Tag: Bradley Manning

Chelsea Manning is a Traitor to the United States

I am aware that President Barack Obama wants to leave a legacy.  That appears to have been the wish of every president in the past 100 years.  The president has that legacy in creating the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare).  So why would he besmirch his legacy by commuting the prison sentence of Bradley Manning, who through a sex change operation, is now known as Chelsea Manning?  I do not know the answer.

Manning was United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents.Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years’ imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.

There is no doubt that Manning committed the crimes.  She pleaded guilty in February 2013 to 10 of the charges. The trial on the remaining charges began on June 3, 2013, and on July 30, she was convicted of 17 of the original charges and amended versions of four others, but was acquitted of aiding the enemy.  She was sentenced to serve a 35-year sentence at the maximum-security U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

The decision — which a senior defense official told CNN was made over the objections of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter — immediately touched off a controversy in the closing days of the Obama administration.

In my opinion, comparing his crime to General James Cartwright or General David Petraeus is inappropriate.  Cartwright lied to an investigator and Petraeus told some secrets to his mistress.  Manning stole 750,000 documents and gave them to Wikileaks.

Manning and Snowden are Not Alone

Bradley Manning Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are not the first people to release government secrets and they won’t be the last.  Historically Daniel Ellsberg’s release of “The Pentagon Papers” is one of the most famous cases of a military analyst divulging government secrets.  Ellsberg, working for the Rand Corporation, worked on a top-secret report ordered by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara entitled U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-1968 (The Pentagon Papers) copied the entire 7,000-page report and released it to the New York Times and Washington Post.

Aaron Swartz, another geeky computer type/hacker, recently committed suicide (January 11, 2013) while facing charges for downloading academic papers from MIT and digital library JSTOR.

Time Magazine (June 24, 2013), says the internet calls these geeks heroes.  They must not have read the conservative commentaries on these self appointed “heroes” who prefer the possibility of harm to Americans than protecting Americans. 

TIME Poll question:

What do you think of the government’s collecting phone records, e-mails, and internet search records?

48% approve

44% disapprove 

We just went to the Hollywood Bowl this past Saturday.  It is an outdoor amphitheater that holds 18,000 people.  The security when entering? A cursory check of our picnic baskets.  We did not have to remove all items before the checker said “OK.”

Millions of phone calls and e-mails are made daily in the USA.  What is the likelihood they are listening to your conversations?  Why would they want to listen?  Could the program be a review of where people are sending emails and phone calls?  Obsession with intruding into your business seems to be the objection to the NSA’s efforts to stop terrorists.  Let’s hope no someone, undetected, does not carry a bomb into an amphitheater on ball stadium.

Manning and Snowden may not have meant to help terrorists but they have harmed our efforts to stop them.

They should be jailed for decades.