Wow, considering Obama’s record of bombing and persecuting whistle blowers, it is pretty astounding that he has commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning. She has suffered immensely in prison. This is far overdue. And it absolutely could not have happened without the tireless work of activists.
Here’s more from the New York Times –
“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 on May 17 of this year, rather than in 2045…”
(Leave your thoughts below in the comment section.)
It’s not a chicken shit move. When you are locked up, there is a long process that starts months in advance of your release. A lot of bureaucratic stuff that has to take place. May 17th was most likely the earliest date possible to be released.
The reason given was in the article. It’s to allow her time to prepare for release,. Even though it’s been long – awaited, transitioning from prison is a big deal. She will most likely have significant support, most of the formerly incarcerated do not.
Now we are free to work on our next objective. Freeing mind control victim Esteban Santiago: https://www.estebansantiago.us
Anyone know why “May 17”? It seems like such a chicken shit move.