Chelsea Manning Will Be Free in May 2017


Y’all probably already know it, but I just want to join the celebration:

President Obama has commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence. She is to be released in May 2017.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday overruled his secretary of defense to commute the sentence of former Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.

I cannot express in words how happy I am. Chelsea Manning was unjustly imprisoned, and she will finally see the freedom she deserves.

I’ve always supported her, and I will continue to. She deserves it.

Sadly, being the relentless cynic that I am, I have to reign a little bit on the parade…

First and foremost, a full pardon would have been better. She could be out now, instead of in May. And I would have loved the even larger finger that would have been to the not actually, definitely not, I refuse to accept them incoming administration.

Second, as Mano Singham rightly points out:

But Manning will face a difficult transition to life outside and will need all the help she can get. She will also have to fend off those who think she is a traitor for revealing that the US is not fighting noble wars with high moral standards. Life will be particularly difficult, even dangerous, if Donald Trump decides to use Twitter to unleash his hate-minions on her.

Which is why I’m hoping she manages to find her way to a more forward-thinking, friendly country that will welcome her with open arms. The US is, unfortunately, not a safe place for her, especially now.

What also scares me, however, is if the Cheeto Fascist will try and change this. Can he do that? Can he overrule President Obama? Or is this set in stone?

Comments

  1. says

    That… really wasn’t an answer to my question. It’s a major blight on President Obama’s legacy, yes, but I don’t see how it relates to whether or not the Cheeto Fascist can overrule President Obama’s commutation of Chelsea’s sentence…

  2. says

    Ah. Sorry. I’m slow tonight. And yeah, that’s obviously a risk. I’m just worried that he could come in and erase the commutation from the books.

  3. says

    I think this is set in stone, so that means she is getting out in May. This isn’t a safe country for her, but she has a better chance of getting the treatment she needs out of prison than she does in prison. I hope she gets a good support network.

  4. says

    I think it’s a significant risk. Al-Awlaki did less damage to the US than Manning did.
    It’s a race, for me, which president is more of a crazed vindictive bastard. Obama’s not as verbally spicy but I rate him as just as mean and just as trigger-happy as Trump (actually, Obama has a much greater history of ordering assassinations than Trump, so far. The question is whether Trump will go there or not?)

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