea Manning exposed serious abuses, and as a result, her own human rights have been violated by the US government for years," Margaret Huang, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "President Obama was right to commute her sentence, but it is long overdue. It is unconscionable that she languished in prison for years while those allegedly implicated by the information she revealed still haven't been brought to justice."
Republican members of Congress, however, expressed outrage.
"This was grave harm to our national security. and Chelsea Manning is serving a sentence and should continue to serve that sentence," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he considered Manning a "traitor" and said he was "disappointed" about the commutation.
"If somebody leaks our state secrets, endangers Americans directly, we need to set an example that is severe and consistent," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/chelsea-manning-sentence-commuted/
Wouldn't HRC's pardon be premature? After all, she's not been charged with anything, much less convicted and incarcerated.
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Wouldn't HRC's pardon be premature? After all, she's not been charged with anything, much less convicted and incarcerated.
Same way Ford pardoned Nixon.
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Sets a great precedence ::), want to commit treason? Don't worry the POTUS will commute your sentence. They used to execute traitors.....
He technically only had another year on his sentence and commuting a sentence leave in place his dishonorable discharge
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Same way Ford pardoned Nixon.
The Constitution simply provides that the President ''shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment'' (Article II, section 2).
1974
Nixon charged with first of three articles of impeachment
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The Constitution simply provides that the President ''shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment'' (Article II, section 2).
1974
Nixon charged with first of three articles of impeachment
No he wasn't. The House never voted on articles of impeachment. He resigned before they could vote.
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Good week to be a drug dealer, cop killer, and traitor. Thanks President Obama.
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He technically only had another year on his sentence and commuting a sentence leave in place his dishonorable discharge
I guess you missed the point, but I guess one persons traitor is someone else's whistle blower
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No he wasn't. The House never voted on articles of impeachment. He resigned before they could vote.
And why do you think he resigned?
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"Chelsea" Manning, oh brother ::)
"Mamma name him Clay, Ima call him Clay"
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So, in the liberal world:
Turning over classified military information: OK
Exposing true DNC emails/information: Not OK
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And why do you think he resigned?
Because he was probably going to be impeached by the House and removed by the Senate.
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"Chelsea" Manning, oh brother ::)
"Mamma name him Clay, Ima call him Clay"
lol. That's what I'm saying. ;D
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So, in the liberal world:
Turning over classified military information: OK
Exposing true DNC emails/information: Not OK
Twisted.
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So, in the liberal world:
Turning over classified military information: OK
Exposing true DNC emails/information: Not OK
:D
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"Chelsea" Manning, oh brother ::)
"Mamma name him Clay, Ima call him Clay"
Is your handle here what your mama named you?
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Pentagon head opposed Manning commutation: reports
By Mark Hensch - 01/17/17
Defense Secretary Ash Carter disagreed with President Obama’s decision to commute former Army soldier Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence, according to multiple reports.
Carter “did not support” reducing Manning’s 35-year sentence for leaking classified information about U.S. national security activities, CNN said Tuesday.
CNN said it confirmed Carter’s opposition with a senior Department of Defense official following Obama’s maneuver earlier Tuesday.
A U.S. official also told ABC News that evening Carter was against the idea of Manning’s sentence getting commuted.
Obama commuted Manning’s sentence earlier Tuesday, cutting what was the longest punishment ever imposed for a leak conviction.
Manning was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified information that was later publicly disseminated by WikiLeaks.
The former Army private has already served seven years of her sentence, and will now regain freedom on May 17, 2017. Manning was originally set to be released in 2045.
Manning’s grant came in a batch of 209 commutations and 64 pardons, which were announced with four days left in Obama’s presidency.
A senior administration official said Obama believes Manning is remorseful and has faced “sufficient punishment for the serious crimes she committed.”
Manning, who is transgender, has reportedly struggled with mental health issues during her incarceration. The former soldier has twice attempted suicide, for example, actions which were penalized by her solitary confinement.
An attorney for Manning, meanwhile, voiced gratitude for Obama’s commutation during a MSNBC interview Tuesday.
“If he didn’t act now, Chelsea’s life was very much in jeopardy,” Chase Strangio said. "President Obama acted on the side of justice here. And I truly do believe that this has saved her life.”
Tuesday’s commutation marked a reversal from Obama’s past position on Manning in 2011, when he said the former soldier “broke the law” and deserved punishment.
