Posted on 05/29/2017 10:37:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier convicted of giving classified government materials to WikiLeaks, was released from a Kansas military prison early Wednesday after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence. The leak, which Manning said she provided "to show the true cost of war", is considered to be the largest of its kind in USA history.
"Manning is statutorily entitled to medical care while on excess leave in an active duty status, pending final appellate review", said Foster, the Army spokesman.
"I am looking forward to so much!" said a statement released by Manning through her legal team, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Friends and family have organised a campaign to raise funds for Manning on her release, which has so far collected more than US$147,000 (€132,242). For security and privacy reasons, Manning is holding no press conferences or other public events.
Chelsea Manning, the transgender United States soldier convicted of espionage for providing national security secrets to Wikileaks, was released from a military prison on Wednesday.
The Oklahoma native was convicted of 20 counts including theft, computer fraud and six violations of act. "The leaks also revealed disparaging comments by USA diplomats about America's foreign allies, causing embarrassment to the Obama administration".
"She went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received", Obama said days later, defending his decision. She was subjected to male grooming standards and had to sue to receive transition-related hormone therapy.
"She has experienced trauma over the past seven years of her confinement and the trauma from those experiences won't just evaporate the day she walks out of prison", said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Chase Strangio, who represented Manning.
Manning's supporters claimed that she attempted to commit suicide many times during her sentence. "We can all finally truly celebrate the strength and heroism she has shown in surviving and sharing her truth and life with all of us".
She released a statement on Twitter the week before her release: "Freedom was only a dream, and hard to imagine".
He described Manning's sentence as "very disproportionate" although Mr Obama's successor, Donald Trump, branded the soldier an "ungrateful traitor" who "should never have been released".
The wider world that Manning left in 2010, when she was first detained, is dramatically different as a result of her whistleblowing.
After the 2013 sentencing, the ex-intelligence agent changed her name to Chelsea Manning and identified as transgender. After her parents' divorce, Manning moved with her mother to Wales, where she repressed her sexuality and was mocked for her effeminate ways.
The military was therefore keen on keeping her release low-key.
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to post a picture of a fruitcake? Just sayin’...
It’s a dogwhistle. Manning is attention-ravenous, like so many celebrities.
Should have been executed along with Snowden.
Huh? There’s no mention that I can find of “pizza” in this article.
Though I’m sure Comet Pizza would be the pie of choice.
Weird. He wants to be a she, but “her” Twitter pic is of he as a he.
I’m getting a headache.
Not transgender, eunuch, a man who has been castrated, or is ineffectual.
Didn't we used to execute traitors?... Now, we coddle their twisted mental illness, set them free, and make them into a celebrity.
Maybe it’s trying to look like Rachel Madcow..?
He’s a man who identifies as a woman who identifies as a man. How hard is that to understand? /sarc
A #PizzaGate mention?
#pizzafake
If you look closely, you’ll notice that it’s a meatball pizza with the meatballs removed.
Serious question: Is MSNBC’s Chris Hayes trying to look like Rachel Maddow, or vice versa? Only recently did I see that Hayes guy for the first time, and I assumed that he was shooting for a “male Maddow” look, but maybe Hayes always looked that androgynous and it’s Maddow who’s imitating Hayes.
For what it’s worth, that is an EXCELLENT LOOKING slice of pizza.
(and no, I mean it literally - it’s the Democrats that created a second meaning for ‘pizza’)
Nowadays the connotation of pizza just sorta makes me ill.
It will never mean the same thing as before, ever.
Should I give a crap about that freak? Was the pizza from Comet Ping Pong?
“Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier convicted of giving classified government materials to WikiLeaks, was released from a Kansas military prison early Wednesday after serving seven years of her...”
I didn’t read past the word “her”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.