Just yesterday, President Barack Obama commuted the sentence of former Army soldier Chelsea Manning. The decision, made in spite of objections from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, has caused controversy. Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks and is now serving a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth. Her prison sentence will expire on May 17.
“A former intelligence official described being “shocked” to learn of Obama’s decision, adding that the “entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power.” The official said the move was “deeply hypocritical given Obama’s denunciation of WikiLeaks’ role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee).”
“The material, which WikiLeaks published in 2010, included a classified video of a US helicopter attacking civilians and journalists in Iraq in 2007. Labeled “Collateral Murder,” the film drew criticism from human rights activists for the deaths of innocent people. Though found guilty on 20 out of 22 possible charges (including violating the US Espionage Act), Manning was not convicted of the most serious one; aiding the enemy, which could have earned the private a life sentence.
Instead, the former intelligence analyst was sentenced to prison, as well as demoted from private first class to private and dishonorably discharged.”
Waiting for Snowden
Washington Responds
- “This was grave harm to our national security. and Chelsea Manning is serving a sentence and should continue to serve that sentence,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas.
- Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, said on Twitter that she, “put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets.”
- And South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN, Manning “stabbed his fellow soldiers in the back.”
What do you think about Mannings commuted sentence and do you think President Obama should do something for Edward Snowden?
Source: Unian