Chelsea Manning on Obama's 'shortlist' to commute prison sentence
74 replies, posted
[url]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/11/chelsea-manning-obama-commute-prison-sentence[/url]
[quote]Chelsea Manning, the army soldier who leaked state secrets in 2010 and has been imprisoned longer than any other official leaker in US history, has called on President Obama to show her clemency in the final days of his presidency, saying that this amounts to her last chance for freedom “for a very long time”.
With nine days left for the Obama presidency, Manning is reportedly on Obama’s “shortlist” for a commutation of her sentence, according to NBC News.
Time is running out for Manning, who has already been incarcerated for six years for leaking hundreds of thousands of war logs, embassy cables and videos that cast light on the nature of modern warfare. It is presumed that the incoming president, Donald Trump, would be unlikely to look favorably on her case and that under him her 35-year sentence would be left to run its course.
Manning told the Guardian that the petition she made to Obama in November was “the last real chance to make my case to go home for a very long time”. She said that the appeal she filed against her sentence last May would take many years to work its way through the courts.
And in an emotional plea for mercy from Obama, she added: “I have spent almost all of my adult life either homeless, in the military or in prison. I haven’t had the chance to live my life yet.”
Until he steps down on 20 January, Obama has presidential power under the US constitution either to fully pardon individuals who have been convicted of crimes, or to commute their sentences, and many others are hoping they will be the beneficiaries of that power. Manning’s appeal lawyer, Nancy Hollander, said it was time for the president to act before it was too late by reducing the sentence to the six years she has already served.[/quote]
Does he have a chance of doing it? What would be the reaction if he did?
I'd like to see it happen and I hope it does.
[editline]11th January 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51655542]Does he have a chance of doing it? What would be the reaction if he did?[/QUOTE]
Very unfavourable from the GOP/Republicans to say the least.
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;51655549]I'd like to see it happen and I hope it does.
[editline]11th January 2017[/editline]
Very unfavourable from the GOP/Republicans to say the least.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't matter, what's the GOP gonna do about a president on the way out
Manning's crime far exceed any non-violent offender on these lists.
[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;51655643]Manning's crime far exceed any non-violent offender on these lists.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I'm wondering that too. It really depends on what she's released.
[quote]Time is running out for Manning, who has already been incarcerated for six years for leaking hundreds of thousands of war logs, embassy cables and videos that cast light on the nature of modern warfare.[/quote]
If it was anything that put lives at risk, then I don't think Obama would pardon her.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;51655652]Yeah I'm wondering that too. It really depends on what she's released.
If it was anything that put lives at risk, then I don't think Obama would pardon her.[/QUOTE]
On a personal level I utterly despise Manning, she endangered a lot of people's lives especially in Afghanistan where the Taliban will go on a local level and slaughter the families of interpreters and coalition collaborators.
[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;51655670]On a personal level I utterly despise Manning, she endangered a lot of people's lives especially in Afghanistan where the Taliban will go on a local level and slaughter the families of interpreters and coalition collaborators.[/QUOTE]
Did that happen? Enough time has passed that if it did, there should be evidence or mention somewhere.
She put lives at risk and compromised military operations, she deserves her sentence
[QUOTE=Svinnik;51655679]She put lives at risk and compromised military operations, she deserves her sentence[/QUOTE]
Maybe if her sentence were carried out in a first world prison. But idk, I think with how poorly the US prison system treats inmates she's probably suffered enough inhumane torture by now yeah? Especially considering the suicide attempts and frequent solitary confinement, among things we don't know about. Or is there a clause in there with stipulation on where the line is drawn with who can receive inhumane treatment and for how long based on feel good revenge fantasies and their placement in society?
[QUOTE=RG4ORDR;51655670]On a personal level I utterly despise Manning, she endangered a lot of people's lives especially in Afghanistan where the Taliban will go on a local level and slaughter the families of interpreters and coalition collaborators.[/QUOTE]
blame wikileaks for releasing it without redactions, not her
[QUOTE=Cructo;51655743]As far as I can tell the only reason Manning is getting all this attention/sympathy is because she is transgender.
