Chelsea Manning Is Expected to Leave Prison, 28 Years Early

Sentenced to an unprecedented 35-year prison term for disclosing archives of secret files to WikiLeaks, Ms. Manning spent about seven years in prison — already double the second-longest sentence in any leak case. She is set to be freed 28 years early because President Barack Obama, in one of his final acts, commuted the bulk of her remaining sentence.

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Her leaks brought to light numerous hidden facts, including previously unknown civilian bystander killings in the Iraq war, back-room diplomatic dealings and discussion of local corruption around the world, and intelligence assessments about Guantánamo Bay detainees.

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After her 2013 conviction, Ms. Manning was taken to Fort Leavenworth to serve her sentence.

Chelsea Manning Is Expected to Leave Prison, 28 Years Early

I could not be happier to learn that Chelsea Manning is being released. Something I'm certain is not going to be a widely held opinion on this forum.

She's a brave whistle blower, a former soldier who sought to hold the military to it's own scrupulous standards of integrity and honor. She paid a costly price for her actions, tried to commit suicide twice while at Fort Leavenworth and will face a difficult transition back to civilian life. In my eyes, Ms. Manning served her time, "already double the second-longest sentence in any leak case", and she deserves her freedom.

EDTA: She leaves Fort Leavenworth tomorrow morning, for those of you who didn't read the full article. Should have added this detail in the snippets.

a reply to: AnonyMason

She's a brave whistle blower, a former soldier who sought to hold the military to it's own scrupulous standards of integrity and honor.

One could certainly argue that - and I bet her lawyers did - but the thing is that the court took this into consideration and said "nope, what you did you should not have done", and then proceeded to sentence Manning.

Remember, Manning got 35 years because the court found that the leak was about doing harm and not just about blowing the whistle, and releasing classified military information was a way of achieving it - that is as close to treason as it gets without being "clearcut" treason. T

To me it is then wrong for a president to say "i disagree" and then overrule the court.

Manning should, in my humble opinion, be either in jail because the court has decided so or be released because an appeal had made the courts reconsider.

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He should be in prison... period... I am more willing to grant leniency to a civilian than a member of the military that violated the law.

We in the military have an extra set of rules for a reason, its a crock that he gets a pass... while civilians get punished for the same behavior.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
He should be in prison... period... I am more willing to grant leniency to a civilian than a member of the military that violated the law.

We in the military have an extra set of rules for a reason, its a crock that he gets a pass... while civilians get punished for the same behavior.

.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
He should be in prison... period... I am more willing to grant leniency to a civilian than a member of the military that violated the law.

We in the military have an extra set of rules for a reason, its a crock that he gets a pass... while civilians get punished for the same behavior.

I don't disagree with most of your post, and I kind of understand why you would be more willing to grant leniency to a civilian - there's a good reason for that, but then Manning sent the stolen data, all of it, with nothing redacted, to wikileaks. Wikileaks didn't have to disseminate it, but they did - ultimately that's Assange's responsibility and should be equally as guilty. Funny how so many on ATS consider them both to have done something heroic.

What does she/he yet know ? It's obvious Bradly Manning is unreliable at keeping secrets. When he decided to change into a dress, it became a circus, I don't participate in them.

Did he do some good ?

Bloody good show!

She has a chance at life now, something she richly deserves for having the courage to whistleblow on what the US Military was doing wrong in order to begin a conversation on it. Good on her, I wish her all the best - and good on Obama for having the courage to end the madness that was her unjustly long prison sentence.

This is a good thing. I cannot be anymore against imprisoning people for showing the illegal or improper behavior of our monolithic government.

Well, for starters OP, you're incorrect about manning, its a HE.

a reply to: DupontDeux

Your opinion is noted. I disagree with you. She wasn't treasonous. She blew the whistle and got caught. Arguably because Wikileaks was somewhat careless when they published the information and that narrowed down the list of potential sources.

Whistle blowers and leakers do so because they believe their government or their employers are doing something illegal. Chelsea Manning should never have received the insane sentence of 35 years. I think it was one of the few things that Obama did right when he decided to pardon her. The military tried to cover up civilian deaths. Do we plan for civilian casualties during operations? Yes. But we always try to minimize them. In this case the video leaked by Manning proved that there was very little in the way of minimization. Those guys were trying to get some. They got some, but it wasn't from armed combatants. It was journalists and civilians. Thats a big no no.

a reply to: Plotus

Yes, she did a lot of good. Revealing state sponsored illegal civilian killing, revealing talks about Guantanamo detainees being tortured? Being brave enough to take a stand against a corrupt government using enlisted men and women to do their dirty work and make oil companies, defense contractors, and a slew of other huge corporations big bucks in the Middle East? In my opinion Chelsea Manning should be honored, not locked up as a criminal. Politics got her locked up. But what is legal and what is right or wrong are often far apart from each other.

I would chalk those up to 'good' things in the eyes of people who want their government to be held accountable, and held to higher standards than doing illegal stuff just because they think they can get away with it.

a reply to: Arnie123

Says you.

I say respect the individual. Chelsea Manning wants to be a girl, let her be a girl. I support that. So should everyone else. What skin is it off your nose if someone wants to call themselves a female or a male? If your response has anything to do with a deity just don't bother writing it.

Dude got off easy and screwed the taxpayers for unnecessary surgery. Should be rotting in prison.

a reply to: Teikiatsu

Get over it.

Your President has spent more money golfing n Mar Lago than Chelsea Manning's medical bills could accrue in ten years.

Why am I not surprised at the rhetoric on Manning's gender and medical expenses here despite the fact that the issue should be about "whistleblowing" and military business?

a reply to: auroraaus

Nothing really surprises me any more. I guess it just depends on how much you've been desensitized to.

Also, yes, the topic should be her whistle blowing, the fact that she's free as of this morning, or something aside from the very small amount of money it cost for her medical bills.

a reply to: auroraaus
To be honest, I am fairly certain the previous administration only even offered him a lighter sentence by demanding he undergo the humiliation of this depraved body mutilation or he would never see daylight again. It was all in the works as part of the propaganda agenda to empower mental illness and depravity as some kind of new social movement.

And either way, we all know they will just kill him off in a few years anyway, and probably make it look like a suicide with some fake letter about he just cannot cope with his identity issues.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: auroraaus
To be honest, I am fairly certain the previous administration only even offered him a lighter sentence by demanding he undergo the humiliation of this depraved body mutilation or he would never see daylight again. It was all in the works as part of the propaganda agenda to empower mental illness and depravity as some kind of new social movement.

What???? Pretty elaborate plan with an incredibly ambitious goal in mind don't ya think??? Seems like a lot of effort being put into something with such a slim chance of actually working.

a reply to: mOjOm

not working?? I saw plenty of rallying behind him based mostly on those sex change BS. In fact there are more people rallying behind him for that, and less so for exposing alleged crimes of the military.

Thankfully this trend will be going backwards and will continue as the remnants of the wicked are purged out of the media.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Maybe you're right. By looking at some of the posts on this topic "mental illness and depravity" certainly does seem to empowered by some people.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: auroraaus
To be honest, I am fairly certain the previous administration only even offered him a lighter sentence by demanding he undergo the humiliation of this depraved body mutilation or he would never see daylight again. It was all in the works as part of the propaganda agenda to empower mental illness and depravity as some kind of new social movement.

And either way, we all know they will just kill him off in a few years anyway, and probably make it look like a suicide with some fake letter about he just cannot cope with his identity issues.

Uh, so you are now against empowerment of the mentally ill?