[QUOTE]WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday largely commuted the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst convicted of an enormous 2010 leak that revealed American military and diplomatic activities across the world, disrupted the administration, and made WikiLeaks, the recipient of those disclosures, famous.
The decision by Mr. Obama rescued Ms. Manning, who twice tried to commit suicide last year, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the male military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.
Now, under the terms of Mr. Obama’s commutation announced by the White House on Tuesday, Ms. Manning is set to be freed in five months, on May 17 of this year, rather than in 2045.
The commutation also relieved the Department of Defense of the difficult responsibility of her incarceration as she pushes for treatment for her gender dysphoria — including sex reassignment surgery — that the military has no experience providing.
In recent days, the White House had signaled that Mr. Obama was seriously considering granting Ms. Manning’s commutation application, in contrast to a pardon application submitted on behalf of the other large-scale leaker of the era, Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who disclosed archives of top secret surveillance files and is living as a fugitive in Russia.
Asked about the two clemency applications on Friday, the White House spokesman, Joshua Earnest, discussed the “pretty stark difference” between Ms. Manning’s case for mercy with Mr. Snowden’s. While their offenses were similar, he said, there were “some important differences.”
“Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,” he said. “Mr. Snowden fled into the arms of an adversary, and has sought refuge in a country that most recently made a concerted effort to undermine confidence in our democracy.”
He also noted that while the documents Ms. Manning provided to WikiLeaks were “damaging to national security,” the ones Mr. Snowden disclosed were “far more serious and far more dangerous.” (None of the documents Ms. Manning disclosed were classified above the merely “secret” level.)[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/us/politics/obama-commutes-bulk-of-chelsea-mannings-sentence.html?smid=fb-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur[/url]
but meh government secrets!
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Memeshit" - Pascall))[/highlight]
Eh he should have done this sooner but I'm glad it's being done
Hopefully trump can't just turn this around.
ive heard plenty people absolutely disgusted with obama doing this; its nuts
I have to say I didn't think he would do it. One of the few things I will unironically thank Obama for.
Good, but I won't be impressed unless he pardons Snowden.
[QUOTE=sYnced;51685550]ive heard plenty people absolutely disgusted with obama doing this; its nuts[/QUOTE]
the common theme of purposefully misgendering Manning during these arguments makes it pretty clear why there's such a hate-boner for her
those same users always ask [I]why[/I] she deserves freedom (with the implication that she doesn't), don't respond to the arguments put forth with anything but calling it treason, and proceed to repeat this cycle in the next thread
B-b-b-b-but she's a traitor!
Good, now pardon Snowden too.
Cool
no one deserves the conditions she was served in.
I hope the trump administration doesn't reverse it
Not entirely sure I agree with this. She has already been in prison for 7 years though, and they're still making her serve another 5 months so I guess certain charges were commuted and others weren't.
Well that was unexpected. I'm sure this will totally not be a very controversial verdict by a major chunk of the Military and Intelligence community.
I wouldn't be surprised if she flees the country to Canada or somewhere, or ends up like Ernesto Miranda and gets shanked in a bar. As soon as she walks out those doors, she is doomed to this.
[QUOTE=Judas;51685609]I hope the trump administration doesn't reverse it[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure that's possible actually...
[QUOTE=Medevila;51685624]Um, Manning instead of Snowden? that's surprising[/QUOTE]
one of them is chillin in russia and the other was about to be handed over to president wario
I didn't see this coming, considering how badly the Obama administration has been hunting whistleblowers, but for some reason I'm not surprised either.
Manning didn't gun it for Russia when she had the chance, so I guess that's the reason why it's her over Snowden. I'm not saying that it's an either-or decision, but still.
[QUOTE=Demeschik;51685653]Manning didn't gun it for Russia when she had the chance, so I guess that's the reason why it's her over Snowden. I'm not saying that it's an either-or decision, but still.[/QUOTE]
Plus the stuff she leaked wasn't nearly as high on the 'secrecy' charts given her lack of access to the kind of stuff that Snowden published.
It makes sense that Manning would get a pardon since she actually went through the judicial system. That and as far as I know she was more of a pawn than Snowden.
Wow I really did not expect this at ALL. Glad Obama is doing some good with the last few breaths he has in office.
At least joe taxpayer and I don't have to pay for her surgery.
[QUOTE=Demeschik;51685653]Manning didn't gun it for Russia when she had the chance, so I guess that's the reason why it's her over Snowden. I'm not saying that it's an either-or decision, but still.[/QUOTE]
Snowden didn't "gun it for Russia", he got stuck in Russia while trying to travel somewhere else because his passport got revoked. He had no choice but to stay and ask for asylum there.
[QUOTE=KommradKommisar;51685681]At least joe taxpayer and I don't have to pay for her surgery.[/QUOTE]
Because god forbid even a microscopic percentage of your tax money goes to something you personally don't agree with, that would really be the true catastrophe here.
[QUOTE=Lambeth;51685542]Eh he should have done this sooner but I'm glad it's being done[/QUOTE]
Usually done at end of terms so that any fallout from the decision won't matter. What are they going to do? Not pass a budget?
[QUOTE=I-the-gamer;51685684]Snowden didn't "gun it for Russia", he got stuck in Russia while trying to travel somewhere else because his passport got revoked. He had no choice but to stay and ask for asylum there.[/QUOTE]
You got me there, I was exaggerating. However, I think there may be people who actually see it this way. It can't be easy being Snowden, ending up with a regime much, much worse than what he had exposed.
He's going to pardon somebody that actively acted against the country and committed treason?
They swore and broke an oath to maintain silence and to never compromise the security of the organization of which they served.
More of the typical "[i][b]patriotism[/b][/i]" Obama's been exercising these past few months, I see.
Damn I did not expect this.
[QUOTE=Demeschik;51685688]You got me there, I was exaggerating. However, I think there may be people who actually see it this way. It can't be easy being Snowden, ending up with a regime much, much worse than what he had exposed.[/QUOTE]
Yeah i just think it's an important distinction to make, since it's consistently misrepresented by the US government to attack Snowdens legitimacy as a whistleblower.
[media]https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713[/media]
Is this still on then or what?
[QUOTE=Cureless;51685691]He's going to pardon somebody that actively acted against the country and committed treason?
They swore and broke an oath to maintain silence and to never compromise the security of the organization of which they served.
More of the typical "[i][b]patriotism[/b][/i]" Obama's been exercising these past few months, I see.[/QUOTE]
She exposed war crimes and as a reward was looking forward to a life of solitary confinement or worse as a reward. If even Obama "drone strike Mcgee" knows that's wrong it's ridiculous people are mad about this.
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