Honestly, would a regular male prisoner with the same charges receive the same treatment from the media?[/QUOTE]
Yes. Why would you think that a being part group that isn't even particularly romanticised or favored in the US would give her special treatment? We already saw with Snowden that people have respect to a certain extent for whistleblowers.
[QUOTE=F.X Clampazzo;51655725]Maybe if her sentence were carried out in a first world prison. But idk, I think with how poorly the US prison system treats inmates she's probably suffered enough inhumane torture by now yeah? Especially considering the suicide attempts and frequent solitary confinement, among things we don't know about. Or is there a clause in there with stipulation on where the line is drawn with who can receive inhumane treatment and for how long based on feel good revenge fantasies and their placement in society?[/QUOTE]
US military prisons are far better than private or federal ones
[QUOTE=Cructo;51655793]Except Snowden actually bothered to work with publishers to verify what info was relevant to the general public while Manning just leaked sensitive, potentially endangering intelligence to everyone[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Bradley deserves the 35 year sentence.
[QUOTE=Turnips5;51655734]blame wikileaks for releasing it without redactions, not her[/QUOTE]
That's not how this works at all. She's the one who illegally disclosed sensitive, classified information to an organization that she could not possibly control.
I'll blame Wikileaks too, but that doesn't get her off the hook when it's her fault Wikileaks was in the equation to begin with.
Nah, manning deserves what they got. You didn't blow the lid on anything, you just put people in danger.
[QUOTE=Cructo;51655793]Except Snowden actually bothered to work with publishers to verify what info was relevant to the general public while Manning just leaked sensitive, potentially endangering intelligence to everyone[/QUOTE]
Im aware of the distinction, but most of Americans probably aren't/don't really care. Intelligence, privacy, and whistleblowing is a hot topic and was when she leaked her information. Her public perception/media coverage wouldn't differ if she wasn't trans.
[QUOTE=MR-X;51655883]Nah, manning deserves what they got. You didn't blow the lid on anything, you just put people in danger.[/QUOTE]
Manning did exposed scummy thing army was doing (and still do) so fuck you.
[editline]11th January 2017[/editline]
[video=youtube;Yw442y2fTeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU[/video]
Video of scummy thing in question.
How the fuck do you mistake cameras for AK47s? Also this was village neighborhood. This is just cold-blooded murder.
America has big whistle-blower problem. Lots of people that exposed government crimes are in jail but the ones that should be in jail are roaming free.
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Flaming" - Blazyd))[/highlight]
While I personally don't think the US does a very good job of enforcing whistleblower protections, I think that if it came down to Snowden or Manning getting pardoned/commuted, I'd want Snowden to get off the hook. He seemingly put much more effort into disclosing his leaks properly and in a secure manner.
I don't personally "hate" or dislike Manning, but she seems to have done a very, very poor job of making sure her leaks didn't reveal PII on US personnel and collaborators in dangerous situations, hence my opinion.
However, I'd not be upset if both somehow managed to get pardoned/commuted, despite how much of a longshot that is. As it stands now, it sounds like Manning's time in military prison's been a bit of a living hell, as harsh as a description as it may sound. There's a reason we stopped using isolation cells in the normal prison system until recent decades...
Also, don't get me wrong, I don't endorse what Manning did necessarily, but at the same time I cannot endorse retaliatory action against whistleblowers on principle.
[editline]11th January 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Fourier;51655924]America has big whistle-blower problem.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. There's been much documentation over the past years of the 'official' government bodies for handling whistleblowers and their cases failing to perform adequately, or in many cases acting as tools for the people implicated in wrongdoing in these cases to directly retaliate at the whistleblowers. It's a systemic issue, and one that needs to be solved through activism and reform.