Manning, who was then known as Bradley, leaked thousands of classified documents pertaining to the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/314731-pentagon-head-opposed-manning-commutation-reports
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Trump used it's Trans name
(https://i.reddituploads.com/d34fee25213e493bb2a3b278ac289950?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=5f1452f4e3b9a2685eb035904d461dd6)
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Trump used it's Trans name
(https://i.reddituploads.com/d34fee25213e493bb2a3b278ac289950?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=5f1452f4e3b9a2685eb035904d461dd6)
Not crazy about his tweeting, but this one is Dos Equis approved.
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Our tax dollars hard at work again.
Chelsea Manning to remain in Army, receive health care benefits after prison release
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/15/chelsea-manning-to-remain-in-army-receive-health-care-benefits-after-prison-release.html
Manning was granted clemency in the final days of the Obama administration. She thanked former President Obama last Tuesday in her first statement since being granted clemency
Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, was convicted in 2013 of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents
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Not crazy about his tweeting, but this one is Dos Equis approved.
I'm not...I find it hypocritical considering how many times Trump called Obama weak
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I'm not...I find it hypocritical considering how many times Trump called Obama weak
Obama was weak. But he gave convicted traitor Manning a pass, so it was dumb for Manning to criticize Obama.
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Not surprised.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/14/harvard-under-siege-for-making-convicted-spy-chelsea-manning-visiting-fellow.html
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Not surprised.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/14/harvard-under-siege-for-making-convicted-spy-chelsea-manning-visiting-fellow.html
Our Universities are a scam. MUCH better off going to a trade school.
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Our Universities are a scam. MUCH better off going to a trade school.
Another ridiculous blanket statement made by the local genius.
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Another ridiculous blanket statement made by the local genius.
You're right. I should have said MOST Universities
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Another ridiculous blanket statement made by the local genius.
NY police leaders outraged over John Jay College professor's tweet on teaching 'future dead cops'
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/15/ny-police-leaders-outraged-over-john-jay-college-professors-tweet-on-teaching-future-dead-cops.html
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Not surprised.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/14/harvard-under-siege-for-making-convicted-spy-chelsea-manning-visiting-fellow.html
Good. Better late than never.
Harvard dean rescinds Chelsea Manning’s visiting fellow invitation, calling it a ‘mistake’
By Andrew deGrandpre September 15, 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/09/14/former-cia-directors-shun-harvard-after-the-school-invites-chelsea-manning-to-campus/?utm_term=.5dc435ddca69
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How does a school like Harvard not know that was a mistake. I thought they were smart there.
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How does a school like Harvard not know that was a mistake. I thought they were smart there.
They are not.
Source: i went to that hellhole for two years before leaving
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I'm not sure a failed Intel PFC who leaked info is going to be much of an expert on the military, gays or anything. Maybe avoiding rape in prison would be a better field of expertise.
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I'm not sure a failed Intel PFC who leaked info is going to be much of an expert on the military, gays or anything. Maybe avoiding rape in prison would be a better field of expertise.
Or the finer points of inviting it, more like.
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Another sterling representation of the Obama legacy.
Chelsea Manning on day honoring cops: ‘F–k the police’
By Paulina Dedaj January 9, 2018
Modal Trigger Chelsea Manning on day honoring cops: ‘F–k the police’
(https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/010918-chelsea-manning.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1328&h=882&crop=1)
Getty Images
As many people across the country recognized Law Enforcement Appreciation Day on Tuesday, convicted spy Chelsea Manning took to Twitter to blast the men and women in blue.
“F–k the police,” Manning tweeted out on Tuesday, followed by “#DisarmThePolice #WeGotThis.”
Manning doubled down on her position, sending out a series of tweets with seemingly unsourced stats.
Manning, who was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning in prison after her arrest in 2010, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud.
She was responsible for the release of more than 700,000 classified government documents on WikiLeaks.
Manning was cleared of her most serious charge of aiding the enemy.
In his final days in office, President Barack Obama granted Manning clemency, and she was released from military prison last May after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence.
View image on Twitter
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTHdX8bX0AAvHiq.jpg)
Chelsea E. Manning
✔
@xychelsea
fuck the police 🚫🔫👮♀️🚔 #DisarmThePolice 😁🌈💕 #WeGotThis #LawEnforcementAppreciationDay
7:40 AM - Jan 9, 2018
4,100 4,100 Replies 1,880 1,880 Retweets 7,634 7,634 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Manning has used the social media platform in the past to share other brash messages.
On Veterans Day, she tweeted, “Want to support veterans!? Stop sending us overseas to kill or be killed for your nationalist fairy tales. We can do better.”
The tweet prompted backlash from conservatives, who criticized Manning for being a “traitor.”
https://nypost.com/2018/01/09/chelsea-manning-on-day-honoring-cops-f-k-the-police/