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For Chelsea Manning — Freedom!

on 14 Comments
Chelsea Manning, by Katie Miranda

Yesterday in one of his last acts as president, Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of army leaker Chelsea Manning, and today he defended the decision at a press conference.

Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. It has been my view that given she went to trial that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received, and that she had served such a significant amount of time that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence. I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.

The president’s order did not pardon Manning but it did reduce her sentence to seven years. She is scheduled to be released in May.

Katie Miranda

Katie Miranda is an illustrator, jewelry designer, calligrapher, and cartoonist living in Portland, OR. Her Arabic calligraphy jewelry and apparel are favorites of people in the Palestine solidarity community. Katie runs Palbox: a quarterly subscription box containing Palestinian goods benefiting the Northern California branch of the International Solidarity Movement. Connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

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14 Responses

  1. SamT on January 19, 2017, 3:46 am

    I just hope that there are support groups out there for this tragic person!

  2. Ronald Johnson on January 19, 2017, 9:23 am

    The electorate is curiously unable to act in its own best interest, due partly to being uninformed by the elected and appointed leaders – not leaders, but deceivers. Recall the Pentagon Papers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers
    Gulf of Tonkin? A lie.
    At a horrible cost, we made a poisoned ruin of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. But in abject defeat, unrecognized, we are now in hock to China. A preventable outcome, had there been an informed Electorate.
    By all means, honor and protect the whistleblowers!

  3. DaveS on January 19, 2017, 9:36 am

    I’m overjoyed that Obama did the right thing, at least in this instance, and freed a true hero. Nice tribute, Katie!

    • freedom235 on January 19, 2017, 4:25 pm

      It is escapes me, this idiotic notion that this sworn to oath US Army soldier would be considered a hero to anyone, especially by individuals who obviously have never spent a day serving their nation and probably have little respect for concepts such as honor, duty, esprit de corps, and loyalty.

      • Mooser on January 19, 2017, 5:55 pm

        “little respect for concepts such as honor, duty, esprit de corps, and loyalty.”

        That’s right!
        Didn’t we fight the Nazis and struggle with the Commies for the right to keep our own American war crimes and atrocities secret?
        If we can’t even do that, we might even ask if it was all worth it.

        Because nothing says “honor, duty, esprit de corps, and loyalty” like saying “I follow orders and keep my mouth shut!”
        Our forefathers fought for the right to say that!

      • freedom235 on January 19, 2017, 7:52 pm

        Leaking hundreds of thousands of documents while being paid by the US government whilst a soldier ISN’T anything to be proud of, rather treasonous!!! Pardon Assange, pardon Snowden, these are patriots. Manning was a US soldier…thus, not cool. I’m quite sure that the Taliban was quite happy though. Now can we get back to liberating the Palestinians now folks and get off this nonsense???

      • lysias on January 20, 2017, 10:26 am

        This retired officer of the U.S. Navy and veteran of the Cold War applauds Manning’s courageous actions.

      • CigarGod on January 20, 2017, 10:32 am

        Freedom235,
        You are confused.
        What is your first duty in your oath of enlistment?
        Defend the Constitution against all enemies…
        That is your oath.
        It takes priority over all other orders, directives…and any other part of your oath.
        If you are a vet, you should know this.

      • Mooser on January 20, 2017, 2:30 pm

        “If you are a vet, you should know this.”

        Weeeel, if nobody is paying attention , it’s been my experience that the attitudes of US vets toward their recruiting, training ,branch of service and specialty and finally, terms of separation, are all over the map, and sometimes very contradictory in certain areas.

  4. oldgeezer on January 19, 2017, 10:28 am

    It is heartening to see Obama take this morally correct step. History will eventually show that Manning was not only brave but loyal to the state and it’s ideals at a time when the leadership were actively betraying those same things.

  5. Keith on January 19, 2017, 3:36 pm

    There seems to me to be a certain irony to the fact that Obama who has prosecuted more whistle blowers than all previous Presidents COMBINED should be so highly praised for showing some mercy for one of his victims. People tend to see what they want to see. Tough luck for Leonard Peltier. No guilty conscience there!

  6. annie on January 19, 2017, 4:34 pm

    katie, an excellent portrait of her. kudos to you.

  7. xanadou on January 19, 2017, 9:53 pm

    Inasmuch as I am deliriously happy to hear that Ms. Chelsea is to rejoin free humanity, vis a vis the given rationale, I find it unconscionable that Obama would not see Ms. Chelsea free today. Considering the horrendous treatment that the lady had had to endure, that had driven her twice to attempt suicide, and considering what is about to replace Obama, and the pathological cruelty that the prison guards had visited on Ms. Chelsea to-date, I hope that there will be a constant and high-level vigil put in place to make sure that Ms. C does make her date with freedom unharmed.

    At the same time, I am very sad that Obama did nothing for Leonard Peltier, Edward Snowden and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Will granting freedom to these three Men be left to be announced as Obama leaves the WH for the last time? I hope so, b/c the doors to the new, 10th, circle are ready to be opened very wide for the hounds of hell aka the US GOPers.

    • annie on January 19, 2017, 11:55 pm

      and the holy land 5, he should have let them go free.

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