[QUOTE=Stroheim;51655806]Exactly. Bradley deserves the 35 year sentence.[/QUOTE]
nice casual trans hate lol
[QUOTE=Cructo;51655743]As far as I can tell the only reason Manning is getting all this attention/sympathy is because she is transgender.
Honestly, would a regular male prisoner with the same charges receive the same treatment from the media?[/QUOTE]
yes because she's a hero and sacrificed her freedom and possibly life to expose terrible things that our government did
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51655675]Did that happen? Enough time has passed that if it did, there should be evidence or mention somewhere.[/QUOTE]
Sorry to say, man, but I've read about that happening. Anyone who assisted the coalition has been targeted by the Taliban if they found out.
[QUOTE=Stroheim;51655806]Exactly. Bradley deserves the 35 year sentence.[/QUOTE]
who?
Chelsea Manning released information showing war crimes committed by the US military. Nobody talks about that, though. The primary focus is to make an example out of her to intimidate other potential whistleblowers into silence.
[QUOTE=Jim Morrison;51656146]Chelsea Manning released information showing war crimes committed by the US military. Nobody talks about that, though. The primary focus is to make an example out of her to intimidate other potential whistleblowers into silence.[/QUOTE]
Precisely. The core (but likely never to be admitted by the government) reason for her receiving a sentence of 35 years (which is admittedly still FAR, far less than what the govt. prosecutors wanted) was to intimidate future whistleblowers from coming forward. The US government has a right to keep secrets, yes, but it has increasingly abused that right time and time again in recent history to allow abuses of power to go unchecked, and in this case, war crimes to go unpunished.
However, I will say that she did indeed go about leaking the information in a very foolish manner, especially by effectively bragging a known grey hat hacker on the simple assumption that he wouldn't go to the feds (which he did), as well as leaking the entire unedited set of files to Wikileaks (which in a par-for-the-course manner put in very little effort to protect the people named in the documents). She did send out information that was important for the world to see, but did it in an inappropriate manner and in turn did endanger the lives of some individuals.
[QUOTE=Fourier;51655924]Manning did exposed scummy thing army was doing (and still do) so fuck you.
[editline]11th January 2017[/editline]
[video=youtube;Yw442y2fTeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU[/video]
Video of scummy thing in question.
How the fuck do you mistake cameras for AK47s? Also this was village neighborhood. This is just cold-blooded murder.
America has big whistle-blower problem. Lots of people that exposed government crimes are in jail but the ones that should be in jail are roaming free.[/QUOTE]
[t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/July_12%2C_2007_Baghdad_airstrike_targets_%281%29.png[/t]
IIRC there were armed men in that group including a guy with an RPG which the original edited version of the video Wikileaks released doesn't call attention to. It also doesn't show that this was at a position where insurgents attacked a Humvee earlier in the day
[QUOTE]"But in its zeal to make the video a work of antiwar propaganda, WikiLeaks also released a version that didn’t call attention to an Iraqi who was toting a rocket-propelled grenade and packaged the manipulated version under the tendentious rubric Collateral Murder." The New York Times reported that "Critics contend that the shorter video was misleading because it did not make clear that the attacks took place amid clashes in the neighborhood and that one of the men was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html[/url]
Also having just having a camera doesn't immediately make you look like a reporter. Many insurgents would film their attacks for propaganda purposes which is a practice that continues today with ISIS, Syrian Rebels, the Houthis, and the PKK.
if she does serve, don't fucking leave her in solitary again
If he did commute manning I would say it should be based on how she was treated in the system more than what crime she committed. Its basically an embarrassment to the country's reputation (haha I know right?) that this stuff is okay
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;51655549]
Very unfavourable from the GOP/Republicans to say the least.[/QUOTE]
Dude's out of the game in a week, I doubt he gives even the tiniest of shits.
should be given better prison treatment, yeah, its inhumane with all the suicide attempts and solitary etc., but i dont think commuting the sentence should happen
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